I went to a gun show today looking for a set of diamond center magna grips for my pre model 10 4" (circa 1958). I found a set that were in decent shape and asked for a price. The lady said $80. They were handed back and I walked away.

Some vendors are just out to gouge us. I've purchased from this vendor before when prices were reasonable, but never will again.

.... and that was your first mistake.

It is harder to find good deals at a gunshow, but it still happens. I usually only hunt for rare ammo, Milsurps and old Smiths at gunshows almost anything else I am better off buying new.

Unfortunately dollars are buying less and less. Thank the government for printing so many they are now worthless.

Hate to say it Bub, but $80 WAS a deal.

Grip vendors usually START at $125 for a pair of "Decent" K-Diamond-Targets.

I think you missed the boat.

Drew

I WILL pay postage for some WORTHLESS ones, five, tens, twentys, ..

Bekeart

Drew - you misread the OP

Ahhhhh So.... Magnas, not Targets.

Still, $80 is not too far off the mark for even a set of decent K-Diamond-MAGNAS.

I wouldn't consider that enough of a Greedy overprice to occupy Wall Street.

When I sell my stocks (rarely) I usually start at $75 for these and if they are nice, or if specials (such as transitionals) I get more.

Drew

In a fair market society vendors have the right to gouge...and you have the option to walk away. Sound like the system is working.

__________________
- Change it back -

This way, us regular folks get to have some. If they didn't print enough, a few people would end up with all of them. Wait a sec, they are doing that anyway.

Prices…………I will always be poor.

The three digit boxed pre-17’s I wouldn’t pay $750 for a few short years ago are double that now. I never would have even wanted a Model 28 back then either. Now they go for more than 27-2’s did then.

I guess the lesson for me is don’t sell anything old that is quality.

I do have some good friends on The Forum who have sold me guns at more than a fair price though. I was shooting a 17-1 just yesterday and thinking of The Forum member who sold it to me very reasonably. That gives me a Pre-17 and a 17-1 for my girls. The 17-1 is a birth year gun for me (1960), and I think much more scarce than average pre-17’s. A lot of collectors would look past it, but it’s my favorite.

Emory

I would love to have a set of diamond magnas for my 28 but the price on those are also out to lunch. They are getting harder to find as each passing year more of them are destroyed just like anything else out of production. Altamont will make you a decent but not at all original looking copy or you can go to Kieth Brown for a copy better than the original but you will pay even more. Trying to restore anything is getting to cost way too much to the point of laughable prices.

you did well in not buying those grips. I suppose now they will soon go to someone who will appreciate them and not expect a giveaway price. The price quoted wasn't bad. Way to go on losing a vendor too. Who needs these people that sell nice stuff, for more than bargain basement price anyway? BTW, have you seen what some of these guys are getting for old S&W boxes that don't even have a revolver in them? Scandalous
Sorry, but I see no reason for you to feel that the dealer was trying to gouge you. The price was at least decent.

If more people would walk away at 80.00 then maybe the prices would come down to a reasonable level! But if enough people say that is a good deal and will pay that price they will only go higher!

I agree. Everybody thinks that the stuff they have is worth more than it truly is.

If you want it bad enough and can afford it, more power to you. For those of us who love the hobby and try to help others out by giving a FAIR deal, we don't try to drive the
prices out of sight.

When I see someone selling a 20 year old box of brand name
ammo in .357 (and nothing special mind you) for $55.00, I lose my mind.

The new buzz word is "Vintage". A police duty holster that is 5 years old is not vintage, it's used.

One of the gunsmiths in my area does beautiful blueing. At a fair price. He has more work than he can handle as a result.

I watch the same vendors lug the same stuff from show to show. Overpriced, but they want it all. How many times are you going to pass up a fair offer and not sell it.

Maybe I just don't get it....

__________________
Take your time..quickly.

Whoa, you mean like... seriously?

Unfortunately, it boils down to: If you want to play you got to pay. Thats the way it is

dogdoc

To the OP: What is the highest price you would have paid for the stocks you saw? Not the price you wanted to pay or considered fair, but the price you would have paid grudgingly.

