Lots of ARs, Mags, and Ammo at the gun show today.

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TennJed

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Went to the gunshow in north MS (Memphis suburb) today. Lots of ARs, Mags, and ammo. I am not an AR or 223 guy so I didn't study the prices too hard, but it seems like the lowest prices AR I saw (DMPS) was $1600. Noticed most wolf .223 ammo was $14 a box. 30 round AR mags were $50 for poly $30 for metal. I say one 100 AR drum for $250 and one guy had 33 round glock mags for $125.

Handgun prices seem usual for gunshow (slightly higher than they should). I have a couple of SKSs so I was looking at them hardest. $350 - $450 for really beat up ones $500 + for ones in good shape. $650 for ones that take AK mags. Tapco SKS mags were $30 - $35.

Interesting thing to me was what I was looking for was a Stainless Ruger SA (Vaquero or Blackhawk) in 357 mag. I did not see a single one. No new ones or used ones. A few blued but not a single Stainless.

Wasn't a total waste. I bought a fair condition SKS wood stock (to refinish for fun) with handguard for $10, and 200 rounds of Tula 7.62x39 for $50
 
I went to one here in Idaho today. Bunches of AR mags, quite a few AK mags. Prices were slightly above pre-scare price with one or two guys scalping but they got corrected quite fast. Plenty of ammo, picked up some .223 @ .50 each. More than I wanted to spend honestly. 7.62x39 was all over every table, no shortage there. 9mm was shy, $15/20 rounds seemed to be standard, matched what retail stores seem to have locally. The only big increase I saw were rifles. Yogu SKS's ~$350, one Russain was at $500 but it sold fast. AR's were ~$1500, mini's were all right around and even grand.
 
My Yugo SKS in excellent condition, a guy even offered to buy it at $700. Compared to AR prices that is a helluva of a bargain. I havent sold it yet since its one rifle thats accurate and ive begun to love it. Buying an AR 15 right now can be a pitfall, plus the 5,56 ammo is outrageously expensive and nowhere available. IN my opinion not worth getting into ARs as everything related to it are overpriced to the max.

I might as well stick to my simple , reliable and accurate SKS. I dont need to find expensive hi caps but only strippers that dont wear out mag springs. SOmething for would be buyers to think about.
 
I went to the Palmetto Gun Show (FL) and it was packed. Some 30 mags were going for $30 but I saw $50 all over the place for 30 round magazines. I tried to estimate the amount of ARs on the tables and I came up around 50 guns for sale. All I came home with was a carry holster for my 1911A.
 
The rave is on the ARs. Just sickening that people are trying to cash on this particular platform. The greed is so outrageous, oh well this is America . We are not lacking in those aspects.
 
Hey!

If you owned a grocery store?
And yours had food & toilet paper?
And your competitors stores didn't?

How much would you sell food & toilet paper for??

I thought so.

rc
 
rcmodel said:
Hey!

If you owned a grocery store?
And yours had food & toilet paper?
And your competitors stores didn't?

How much would you sell food & toilet paper for??

I thought so.

rc
Click to expand...
Depends on if your neighbor was starving or really needed to take a dump.
 
protest and don't buy toilet paper. Also quit shaking hands or refrain from doing too much with your left hand...

By now most of the panic buyers should be tapped out and prices will start to fall as supplies start to increase. Unfortunately I doubt prices will ever return to "normal" levels.
 
rcmodel said:
Hey!

If you owned a grocery store?
And yours had food & toilet paper?
And your competitors stores didn't?

How much would you sell food & toilet paper for??

I thought so.

rc
Click to expand...
This.

It isn't greed first and foremeost -- it's the free market, which seeks a measure of stability through the interplay of supply and demand. We like free markets in capitalist democracies, and this is part of it.

I'll add that most retailers are links in a chain; if their dealer or distributor or the manufacturer -- anyone in the chain -- raises prices, most the rest have to follow suit if they want the inventory. So then the retailers have to decide: do we raise prices for the customers and risk being called gougers and losing business, or do we accept not having in demand items and...lose business.

