Another disappointing gun show

[wrangler5]

The biggest change that I noticed is that lack of good buys since the advent of internet bidding. Before that, you could score a firearm for a great price. Now, you are not getting anything below BB value.

Sadly for us bargain hunters, I believe that's actually part of the technical definition of a "free market" - both parties aware of all facts relevant to the exchange and neither being under any compulsion to buy or sell.

I still look for undervalued buys, though.

 

[kelljor]

I did, however, find an older set of Pachmyers for a J frame for 15 bucks.

 

[AJ]

My find at the gun show. My Wife collects coffee pots. Saw this one and bought it for her. Nothing else was of real interest........to many black guns, pistols & rifles, to much jewerly, coins, coffee. glass cleaner and whatnot!

 

[Terry G]

Get a Curio & Relics FFL.

Great idea, but you can go overboard. I had a C&R license, a credit card, and a Wife that pay's no attention to what I buy. I get gun's from her for Birthday's and Christmas. She has four Cat's that I say NOTHING about. Anyway, back to C&R's. I'm sorry to say you missed that boat by about two decades. NIB Yugoslavian SKS's were new in crate five for $600.00 delivered, CZ 82's with spare magazines, holster, and cleaning rod $180.00 delivered. Makarovs, new in box, from East Germany and Bulgaria were $160 to $200, delivered. 8 MM Mausers from Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were VG for $80 to $120.00. Ammunition for them was 5 Cents a round. Want a Tokarev in 7.62 MM? Used, VG, $120.00. I could go on. I recently sold one of those SKS's for $650.00 and found out later I could have gotten $800.00. Walther P-38, $180.00. I had to quit, the entire house smelled like cosmoline.

 

[Greyman50]

My find at the gun show. My Wife collects coffee pots. Saw this one and bought it for her. Nothing else was of real interest........to many black guns, pistols & rifles, to much jewerly, coins, coffee. glass cleaner and whatnot!

View attachment 779508

When will the coffee be ready? LOL

 

[Greyman50]

Went to the Columbus Ga, gun show this AM. Considerately better than other shows I've been to in a few months. Found a beautiful Mdl 14 and got a deal on some wadcutter ammo for it, Range report next week. There was a lot of non gun stuff there and some really stupid high prices on lots of common guns. Way to far away to go back. Went to a really small town gun show several months ago and no non gun " stuff" there and will go back to the next one. Guessing smaller shows are the future, around 70 or less tables. Just an observation.

 

[larstusor]

Went to a "small town gun show" last week. 70% of the show was knives and cheap accessories. 20% of the show was tables filled with NIB current production guns that you can find, for the same price, at any gun store. 10% of the show was used firearms most of which were way over priced and the vendors complained about lack of sales. What a waste of time.

 

[GunnDogInn]

I go online for my gun shows or Hamradio gear Corvette parts .. Going to a show maybe nice if you the time to kill ..At end of day it is lost production of time I could spend elsewhere making money doing house or other projects . Like auto swap meets it is a gamble on certain things

 

[tate razor]

I went with a buddy to a 1300 table gun show last weekend and out of the 1300 tables, I'd say 400 of them were fantasy knives and swords. 500 were AR 15's and parts, assorted ammo holsters and body armor. 150 tables of jerky, jelly and assorted candy. 50 tables of stun guns, jewelry, and cheap optics. 25 tables of targets and posters, 20 tables of antiques, with the remaining tables of overpriced picked over guns that looked like they had traveled the gun show circuit for years. There was one table that had a few different primers for sale at a decent price, but not a grain of powder was in the whole show. I told myself years ago, I am done with gun show, but now I am for sure.

 

[Lance Boyle]

Ditto!
The past few shows I've attended were a joke, including The Big Reno Show in March, last weekend's Laughlin Show and a show this weekend in Vegas. Too much black rifle parts and accessories, t-shirts, knives, everything but good used, classic firearms. Get this, after I finished checking my guns with security, they whisked me past the ticket table and straight to the promoter's table. The promoter, whom I know, told me he wanted to buy everything I had. Things were going well until he offered me $1500 for my spectacular, 4" nickel Python complete with box and paperwork. As was walking away laughing, he proclaimed, "the Python market is soft." Not that soft, I replied. I ended up snagging two complete lowers for a couple orphaned uppers I have laying around. Next weekend's the Convention Center Show. With mostly the same vendors and $15 for parking, I'll stay home.

Ha! I would think you were in the northeast with that promoter. We have a show organizer so blatant with his flunky door sharks that the many table renting dealers simply quit coming to his shows. They never got half a chance to buy which is where the money is to be made.

 

[roundels]

The best gun show deal I ever made was for my DSC Victory Model. It was being sold for an elderly gentleman by a table runner. I traded a beater Enfield Mk4 for it that I was trying to get $75.00 for.

That said, I was a gun show regular for almost 40 years. One of the reasons I used to go was to hobnob with the Old Guard on both sides of the table. Nearly all of them are now gone and with them my desire to wade through crowds who are in large part made up of deal makers and takers instead of hobbyists with a genuine love for the subject matter.

