Local Gunshow,,,ugh

[lonegunman]

So the biggest show of the year was this weekend. My buddy had a table and I sat in with him for the heck of it. Anything we had that was a bargain was snapped up by dealers during set-up, quickly remarked for 150% of retail and set out on their tables. Everything was overpriced that could be overpriced.

My personal favorite was a GSG-5 that sells for $469.00 at local stores, $675.00 One guy had a table full of crime scene Glocks with 40% finish and ratty plastics that ranged from $569 to $799, why buy new???

They had plenty of $650 a case .308 and $200 a case 7.62x39. We set up next to a junk magazine peddler. He gladly bought a bunch of old mags from me and remarked them about 600% up. He joked, he only had to sell one to get his money back.

Pre-Obama pricing was in effect and buying was pretty slow overall. One guy had several estate guns for about 25 times their actual value. There was not one, but TWO 'nam special forces/airborne/rangers at our table at the same time!!!! Best of all they tried to ignore each other and tell their "Nam stories to us lowly Iraq war vets.

The 'Nam SF 350 pounder had a Mosin sniper rifle he recovered when he shot some VC sniper(no kidding). Oddly, it had a Century Arms import mark under the barrel. When my buddy pointed it out he started screaming we were idiots and stomped off saying we were not allowed to talk to him EVER again,,lol.

Thankfully the skinhead who was walking around with an AK carried at port arms stepped in to scare him away. We were three gansters and a rapper from having the complete set of gunshow weirdos.

Maybe those will show up before 3pm tomorrow,,,,,,,

 

[Dookie]

Talking about the spokane gun show?
IT's been a joke for a long time. My favorite are the 10/22's. One guy had a BONE stock 10/22 SS carbine with a 30 dollar simmons scope on it for a steal at $412. should have jumped on it.

I did get a good buy on a basically new marlin 917 HM2, blued bull, ugly birch stock for 170. some decent deals on ammo.

I P.O.ed one guy when I laughed at him and told him that a new 10/22 was 189, not the 299 he was asking, only a couple of miles away.

But it was still fun. Did not see a single thing I needed. Will go today and see if anyone wants to dump something. All in all just about every vendor was nice to deal with.

 

[Matt-J2]

Last gun show I went to was months and months ago, and it wasn't as bad as yours, but you could see that sort of thing starting. The only gun I've ever bough at one was my Mosin, and it was priced normal for the time. I usually just stick to ammo(getting worse) and random odds and ends I see that interest me.

 

[lonegunman]

I enjoy walking around and seeing tons of guys I know that shoot and greeting the few dealers who have reasonably priced inventory. Some of these guys I have seen for years and we know each other.

But geez there are a few oddities in the people department. So many of them honestly think they have the "rare" gun according to the blue book or the 98% specimen for their 60% clunker.

Mixmaster Garands marked "all original" for a $1000.00 dollars. WWII rebuild Enfields and Springfields for original prices. I agree the gun has parts "originally intended to be used on Garands", but that is a far cry from original.

Leaving a gun, knife, axe head or hammer outside to rust does not make it an antique either.

 

[bannockburn]

lonegunman

Thanks, that brought back memories of a private gun collectors association that I used to belong to years ago. All the "real" deals took place before the doors ever opened, with table holders doing deals with one another, in direct violation of the association rules. But everyone turned a blind eye to it, and it got so that there was nothing at the show I could even remotely afford, because everything would get marked up each time it changed hands. I was beginning to think that the table holders were doing this as some sort of a conspiracy to artificially inflate prices. Then all they needed was for one dumb sucker to come along and pay their price for that one-of-a-kind collectible. It got so I had the feeling I was walking through a museum, and not a gun show. Typically I go to gun shows these days primarily for deals on ammo.

 

[Coltdriver]

I went to the Tanner gun show in Denver yesterday am. Its the first time I showed up at the 9 am opening time. I usually go on Sundays.

It was enthusiastically attended.

I went to get bullets and powder. But I picked up a couple of other goodies. A gun sock for 6 bucks, some shooting glasses for 3 bucks. Three bore brushes for a buck each. I also got a pound of reloader 19 for $20 and a good deal on some 243 bullets. 100 for $10.

They don't have the uniformly high prices that you are talking about but everyone puts top price on everything. I have been able to cut some fair deals in the past. But my deals have always been on Sunday afternoon.

It is an interesting slice of Americana to go to the gun show!

 

[tmajors]

Last gun show I went to most everything was marked higher price then if you went to a retail store to buy it....even the retail stores that had booths marked up their regular prices for the gun show /boggle.

Only thing that was reasonable was a booth selling some boxed SKS's for $159....but I wasn't going to buy from them because I swear they were a front for white supremacists.

 

[jnyork]

So, how was the beef jerky??

 

[Limeyfellow]

The last gunshow I bought at, I got a Springfield M1903a3 in fairly good condition for $95 that was mixed in with some Mosins. I grabbed that one up once I checked it over.

For the most part, things are really overpriced and yes the dealers jump on the private sellers early on every time and pick out the bargains to sell for much higher prices.

