Illinois Gun Shows Outrageous Prices

[Nighthawk0083]

The last two weeks I have attended ECA gun shows in springfield and urbana and even ones in the past. I just cannot believe how badly the vendors are ripping off people. The ammo is nothing more than ammo bought at walmart or dicks and then they double the price. One guy in particular was selling winchester 45acp 100 packs that retails for $32 at walmart for $75 dollars, another was trying to tell me that a hand priming tool that was used for $40 was cheaper than a new one but you can buy one on midway for $36. This is the exact reason that gun shows are dieing off, vendors that sell junk guns and over priced accessories. I love going to gun shows but when the dealers are simply buying their product from walmart, dicks and other sporting good stores and marking them up 50% I think that I will go else where for my ammo and reloading accessories. Like the indy 1500 where at least prices are a bit more competitive.

Any thoughts?

 

[Dulvarian]

My only thought is that you hit the nail on the head. I don't even bother going to the ones here for the same reason. The only table there that usually has decent prices is the Georgia Arms table, and even that isn't all that great. I do about 95% of my shopping online now.

 

[ljnowell]

Gun shows dont have good prices, when did this happen?

No, seriously, this is getting worse and worse. It seems like the less people buy the higher they raise the prices in IL lately. They have no one to blame but themselves when they go out of business.

 

[GojuBrian]

The last gun show I went to I browsed every table for reasonable prices or even...GULP, a good deal. No such luck, all I got was laughs and stares.

Probably won't go until I hear things are changing. Some people think a gun show is a license to rip.

 

[LubeckTech]

Here in WV gunshows are still good places to find stuff at reasonable prices. I went to a small one this weekend here in Parkersburg and ammo was in good supply and the prices were reasonable.

 

[Nighthawk0083]

Well I am glad to hear that I am not the only one that sees what is going on and also glad there is at least one place where vendors are honest.

 

[Nighthawk0083]

It would be interesting if this site would be willing to create a forum dedicated to gun shows in an effort to spread the word about the good and the bad shows. Maybe it could help stop those that are ripping people off and bring back the way gun shows used to be.

 

[ljnowell]

Nighthawk, where are you from in IL? I was at the springfield show, looking at the same overpriced crap. There was one guy selling alliant powders for like 40 bucks a pound. The shop there in springfield that I shop at had the same powders for 24/lb. I went hoping to find a concealable holster for a 3.5" 1911. I struck out, found plenty, just not at a price I was willing to pay.

 

[renegade1alpha]

I agree with everyone else, gun shows for the most part are rip offs. Especially if its a small one. Sometimes at some of the bigger ones you can find some pretty good deals, but thats because there is competition among the vendors. I actually bought a used, but in almost factory new condtion, CZ75B with the factory box and all the original papers for $375. Its probably had less than 200 rounds through it,

I recently went to California for some training and the guys down there were telling me that everyday prices on ammo was outrageous. One guy told me he bought a box of Federal 230 gr. Hydro-Shoks so that he could have a decent load in a magazine. He said for that box of 20 rouns he paid $57! When I told him I had 2 boxes of Winchester white box 100 rounds in each, he said that if I had brought them with me that he would have given me $60 a box.

 

[renegade1alpha]

I also picked up 5 boxes of Federal 9mm FMJ at Walmart here in Idaho for $9.47 a box. Gun shows cant compete with that.

 

[mustang_steve]

I just go to guns hows here for the quality beef jerky I can sometimes find....and the occaisional good deal.

The good deal has become more and more of a snipe hunt every time though....while the good Jerky has been a staple of the show

 

[gyvel]

Illinois Gun Shows Outrageous Prices

OUTRAGEOUS PRICES AND GREEDY IDIOTS AT GUN SHOWS???!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.................

 

[THE DARK KNIGHT]

No, seriously, this is getting worse and worse. It seems like the less people buy the higher they raise the prices in IL lately. They have no one to blame but themselves when they go out of business.

It's hilarious, cause after another year or two of this ridiculous gouging, these fools are gonna go out of business and say it's cause of Obama. LOL.

 

[MM60]

I just spoke to the salesman at a WalMart here in Pennsylvania about ammo last week. He said that every single day, the same three guys come in and buy their daily limits (6 boxes) of ammo in whatever calibers happen to be in stock (especially 9mm, .357 mag, and bricks of .22LR - when available). Now, I suppose it's possible that these guys could go to the range and practice with several different firearms from sunrise to sunset every day, but I think it's more likely that they are the same type of guys that we find selling ammo at 150% of it's normal price at gun shows and on GunBroker.com. I would suggest that nobody ever buys any ammo that has been marked up from the prices at WalMart, MidwayUSA, Cheaper Than Dirt, etc. - no matter what. Maybe if we put these rip-off guys out of business, they'll stop emptying the shelves and we can all buy ammo normally again.

