Gun Show Observations & questions

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Went to the Lafayette Gunshow today to conduct some business with another forum member. After purusing the show with a pocket full of newly acquired Benjamins, I left having purchased nada but with several observations and questions.
Is there a new gunshow protocol that everyone needs to bring a little white yipyip with them?? I counted 3 behind the tables and one rather buxom comely lass was carrying one in her purse.
It seems as if there are more and more guys with long pony tails, sleeveless shirts and camo fatigues running around.
The aisles need to be widened to accomodate all the morotized scooters.
Saw a gut wearing a "BlackWater" T shirt. Is this the new "macho man" ??
If I hear the word "Dude" one more time, I'm gonna scream.
All you skinny litttle white guys listen up-tats, backwards caps and holding your hands like you have arthritis when greeting a friend does NOT make you a gansta, plus when you grow up you will wish you didn't have 'Blood" tattoo'ed on your neck. You should get a "BlackWater" T shirt instead-then at least you have a good rag to wash the car with down the line.
Prices have absolutely gone through the roof-but thre was plenty of ammo.
Ruger has a new factory folder on their Mini 14, iIt is a huge hideously ugly piece of plastic thst does folf but bulks up the gun to about twice an old factory folder did. Also, the four way pickatinny rail does look a bit stupid on the mini 14
It seems as if S&W's have become a high end speciality item. Other than the guy next to the door with a nice display of museum quality old Smiths, colts and various high end semi autos (vastly over priced) there weren't any M&P's no 1911's, just a smattering of the "body guards" and scattered J frames. There were scattered used ones but the prices were all gunbroker "buy it now +$500". No Benellis- no Ruger long rifles other than some Mini 14's. Had a bunch of Ruger Single Actions-was tempted to pull the trigger on a Stainless .22 convertable, but by the by a pretty disapointing show. There were more interesting custon knife tables-saw some nice local work. Oh and they had a BUNCH of new unfamiliar name 1911's some as cheap as $349-I almost bit on this one but it was sooooo rough and they wouldn't let me take off the twist tye to cycle so I passed. I was going to buy some nice smelling pecans until I saw the guy selling them and decided that I wasn't going to support the terrorists.
All in all-a nice outing that reinforced my notion that I got some good stuff in spite of what anybody says. If I could sell it for the prices those guys were asking at the show, I could buy a new Suburban with cash

 

[M&P777]

The gun show I went to today was small. I agree about some of the hoods I see walking the aisles. I'd not want to sell to anyone I thought was of a criminal bent. If I'm approached by that type of buyer, I plan to deflect any interest by saying that I just brought the gun in case I saw something I was interested in (i.e., I'm not doing business with you).

Gun prices remain ridiculous in my area of the South. Many dealers want to make a killing on every trade. I'm coming to the point that I primarily look for small stuff like used grips, or I spend my time talking to the "old guys" who've forgotten more than I'll ever learn about guns.

You don't have to see many dogs urinating or defecating in the aisles to decide that the shows need to post at the entrance, "No dogs allowed." Almost as revolting are the people you pass in the aisle who haven't washed in the last week.

 

[Faulkner]

You guys don't seem to be very inclusive of others . . . (that's the new human resources buzz phrase these days).

 

[Andy Griffith]

Caje, you just need to take a cattle prod with you to the next show.

All the public shows are the same nearly everywhere. Why not have private gun shows that are invitation only? Oh they do!

SWCA, WACA and etc. hold great shows- perhaps you should go to one of them, and lighten that load of Benjamins...
I'm hoping on planning on going to some next year, so I can look at all the stuff I can't afford.

Even if you don't, change them to [FONT=&quot]€[/FONT]500 notes- your wallet will be lighter.

 

[TOM BECKWITH]

You guys are going to the wrong shows. At ours, the isles are wide, the dealers are courteous, the prices are fair to good (lot of high priced Obama stuff being discounted to turn some cash), the women are beautiful, the food is affordable, the selection is varied, the "junk" is highly limited, the guns are tied, the displays are interesting and educational, and we are non-profit. You have two choices, keep going where you are going or start your own shows that meet your criteria of what a show should be.

 

[sheriffoconee]

everytime I go to a gunshow I end up wanting the two hours or so of my life back, and SWEAR I will never go to another one...
From the airsoft tacticool thigh rigs to the guy selling "miracle" glass cleaner, there just doesn't to be much for me other than an occasional ammo find...
I search out .32 Remington for my Model 8A, and score sometimes.

 

[oldman45]

Try one of the shows in Shreveport. You will think the show today was a mega show.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Try one of the shows in Shreveport. You will think the show today was a mega show.

I'm truly sorry to hear that amigo.

