Gun Show Blah!

mbnatt

mbnatt

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Decided to go to the local gun show today. I usually go on Friday night because it's free, but I wanted some moon clips for my 327pc, got there, paid the money only to find out the guy with all the Mags and clips went to a different show. I have a N-frame fetish so I walked around and spotted a 4-screw 4"barreled 38/44 HD, been looking for a shooter so I stopped and looked. It had been refinished in a matte chrome, trigger and hammer too, figured all I wanted was a shooter so I picked it up and checked the tag, figured $799.00 was way too much! bought some Amish pepperjack cheese and came home!
 
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That was a S&W prototype made for the US navy....it was flat nickel and was made to protect the finish while at sea ;)

JK...I have seen some really over priced stuff here in my area too.
 
I hear ya, bro'! It's getting to be that way for me in the VA shows as well. My tastes in guns are at once pretty broad and fairly simple, but a lot of new guns at full retail prices and "black guns" to go with survivalist gee gaws just are not reason enough for me to burn $4.00/gal gas and pay outlandish prices for tickets. As I said last weekend after attending a particularly disappointing auction in the next town over, "That's a half day of my life I'll never get back." :(

Froggie
 
Safireman: Figured the Navy would think of that! LOL! I would have bought it for $400.00 that I figured was high! Just cause I wanted to shoot it! But $799! Riduculus!!!!
 
mbnatt said:
Decided to go to the local gun show today. I usually go on Friday night because it's free, but I wanted some moon clips for my 327pc, got there, paid the money only to find out the guy with all the Mags and clips went to a different show. I have a N-frame fetish so I walked around and spotted a 4-screw 4"barreled 38/44 HD, been looking for a shooter so I stopped and looked. It had been refinished in a matte chrome, trigger and hammer too, figured all I wanted was a shooter so I picked it up and checked the tag, figured $799.00 was way too much! bought some Amish pepperjack cheese and came home!
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yeah, sometimes i have even bought a gun at the jerky and summer sausage shows i attend. :)
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Same story here in the Shenandoah Valley. At today's gun show I looked at a 4-inch Model 19-3 with about 95% finish, no box, papers, or tools, and a price tag of $795!

Still, two bucks for a hot dog wasn't bad...
 
All day long the radio station I listen too was running ad's for the Grand Rapids gun show and my wife asked why I didn't want to go, I looked at her and said that the fun of going to gun shows was long gone with the prices they charge. Is it just me or does it seem that most of the people there are just tire kickers ?
 
Buckey08 said:
All day long the radio station I listen too was running ad's for the Grand Rapids gun show and my wife asked why I didn't want to go, I looked at her and said that the fun of going to gun shows was long gone with the prices they charge. Is it just me or does it seem that most of the people there are just tire kickers ?
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i go for the old accessories i might see.
the one table dealers are the best bet for good gun deals, but the walk-ins are always the best gun deals.
 
Buckeye08< man you should have went, that's where the clip and mag guy went, you could have told me weather he had my moon clips or not!
 
mbnatt said:
bought some Amish pepperjack cheese and came home!
Click to expand...

That's a better score than most people find. :D I have stopped going to gun shows. Too many nice guns sitting in local gun stores. And admission to gun stores is free. ;) Occasionally I want to go looking for small parts or accessories as you did, but I've come home empty handed too many times. Most anything can be found on the internet instead.
 
old bear said:
I think there would be fewer "tire kickers" and more buyers if the prices on most items were not insane.
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Yep. I am unable to understand why someone at a gun show table will expect the same price for an old can of powder of indeterminate age and storage history as you would pay for a new can down at Sportsman's Warehouse.
 
Buckey08 said:
Is it just me or does it seem that most of the people there are just tire kickers ?
Click to expand...

Having ""been on both sides of the table" recently, I can tell you that if a dealer brings in anything but the same old tired offerings or the overpriced new items that everyone has already seen and rejected, people are indeed willing to spend money. I have gone to the last couple of shows (as a potential customer) with more than the usual amount of ready cash in my wallet, and find it exceptional to have the slightest impulse to purchase the overpriced stuff there. :mad:

As a couple of other posters have noted, the odd accessories (reloading items in my case) or parts (less common these days around here) are about all I can get excited about. The last gun I bought was a badly clapped out Bekeart Model that I probably paid too much for, but wanted as a potential project. Even the food at gun shows seems much higher priced and much less tasty... even (or especially?) at the "better" venues! I must be getting old and crotchety! :( Oh well, another show will come along soon, and there goes all my resolve! :rolleyes:

Froggie
 
About 50 years ago, the VFW of Hillsville, VA started a gun show in their hall. It was a great gun show for 20 years or so, and the wives and others started having a little flea market in the parking lot after about the first 15 years or so. Now the entire town turns into one big open air sale for almost a whole week around Labor Day. I should have known things had gone to 7734 about 15 years ago when I heard a YUPPIE-ette ask her friend, "Did you know they're having a GUN SHOW here, too?" :eek:

Froggie
 
I'm about ready to make hotel reservations in Indianapolis to attend the March Indy 1500, but now you have me wondering ...
 
blujax01 said:
I'm about ready to make hotel reservations in Indianapolis to attend the March Indy 1500, but now you have me wondering ...
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I am sorry you're paying for a hotel to attend that. ;)

I've been to it three times. Once I left with a pound of hard-to-find powder, the other time I actually found a decent price on a used Glock 26. IMHO it's only worth it if you go in knowing what you are looking for and what you are willing to pay...makes it easier to find something in all the overpriced mishmash.

The last time I had the extra special treat of some idiot adjusting his coat outside the entrance and clattering his concealed revolver onto the concrete at my feet...then another guy getting into an argument with one of the entrance workers about not being able to take his loaded CCW piece inside and being escorted out by police.
 
shows around here are pretty bad too,big show in louisville this weekend,8.00 to park,12.00 to get in,then have dealers tell me im an idiot and i dont know much about guns,not for me
 
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