Gunshow Report - Louisville, KY

[rburg]

OK, it wasn't all that great. Mainly because no one bought any of my abused and unloved guns. I'm on a roll. Its been 4 or 5 gunshows since I've sold any of the worthless crap.

I drove 210 miles, give or take, spent a fair amount of $$ for nothing but going, coming, and feeding myself. Joe did give me most of a box of .32-20s for my revolver. I think that was the high point of the day.

And like an idiot, I discovered one reason for the carrying bag to be so heavy is I forgot to unload the side pocket full of ammo from the last one.

All the prices are up. Way up. Its becoming a trend, I go to a gunshow and even the same guns are up another $100 from the last time. Ammo is worse.

I can't get over the junk being sold (not just offered for sale, but actually selling) and the prices being charged. Components aren't any better. I was really shocked that one clown (I'm not going to flatter him by calling him a vendor) had 2 boxes of .30 cal 180 grain Barnes bullets. Those are always on my list of things to buy when I see them. Except he wanted $55 a box for them. Thats $1.10 a bullet! I know they're premium stuff, but I assume he'll have them for a while. All the ammo is up again. Just WalMart grade 20 round center fire hunting ammo is $28 a box. Magnum calibers, more.

Last winter one of our friends, the poor widow lady (she's actually pretty nice, but we abuse her just enough to keep her in line) who gets a table with us, sold me some forelorn 22 Mags. She'd been carrying (lugging) them around for most of the last year. She'd been asking $7 a box for them, and after the show I said I'd buy them all for $5 a box. She didn't want to carry them out to her truck again, so she sold them to me. Now I see guys asking $14 a box! I'm feeling bad, like maybe I took advantage of her. My 22 mag ammo is now worth more than my 351.

My table pard, Joe (who lurks here) did sell the best gun he brought to the show. He somehow must have been dumping garbage cans in the ghetto and turned up a 1903 production .32 HE. It was all he brought to sell, so he had a good show. The flaking nickel was only outdone by the cruddy bore. His pricing started at $195, quickly replaced with a more reasonable $175. Then some baffoon came along and offered him $100, so he said $135. The joker bought it for $125. Must be nice to have enough room on your price to sell for 2/3rds and still make good money.......

I think, maybe, he also sold several gun rugs. He's got some captive vendor who sells him 100 or so at a time for $2 each. Then he resells them for $5. I guess they've become experienced rugs, since they've been used 1 time prior to sale.

We did have some good conversations with guys who stopped to talk. Doublesharp was there, just waiting to pounce on us. I have no idea how he did. I got tired and came home.

I didn't see a gun I would want to buy.

 

[doublesharp]

All depends on where you're at. I know you're the expert, rburg, but I've got some advice: If you're gonna set up in the concession stand, sell hotdogs or popcorn. What does Billy have against you? I know he likes Joe, everybody likes Joe, so you must be the reason for your table location.

Piece of crap show. Never saw so much jerky, socks, bed sheets, air soft junk........... I'll bet actual gun tables didn't amount to 2 rows. $10 admission $6 parking vs $75 a table rent. Only winner is the promoter. He even had tables all the way up to the men's room door. Bet those were fragrant.

The demographics were strange today. Up til about 1 pm it was a regular gunshow crowd of middle aged/old white guys. Then diversity set in and by 4 it was about 50/50 owg and thug/thugettes. Save your money and skip this one.

 

[DougE]

Sounds like I did best by missing the Louisville show. The Lexington show last month wasn't great, but it wasn't a total bust ......... I did manage to pick up powder at a somewhat decent price.

 

[Muddyboot]

Wonder if OGCA will be any better, may go to Wilmington in the morning.

 

[dixiedawg119]

I went to the range instead today. Driving back I passed a billboard for the gunshow, and I kinda wished I'd stopped in. After reading your report, I'm glad I didn't waste my time and money. Sorry it wasn't a better day for ya. Good luck at the next one.

 

[Noah Zark]

I've cut way back on going to shows. Huge waste of time. Most vendors still believe there's the high demand for guns and ammo as there was six months ago, and that's just not true anymore. Only most gun show vendors didn't get the e-mail.

There's a real problem when gun show prices exceed gun shop prices and even Gun Broker asking prices. And there's a widespread belief that even an beater Marlin bolt-action .22 rifle is a "rare collector item."

Unless I'm meeting someone for a prearranged deal, the only shows I go to anymore are the small "firehall" shows. I do much better at them than at the larger 400+ table events.

Noah

 

[dskjl]

My Son and I just went to a local Denver Gun Show and I must say things are getting pretty bad. Many of the vendors are doing themselves little good by pricing things the way they are and as a result many of them leave the show with the same inventory they came with. Prices are plain silly and in several instances I found tables where the bulk of the inventory was priced significantly above local shop prices. For instance a new in the box 617 10 shot for $895.00, and 9mm ball ammo for $479.00 per thousand, the list goes on and one. One guy was trying to sell 442's (he had quite a stock pile)for $595.00, asked him how the show was going and he told me it was tough as everybody wanted a deal. I let him know the local shop was selling them for $519.00 and he told me they were crazy because he could get his price all day long, yet his inventory sat dormant.

