Gun Show Hysteria

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You should Google "The Match King" sometime for some entertaining reading.

Since it was such a pretty morning I mounted the bike and road to Walmart. My fault, the .308 Federal Powershok are $12.97/box of 20 at the Staunton, Virginia Walmart. This works out to $.65/rd pretax $.685/rd with tax. I asked if it was the sale price and she said no. I asked if she had more than what was on the shelf and she pointed under the counter and said there was a whole case under there. Just in case anyone wanted to know.

Curiously WWB .223 was $23.85/ box of 40. This works out to almost $.60/ rd for .223. So for a little more you get 3X the bullet and twice the case and powder.....

I'd still be riding the wind is kicking pretty hard and it looks like some rain is blowing in over the mountains.
 
There aren't many of them around here, and the few there are don't offer any deals. Usually a mark up of 10-20% over in-store prices. Lots of junk going for premium prices and lots of snake oil salesman selling that junk as "high tech"
 
It's not cold? We've been getting down into the mid 30s at night here. I think I saw 36F a few times on the thermometer. Not to mention the freezing winds and rainstorms for the last week. It has been absolutely miserable. Then we have 95F minimum summers where you sweat the minute you walk outside.
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Sounds like heaven. Illinois is normally in the teens at night this time of year, maybe 32 during daytime. Summer heat? Yeah we get that too, along with 90% humidity. I feel sorry for you though because you have those dope smoking liberal hippy wannabe's running amok all over.
 
Sounds like heaven. Illinois is normally in the teens at night this time of year, maybe 32 during daytime. Summer heat? Yeah we get that too, along with 90% humidity. I feel sorry for you though because you have those dope smoking liberal hippy wannabe's running amok all over.
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It was 65F all day today and people were out in short sleeves. I made the mistake of wearing a long sleeved tee shirt and almost started sweating.

But then we do have a rampant hippe tree hugger birkenstock population that blames it on global warming so it sorta balances it out.
 
i quit going to gun shows last fall when i was looking to buy a kel-tec P3AT. some guys there were respectable enough, selling at or near normal prices. i did find a few things to buy, including the kel-tec, some ammo, and a couple of ammo boxes. most of the dealers were trying to sell their LCP'S @ rediculous prices, and most of the kel-tec dealers, were taking advantage of the way overpriced LCP's by jacking up their own prices. i found a dealer who was willing to sell a kt @ slighly below what i had been seeing them at locally. anyway. there were so many "oppertunists" there, it really turned me off to the gunshow circut. i am not sure if i will ever go back to one again or not. but it certainly will not be anytime soon.
 
i quit going to gun shows last fall when i was looking to buy a kel-tec P3AT. some guys there were respectable enough, selling at or near normal prices. i did find a few things to buy, including the kel-tec, some ammo, and a couple of ammo boxes. most of the dealers were trying to sell their LCP'S @ rediculous prices, and most of the kel-tec dealers, were taking advantage of the way overpriced LCP's by jacking up their own prices. i found a dealer who was willing to sell a kt @ slighly below what i had been seeing them at locally. anyway. there were so many "oppertunists" there, it really turned me off to the gunshow circut. i am not sure if i will ever go back to one again or not. but it certainly will not be anytime soon.
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You're of course free to spend your money where you want, but how exactly are "normal" prices anything other than the price someone is willing to pay for something?
 
Trudat! Normal prices are whatever the market will bear at a certain point. If someone is overcharging and the demand doesn't comport with his prices, or if there's ample supply besides him, he will soon be a lonely guy with his leftover inventory. That's the beauty of the free market system.
 
The point I was trying to make (and failed to get across) is that people could drive literally 2 miles down the road or check the internet to find out what the current price for a given item is at a large reputable dealer and even buy the item for that price. Most people at least do some research before they spend $1500 on a single purchase of any type.

I think people are getting caught up in the lies told by the table dealers who are fanning the flames to make some quick cash. Since there is a large crowd and people tend to have a herd mentality and hate to "miss out" on something "special" they are getting easily taken in. An ounce of sense and ten minutes of their day could have saved some people a few hundred dollars.
 
Also, don't forget that a lot of people figured since I made this long drive and waited in this long line and paid this entrance fee I might as well get it now and not bother with another trip and the time and money associated with that trek to buy something else when it's not that much more money. It's the sunk cost and mitigating damages thing....
 
