Gun Show sticker shock...

[cgpd2515]

Well...today I ventured out to a gun show. I was hoping to find a nice 3" M65. I did manage to find one ( a nice NC-DOC trade in ). However...the dealer apparently was color blind and thought that this particular 65 was gold plated. His sticker price was $550 with no haggle what so ever.

I really really want a 65, but not enough to pay that. I'm willing to pay a premium for a weapon that i really want. But I'm not willing to bend over and take one for the team.

Two tables down was a really nice 4" M28 for the same price that would have been a much better investment.

Anyway...just venting. Next time the cardiologists wants a stress test, I'll skip the tread-mill and go to a gun show.


Edited to add that the 65 was in original box with papers.

[Gunhacker]

There are 2 time honored traditions that have been ever present at all guns shows, sellers asking laughable prices for stuff on their tables... and beef jerky I haven't attended a gun show for at least 15 years... one can only eat so much jerky.

[mtgianni]

3" K frames are at a premium nowadays. He will probably get it.

[cgpd2515]

Show's still on tomorrow...you guys think it's worth $550??? What about the 28 for the same price ???

[mlevans66]

Well the price of everything is going up these days. I saw a box of ammo I know cost 5.00 now cost 7.00! I almost passed out!

[Sebago Son]

Well.... you can wait to see if you can find one $100 cheaper, but the wait may be long... If you enjoy the hunt then by all means keep searching. But if you want to start enjoying the revolver right now then go plunk down the cash. Just be sure wait until after the trade before you call him a scalper...

Drew

[OldBlood]

Anybody old enough to remember the inflation,70s80s. Sold everyone of my used guns for more than I paid new. Prices went up way fast. Wife might laugh, but guns really are an investment. Don't know about the price on a 65. Bought a 14, 8 3/8 likenew in box with everything, $450, thought it high, sold it not long ago for $600! Ks are going up.

[Iggy]

I saw a nickel Model 58 that increased $100 in price in the 50 mile trip over the hill from LGS in Cheyenne to the gun show in Laramie.

[jimmyjoe]

I think $550 for a model 65 3" or a 28 4" isn't way out of line. If you can get one for that price out the door.

[settersonly]

here in Indiana most gunshow dealers are just horse traders, not many are actual FFL holders, so they make a buck buying from Joe Q. Public and marking it up, they find em where the rest of us do and add for a profit!

[andyo5]

Originally Posted by Gunhacker

There are 2 time honored traditions that have been ever present at all guns shows, sellers asking laughable prices for stuff on their tables... and beef jerky I haven't attended a gun show for at least 15 years... one can only eat so much jerky.

And don't forget the opportunity to buy reloads without knowing who loaded them or what is in them.

[CWH44300]

Go for the 28 - but skip the reloads....

[Ashlander]

I bought a 3" 65-3 last Summer for $385 plus tax, but the seller was selling 4" models for the same price, so he apparently was not aware of what he had. So I was lucky. If the 65 is in good shape -- $550 is not all that bad -- they're not making any news ones and a new 3" GP100 is about $539, so....

My pet peeve on gun shows are the sellers who buy new or used guns at retail and mark them up $50 at gunshows and telling newbies that their prices are a great deal. One guy was selling an old used blued Ruger P95 (9MM) for $400 -- a new one costs around $310 - $319 just about anywhere!

[Smee78]

I also havent been to a gun show in a few years, got tired of paying $7 to get in only to see alot of over priced guns or tac-a-cool items.

[jframe]

I must like gun shows; I keep going, all the while bitching about prices and jerky and cowheads and such. I found out that it's best to just ignore the really stupid prices, and just try to enjoy the show for what they really have become: an EXHIBIT. No sense in p. o.'ing the so-called "dealers" over what they ask. With that being said, $550.00 probably isn't out of line for a nice three inch 65. I bought a three inch nickel 13-3 last week; $375.00 plus tax, no box or papers, but a pretty nice set of factory combat stocks. Thought I got a great deal, but this is definitely the exception rather than the rule. Those k frames ARE going up, just like other quality revolvers, as more and more people realize they aren't just for old timers. If all the old timers have guns as nice as these S&W revolvers, all us whippersnappers are in for it, because they look and shoot great to me. Go back and get that 65 or the 28, for that matter; they ain't makin' any more of them.

[Sgt Neutron]

A gunshow can vary from month to month, state to state. What would be a good deal on a Model 10-10, early 90's production, no box, no holster wear, very faint turn line, b/c gap less than .006", little evidence of firing. Original grips. Basically in as new, but without box condition. Opinions on value?

