3 day Gun Show, When to go?

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Yendor357

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Gun Show Guys, The Indy 1500 is this coming weekend. They advertise Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

It's been a lot of years since I've gone.
I've never gone to a gun show on a Friday afternoon. I've always been working. I'm looking to maybe sell a recently acquired 22 pistol. And I'm always on the look out for a cool S&W revolver.

I want to scoop up a bargain before the armatures show up.

When is the best time to go? Is there a best time to go?
 
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Some sellers may want to unload a piece for buying money on something else, or some buyers may have limited funds early, or some buyers might need to sell something for funds to buy something, or some buyers may be froth at waiting to buy something and missing the deal, be frustrated to buy yours's or may be broke by the time you show up, or...

Check your crystal ball.
 
Best selection, highest prices first day (some dealers will negotiate, most won't first day). Possible bargains last day.
 
Best deals are late on Sunday but usually nothing special is left - just stuff that didn't sell. Some savvy guys will go with someone that has tables and help set up and then have the opportunity to preview the goods of others. I have sold lots of stuff before the show opens to the public but you usually won't get a deal before the paying customers arrive.
 
There are two schools of thought. One is get their early and maybe snag something good quickly. The other is be a tail-end Charlie and maybe get something that somebody just doesn't feel like packing up and taking back home. Both work. I have done both.
 
ken158 said:
Best deals are late on Sunday but usually nothing special is left - just stuff that didn't sell. Some savvy guys will go with someone that has tables and help set up and then have the opportunity to preview the goods of others. I have sold lots of stuff before the show opens to the public but you usually won't get a deal before the paying customers arrive.
Click to expand...

lots of dealing between sellers BEFORE shows
 
Yendor357 said:
I've never gone to a gun show on a Friday afternoon.

When is the best time to go? Is there a best time to go?
Click to expand...

If you are buying Friday afternoon is the best. Better selection and the best items goes first

If you are selling, Sunday after Church. Because people will buy anything on Sunday knowing it is the last chance to buy.
 
I've been on both sides of the tables for forty or more years. No firm rules on any of this and Sunday is not necessarily the best time to buy or attempt to buy from a dealer. A lot of those guys like to haul the same guns from one show to the next and keep the same high price tags on them. I've never understood this reasoning, but it's very common.

As for the best deal before the gun shows open, same thing. You might get a good deal, you might not. The conventional wisdom fallacies spread by many aren't something you can depend on.

If you find something you've really been looking for (not some impulse buy), it's in the condition you want, and the price is close to being reasonable (maybe a little high) it's best to buy it. Haggling is usually worth the effort, but don't let a hundred or two hundred dollars on a thousand dollar gun keep you from enjoying something you want. May be a long time before you find another one in such good shape. Of course, if you're a hardcore skinflint, this doesn't apply.
 
Rule of thumb is; Best selection early - Best deal late. I stopped going to big gun shows 25 years ago. Some small local shows are still worth the price of admission around here.

Hope you find a bargain! And share it here!
 
All of the above comments are true, however are you attending this show as a walk in spectator or a dealer? Do you have a table or share one with someone? Another factor that I use for judgement is are you far from the show? Do you have to travel very far to attend? If this show is local to you and you have trading material or things to sell and maybe a lot of cash go to the first and last days to take in the best of all worlds.
A friend of mine retired in OK and had a table at the Tulsa show. He always did well at those shows. He invited me to visit him many times to attend and help him with those shows. I regret not taking him up on his offer as he's passed on since. A great friend and fellow collector who I really miss.
 
Personally for me arguments can be made for either days. Many say Friday evening when things aren't picked over and you get the best selection. I normally go Sunday morning, normally not so crowded and dealers are more into the gotta get it done mentality and I think I can deal better then, but like I say, valid arguments can be made for any day.
 
I can't say I've noticed any significant difference in my luck regardless of which day I've gone to a 3-day show.

As has already been said, there are sometimes bargains to be found on Sundays, but sometimes dealers leave early. Saturday will be more "picked over" than Friday, but there are sometimes items that dealers picked up on the previous day from walk-in sellers that they are willing to flip quickly for a small profit.

These days I tend to go on Friday. Not so much because I expect to see more, but because the crowd is often a bit smaller.
 
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Make a list of what you want. I go for entertainment but have a couple of items I am always looking for. If you find a good deal but it isn't on your want list, are you willing to wait the time to flip it? Are you open to adding stuff you really didn't think you needed?