 

[DOEBOY1]

I went to the gun show in raliegh last week end haven't been to one in years. The only deals to be had were the guys walking the ailes trying to sale to the dealers. I went looking to trade a 8 3/8 inch mod 57 or not didn't really matter, but took it anyway and find some round to square grips for my 686. not too many smiths that I would consider trading my 57 for so never pulled it out of the back pack. I did find some grips so I thought but the dealer was such a Jerk I walked on. I asked him which grips were for the 686 he never looked up from his computer and said they were in the case. Now out of 50 some grips they all started to look the same. he was too busy surfing the net and I had wasted enough time with him so I moved on. Found another grip dealer she was very nice but prices were too high could have bought coke's for what they wanted. So the only thing I bought was georgia arms reloads for someone else. Can't remember any gun show in the past I didn't walk out with something for me. Bad thing is I had a pocket full of stash money and a willing heart to spend it even got permission from my wife. But came home empty handed. Doeboy

 

[gunman1960]

what tom beckwith said,is the way the houston area shows are. i cant wait till the next one.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I've been to eight show in the last eight weeks. I went to Mobile and Hattiesburg last week, so there was one weekend where I didn't go to a show. I went through all the things that CL mentioned and recently when one of the yappers tried to bite me the woman who owned it didn't like it when I told her "if that dog tries to bite me again I'm gonna stomp it's guts out." I spend a lot of time in my line of work going up to people's houses dodging vicious dogs and a gun show is the last place I want to experience this simply because I usually don't carry my steel flashlight or pepper spray and the promoters would probably get upset if I shot the dog while at their show. The woman was more offfensive than the dog. She was a rather large spandex enhanced creature and had apparently unsuccessfully tried to mask her body odor with a lot of cheap perfume. Rather than risking an escalation of the dog incident I decided to check out a few other aisles away from where this woman and her (enter vulgar derogatory term for dog here) and could still hear her yapper on the other side of the building. I think someone must have asked her to leave becaused the barking ceased after a few minutes.

I bought one S&W in the last two months. It is a beautiul 4" 624 that I am planning on shooting tomorrow with some ammo I got at a show today. I sold three S&W's to collector friends in the same time period. I got on a riot gun buying kick because they were there. I bought an Ithaca at a forced estate auction, a Police marked Winchester because I like it and I didn't have one, and an old High Standard with no serial number marked "BILOXI POLICE #9" They were all cheap and I didn't buy them at shows. I respect the dealers at the shows because I understand they want as much of my money as possible and they are starting to understand they aren't going to get it. I look for individuals with nice stuff to sell if they don't look too shady. I ran into one with a real nice Smith today. I smelled a rat about the same time he figured out I wasn't an ordinary buyer. I liked the gun he had and was trying to memorize the serial number where I could secretly call dispatch and run it on NCIC. He took it away from me before I could get the number so I told one of the officers working the show he might better run the number before the guy sold it. He was walking toward the guy as I was leaving the show so I don't know what the end result was. This show was not in my jurisdiction or I would have run the number myself and would have anyway if the guy hadn't snatched it away.

Long story short: I don't get good deals from the dealers at the shows unless I find one who has absolutely no idea what he has, which sometimes happens. I mostly look for ammo, assessories, or individuals needing money trying to sell something I like. I will still go to every show within 3-4 hours of where I live and occassionally one a lot farther than that. (Louisville and Tulsa)

 

[desertdweller]

Hey Cajun, come to Arizona in December for the 3 day gunshow. First you pay $10 for parking, then your $16 to get in the door!
Then the freak show starts; gang bangers running around trying to get someone to sell them a Tech 9 or Hipoint w/o paperwork; the guy who has horns implanted in his skull to look like the devil or the lady with the shaved head and a tatoo that says go **** #######!!
I swear each year I will never go back but what the heck it is probably cheaper than going to Disneyland and it is quite a freak show!
Now you see why I sent you the list of S&W's for sale. They just aren't the fun they use to be. [I guess I can't say to much because I keep going back]

 

[Frank237]

Did a real speed run south to the Reno Show , hit it all day Friday. Not very crowded, and not nearly the "critters" one see's on average.

+1 on the damned people with baby carriages, ammo carts, etc. I was at a table looking at a revolver, had just put it down, when an elderly man FALLS INTO ME as he had been hit in the back of the ankles by some idiots cart! Luckily I was able to stay UP and didn't push too many revolvers around...enough to cause any damage.

FN

 

[Steave]

I'm 42, will be 43 later this month, I started going to gun shows with my uncle when I was 11, maybe 12 years old. He had inherited a fairly large gun collection from his uncle, primarily European handguns and basically turned that collection into a collection of SAA Colts and Winchester lever guns. He would give me guns to sell, this was back in the late '70's, they were priced at $50, $75, maybe $100 each, he'd give me a 10% commission and buy my lunch. Helluva gig for a kid who liked guns. I used to love going to gun shows, you rarely saw a new gun in the place and if you did find a new gun, it was generally new, old stock, just a lot of nice old collectible stuff.

