More gun show BS

[Kindrox]

In DFW guns shows are a mixed bag. There are usually several dealers with LOADS of new pistols, sometimes selling just a few bucks above internet prices and often WAY lower than the store prices around here. Don't get me started on gun store prices in DFW.

Then you have some ammo reloaders selling for what passes as decent prices now days, so that is not to bad as long as you like reloads.

And then there are millions of tables with tacticool junk, $16 cproducts AR mags, expensive as heck mags for other guns, and the general gun tables with stupid prices. 95% of the sellers are the same at every show. You know them, $35 9mm uzi mags, $900 basic config bushmasters, $600 used mini-14's, over MSRP suppressors, ect.

I was in the market for some 20 round old-style AR15 mags and those usually are priced from $15-20 at the gun shows. I spoted a single mag at a table of other stuff, sometimes a good sign for prices. As I picked it up I asked about price and depressed the follower with my finger. The follower stuck and even rapping the mag on my other hand would not dislodge it.

The gomer was asking $20 and said all followers stick if you depress them with your finger. I think used car salemen often double as gun show sellers.

I look for the 5% of tables where normal people will get together and buy a table to sell a few misc items. These people and the ocassional regular who seemingly mismarked something down to a real price is about the only point in going for me.

 

[xsquidgator]

Gun shows are ok if you go in expecting the stupid stuff, the overpriced stuff and so forth. If you know about what stuff ought to cost then you can spot a bargain or at least a reasonable deal sometimes. I mostly go to be able to buy powder and primers w/o $20 hazmat fee like on an internet order, and maybe other stuff like extra mags or accessories and cleaning gear. And it's worth the admission for the beef jerkey booth! (a friend of mine calls it "meat candy" for his kids - they zip right over to the jerkey booth)

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Years ago at a southern California gun show, I saw a Ruger "old model" single-action, caliber .41 Magnum, being advertised as a "Flat Top" (the earliest version of these revolvers, differing in the shape of the frame and rear sight). I should have called him on it.

 

[quatin]

At that point you offer to sell him remington green boxes for $30 a box and so he can stock up as a dealer before the ban arrives.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

My favorite;

The creepy guy with the vest selling 10 ct bags of ss109 green tip labeled 'armor piercing' for 10 bucks. Lots of racist and nazi stuff, too. The only guy that will be on the news if the media comes out to play.

 

[CountGlockula]

My local gun show was selling body armor and guess what their sign said: "Buy Body Armor before CA bans them!!!!"

 

[BayouTeche77]

Neo-Luddite, you know it. The media would seek that guy out, tell him about how mexicans, black people, asians, (any minority really) are the reason he has no money, real job, girlfriend, etc. then tape his response to show on the 6 o'clock news and claim that he was the "official spokesperson" for all gun owners present. It's just the way things work.

The best I had was when I was checking out a like-new Ruger Mark II 22, just to have an extremely reliable plinker. I asked the guy how much for the gun (it was labelled $270), and he quickly responded by grabbing the gun out of my hand, taking the cable lock off of it, and put it behind his table. He told me that he couldn't sell that gun since he had just found out that they had been replaced by the new Mark III's and that the price of Mark II's had just shot up tremendously. I gave a little chuckle when he told me that if I seriously wanted the gun he would consider it for $550.

She just reminded me of it so I had to include it, my fiance's shinning moment at the same gun show. She was talking to a gentleman about pepper spray to keep in her purse, he asked if she ever considered carrying along with the pepper spray. She said yeah, but seeing as how she is a student she couldn't keep the gun with her at most times so she was waiting to get her permit and weapon. There was a woman at the next booth who came over and started acting extremely rude, telling my fiance that a gun was never really intended for a woman to carry and use. She said if she would ever use a gun in self defense she would definitely end up in jail and that if she were to miss the guy attacking her would take her gun and kill her. Then the woman produced a tazer from her own table and told my fiance that she would bet her life on the tazer any day before a gun because a tazer "always" stops an attack. My fiance politely told the woman "Really! Well then, let's go outside. You can bring your tazer, I'll bring a gun and if you manage to touch me I'll buy ten of your tazers." I'm sooooo proud of her! Really, she wasn't near as smart-@ssed when I first met her.

 

[heypete]

He told me that I 'd better stock up on .223 because he just got a letter last week that the federal government was about to outlaw the sale of .223 ammunition and that once the current stocks are gone, there will be no more available, ever.

*snerk* Yeah, like the government would suddenly ban one of the most common cartridges on the market. I think the only rifle caliber more common than .223 is .22LR, but that's a pistol/rifle cartridge and doesn't really count. I can't think of any centerfire rifle cartridges in the US that are shot more than .223...the 7.62x39mm might come close.

That's like saying "Ok folks, we're going to ban 87 octane gasoline next week. Sure, most cars run on it, but too bad."

I feel sorry for whoever believes that.

 

[imprezagm4]

The best I had was when I was checking out a like-new Ruger Mark II 22, just to have an extremely reliable plinker. I asked the guy how much for the gun (it was labelled $270), and he quickly responded by grabbing the gun out of my hand, taking the cable lock off of it, and put it behind his table. He told me that he couldn't sell that gun since he had just found out that they had been replaced by the new Mark III's and that the price of Mark II's had just shot up tremendously. I gave a little chuckle when he told me that if I seriously wanted the gun he would consider it for $550.

HAHA, that is seriously insulting to ones intelligence.

 

[Plink]

Now more and more I see guys with crap on the table, at twice the price it should be

I used to feel the same way about gunshow prices. I've had tables at the local shows on and off since 1999 or so and always shook my head in disbelief at the prices some folks wanted. That was until I began to travel to shows in other cities.

For example, I just did the Phoenix show. With gas at nearly $3 a gallon, rooms at just under $60 a night and tables at $90 if I remember right, my travel expenses were around $700. My car gets fair mileage. If I had a truck that got 10-12 MPG, the cost would have been even higher! Also factor in the cost of a wireless credit card machine, eating out, etc.

Do you know how much in sales I had to do just to break even? This is not a high markup industry, so it takes quite a lot of sales, even at the higher end of the price scale, to turn even a small profit.

The reason we go to gun shows is to find things we don't normally see at our local gun shops. We go for the variety! If the shows were full of local dealers only, they wouldn't be worth attending. The local dealers don't have much in the way of expenses other than table rental.

But it's the out of town vendors that make the shows, in my opinion. They bring in the variety, the things you don't see every day at the local shops. Sure you can find the same items online for less money sometimes, but they have a lot of travel expenses to cover and only 2 days to do it in. I didn't understand when I was on the outside looking in, but being on the inside changed my perspective in a big way. If we don't support them, they won't be back, then our shows will have nothing that the local shops don't already have.

I'm NOT an apologist for the folks blatently trying to rip people off, like the example in the original post. It really irks me when gun folks try to rip off fellow gun folks. There's far too much of that happening at shows. I've been seeing SKSes at shows recently that are priced at $400-450. Sad part is they usually sell quickly to people who don't know better, thus perpetuating the problem