To others: we have a huge problems here with both context and information deficiency. Not all magnas are of equal value. If the proffered stocks in the original post were sharp-shoulder postwar diamond magnas with a four or five-digit number stamped on the inside surface of the right panel, the seller would have suffered windburn from the speed with which I whipped out four Jacksons to trade for the wood. If the stocks were just unnumbered radius-shoulder specimens of early to mid-'60s vintage, I would probably not have asked the price in the first place.

I think there is a larger issue here. Whenever I hear words and phrases like "fair price" or "gouge," I always wonder if I am listening to somebody who believes in the inherent value theory of objects -- like there is some externally and objectively determined proper price that cannot be exceeded by the seller without betraying intent to defraud a would-be purchaser or exploit his good will.

Free market, folks, free market. And if I find a seller with whom I have dealt happily in the past, but whose prices are now higher than I want to pay, I don't demonize him. I just stop doing business with him because I have learned it's a waste of my time, not because he is somehow ethically deficient for not adjusting his prices to meet my preconceptions. I make no moral judgment about his intent. I know he needs to make a buck, but if he needs a bigger buck than exists in my wallet, he needs to try his luck with someone else.

Seriously, if a seller wants more for something than any of us wants to pay, we only injure ourselves by getting angry or offended. And then it probably feels like insult added to injury when people like me come along and decline to support or reinforce a would-be buyer's irritation or outrage.

To the OP: it's probably best to put a WTB ad in the classifieds, or watch the WTS accessories threads. Or check the offerings on Gunbroker or Ebay. Maybe you'll find something that works at a price that feels OK. I hope you do. But I think classic stocks in general are more expensive than you suspect.

__________________
David Wilson

Translated: Like it? Buy it... Don't Like it?... Don't buy it and move along... without whining.

In my experiance, those who bitch about somebody else's price are the first ones to put top dollar on their goods when the shoe is on the other foot.

It may have been high priced for you but not for many. I paid $140 for some grips I wanted for an old Colt and over $170 for a set for a S&W. These were the correct grips for the guns and I could not find them cheaper at the time.

paid 125.00 for a set of n frame magna's for my heavy duty, couldn't stand the good years on it, love em also paid 95.00 for a pair of xr3's for my 3 screw ruger love em could stand cheap fake ivory. If it makes you happy do it!! life is to short!

My experience is that regardless of the price, someone will think it is too high. A seller could put those same grips out a $20 instead of $80 and someone wouldn't like the price. I have already seen it too many times.

In a free market Whatever price the buyer pays is acceptable to that buyer. Of course some of them have to then run to the internet and whine about being gouged or robbed by some low life seller that provided them with what they want at a price they were willing to pay.

If it were me and I had done business with them before, I would have at least asked if they'd take $xx. Worst thing that could happen is she would have said no.

__________________
Misty

"One mans trash is another mans treasure". I've been to auctions where I wouldn't have even made a bid on an item, yet along comes another person who ends up paying more than it's worth. The reason? It had meaning "for them". That's what many sellers are hoping for, to find that one person to whom the item for sale is worth the price "for them". Obviously if you think that item is overpriced you're not that person.

^^^This. Nobody attaches their bottom price to anything. I would have made an offer.

In my case I guess ignorance is bliss. If I really wanted a set of diamond magnas to make a gun correct I would have been happy to get 'em at $80.

Something is overpriced only if no one buys it. Shoot em an offer.

I went to a gun show in Connecicut yesterday and spotted a Winchester model 06 .22cal long rifle i'v wanted for years. Real nice shape. His price tag read $395.00.I asked if he would take $300.00 for it and he said yes. Old rifle was made in 1928. I just love looking at it. I can't wait to shoot it nor can my wonderful wife. Just thought I'd would tell ya. Wish the old gun could talk.

The "going price" is what a willing seller and a willing buyer agree to. Since you didn't make them a counter offer, they couldn't very well drop the price to one you like, now could they? They have to start somewhere.
Next time don't be bashful, ask if they would accept less. You might be surprised.

Pete

__________________
Don't tread on me

There's the disconnect. Thirty years ago the first thing you did when buying a S&W was take the grips off off and throw them in the trash, and put on something comfortable. By that standard, $80 for a set of old grips is pretty high.

