Recent SLC gun show: slow, dead. Are gun shows dying?

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Kimber45acp

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OK, this past weekend's gun show in salt lake was deader than a doornail in Anna Nicole Smith's coffin.

I could have taken a nap in the aisle, yet they are still charging inflated rates for tables, and the prices of most rifles was averaging $100 higher than what I can find on gunbroker.

I think I saw one person fill out a 4473 while I was there.

Since I had a free admission ticket I forgot to confirm if the entrance fee was raised to $10 (but I had heard that). The jerky/stun gun/dehydrated food/knife sharpeners/shammy/book/bread/furniture/coin/medical supplies/chiropractor salesladies/carved bears/antique sellers seemed to be attracting more sales.

I think gun shows are mostly dead and a thing of the past.

Gun shows have become a "hang out" for a few gun shoppers, where there are some tables of guns, but mostly a flea market. Is it because it is January and everybody's spent from Christmas?

I remember when you could take newbies to a gun show to give them an education. You still can, but it's an education about how useless gun shows are.

Half the dealers I'm used to weren't there. Nobody even had bumper stickers or political shirts so I could have a larf.

Gun parts? Fugetaboutit. I saw one person selling AR uppers (it's possible I missed a second seller). I remember when I had an old M1 carbine and I needed a firing pin -and I FOUND one at the same gun show. It's not even worth trying anymore. 100X faster and easier to get it online.

What will gun shows look like when our kids get older? {shudders}

The ONLY thing you could reliably find at this recent gun show (at decent prices) was magazines.
 
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The Dallas Arms Collectors show this past weekend was the busiest I've ever seen it. Granted, I've only beed several times before, but there was no comparison this weekend.

I even noticed several decent gun deals, and ammo and reloading stuff was quite plentiful.

-Matt
 
Here in Western NC this weekend they had to turn people away at the Western NC ag. center. So it depends where your at.
 
Here in Western NC this weekend they had to turn people away at the Western NC ag. center. So it depends where your at.
Click to expand...
Maybe the recession has finally hit Utah then. I was able to walk the entire show in under an hour, and I've NEVER been able to do that. I actually covered the show twice without realizing it because I was so bored. When I left, I thought it was near closing time, and there was still an hour left. That has never happened to me.
 
In Orlando last week, it was the slowest I've ever seen it. Just about the same number of vendors as usual, but quite a bit fewer people. There was zero wait to get in which I'd never seen, and there was actually a bit of standing-around room in the aisles between tables, also which I'd never before seen.

Primer prices have come down slightly, some tables are still asking $42 per k but there were people selling them for $35 per k this time around (that's an improvement). Gun and ammo prices still seemed insanely high to me, at least, the prices are insanely high if you look around and have any idea of what the internet price is for different things. I still look at a gunshow as semi-cheap entertainment, it's my alternative to going to watch a movie. I still spent over $100 on this and that, and there were some decent bargains here and there like the guy selling bullets (projectile components not loaded ammo) at a good price, and other odds 'n ends.

I hope the shows aren't dying, but boy you'd be nuts to go to a gun show to buy a new gun around here!
 
The show in Grand Jct. Co. was the same way. I think the transfer laws have had an impact as well as the economy.
High prices are kind of a turn off too, we have not got tables at a show or even gone for over a yr. so I don't know how they have been attended recently.
Being a non FFL has turned into a real PITA.
 
I think it's a combination: people ran out of money, and the gun show sellers haven't gotten the memo that the frenzy is over and their prices are going to have to come down even if it means taking a loss.
 
I went two weekends ago to the show at the fairgrounds in Little Rock, and it was packed. PACKED. One of my buddies works security, and he said on Saturday, there was a line 100 people long, into the parking lot in 10 degree weather, and they were having to let people in one at a time while others left.

Prices were, for the most part, back down to normal. I made out like a bandit, personally. Picked up an almost-new S&W M&P fullsize in 9mm with 4 mags and a holster for $400, and a cherry stainless S&W 642 with an IWB holster (and both black and pink grips :) ) for $350. The ammo vendors were finally restocked, and had some great deals. Wolf .223 was $210 for a case of 1,000. I got a case of that, and a case of blazer brass 9mm at $205/1000 as examples.

