I want to go to a gunshow but.............

There is one coming next weekend, haven't been to one since COVID started. Would like to, there is a mil-surp guy that always has things that spark my interest on his table. Would like to see what kind of Mosin M44 might be had, want to see if I can find a Vortex Spitfire 3X.

But something tells me after driving thirty miles, paying to get in it will be....

1 a line to get in and bump and grind with a bunch of possible COVID positive people
2 slim pickings
3 prices sky high like anywhere else right now
4 backed up background check with a zillion people waiting for a reply
5 I will walk out with a couple ammo cans after all that.
6 driving home thinking to myself "should have slept in , made pancakes and looked online anyway".

 

I used to work at the LGS pre-interodays. We did a couple local gun shows. It is a LOT of work to remove inventory from the store, set up tables, carry everything in, man the show, pack up everything at the end, and then take it back to the store and put it back on display.

The labor cost alone is tremendous, plus inventory gets banged and bruised. And everyone at the show thinks you should be selling below cost so they can get a deal. That’s after you’ve done all the work and have all the cost.

The Internet is a worldwide garage sale/flea market/gun show. If you want stuff cheap (which you will do because EVERYONE has their cell phone out checking prices), buy off the Internet from somebody who doesn’t have the expense and time invested

The killer was the guys who would come to the store after the show.

“Wow. Your shelves are half empty”

“Uhhhh....yeah. That stuff is at the gun show”

“Why didn’t you get new stuff for the show?”

I don’t know.....maybe because we didn’t want to invest $200,000 in inventory on something to sell at a loss so you could brag about your deal?”

 

Fully half the fun is looking at stuff. Either on the tables or walking around for sale. 25% more fun is looking at people and being amazed at some of the prices they want. The remaining 25% is actually finding something you want at a reasonable price. Lightning strikes once in a while

 

I don't care about gunshows, but I am dying to check out a LGS that opened in the last year or two that specializes in military antiques. My Nagant revolver would fit in with the sort of thing they deal in. Prices are gunbroker-driven and, yeah, COVID.

 

Gun shows give an opportunity to get your shop exposure. Some guys really give good deals for the exposure. While others actually charge more than they normally do to help cover the cost of booth space without loosing out on profits.

 

As a CoVid nurse who has done literally hundreds of hours of research with first hand experience, I think people need to unplug from the news. This virus isn’t what the media is making it. But this forum isn’t the place.

 

I went to the last one in my area 3 months ago and the pickings were slim, indeed. High prices kind of go without saying.

Granted that I was looking for something fairly specific...

Bought a knife or two, but in retrospect I stayed in there way too long for what it was with the COVID risk and all.


I am passing on this week's show. Hopefully more normal days are coming soon - on all counts.

 

I loved gun shows as a kid, but the last few I went to had no private sale tables like they did when I was younger. I like the idea of a gun show, but typically the ammo is overpriced. There are those few and far between deals that come along but since I get delayed every time I try to buy, there is really no point because they are only set up for a day or two before packing up. I've always been kind of sour about not being able to participate in gun shows. Yeah, there is other stuff but I basically go for the guns or ammo.

Like you, I leave with a sling, rifle case or ammo cans. Waste of time for me.

 

Life’s meant to be lived, I would go to the gun show. Who knows how long gun shows will even exist with our freedoms being manipulated away from us.

 

Got a chance at a gun show tomorrow, also got a chance at packing one more whitetail doe in the freezer. If I'm lucky that doe will pop out before the show starts.

 

Now that’s a helluva plan.

 

At Gun Shows still allowed in our area "Bump & Grind" is a thang of the past with wider aisles to accommodate social distancing. Then again now that I think about it, coming away from one with that feeling of finding a real bargain is also a thang of the past with the current prices.

 

If you are in a Covid sensitive category just stay home. I know a guy who just died.

 

taliv:
From about 2008 until around 2015 (when our small shows had few milsurps), the shows in this area often had milsurp rifles or handgun type which I hadn't seen in shops around this area of Memphis/Cordova.
A first feel of guns' specific ergonomics and typical conditions was the main incentive.

