What the crap? (Post Gun Show Rant)

[Old Dog]

Does this match what you are all seeing?

I have a love/hate relationship with gun shows. On the one hand, I really enjoy spending a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday with a few hundred like-minded people, engaging in conversation about guns, politics and what's going on locally. Buying an way over-priced hot dog just 'cause I didn't eat breakfast and am really hungry. On the other hand, I dislike that there's seemingly rarely deals to be had, fewer and fewer table-holders who seem to actually want to help out fellow gun owners by offering forth decent deals, and the retail shops that buy tables seem to be extorting high prices from folks that don't otherwise know any better.

But, I still am able to find nuggets at my local gun shows. A minty set of J-frame grips I was looking for at a fair price. Sometimes the odd magazine I needed. Sometimes a couple boxes of good .38 wadcutters (I quit reloading), sometimes a used optic for a great price, maybe even a couple reference books I'd heard about that I was on the lookout for. And then, at least once a year, an old S&W or Colt revolver at a fair price to fill a niche in my collection.

I'm still a fan of the gun show. You may not know it, but you'll miss them when they're gone (which is gonna come sooner than later).

 

[DeepSouth]

Somewhere about ~20 years ago gun shows in this area went form having a lot of old milsurp guns and military surplus to simply having the same tools and Tupperware found in every sporting goods shop in state.
They just got boring, for lack of a better term. as a result I haven’t been to a gun show in probably 15 years, to be perfectly honest I do t know what the point of them is if they’re just going to have the same old same old, just at normally higher prices from what I’m told.

 

[Appalachiannative]

I've read stuff in this thread about paying $40 to $50 to get into a show. That alone would scare me away I've never paid more than $15! and most shows near me are $10.

 

[Scout21]

atmosphere

I've found that this is the only real reason to go anymore. If I find something cool for a decent price, sweet, but I don't plan on it going in.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Generally speaking, I have come to accept gun shows as something to do while I walk around with a friend and BS. I bought the first gun I ever bought at a gun show. I actually got a reasonable deal too. But that was 15 years ago.


I barely buy any guns now though. I have what I need. I’ve actually been purging my home and gun collection. Out with the old and………………. Well, out with the old.

 

[jmorris]

I would be more shocked to find a good deal at a gun show than I would be to just see elevated prices on goods I could order on line and have shipped directly to my house or just walk into a store and buy.

 

[Mosin77]

You can find a good deal now and again. I agree though, it’s frustrating when you see average stuff for outrageous prices.

 

[Elkins45]

If someone were only interested in buying something totally mundane, let’s say a Glock 17, the $10 admission is still probably worth it. You can see a whole bunch of different sellers and buy from the least expensive one.

 

[TitanicTortilini]

Luckily the local shows haven't devolved into flea markets, so no soap, junk, etc. The admission is well worth if you are trying to sell, consignment is slow, and shipping one as an individual gets nothing but more restrictive and expensive. I still find good deals, but I'm largely content with what I have so they aren't necessarily good deals on things I want personally.

 

[Mauser fan]

I have a relative who makes his living buying and selling antique Winchester rifles. He once told me "Buy the gun, not the story."



So what you're saying is...a lot of unmotivated sellers.

I wouldn't really say that it is unmotivated sellers. We were just pandering to the wrong crowd. The younger generations want the sexy tacticool latest wiz bang stuff. If it wasn't a little black rifle or an AK of Glock they weren't interested. If the chambering weren't 9mm, .223/5.56mm, 7.62x51mm/.308, or 7.62x39mm they just weren't interested. No one was interested in fine wood craftsmanship or anything collectable. Except for old farts and even some of them are jumping ship.

The days of fine museum quality collectable displays and historical displays are long past. Not to mention manufacture representatives displaying the newest products. It's just a sign of the times and they just don't care and the promoters have just gotten too lazy over the years.

There was a time when I was growing up that the gun show was a really big deal with hundreds of vendors and people displaying their personal collections and in regalia to give us a history lesson. I miss those days.

 

[CapnMac]

and people displaying their personal collections and in regalia to give us a history lesson.