How about a M-19-3 at about 95%+, blue, P&R, Round butt, no box, 2½" barrel?

Would the 10-10 be good at $375-400?
Would the 19-3 be good at $550?

[jframe]

Originally Posted by Sgt Neutron

A gunshow can vary from month to month, state to state. What would be a good deal on a Model 10-10, early 90's production, no box, no holster wear, very faint turn line, b/c gap less than .006", little evidence of firing. Original grips. Basically in as new, but without box condition. Opinions on value?

How about a M-19-3 at about 95%+, blue, P&R, Round butt, no box, 2½" barrel?

Would the 10-10 be good at $375-400?
Would the 19-3 be good at $550?

Don't know about Kansas, but those prices are about right for North Alabama. If I had the coins, I'd be all about a 2 1/2" Model 19 or 66.

[Sgt Neutron]

Originally Posted by jframe

Don't know about Kansas, but those prices are about right for North Alabama. If I had the coins, I'd be all about a 2 1/2" Model 19 or 66.

At the show here (Kansas) today my friend had about 8-10 of the Model 10's in all the same condition (from a DOC trade in. They were apparently delivered but just placed in storage). He had them priced at $300 each. He sold two of them (to me).

I had the Model 19 priced to move at $525. Best offer I had was $500 (I sold it at that. Still came out a little ahead on it).

Gunshows are really a crapshoot. You can go to 20 bad ones, then hit 1 good one.

[AveragEd]

I used to go to every gun show in the area but lately so many of the larger ones only are large because of all the wanna-be military stuff and "black guns" for sale there. But there is a local gun club and a local fire company that host two shows each per year that consist of mostly guys like you and me selling the duplicates in their collections. I've made some very good buys on very nice Remingtons and S&Ws at those two places.

There is a show right here in Carlisle, PA this weekend. I didn't go today and likely won't go tomorrow because the last two times I've gone there, if it wasn't black and didn't hold a zillion rounds, it wasn't there. The shows at this same location used to have quite a few good gun dealers selling their inventories at fair market prices but most of them aren't there any longer.

Ed

[chud333]

Originally Posted by Sebago Son

Well.... you can wait to see if you can find one $100 cheaper, but the wait may be long... If you enjoy the hunt then by all means keep searching. But if you want to start enjoying the revolver right now then go plunk down the cash. Just be sure wait until after the trade before you call him a scalper...

Drew

+1 on Drews comment. I'll get them when i see them if it's what i want. Can't shoot your dream guns if you don't got em'.
If the chase is what it's about and getting a screaming deal then good for ya'. I probably overpaid for the ones i got but
i got them and they ain't making no more like the ones i collect. And none we're from gunshows i might add. Just as with everything the prices continue to rise.
No point in frettin' over it. Just walk on by the tables that are too high in your opinion. Gunshows are good excersize and occasionally a good place to find a gem in waiting.


chuck

[bogman]

Seen a like new #65 P&R for $400 today. but I paid $510 for a very nice #586-1, with no box or papers. If I didn't already have a #65 P&R, I would have bought it. I saw A #686-3 NIB for $699, also saw A nice #28 for $475

[SpectrePilot]

I enjoy going to gun shows in hopes of finding tables of beautiful old S&W revolvers and such. I always leave somewhat disappointed, often without seeing a single pre-lock Smith, and almost always empty handed these days. Prices are going up and the good stuff is better found on this forum than a gun show. I tend to think a K frame needs to be excellent with box, papers, and tools to be over $500. Maybe that's why I leave empty handed a lot.

[rburg]

Originally Posted by Ashlander

My pet peeve on gun shows are the sellers who buy new or used guns at retail and mark them up $50 at gunshows and telling newbies that their prices are a great deal. One guy was selling an old used blued Ruger P95 (9MM) for $400 -- a new one costs around $310 - $319 just about anywhere!

Fun post. And one of the posts before it talks about the inflation of the 70s and 80s. Makes me think back and realize the practice you say is your pet peeve must be a new thing. I remember the 70s. I was young, married and soon to have a baby. And I liked guns. The cop across the hall in our apartment was as crazy as I was (but didn't have the wife and kid.) He wanted a short M66 (Treasury special) in the worst way. His off duty gun was the impossible to obtain M60.