Vendors don't have the absolute right to gouge the public. In times of widespread devastation such as a hurricane or an earthquake, vendors caught selling, for example, gas for $10.00 a gallon because the pipeline was ruptured, or a loaf of bread for $10.00, or a bottle of water for $20.00 will be prosecuted for, I think, profiteering (I may have the wrong word there). They'll be prosecuted that is if someone doesn't poke a bunch of holes in them first.

__________________
Ralph J.

For heavens sake. Deals can be found and the hunt is half the fun.

If I was handed every deal on a silver platter, having the STUFF
wouldn't be half as fun.

N square combats for 80 bucks? How in the world did this happen?

I searched. I found. I bid. I won. I rule .

S&W Model 25,27,28,29, Sq. Butt S&W Grips, : Grips at GunBroker.com




To the oldcop , if he is still reading this;

We kibbutz ,we barter, heck,, we even dicker.

All part of the game, brother.

Good luck
Allen Frame

__________________
NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

To all that responded to my post I thank you, I got a real education. IMHO this Forum is about sharing experiences and it's what keeps me coming back. To those who posted a snarky response, if you don't like something please just move on. I'm betting you would not talk to someone like that in person.

Doesn't sound unreasonable to me. If I remember correctly, I paid $75.00 for a set from a member of this board. I say "If I remember" because I was just glad to find them.

I've got a 47-48 M&P that needs a set now.

__________________
John 3:16 .

"I'm betting you would not talk to someone like that in person."

Like you didn't tell the vendor that they were greedy and overpriced?

This is what I was thinking...if you don't like the price they give you, why not offer them what you're willing to pay?

You got to make deals happen, especially at gun shows.

Actually I handed the grips back to the vendor and said "No thank you." I've done business w/them before and they do not dicker (and I mean never) on price.

I went back to thinking about how much I paid/overpaid for my M28. I know I could have kept waiting and found a better price. I know I could have kept waiting and found a better condition. I know I could have kept waiting and found one new in box with all the original stuff. But when I happened to find one local, I was tired of looking, tired of seeing prices heading North, and I admit I was just tired of wanting one and ready to own one. Now that certain things are starting to get hard to find, sellers are taking advantage of that fact and pricing accordingly to get money from guys like me. So I am as much to blame as guys that chop up and wear out guns. As time goes by and there are fewer of this and that out there, the price will only keep going up, up, and away!!!

I've seen the same S&W items come back year after year to the same gun shows at what I thought were way too high prices.

Until just recently.

Now most of those guns are gone and what used to be junk is being hawked at, again, what seems to me to be overly high prices.

Like beat up Model 64s for $350. Model 10's in worse shape for even more. 19s, 66s, etc, - prices out of sight!

Face it, it's a free market, if you're interested in an item, you make your best offer and see what happens. All you can do.

Agree 100%....it's a gun show, and if you don't like the seller's price move on. Many of the vendors could "care less" if you buy from them..they set the price and it's your choice...dicker with them and maybe they will come down, if not, move on.

Gun Shows are a great meeting place and many of the sellers are there just for the meet and greet, if they sell something OK, if not OK. They are there to meet-up with old friends and enjoy the experience. Some time great bargains can be found, but mostly not, these guys know what they are selling for the most part. Get with it or get over it, IMO.

Don

__________________
Laus Deo! <><

The Fact Remains, TWO YEARS after the four hurricane season here in FL roofs still waited for repairs, because the "profiteering" laws said no one could bring in workers and supplies from other states. The classic case was a guy who saw an opportunity, he bought a bunch of generators, new drove them across the whole country and offered them for sale in FL for a 50% markup. All things considered, not unreasonable. The Police confiscated the generators and put them in storage as evidence. Why, because they were not the same price for which they could have been purchased locally before the storms. After the storms, none were available closer than OHIO! That's where my wife went to buy ours. Cost of the trip? Damn near the cost of the generator!
Geoff
Who needs to function check his generator..sigh..so many tasks, so little time.

Your right, many of them are there just for the meet and the greet, but there are guys like me who are there just to sell. When I get where I don't have that motive, I will never, ever set foot in a gunshow again. It's just work that I have to give up a weekend for. I could be hunting, fishing, shooting or "bird watching" or doing a thousand other things that i actually enjoy more than working but doesn't pay anything.