Too, in these kinds of panics, retailers know the supply will soon dry up and have no clear idea of when it will be replenished. If they don't fill their coffers as best they can now, there'll be no savings to survive the lean period -- and that can mean losing their shop.

Lastly, of everyone decrying the "greed" and "gouging" (the latter, by the way, having a legal definition that doesn't cover guns, ammo and accessories), I'd wager not a one laments when the pendulum swings the other way and demand is low, supply high, and prices are driven down. Do any of these individuals really offer the retailer MSRP when there's a sale, just to be "fair"?
 
Does a dealer lose money on a "sale"? or is a sale designed to bring additonal business to benefit the dealer, or liquidate an overstock of items...again, a benefit to the dealer.
 
I have no problems with retail prices going up, even if it does hurt. They will eventually come back down. I also have no problem with hoarders buying up what they feel they need.

I have a problem with the scalpers.

The ones who come in and clean a place out then post it on CL later that day for a 300-500% profit claiming they have the "hard to find items, get them before they are banned" they wouldn't be hard to find if they didn't clean the store out. Watched a guy and his buddy with two shopping carts grabbing everything. Listened to them in the other isle. One said he wasnt worried about what his wife was going to say about the credit card becuase he was going to tripple his money in a week.

People do it for sporting events and they jumped right in during the lastest fiasco. There is a reason collaborators are executed after the war is over. These greedy jerks are no better.
 
Hey!

If you owned a grocery store?
And yours had food & toilet paper?
And your competitors stores didn't?

How much would you sell food & toilet paper for??

I thought so.

rc
Click to expand...

I totally agree with rcmodel.

I wonder how many people buy 100 shares of XYZ Corp. stock @ $20 per share then sell it for $80 per share and feel greedy/guilty because they made money???

These gun dealers are NOT selling to people in need, for the most part. They're selling mostly to hoard mongers who are hoping to get a few extra mags that will go up in value after a hypothetical ban.
 
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I too have no problem with what I saw. Kinda nice to see the crowd much bigger than normal. Our community is growing and that is a good thing. I have never owned an AR, but I would like to. They just have not been a high priority to me. I will not pay these prices, but have no problem with people selling them for it. If a ban does happen and I miss my chance to own an AR, oh well it is my fault for not getting one earlier. I have bought many revolvers over the years when affordable ARs were hanging on the wall. I made my decision and have to live with it. I like my SKSs anyway :)
 
Went to gunshow in Sotheast Missouri as well today. Joked with my dad later that except for the 80 or so AR-15's there, there were absolutely no AR-15's to be found :rolleyes:

Asking prices were high, but seemed maybe a little more in the line with reality than the silliness last week online. Bushmasters, DPMS, were $1,700 to $1,800. Colt 6920 was $2,100.

Of all the ones on the tables, in over two hours there, I did not see a single AR or AK actually purchased. Make of that what you will...
 
My Yugo SKS in excellent condition, a guy even offered to buy it at $700.
Click to expand...

Now there's an idea. I bought a Yugo years ago, fired it less than 50 times, decided I didn't like it... and it's been leaning on the wall in the closet every since. Never bothered to sell it since it wasn't worth much. But if people want to pay those kinds of prices... I would be thrilled to sell it!

Gregg
 
I kept the "best looking" Yugo SKS I had in stock at my old gun shop when I closed it down.

Looks perfect.

Shoots like crap. :(

I still kick myself for not taking 10 or so of them out, and actually TESTING them prior to deciding which one to keep and which ones to sell. I'd rather have a junky looking good shooting rifle than a great looking rifle that shoots 15" groups at 100 yards.
 
rcmodel said:
Hey!

If you owned a grocery store?
And yours had food & toilet paper?
And your competitors stores didn't?