One night there came a pounding on my front door. It was Mike the cop. He had the regulation wake the dead knock, and he needed me awake in the worst way. I got up while my wife tended the baby. His was a legitimate emergency. He'd got a line on his dream gun but needed cash fast. So I became the proud owner of his loved M60, and I went with him the next morning, first to my bank and then to the scoundrel that demanded over list price for that gun. He'd have paid more, too. Probably 1972.

Then an even worse incident took place. We'd gone to see Dirty Harry. And of course both of us needed a M29 in the worst way. So we went to the biggest gun show around. And found a guy with a M29 I just had to have. And all I had was trade bait. So I gave him my HiPower and a beautiful nickel Python in trade. Clearly the thief I was dealing with wanted about $100 of list price. But he took my trade. Probably worth more than that $100, but it didn't bother me. I owned the gun of every young man's dreams. It was mine and I loved it.

You think today's traders are any different. If you're buying new production plastic guns that are in abundant supply, maybe the guys really are crooks. But if the seller has a gun that you can't find anywhere, except him, he's got you over a barrel. And I willingly made my trade. No one questioned my intelligence (except maybe my wife). But everyone was in awe of my then growing "collection" of a few S&Ws. If anything, they admired the gun, and that somehow I'd managed to score it when none were being found by anyone else.

I'm going to guess that in the 1870s, we had horse traders also coming around with the then new 1873 Colts. And they weren't selling at the list price, they were demanding their premium.

Back in 1974 I paid full list price for a Browning Double. It cost me a bunch, but I wanted it. Fast forward to last months gun show. I saw a spitting image of the gun I still had at home. And the scoundrel selling it had the nerve to ask $2000 for it! The outrage!

And I remember when I won the office pool on the World Series! I won $90. I wanted to give the winnings to my wife to buy some trivial houseware she needed. But her father intervened (something he swore he'd never do). He told me not to be a fool and spend the $78 the local discount store was asking for a brand new 17-3. And would you believe it, the same guns at the show last month was selling - not just asking price - for $700! They should hang the profiteers.

If a man has a gun, he has the right to ask whatever he wants for it. There are no free trade laws (government sanctioned price fixing) in the used gun market. Much more severe laws apply, the natural law of supply and demand. If someone wants too much, he won't sell it. If you refuse to pay the going rate, you won't buy the gun. Remember, you can get 1% on your savings at the bank. I don't hold it against a seller for trying to get more. It doesn't take long hauling your guns to show after show and not selling anything to wake you up.

The reverse are people going to gunshow after gunshow, or only going once every 10 years and expecting 10 year old prices. They're the ones who go home and complain they didn't buy a gun from the thieves. You can't get a good idea of current prices (has nothing to do with fair prices) unless you actually spend a fair amount of time watching transactions. Not asking prices, but prices guns sell for. And that's a moving target. Just because you knew the market 5 years ago doesn't mean you can buy gasoline for that price, or guns. Or houses! Prices do change.

[gruntdeputy]

That 3” Model 65 that you are looking for is my grail gun. What you passed up for $550 in North Carolina is $65 and up here in California! I would gladly pay $550 for a DOC trade-in. So much of that asking price is location, location, location, and your own state’s gun laws.

I just passed on a like-new Model 66-4 2 ½” for $750.
Frank

[mtime7]

I wouldn't go $550 on a 65 3", but I don't think its outragous depending on where your at... Here in AK there are lots of guns and not that many people, so guns that sell, tend to sell towards the low end.. But I don't care where your at 3" 65 is a hard gun to come by..

[rebs081]

I am also sticker shocked at the prices at gun shows. I have seen many rifles that were priced over what I can buy at Gander Mountain for and the same thing with hand guns. I think some of these guys throw a price on hoping for someone that doesn't know better.

[gkitch]

The price is high for a trade in, mostly due to the likely milage. I think the dealer is offering you a high milage Smith at a low milage price.
Were the grips factory? Did you check the timing? The bore? If all is sound he is not ridiculously high. That said, you could easily score a LNIB example for about $50 more.
I would be patient.

[ladder13]

Originally Posted by Iggy

I saw a nickel Model 58 that increased $100 in price in the 50 mile trip over the hill from LGS in Cheyenne to the gun show in Laramie.

There's a high volume LGS around here whose ammo prices are about $1 MORE at the gunshows he attends.

[Flathead]

I pay little attention to asking prices. I make an offer I can live with and if the dealer refuses I move on. I stay current on going prices and know who is gouging. I have seen the same guns on a dealer's table as much as a year after first seeing the gun. This tells me he is not willing to budge. Any 3" S&W revolver is $500+ around here.