Worst gun show ever...What happened?

[model70hunter]

I know the internet has hurt. I also know many folks who do not go to LGS' go to Gun Shows.

I like guns shows, don't always find something but always see something.

I ignore the oddity tables. I slow down at the good knife tables. I look for S&W, Colt, Winchester, the pure action lines of a Parker or AH Fox.

I hit the ground running, sort of like a July hound. For those that don't know a July is like a faster running Walker hound.

One has to weave like an NFL open field runner, go around the family with 29 kids age 2 to 16 years and slide back in front of the kids to see if that is a K-38 or a K-22. I love kids but never took all mine to a gun show and turned them out to graze in front of a table full of Winchesters.

Make an offer on some things, a right price offer for their solid gold rare Colt SAA in 357 that has been hammered to death by a SASS fellow, and then go back later to give it a 2nd try.

I knew most of the dealers and LGS guys at the STL shows. I'd usually see how they are doing and how their Dad is doing etc. These guys I do not try to hammer on pricing, I'll shoot for a win-win.

Sunday morning until close is when one can find deals, guys wanting to sell something to pay for the motel room, Gas and food or some on who just found out there's a show and wants to try to move something quickly.

My problem is since I've retired I do not have a large income nor extra money. And the nearest gun show is out of State. So I have not gone to any in 20 months, 2 weeks and 3 days.

 

[Justified]

I don't think it is the economy [kinda like the 17,000+ DOW] but more likely the end of the five year gun boom. Everybody bought and bought and bought, running prices up as they went. It would only make sense that two things would come into play...artificially high prices [because folks look at sales for the past couple of years] and a realization by many that they don't need much else or it isn't worth the effort to pound concrete for an hour or so looking at B guns.

Much of the good stuff is in safes and internet sales now define the price of commodity guns. If the shows I have been to over the last few years are an indicator...gun shows are dying quickly while internet sales and big box stores take up the slack.

 

[Shall Not Be Infringed]

Gun shows are blah these days. I much prefer "gun and outdoor" shows where one can expect to find firearms, magazines, holsters, knives, hiking gear, camping gear, prepping gear, survival gear, winter gear, etc. If gun shows want to survive, then they really need to appeal to the outdoors person, the survivalist, and the prepper goobers that prep for the one most unlikely event that one can think of.

It would also help if they weren't always held in the most dimly lit of dungeons and warehouses. Every time I go to one, it's always in a room with no windows and pulsating fluorescent lighting that messes with your eyes and mood.

There's a science to selling certain things to people and putting them in the correct mindset to want to buy what it is you're selling.

There's a reason why malls and shopping centers always have a lot of natural light, because it makes people happy and makes them want to buy s*** they really don't need. There's also a reason why most bars do not have a lot of natural light and are dimly lit inside, because it makes people depressed and want to drink more.

Case in point... I went to "Lily Fest" two days in a row in Ohio a few summers ago (my wife and her snob hipster friend drug me along). It's a hippie-type event...but it's actually in an awesome setting. You walk a trail through the woods, and vendors are setup all along the trail selling anything from knives, to handmade jewelry, to bamboo wind chimes, to artwork, to s*** I've never even seen before. Day one was a dark cloudy overcast day but the temperature was amazing....and not many people were there, and no one was really spending money. But, check this... On day two.. It was sunny, it was a nice temp, it was packed with people, endorphins were flowing, and those people were spending money on a bunch of s*** that would surely end up in their attic within weeks of taking it home. It's basic science. Put people in the setting that makes them want to spend money.

 

[drgbike]

I went to the Harrisburg, PA. show today. Picked up a police trade in 65 with Hogue rubbers for 245.00 OTD, and a really clean 586-1 8 inch missing the rear sight for!! 295.00 OTD. Heck I love GUN SHOWS

 

[denverpilot]

When I still resided in Denver, we had a gun show once a month and it went that same direction. I would say 75% gun stuff, 25% other stuff, like artsy crafty things and food items.

Tanner/Denver has gone downhill a bit with additional shows now more commonplace in surrounding cities.

Was at the last one to meet up with a friend who has an ammo business (and decent prices) to pick up ammo I had sent him an email about a couple of weeks earlier. He likes going to the shows but jokes, "Some of what you see at the shows, some people might call pitiful."

Secondarily I was looking for holsters. There must not be anyone in the area willing to do good ones, or they don't attend the shows. Bunch of WWII type holsters and junk, but the only folks with modern ones were the one-size-fits-all nylon things.

If there had been a real holster maker there, I'd have probably bought five.

Ended up killing a couple of hours and my wife and I chatted for a half hour with another customer of my friend's who'd stopped at the booth to buy ammo also.

So it wasn't a waste of time completely, but I wouldn't bother going if I didn't have an ammo order already waiting.