Gun Shows these days are not the same as they used to be! They are mostly run by cut tthroats and are just after your money! I avoid them at all costs!!

If its bullets you want, try Oregon Trail online. I was surprised recently that they had availability where nobody else did.

Here in NorCal add parking & entry fees in addition to high prices at the gun shows = no fun

Gentlemen:
The gun shows have never been a good place to get the best prices on guns and ammo. Deal with your local dealer who is there week in and week out, who knows your name when you walk in, and you will do better in the long run. If you get to know a few dealers who go to the shows you will find they raise their prices for the show over what they sell for in the store. The good guys take care of their regulars. It's just good business.

Ill stick with a local gun shop owner. Told me "Im selling them now what I was last year. They are the same thing and after all this **** is over I want to still have customers left"

Actually, that's exactly what "Capitalism" in the classical sense IS...Profit above all else, the public be damned.

mark

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Liberals made the USA

Your choices are Show up, Pay up, Don't buy or whine. Whining seems to be the preferred way to go.

I dunno. I just bought a brand new in box Smith and Wesson M&P .40, complete with three backstraps and two 15-round magazines for $519. Couldn't find one at any price in the gun stores around here. BTW, I bought it from a nice, supportive nearby gun store who happened to be at the show. I'm planning to stop in their store and purchase other items as well.

I had passed up three other identical guns at a previous gun show. It's like shopping anywhere. Keep your eyes open and wait for the deal you want.

I like the idea of a gun show where several hundred dealers are competing with each other, and I can scan their merchandise and compare features, price, etc. until I find what I want, and nobody's forcing me to buy anything. THAT's capitalism.


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Take your wife with you, and let her haggle with the seller, as though she doesn't want him to sell you that gun anyhow. He'll come down pretty quick, usually.

Don't like our prices? Bring your wife over and we'll dicker.

Uh, no. Capitalists maximize profit to the point the public decides is the limit. So the public is actually in charge of the price. If you want to blame someone, as Pogo says: "We have met the enemy and he is us!"

Earlier in the day I saw someone posting for sale 22LR ammo prices at 4X retail plus shipping. I inquired if the Beluga Caviar or an off vintage Lafite Rothchild was included with each purchase.

I'm seeing some basic misconceptions here about gun shows. No two are the same. Pretty simple. The promoter has his own flavors and vendors he can get to come along. The vendors are independent business men or just normal guys like you and me. How they mesh together is what makes up a gun show. Anyone who brings up the old stories about beef jerky and jewelry just doesn't have a clue about how the shows work. If the promoter has 100 spots (tiny show) and still has 5 of them left over, its up to him what to do. The better ones rent the spots. If no one bought the beef jerky, those vendors wouldn't come back. But they often sell well enough that they return for more shows.

If you don't like it, don't go. Complain if you must, but it will get you nothing. A whole bunch of people coming in expect and look for the other items, like the jerky or candy.

Too bad if you resent jewelry being sold. A lot of guys wives don't seem to mind at all. Some is pretty classy stuff. I purchased the nicest piece of jewelry I've ever bought at a gun show. I had my diamond appraisers along with me as table partners. They looked at the thing, then said its really good and underpriced. So I spent a bundle. I wasn't complaining.

If you only go to one show every 5 years, you really don't have a right to say it was a lousy show. It might have been a great show by the majority of customers standards. They aren't cast in stone, they evolve. What they are today might be what is required to keep them operating. They have regular customers. If you're the once in a while guy, they're not really aimed at you or concerned with you. What makes your opinion valuable is if you spend your money. Dollars talk, complainers just don't matter.

If you think ammo is priced too high, go to WalMart where they don't have any and bask in the glow of the price stickers not attached to anything. I once had a guy at a gun show come up to our table and tell me he could get the same item 2 aisles over for less. I was polite, got a big smile on my face and suggested he buy it over there. I guess no one had ever called his bluff before.



The 22 cal ammo thing is really fun. At a March show my son and I priced our ammo at $50 a brick. Early in the show we were laughed at and even made fun of because one guy had it for $45. Within the hour, we were the cheapest because the other guy sold out. Suddenly we were the cheap guys. So my son boosted our prices to $55 and we sold out around noon. Then the guy who just didn't care was the only one left with ammo. At $65 a brick. By the time we left, he was doing a brisk business. Made me wonder who was the fool. We sold to cheap. Or we didn't, who cares?

Basically, if you go to 5 shows in a month, none will even be close to being the same. If you hate all of them, save your money and stay at home. But what I've found is some shows are just great. And there are some things about others I really like (at least enough to make me return.)

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Dick Burg

Give it time

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442