How much would you sell food & toilet paper for??

I thought so.

rc
Click to expand...
It's not greed, it's a complacency tax. 94-04 should have been a wakeup call to anyone who thought such things could never happen. As soon as the ban sunset in 2004 anybody who ever wanted a 10+ round magazine or a semi automatic rifle should have stocked up.

It is inevitable that the antis will work toward restricting firearms ownership at every possible opportunity. You didn't need a crystal ball to know Schumer and Feinstein weren't just going to slink away in defeat.

2005-2012 gave gun owners seven relatively unimpeded years to stock up. People who are stocking up now are just paying the complacency tax. I have a nice Colt Match Target HBAR that I bought during the ban (no bayonet, no FH)---wonder if I can get $2500 for it? If the asking prices on the KY Armslist site are any indication then that would be a bargain!
 
Elkins45 said:
It's not greed, it's a complacency tax. 94-04 should have been a wakeup call to anyone who thought such things could never happen. As soon as the ban sunset in 2004 anybody who ever wanted a 10+ round magazine or a semi automatic rifle should have stocked up.

It is inevitable that the antis will work toward restricting firearms ownership at every possible opportunity. You didn't need a crystal ball to know Schumer and Feinstein weren't just going to slink away in defeat.

2005-2012 gave gun owners seven relatively unimpeded years to stock up. People who are stocking up now are just paying the complacency tax. I have a nice Colt Match Target HBAR that I bought during the ban (no bayonet, no FH)---wonder if I can get $2500 for it? If the asking prices on the KY Armslist site are any indication then that would be a bargain!
Click to expand...
Complacency tax. Cute term. Certainly applies to some.

But what about people only recently introduced to firearms enthusiasm? Or who are just coming of legal age to acquire these items themselves? Or are new to this aspect of political awakening?

"Complacent" doesn't apply to them and many others.

Not saying this necessarily applies to you, but there's a lot of smugness going around right now among those perceiving themselves as prescient and well-stocked because of it, and it's ugly.

I'm reasonably comfortable in my collection and the supplies I have for it, but I don't think that's cause to feel superior when, given the political climate and the potential for severely limiting new regulations, many folks, deserving or not, will be lacking, and ultimately we're all in this together.
 
I love the idiots that think its gouging etc... You can not buy this stuff through normal channels right now... I had stuff I wanted and knew i should have got before this mess... I even have sold some stuff I had from the last craze at higher than three week ago prices taking the gamble that it may or may not be replaced... I have some beat ar mags I am gambling on now too... if they sell will I be able to replace them? a fresh coat of finish and they will be great but I will gamble and hope I can replace them...


I got an upper right after the frenzy for about 50.00 more than I would have if I ordered just weeks before, but I hem hawed as most of us do waiting for better savings etc... well as the poop scattered I found a dealer who added a few available uppers even if they did not last long and gamble- it is enroute as we speak but it still was not the exact one I wanted but for now it completes a lower I had.... one more virgin lower to finish but it may have to wait a while!
 
Hapworth said:
Complacency tax. Cute term. Certainly applies to some.

But what about people only recently introduced to firearms enthusiasm? Or who are just coming of legal age to acquire these items themselves? Or are new to this aspect of political awakening?

"Complacent" doesn't apply to them and many others.
Click to expand...

How many of the fellows in that picture I posted from the Lexington gunshow look like they just turned 18? There are WAY too many extra people in that photo to account for only the groups you mention. I don't begrudge these folks access to a gun, but I do look down on the ones who are only now having a "political awakening".

If these people had been with us all along the restrictive legislation they are now scurrying to get ahead of wouldn't even be a blip on the radar.
 
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I feel that I am fairly supplied. I have a "couple" guns and a "couple" rounds of ammo. However, if my livelyhood was potentially about to disappear I have to assume I would be trying to get all I could from what I had in stock. Hopefully the worst will not come to pass.
What looks like gouging might just be survival.
 
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