I was really open to adding stuff up to my late 50's, after 70 not so much at all.
 
The best selection will be Friday at least from dealers. Sat.will be "overall" best.Sunday you may/may not get any deals kinda depends on location&show size. We don't do to many 3 day shows anymore as there're none in our immediate area. The ither thing we don't do us discount any thing more than normal on the ladt day of the show weather it be Sat/Sun. Particularly while we're trying to pack up & load out.
 
Saturday the most people are usually at a show. It's good time to pick up a good deal from public. Not so much dealers, their gambling on getting their tag price. I like to go on Sundays. Crowds thin towards closing time and dealers more apt to cut deals. If they haven't done to well the deals get better. The public's chances of selling or trading are less late Sunday after lunch crowd passes through. So they are often cutting good deals too.
 
I probably hit a dozen shows a year, maybe twenty. I've gone all hours. I've never really noticed a significant difference in deals based on time. Yes, the good stuff is there early, but in my experience the really good stuff sells before the doors open. Dealers do a fair amount of swapping among themselves.

My preferred time in Sunday morning because that is usually the smallest crowd. Easier to navigate, easier to talk to the dealers (I know most of them anymore).

I don't go looking for a specific item. I learned long ago that strategy never works. I look for things I'm interested in and I'm looking for the "deal". I know most of the dealers, for the most part I know their pricing strategy. I know who will negotiate, I know who won't. The circuit is still strong in Iowa, a majority of the stuff I buy comes from the shows.
 
I've travelled to the Tulsa show a few times. Always an interesting experience, especially when combined with a short trek to the J.M. Davis museum in Claremore. The lobbies of local motels are hot spots. Years ago I gook a sizeable cache of WW II German stuff and a Python to peddle at the show. A trader I met in the lobby begged me to see the stuff and made a cash offer I couldn't turn down. A kept a couple of pieces just to have fun walking around. Having a collectible piece hanging out of your hip pocket is a conversation starter, much fun. Haven't been in a few years and the local shows here in South Texas are mostly junk compared to the big shows. Finding really good deals is a matter of chance, but that's the fun. I can understand the dealers who buy a table and lay out overpriced stuff that won't move, simply to converse with like minded tire kickers.
 
Never had shows in my area that had a Friday show. Now there is 1 not that far that has Friday open. Just a creature of habit & go Saturday at opening. Used to go back on Sundays at 1 time if felt unfulfilled. (do miss a Jerky selection though) Bob
 
I've been to the 1500 several times, and I just don't understand the appeal. Pay to park, high entry fee, high prices, and huge crowds. IMO, support your local promoters and hobby dealers and go to the small local shows. We have a few shows up here in the northern half of the state that are put on by the F.O.P. and other organizations, and are typically held at the 4H fairgrounds or similar places. Lots of familiar faces and usually a deal or two to be found.
 
Biggest show around here is the Chantilly show near DC in Virginia, advertised as 3000 tables. Being in a very affluent area prices tended to be higher than I like but I would get there Saturday an hour early, many times first in line, even in winter. Then I could watch the attendees congregate and spot out potential private sales that interested me. Many buys over the years and the private sales were more reasonably priced.
One time I grabbed virtually a trunk load (Cadillac) of ammo, powder and other reloading supplies for $300 total. I think it was 15 pounds of powder alone and the rear end of that Caddy was dragging low due to the total weight of all the factory ammo and components.
I had lot of Finnish military rifles and I used to grab the spam cans of 44 rounds of ammo and break it all down to the components, Pop the primers and use my boxer primed brass to load them non corrosively. I think 440 rounds was $39.95 back then 7.62X54R.
 
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(My power went out as I was trying to post a question. I'll try it again.)
So, I've never been to a gun show, let alone a 3-day one.
Over all, are the prices better there than the exact gun in a gun shop? Or is it just a better selection? Or maybe both? There's usually a pretty decent show over in Monroeville, PA Convention Center from what I have heard in the past. That's maybe 15 minutes drive time for me, so if it were 3 days and I'm looking for a certain gun, it would make sense to go all 3 days.
Example: say I want to buy a M10-8 in 4". They made a billion (exaggeration) of them. At the store it's maybe $600 tops for a nice shooter, all original parts. Would I be able to get the same gun at a show for less, assuming it's a semi-honest dealer's table? And do some guys lower the price minimally on the 3rd day? Or just pack up & go to the next show? (I know, all table dealers are different.) Or did I just answer my question?
 
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