Very few FN-49s, M1-A1s, Non-(semi) -commercial Chinese varieties of SKS, true Enfield #5s or even Non-Chopped LE #4s, 9x18 handguns (whether Makarovs or other types), Yugo or Czech (! ) Mausers, WW1 rifles etc were seen --and often none were -- in our shops between here and Midtown Memphis. Sorry- this is like a sentence in German where a second (etc) verb is at the End of the sentence....

Four very seasoned (with guns) middle-aged buddies sometimes attended.
With very few milsurp guns on tables after about 2015, no idea why , and no more buddies interested in the shows (two moved away after the crewbase closed), there is little incentive to attend.
Might go again some day after the "panic bubble" begins to clearly deflate.

 

My opinion is that now is not the time. Make your own decision, but I advise checking the disease stats in your area.

 

If one does not go you will definitely find nothing.

I know you are saying you are mad indy.. I can set on my computer and do more.. Why not do both..

 

Want to go, go. Don't want to go, don't.

I used to go EVERY show but haven't done that even before Covidity

Now, thinking out loud here, why is it the auto parts club is allowed to have a show at the fairgrounds, but, gunshow is cancelled??

I think a worse thing then Covidity is brewing. Starts next week with ''I do solemnly swear.''

Do or don't. But I would advocate EVERYONE to attend at least one show, keep this means of 2A commerce / info exchange alive

 

I skipped the big local show this year because of the virus and the crazy prices. Talked with my buddy that went to the show and he confirmed my thoughts. To many people and stupid prices.

Enjoy your pancakes! My wife likes chocolate chips I go with maple syrup

 

Apparently the store is open , and you very much want to go. Given that the business emphasizes milsurp it probably is not mobbed. Take the all the precautions and visit on a Monday right at opening time.
Or don't.

I might get killed in traffic on the way to church tomorrow , but I'll risk it.
BigBore44 makes sense. I'm glad he is still able to express it.

 

I went to the one here in December specifically to sell a few things. I was able to get that done, sold at fair prices, but the prices at the show were off the chart. I made a lap of the place right after the doors opened and then spent the rest of the time in the parking lot. I'll be passing on the one here next week

 

The era of the guns shows from the 70s, 80s, and 90s is over, the internet has effectively replaced them and the driving out of private sellers has not helped. At least with private sellers you'll get to see some unusual or uncommon stuff. When I went to my first one outside of New England in Indiana in 2017 seeing private sellers was a breath of fresh air. Saw the original all metal Kel Tec Sub9, a .454 Rossi, a 9mm Speed Six, Colt Police Positives... this is stuff the FFL's aren't bringing to the show for fear of an OOPS moment or because they don't have them at all.

After seeing the same crappy Charters, budget Axis/American bolt actions, the $1200 ROA revolvers, the rusty top breaks for $300... I finally figured out that the gun show is a place to reel in a newbie sucker who doesn't know any better and get him to overpay for something. This isn't the reason I got turned off gun shows, I was dumb, but I was new to percussion revolvers and paid $15 for 100 caps at one.

That one is on me, but I should have known the smiling guy who sold them to me was up to no good. Still, that could be anyone with little experience buying a rusty Iver Johnson top break for $300 thinking it's a steal because the guy behind the table said, "They don't make 'em like this anymore!!!"

The way things are now, those top breaks must be going for at least $450.

Last show I went to was 2019 for antique guns and it will be the last show I ever go to, at least for the northeast.

 

Copy to BigBore above..I do too.

 

I’m not sure what that means. But members can PM me if they are interested in what I found in my research. Cited sources like CDC will be included.

I won’t tell anyone to go to a gun show if they aren’t comfortable. That’s not my place as a nurse. What is my place, is patient teaching and education. But as I stated, this forum/thread isn’t the place.

We each have to live our own lives the way we see fit. If you’re concerned, stay home. You (likely) won’t find anything cheap anyhow. Not for awhile.