Found mine in a 'trash and treasures' box at a gun show a few years back for four bucks.
Time was, before the internet, gun shows were a fertile hunting ground for those with a little more knowledge than the average bear. I've found tools, holsters and gun parts in boxes that many vendors/old timers had where they had just accumulated stuff through the years they had no use for (or SWMBO said "
when are you gonna clean out this drawer and get rid of this junk you haven't used in years"?) and piled all the excess in boxes and left it on the table for the 'miners' to paw through. Usually not priced, the owner would decide on the spur of the moment what he would let it go for and negotiation was always profitable as the owner was usually willing to part with it for less just to see it gone. Finding less and less of the good stuff these days and most of what's in the boxes is true junk. But hope springs eternal and as the old saying goes,
'one man's trash is another man's treasure'.
The 'net . . .
The good ? The expanded options available and a vast increase in the ability to find whatever you want even if it's on the other side of the country.
The bad? Everyone sees what the top prices are (usually asking price, not necessarily actual selling price) and they think their junked firearms are worth it when they price it saying, "
I looked it up and that's what they're going for on the internet!" (which used to be
"The Blue Book says" . . . . but not many under 50 ever even saw a Blue Book these days or understand how to glean real information out of it)
I know I've passed into Codgerville, but gun shows used to really be a lot more interesting and fun.