No Sir, I wouldn't miss the smell of beast jerky or seeing the junk swords and tacticool BS one bit. And any friends I have can come to my house to meet and greet me or I can go to theirs...

BTW on those grips I would have got $50 to $60 for them. They'll sell at $80 but they will sell quickly for around 50 to 60. I doubt that many sellers would charge less for diamond Magna's. So this whole thing isn't about $80, it's about $20 to $30. If there are grips of this type available for less than 50 to 60 dollars, please tell me where they are.

At a gun show a couple of years ago, I saw a pair of K-frame finger-grooved combat grips for $25. The catch? The finish was worn and flaking, and there was one small dent on the right grip panel. I bought them immediately, and refinished them. They now adorn my 3" Model 65, and look beautiful.

FYI, the seller knew exactly what they were, and what price they would command in better condition. He just wanted to get rid of them, and figured he'd priced them fairly.

About 3 years ago, I bought a Victory Model that was in new, unfired condition, from a Forum member. I paid $600 for it, if memory serves, and I've never looked back. I had been wanting a Victory for my collection, and to find one in that condition? I couldn't type the words "I'll take it!" fast enough.

Some years ago, I was enjoying a cocktail with three very well known custom holster makers after the SHOT SHOW. Their names would be instantly familiar to most all of you. Our discussion somehow came to the subject of product price. One fellow sells at the very high end. You wait quite awhile to get one of his rigs (a year or more in most cases) and he has no shortage of customers, not ever. He crafts an excellent product, but does not want to be in his shop everyday, having retired from another career. So the wait is longer.

The other two fellas, much like myself, offer top notch product, but we turn around faster and price somewhat lower on most items we offer. Our operating costs are different but material costs are about even.

One guy tells us that he strictly uses a percentage over cost to reach a profitable margin. Another say's he tries to stay just slightly under the average retail price of similar items, believing point of price is the determining factor for vigorous sales.

Let's face it, some people are frugal enough to be considered plain cheap and I don't want them for customers. I don't gouge anyone, or delay delivery of an order under any circumstances to persuade someone that my products are therefore somehow more desireable. I do insist that my prices reflect the hard work, experience and quality of everything I put my name on.

Back when I sold at gunshows, I had to tolerate some of the fools the Lord protects along with little children. After awhile I could recognize them from a mile away. They would ask for a holster for some obscure model pistol, and were told we had to make it. "HOW LONG?" Then they'd ask the price. "HOW MUCH?" They'd balk and walk. Good riddance!

Most folks attending a gun show are hunting for a bargain and expect to find what their looking for. Others are hunting for something specific and have no such expectation, except that they will pay what they feel is a reasonable price based upon an established standard value. Others still, wouldn't give a hoot in hell what the price is because they simply must have it at any cost.

Cheers;
Lefty

Some of those people wouldn't buy if you sold them the goods for just your cost of the leather and worked for free. And i have encountered a few that I sold to and came to regret it.

This whole discussion makes my head hurt after awhile. It's one of the reasons that I sometimes hate money, but I still keep earning it, saving it and spending it. Oh well.

For what it's worth a few days ago I sold a set of Colt Python target grips with the gold medallion for $50.00. They were second issue wood grips. Could I have charged more? Sure. I probably could have asked $100.00 for them and from I have learned that would have been a fair price. But I'm not a businessman (meaning I don't depend on retail to support me and my family) and the fifty dollars was enough for me. If I was a vendor I probably would have charged $100.00.

It's all very subjective isn't it?

Ok, I know very little about grips.

Can somebody please tell me what type of diamond grips are on this model 36? The serial number matches the gun. It was made in 66ish. How much might these be worth? BTW; the left is worn a little more then the right (unusual - I know) like it was worn weakside.

I paid less than $300 for the gun and it has some pitting - so I don't think a blue-job will help it much. Anyhoo, I put Pachmayr compacs on it and use it as my CCW.

Thanks!

Attached Images

	SSPX0135.jpg (65.8 KB, 13 views)
	SSPX0137.jpg (72.0 KB, 17 views)

__________________
But then, what do I know?