Frankly I think that things have gotten out of hand and folks are frustrated with the prices etc... Dealers need to re-adjust to the market demand and take a hard look at their marketing and pricing strategies If $595.00 442's aren't selling don't complain about it do something about it, create some demand or reconsider your pricing maybe you will and turn-over your inventory.

Tough times call for tough decisions and an increased need for ingenuity.

Just my two cents.

 

[bk43]

I feel bad that you guys didn't have better shows but I must admit to some consolation at hearing my local shows aren't the only ones tanking. I didn't even bother driving over to the last two Orlando Fairgrounds shows as the buys of yesteryear are nowhere to be seen.

Bob

 

[Frank237]

One of the premier Montana shows is coming up in Missoula second weekend in August. After several years without getting a table at ANY shows I'm going to get one for this show.

I figure I can move all the surplus ammo, components, dies, etc I've accumulated the past dozen years by pricing them reasonably...yet still make a decent profit considering what a DEAL is today.

Bought a new tractor this Spring and don't like that lone payment book in the desk...prefer being debt free. So hopefully I can clean out the basement and garage and put a dent in that book.

FN in MT

 

[charlie sherrill]

We went to one yesterday in Fairhope,Alabama. Small show with big prices. I found a slightly used thumb break holster for my 5903 and bought another box of 9mm Winchester Rangers for some off duty carry ammo. Jr. found a Colt Mk IV Series 80 (not a Mustang) in .380 cal. in a pawnshop on the way home. What's up with the traffic on I-10 around Mobile? The only time I've ever seen it heavier was when they were evacuating for a hurricane. I guess I'm glad I missed the Louisville show. The wedding last month in Denver ate up most of my traveling funds. There's shows in Hattiesburg and Mobile on the same day in two weeks. We may try to do both if we don't set up at the Hattiesburg show. The Hattiesburg show has been growing into a decent sized show over the last several years.

 

[rburg]

One thing other vendors were saying and I know to be true is the dealer to dealer buying and selling. With guns, it probably verges on the edge of being illegal, very likely over the line if done frequently. During setup, the hour or so between when the promoter lets the vendors in to unload their crap and the time the general public comes in is usually the best time of the day. Sales are often brisk, to say the least.

We generally have one of us, Joe, setting up because he gets there first. I walk around, browsing for things I want or need. Anyone with a vendor tag on his shirt generally gets a discount, kind of a courtesy thing. If its a gun you want, you get first shot at it before anyone else see's it. The shocker to me was the pricing coming in really high. We don't sell much ammo (or much of anything else.) There are calibers both of us buy when we see them cheap. Then we take the junk home and keep it nearly forever, or very occasionally shoot it.

We're speculating, buying ammo we think we'll need in the future and betting the prices will be higher then. We have some limits, and neither of us feel any pressure to stockpile. That does tend to limit the prices we'll pay.

What we're seeing is old ammo coming out of the woodwork. Boxes I'm guessing were produced in the 1950s and 1960s. Some of it even has the original price markings, often about a fourth of what is being asked today.

In direct contrast to some here, I like the junk tables. If its got to do with hunting, fishing, or outdoors activities, I like to look at it. And I'm not opposed to buying cool items I haven't seen in decades. The last Louisville show I bought 3 speed strips from Doublesharp's normally crafty pard. Don't know how he sold them that cheap, but he did!

One joker was selling contraptions he'd designed. I was clueless, and even as he was explaining it, it took a while. It was a thing made up from a fishing pole handle, a pistol telescopice sight, a slingshot, and a fishing reel. The guy was working hard at promoting his hobby, slingshot shooting. His contraption was for shooting arrows a fish (why not just use dynamite?) Anyway the entire thing worked as a system. You sighted in the arrow like a speargun. Then you shot it with the slingshot behind the arrow. You used the fishing reel to haul it back. A guy in an adjoining table was pretty amused at the speach and sales pitch. The idea was it was an end of civilization kind of gimmick, and I guess ammo wouldn't be available. I prefer a sedentary style of fishing, where I nap until something nibbles on the bait.

So I just told the neighbor booth holder that if it gets bad enough, I'll just shoot the first guy I see with the contraption and have one of my own. Besides, buying a fishing pole handle, a saltwater reel like he used, a slingshot, and a pistol scope was a lot of money.

As for why the promoter had us in the snack bar, strategically hidden behind the garbage cans is anyone's guess. Doublesharp is wrong again, as usual. Joe got there a halfhour before me and the guy didn't even know I was coming (or Glen and Tony either.) I'm thinking times are hard in the gunshow business, and he saw another quick $50 could be made by selling off the lunch counter!

And just so everyone knows I'm not raising my prices by $100 every show, the factory engraved K22 actually went down by $100, just for fun. Soon it'll be priced below the ones without laser engraving. If it won't sell, I'll just give it to one of my sons to be a beater.

 

[pharmer]

Another thing causing crazy prices is the dealers sold all their inventory during "obamamania". They replaced it at high dealer cost from the distributors. Now that prices are falling, they refuse to cut prices "because they have to make a living", forgetting that they made enough to put several kids through college with the last 6 mos of doubling+ prices. Joe

 

[ldausmc1369]

Glad I didn't waste the time and treasure to go to the show in Louisville. Had grandchildren in town for a visit. The last National Gun Day, in my opinion, was a bust! $12 to get in and $6 to park! Pricing himself out of business!