 

[Lance Boyle]

I mostly quit going to shows. I wasn't seeing good old wood and steel, 95% was economy plastic stocked rifles and plastic second rate handguns. Junk I wouldn't own.

 

[AJ]

I went with a buddy to a 1300 table gun show last weekend and out of the 1300 tables, I'd say 400 of them were fantasy knives and swords. 500 were AR 15's and parts, assorted ammo holsters and body armor. 150 tables of jerky, jelly and assorted candy. 50 tables of stun guns, jewelry, and cheap optics. 25 tables of targets and posters, 20 tables of antiques, with the remaining tables of overpriced picked over guns that looked like they had traveled the gun show circuit for years. There was one table that had a few different primers for sale at a decent price, but not a grain of powder was in the whole show. I told myself years ago, I am done with gun show, but now I am for sure.

Where was a 1300 table gun show? The biggest one here is Fla. is the winter Lakeland Gunshow and it was billed as 600 tables. I have been to the old L A County Gun Show many over 30 years ago at the LA County Fairgrounds. The big show was billed as 13 miles of tables and the smaller show was 4.5 miles of tables. Now I believe that show has moved to Nevada, when the LA County Supervisors became anti-gun and closed the fairgrounds there to the show promoters.

 

[Malkovich]

Well, I said I wouldn't do it again but I ended up going to a local gun show on Sunday morning. I don't really have any Wish List guns on my radar right now, and the local shows rarely have anything that I'm interested in buying anyway. But it was a beautiful day for a motorcycle ride and I decided to stop by and take a look around. I paid my $8 at the door and walked in with a positive attitude and anticipation of a great find. I started my first pass around the venue, and much to my chagrin I was greeted by several tables of jewelry with sales ladies biding their time with their knitting! Then came the black rifle tables and the plastic pistol tables, and table after table of cheap knives (it seems that the karambit is the latest knife craze). Then there was a huge display of modern air rifles complete with suppressors, and tables full of cheap imported optics. I did find a couple of tables with a few minty vintage Colts (mostly $3K+ Pythons) and a couple of pricey vintage S&W revolvers...but I think that they were there more for show than for sale. The show was rounded out by beef jerky, a few beat up military surplus rifles, some worn out shotguns and hunting rifles, bluetooth stereo speakers, and several tables of body armor, t-shirts and hats. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I didn't even make a second pass around. I'm all for supporting the local shows and local businesses, and 2nd Amendment sales, but some of these shows are just a waste of time for me. Very disappointing.

The internet has made all those niche items, relics and hard to finds… easy to find. In retail it's hurt the shop keeper, in the collectibles world, sounds like shows are hurting.

 

[SAPDretired]

I also miss the days when one could walk into a gun show and find almost any firearm for around $100 less than the LGS was charging. This seemed to have changed during Covid, at least here in south Texas. Nowadays if I do attend a local gun show I'll be out of there in about an hour due to finding the same vendors, often with the same overpriced firearms and ammo that have been on their tables since the last two or three shows. It seems to be just a social event for some of them to show up and shoot the bull with other vendors all weekend or maybe its just an excuse to get away from the wife for a couple of days. In any case, most GS vendors (no, not all of them) don't seem to care, based on their prices, about moving any inventory. If I'm going to pay sticker price for a firearm or box of ammo, I'll go to my local gun shop who I know will be there in case I have an issue with the product later, not from someone who just pays for a table rental and the gas to get there and does not have overhead like rent, utilities, taxes, payroll and all the other expenses of a brick and mortar business. OK, rant over.

 

[Crazywader]

I honestly can't say if the demand for Pythons are up or down. I recently bought a circa mid-70's 6-inch nickel Python. I'm a S&W guy. I just couldn't pass it up.

When the new Pythons first came out, I gave them a hard lookin over. And didn't 'feel' a thing like I do when I'm handling an older S&W. So I started looking at older Pythons and still nothing. I must have looked at more than a dozen old and a dozen new Pythons of similar barrel lengths and yet, when I see a S&W in similar caliber, barrel length, and condition, I get that tingling feeling. So I guess there's something wrong with my wiring. Kind of glad about that, actually.

 

[Dan W. Cady]

What I really hate is being charged to park and some mone-backer telling me where to do it.

Just ask them about Valet parking and watch their expressions!

 

[retarmyaviator]

The Alabama Gun Collectors show in Hoover yesterday was great. Plenty of old Colts, Smiths, Belgium Brownings, etc. A lot of stuff was selling.

It was a very good show and well attended. I was there Friday and Saturday, picked up a very nice all matching 1918 dated Erfurt Kar98. Good many nice walk ins came by the tables, so many that a couple of friends went and stood by the door with one buying a very nice early M1 carbine and the other an all matching Gew98.

 

[Greyman50]

Should have clarified the good small gun show, Lakeland Pistol and Rifle Club show. Worth the drive.

 

[AJ]

I have a friend that sets up at Lakeland for every show that the Club has there. He specializes in M1911's. I am not sure of the sizes now for the shows there. The winter show (January) was 600 tables and the April & Sept shows were 300 tables. last time I was there it was in two different hangers at the airport for the winter show annd one hanger for the others.