 

[THE DARK KNIGHT]

Very true. A boycott of overpriced ammo would fix things very quickly.

 

[gopguy]

You have to come to the gun shows in Ohio, that is where Mayor Bloomberg makes all his illegal purchases.


By the way when is Attorney General Eric Holder going to frog march Mayor Bloomberg down to jail for conspiracy to buy guns across state lines?

 

[Hoxviii]

There are still good deals to he had IF you're not looking for what everyone else is. When all this BS started in November or so, I started hitting gun shows looking for some fullsize revolver stuff I needed.

N frame .357 mag speed loaders? $1 a piece
N frame square butt diamond grips? $35
"Odd" rifle calibers like 45-70 I was picking up half boxes of ammo for $10, .243 whole boxes for $15.

Then there was/is:
.380? $75/100
AR mags? $50/ea
WASR10's? $1000
EAA Windicators? $425

it still irks me ammo is short around me, but i took advantage of the "high capacity, tiny gun" buying frenzy to pick up some of my low capacity, big gun stuff that had been high until then.

 

[Robert]

It is only a rip off if you pay for it. The beauty of the free market is that he can ask any price he wants for an item, and you in turn can decide that the price is either fair or not. No one is forcing people to pay those prices.

 

[JohnBT]

"winchester 45acp 100 packs that retails for $32 at walmart"

But does Wal-Mart have any? Not the ones I've been in recently. Richmond x3, Waynesboro, Harrisonburg, Tappahannock.

A gun store I frequent has some for $49. Wal-Mart could say they sell it for $13, but what does it matter if they don't have any? The space on the shelf might as well be marked "free" for all the good it does anybody.

John

 

[MADDOG]

MM60----------You need to get there before they do and buy your daily limit. A few days of that and they will go elsewhere.

 

[gym]

In Fl I was told that the vendors who were selling guns at fair prices, were pushed out. The only deals were on holsters from that old guy from the west coast of FL. I have his card around some ware. He will make holsters for any gun. I picked up a Jackass shoulder rig for my G30 from him for about 75 dollars a while back and another Hume look alike for an XD, for 18 bucks. But that's South FL. The crowds and smell, weren't worth going.

 

[oneounceload]

There is NO such thing as price gouging. YOU have the choice to NOT spend your money there. When these folks, who bought stuff at high prices, are not able to sell, they will have choices to make - lower their prices and turn their inventory, or sit on it and hope for some uninformed person to come along. THAT is free-market economics. Perhaps you folks would like the government to set the prices for you????????

 

[chuckusaret]

The shows here in Florida are the same, outrageous prices on everything. Our shows are turning into flea markets, they now sell pots & pans, toys, jewerly, foot massages and even a Bush look a like that you can have your picture taken with for a price.
Wal Mart had the same problem here with the gunshops, the gunshops would send their employees to every Wal Mart and buy any and all ammo they could and then sell it at double or triple the price they paid. I don't deal with any of the gun shops that were caught doing it and stick with one small shop that buys thru the distributors and does not rip his customers off. His prices are high but not outrageous.

 

[Jeff White]

I haven't been to a gun show in more then 5 years. I don't miss them at all. I ran into a friend who sometimes sets up a table at the ECA shows. He asked me why I never went to the shows anymore. I told him that it's the same dealers with the same overpriced merchandise on their tables, it wasn't worth my time, gas or admission to go, and it hadn't been for years.

I really think most of the vendors go just to get out of the house for the weekend and hang out with each other....

 

[ljnowell]

There is NO such thing as price gouging. YOU have the choice to NOT spend your money there. When these folks, who bought stuff at high prices, are not able to sell, they will have choices to make - lower their prices and turn their inventory, or sit on it and hope for some uninformed person to come along. THAT is free-market economics. Perhaps you folks would like the government to set the prices for you????????

We know. Someone always posts this everytime this comes up. It doesnt matter though, when everyone in a geographical area all attempt to charge too much you cant get the product at a fair price, so it becomes gouging. If you argument is over semantics, why bother? The point is gun shows suck and most of the dealers there anymore are trying to rip off as many people as they can.