The point I was trying to make (and failed to get across) is that people could drive literally 2 miles down the road or check the internet to find out what the current price for a given item is at a large reputable dealer and even buy the item for that price. Most people at least do some research before they spend $1500 on a single purchase of any type.

I think people are getting caught up in the lies told by the table dealers who are fanning the flames to make some quick cash. Since there is a large crowd and people tend to have a herd mentality and hate to "miss out" on something "special" they are getting easily taken in. An ounce of sense and ten minutes of their day could have saved some people a few hundred dollars.
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I see what you're saying. But to put it bluntly: too bad for them. If someone is too foolish to make their purchases using the best information they can get, they deserve to be swindled. The final decision regarding a transaction is always the buyer's. So the onus of determining if a transaction is good or not should always be on the buyer as well.

One of the biggest problems in this nation is the idea that it's the seller's job to protect the buyer from himself. The whole "housing crisis" would never have happened if that idea didn't exist. In the end, it's your job to use your money the best way you can.
 
Taurus, are you suggesting people take responsibility for their own actions? What a novel idea... too bad it will never work in our country, not now, not anymore.

(insert sarcastic tone)
 
Don't get me started on the housing crisis. I have stories I could tell...........

Let's keep this gun-related.
The last show I was at (which was also the first) was about 10 years ago.

I haven't missed one yet.

I'd rather buy locally (order, if necessary) and buy online from MidwayUSA.
 
If someone is too foolish to make their purchases using the best information they can get, they deserve to be swindled. The final decision regarding a transaction is always the buyer's. So the onus of determining if a transaction is good or not should always be on the buyer as well.
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That is not what I am saying. If someone commits fraud to make a sale by misrepresenting goods then that is considered a tort in Virginia. While only some sellers were lying about the actual goods all of them were lying about many other things as well. This makes gun dealers in general look bad.

This is bad for the industry as well. Gun shows have a shady reputation as it is. After first-time-panic-buyer Joanne Biden gets taken to the cleaners for $800 she is going to want someone from the government to step in and fix "the" (her) problem. We all know there is only one solution from the government; laws, regulations and bans that will all be ignored by the dishonest dealers and drive the honest dealers away.
 
I keep reading about the majorities experiences here and I think if everyone went with the expectation that they are what they are then perhaps you would not be so disappointed.

I can say that what most have said here holds true for most of the shows. But I still enjoy going. I go without any real expectations...I simply enjoy looking at the guns. I went to one a couple of months ago and saw some rifles with values of over $50k. I enjoyed looking at them but would never even consider buying one. But if I find something of value to me then I buy it. As far as I am concerned they are no different than going to the movies. In fact based on my experience with the movies they are making lately they have a lot in common with some of you all experiences with Gun Shows. They are not worth much:)
 
I haven't gone to a movie in at least 3 or 4 years... don't know of any Hollywood schlock that's worth my $12.50 + popcorn and drinks and parking in a tightly marked lot so they can get more cars in the same space so I can come back with my car all dinged up while dodging kids jumping around on their skateboards.
 
It seems to me that more informed one is, the better the guns shows are. I bought a Glock at the last gun show in my town a couple weeks ago. I saw the same Glock at several different tables and they ranged between $499 and $629. I bought the $499 one and would have bought two of them but the guy complained about having to do the two gun form and so I bought another one from a dealer in Cheyenne for the same $499 Christmas eve, but I had to talk them down from $530.

The key is to know the prices of guns before you go!
 
If it wasn't so crowded, and for the outrageous parking fees, and the worthless neutered stuff that is CA legal, it would be fun to go and browse. I love the characters you meet there.
 
It was 65F all day today and people were out in short sleeves. I made the mistake of wearing a long sleeved tee shirt and almost started sweating.

But then we do have a rampant hippe tree hugger birkenstock population that blames it on global warming so it sorta balances it out.
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Thats some funny stuff right there. I do really feel for you though, because we have chicago. Its full of some of the worst liberals. Luckily I live in downstate IL. I wish we could seperate and make N IL and S IL, kind of like the dakotas.
 
Well... NorCal has been talking about secceeding from SoCal but that wouldn't solve my Los Angeles problem. Berkeley and San Fran are indeed separate countries though.

The mayor of San Fran recently gave an executive order to the police department to not bother with prostitution arrests and concentrate on other stuff... in contravention of state penal code. So I guess the cops just turn the other way as the pimps and johns do their business.
 
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