About the only thing I couldn't find was .380. I waited until Sunday, and the guys at the ammo table told me they sold all 25K rounds of .380 they brought with them on Saturday.

But, based on my experience, no, gun shows are not dead. They're as alive and kicking as ever.
 
I've never had a good experience at a gun show. Ripoff artists and people selling total crap for way too much money. Good riddance, IMO.
 
I haven't bought a firearm at a gun show for some time. Anymore, there just isn't any deal I've seen at a gun should that I couldn't make going to a store. Of the last 5 firearms I have accquired, one of them was from a forum member here and the other four were from forum members on the Northwest Firearms forum.
 
I used to be able to go to a show and get great deals. Now it's cheaper to just go to the dealer. The Tanner show in Denver had markups on AK's that were $100+ more than just going to the local shop.
 
They still have good attendance in the Cincinnati area. At least the winter months.
The last one I went to a guy "not a vender" tried to sell me a ACOG nockoff for $300.00.
 
The local ones for the past few years have been a total waste of time. There are local dealers with the gutter scrapings of their shelves, the vendors of bizarre handmade items, the rag and bottle sellers, and guys who are there simply to show off their collections. Prices are outrageous in general. I've gotten a few deals over the past years but not on firearms, just on ammo or in the case of the most recent show on an old wool blanket.
 
At GJ there was a couple tables full of junk from the far east, I wasn't aware of how they had duplicated the top shelf stuff, to bad they don't do as good a job on the inside.
I have to agree that the optics tables aren't anymore offensive than the tables with the $40. 380 ammo or the $1500. AR's. or the $1995 Scout Squad.
 
I think people are finally getting sick of seeing all of the perceived gouging {now I say perceived, because it won't be, but one more post or two that someone will say it just capitalism, free market, etc.}.

I remember going to shows back in the eighties. There were deals to be made there on just about anything. Now it just stuff almost universally marked up 20-50% from what Ive personally seen.
 
The one here a couple weeks ago was absolutely packed. Prices were terrible, yet people were still buying. I'm guessing most of those people don't research online first.
 
I go to the gun shows because it is fun to people watch and maybe find a deal on ammo. I just can't bring myself to buy an actual firearm at a GS because I am so afraid of being ripped off or the thing is a piece of junk and I end up with no recourse to find the bastard that sold it to me to return it.
 
I gave up several years ago. The straw was a vendor that had Wilson 47D magazines. I picked up half a dozen and asked how much. He replied, "One-Ninety-eight, plus tax." When I told him that was over retail, he replied no one could get them because Wilson stopped making them. Went home and placed an order for $25 each.
 
If they're dying, it's cause they killed their clientele. Or at least their wallets.

Dealers ripped us off with overprice guns, insane ammo prices, and drummed up fears for a year and a half over nothing at all. So, when people hear gun show they just figure more $40 boxes of ammo and guns at double and a half retail price.
 
I personally would like to see it go back to how it was in the past when it seemed like more private kitchen table FFL's and collectors that acted more like a swap meet than a retail endeavor. Not to say it wasn't profitable but more as an enhancement to a hobby.
Now with all transactions on the books and sales tax being taken by the local authority I think folks just aren't interested.
 
Gun shows aren't dying around here. I sold some ammo at one and a rifle at another, both within 10-15 minutes of entering the show. The place is always packed and there are always plenty of guns to look at. And between the different promoters and venues there is at least one a month, sometimes two.
 
Yuma gunshow was as usual quite crowded, with the usual dealers plus some individuals. Tons of black rifles and tacticool camo stuff, lots of AK types, plentiful primers at $29.00 and bricks of Walmart .22 ammo for $20.00. Saw some "nice to have's" but nothing that made me reach for my wallet. A guy had some very nice Model 52 Winchesters and a Sedgley Springfield which was ENTIRELY out of my league. Friend bought a beautiful .25-35 Model 94 rifle . Not much for .22's this time. Prices are definitely way down from this time last year, I think the panic is over for sure.
 
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