I went to college in the fall of '85 and didn't go to a gun show for a couple of years, I don't think I went to a show until the winter or spring of '88 and man, things had sure changed. At least 50% of the guns in the place were brand new, the same things I could order from almost any distributor, there just wasn't much in the way of collectible stuff and almost all of the used guns, were overpriced junk. Things haven't gotten any better.

It has been at least five years since I've even walked into a gun show and for most of them in the Dallas area I can get in with a badge from a friend that has a table, so it wouldn't even cost me anything other than time. I know I'm not missing much and don't see myself going to a show anytime soon, it just isn't worth it.

 

[Superflywimpy]

It drives me crazy to go to the show...so I don't go anymore

I have been to the Phoenix gun show twice, and I will go no more,Over priced stuff,isles so crowded you can't get through, People going there with scooter's and get this. A guy ran my toe over riding a segway. I yelled at him for being such a idiot and 2 for being so lazy to walk through the isles on his feet like every one else. And perish the thought of taking a firearm to sell and being mobbed by all the scum and lowlife looking gangbangers that want to check out your weapon. Like if I really want to sell a gun to him that is registered in my name. When I lived in Ventura County I had a ffl and would sell at the show there at Seaside Park. Having pistols on the tables and having folks pick them up with out asking permission and then dropping them on the table and clanging them together as if they were one dollar plastic squirt guns . Then I had the Mr. Know it all's who wanted to show me their gun dissaembly skills that they learned in the service.. I finally got plex glass cases and only one came out at a time. Gunshows can be a nightmare for buyers and sellers alike.I won't be going to any Phoenix shows ,but the Mesa show is more laid back and enjoyable.

 

[mac2]

One of the things I really like about this forum is the social commentary...

Here in the UK we have similar shows, they're just called "Arms Fairs" and they tend to be held at Bisley or old towns & cities like London, Winchester or Birmingham. The London one held at a big hotel was the best (typically) because you'd get some real high ticket stuff like vintage 19th Century Colts (this was nearly 20 years ago) that was nice to look at even if you could afford it. But as for the rest...

Haven't been to one outside of Bisley for years; you didn't get unsavoury types mentioned on this thread, but they're similar in that there's hardly anything worth buying unless you want to pay thousands for cased duelling pistols or the odd cased shotgun from one of the less well known London or Birmingham makers. Otherwise it's: bayonets, airguns and deactivated firearms, military cap badges, campaign medals that sort of thing, old mazagines (the reading type) and books - you might find a nice obscure tome...or not: I seem to remember a multi- volume encyclopedia set just listing names of British First World War fatalities...You suspect turnover is low, because you see the same stuff over and over at the different fairs - I doubt they were particularly lucrative for the dealers.

As you know handguns are banned here, but even when they weren't, dealers were rare at these places, probably because the strict laws meant that only the more dedicated dealers dealt with them, who tended to think attendance wasn't worthwhile because said laws in turn meant there were few of the public actually able to buy them.

So, unless you find something you really like and buy, you tend to leave these affairs feeling a bit depressed...so I don't go.

 

[northslope]

Agree with FN - I hit the Reno show on Friday as well and scored a nice M&P; but the show was kinda slow, and the prices sucked a little bit. A friend who is an FFL remarked that the show has become the place the dealers bring all their "blow-overs" - i.e., crap that isn't selling in-store so they bring it to Reno and mark it up 40%.

Not many "deals" to be had - lots of museum-quality guns (I have seen them at the same tables for two years now..) with attendant prices, or just beat-to-hell shooters with road rash. Very little in-between it seemed...

--Neill

 

[oldman45]

In defense of the vendors at the gun shows, most are retired and living out of either a motorhome or a travel trailer. They travel from place to place setting up so they can sell their goods. Most have their inventory in an enclosed utility trailer behind their RV.

These people are not accustomed to being around people socially so they may not bathe as often as they should and their pets are their children as well as companions.

I have a friend in our motorhome group that he and his wife make jellies and they travel the gun show and RV circuit selling their homemade products. Ironically he makes a really nice living doing so but they are not as sociable as they were before they began doing this.

 

[Steave]

Something else I should add, about 8-10 years ago I was at a show here in Dallas with a friend of mine, like all gun shows now, it was filled with gang bangers, probable illegal aliens, and the usual assortment of unsavory characters. At some point my friend looked at me and said, "ya know, if I didn't know anything about guns and just walked into a gun show one day and saw who come to them, I'd be all for gun control."

Sad, but 100% accurate.

 

[SFCHAINLEY]

Cajun Lawyer

I am the one Cajun met to do business with. I pretty much agree with him on the show . I just want to let you know if or when he lists a gun for sale it is probably better than his description or pictures show. I bought two wished I had the money to have bought four. Beautiful guns fair prices nice guy made for a good day. Enjoyed meeting a fellow member. Thanks Joe.