In the end I bought perhaps 4 firearms from 6 shows that I been too and two of these were at the same show where a person had a great deal on Lee Enfields, but that was quite along time ago.

Now there are too many beef jerky and what looks like lead jewelery sellers and other tripe that it is rarely worth going, unless you are really lucky.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Anything we had that was a bargain was snapped up by dealers during set-up, quickly remarked for 150% of retail and set out on their tables.

He should have asked more!

 

[statelineblues]

A friend of mine used to do 5 - 10 shows a year (east coast area) and was infamous for NOT selling anything before the doors opened to the general public. Other dealers really hated that, because he would get his hands on some really nice stuff, and would charge dealers the same price as everybody else.

 

[Bartkowski]

My buddy had a table and I sat in with him for the heck of it. Anything we had that was a bargain was snapped up by dealers during set-up, quickly remarked for 150% of retail and set out on their tables. Everything was overpriced that could be overpriced.

One time I showed up an hour early to a gun show because I thought it was 8am not 9am. So the gates were open and I walked in. Picked up 500 rounds of cheap .30-06, some magazines, and a sling. All of the dealers did the same and by the time the show started everything priced right was gone.

 

[Vader]

Hey guys, I just came form the Miami Gun and Knife Show and it is the same, prices are 10 to 20 percent over MSRP, private booths advertising "historical"
rifles , beef jerky and the eternal "buy it before it becomes illegal" rhetoric. Even the Hi Pont 9mm were being peddled at $199 although not a bad price for So. Florida. the only reasonable price I found was 1K of Golden tiger 7.62 x 39 at $200.00 Oh the parking was free, and two vendors that speciallize in EBR were just about out of their merchandise. I wonder why?

 

[Vader]

Double post

 

[sierrabravo45]

I understand the dealer has to pay for a table, gas, expenses to get there etc. But gun shows are getting worse and worse.

Nothing really worth buying, and standard stuff is overpriced. I have made some good deals, but cash normally plays best.

 

[ranger335v]

"I understand the dealer has to pay for a table, gas, expenses to get there etc. But gun shows are getting worse and worse."

True enough. But, the local gun store dealers have to pay for their facility, lights, phone, water, heat/cooling, employee salaries, insurance, business licensees and taxes and they still sell new stuff cheaper than most of the gun show clowns try to sell battered, used stuff for.

It amuses me to listen in when those gun show blow-hards discuss the local "idiot" customers who don't appreciate their "rare treasures" and/or won't pay their inflated dream-world prices! Some of them sell so little it puzzles me how they can afford to keep up the charade of being a dealer.

 

[marktx]

If people weren't buying enough to make it worthwhile the gun show gougers wouldn't keep showing up.

 

[Mike J]

Usually when I go to gun shows I will see at least a couple of what I would call good deals. I have to walk the whole show & look hard but they are usually there. I am sure there are more good deals than that there because the past couple of years I've really only been seriously interested in handguns so I don't look as hard at EBR's, deer rifle etc. though I do browse them a little. I'm not the type to pay 2000 dollars for a WW II Luger so I can say I have a collectible though

 

[BHP FAN]

They moved our gunshow from about a mile from my front door to a town about 20 miles away about three years ago.We got ''bumped'' for our building for a gem and mineral show,so we had a one table limit,and even so,there wasn't enough room for everybody.The guy in charge was P.O.'d!Ever since they moved the prices have shot through the roof,so mostly I go to BS with the dealers ond other collecters I've known for over twenty years...just for the social scene really.

 

[bobotech]

Sorry for digging up the old thread a week later but I went to that Spokane gun show too and was sorely dissappointed.

Not one good deal on guns that I saw. Ammo was all overpriced too.

All I bought was a bunch of reloading stuff. I normally go to all three days, this time, I only went on Friday and Saturday.

 

[Leanwolf]

Don't worry, boys and girls. After Jan. 20, 2009, gun shows as we've known them in many States, will be a dim memory of "the good ol' days." Private sales between private parties, or "face-to-face" sales of privately owned firearms, will be outlawed.

The only way you'll be allowed to buy or sell a firearm is by going through a FFL dealer, jump through all the hoops, background checks, waiting periods, etc.

So why go to a gun show and pay even more than if you just go to your local gun store and beg Big Brother and Big Nanny for permission to buy, or sell a gun??

L.W.

 

[mgregg85]

The last gun show I went to wasn't too bad, prices were ridiculous of course but thats nothing new.

My favorite was the dingy SKS with a really, really crappy plastic folding stock and cheapo clamp on bipod an super cheap scope. All for the low, low price of $450.

The year before that a guy had a CZ52 pistol marked 1953 that he insisted was a WWII bring back. Upon questioning he said his own father had taken it off of a german. After a little bit he even let me examine it and got pretty pissed off when I drew attention to the importer mark on the bottom of the frame.

 

[meef]

Typically I go to gun shows these days primarily for deals on ammo.

Me too.

Last show I went to was weekend before last and ammo worth buying was non-existent. I was looking to get some .223, .308 and 7.62x39.



Forget it. Unless you wanted some overpriced Wolf basic.

At least Ammoman & Ammunition To Go are still viable options.

For now.