That's moved over to "militaria" shows, which are very few and very far in between anymore. But, they still exist--if with a certain air of LARP/CosPlay about them.

 

[CapnMac]

Seventh superlative terms such as scarce or rare are really meaningless unless the production run can quantify such term.

At the FW show there was a rack of long guns with a prominently displayed trench shotgun in fairly immaculate condition.
The very prominent 5x7 tag on it declared that it was a a "Rare WWI Trench Shotgun" (despite being an 870) the green highlighter "CLONE" seeming a tad ironic coupled to "rare."

At least the inexorable march of time has seemed to erase the number of "Sgt York's 1903" and "Audie Murphy's M-1 Carbine" for sale.

 

[AlexanderA]

Don't overlook "gun-adjacent" shows, such as battle reenactments, military vehicle meets, North-South Skirmish Association, etc. You can find guns and related things there! And they have the added advantage of "arbitrage," which is a price differential for the same thing in different markets. For example, I've found MG tripod mounts at military vehicle shows for 1/3 the price they would go for at gun shows.

 

[theotherwaldo]

We only get about six shows a year in deep south Texas, the next being in August.
It's only seven dollars to get in and parking is free.
I'm not concerned about the abundance of over-priced plastic guns and other new stuff.
I go to find milsurps, classics and other serendipitous finds.
-And I find neat stuff more often than not.

 

[SwampWolf]

I still have never been to a gun show.

I find that kind of sad.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I find that kind of sad.

I dunno. I have good memories of going to gun shows with my dad. He bought me my first rifle at one just a few weeks after my 18th birthday. (Can't believe I sold that rifle to a friend for his son's 18th.) But I took my son to a gun show and it just wasn't the same experience. In 2023, if you've never been one, you're probably not missing much.

 

[Beck]

I bought this Marlin 45/70 with a Leupold 1-4x scope and 12 boxes of ammo for $600 at a small local show in early 2020. So you’ll pardon me if I disagree.

A one off score in an entire world were criminals are running gun shows and the gun industry in general is not a reasonable argument against what we're all seeing across the country. But congrats on your rare score anyway.

You can find a fair deal now and then because not everyone has lost their moral compass.

 

[Elkins45]

an entire world were criminals are running gun shows

I would love to hear you elaborate on this.

 

[Scout21]

A one off score in an entire world were criminals are running gun shows and the gun industry in general is not a reasonable argument against what we're all seeing across the country. But congrats on your rare score anyway.

You can find a fair deal now and then because not everyone has lost their moral compass.

I would love to hear you elaborate on this.

 

[Beck]

I would love to hear you elaborate on this.

No one has time to read the book I'd have to write to explain... if people don't already know.

There was a pre pandemic world that was quite different than the one we're living in now. People's fundamental professed values were tested, and our society failed with a big fat F!

It doesn't matter where you look. The opportunist criminals came out right in the open in front of God and everybody, and they have no shame.

The government closed the church doors for the first time in my lifetime. My mom is in her 90s and it was the first time our government closed the church doors in her lifetime.

There was a huge power grab during the pandemic, not only by the government, but by businesses and industries. People in power saw what they could get away with. That's why you're paying twice as much for things as you were in 2019.

There's a lot of behavioral psychology at work here. That was my degree. I can't explain it all on a post in a web forum. When we make short observations in a comment we assume we're talking to people who have a basic level of understanding, and therefore a little nudge would be all they need to become enlightened about something that's going on all around them.

Apparently that's not always the case... unfortunately.

Ok I'll put it this way. Bad behavior has increased exponentially, in big and small ways. Putin tried to grab Ukraine. Joe Shmoe, small time seller at the gun show, is taking advantage of a situation to get more of your money.

^^^ Same behavior. Same psychology. It's opportunism on grand scales and small scales. It's how people of poor character react to the vulnerability of other people.

 

[IWAC]

I went to a small show yesterday. Many "private sale" tables. 1/3 of the advertised 150 tables empty. 30 cars in the parking lot. Prices were $695 for SW Model 10 dragged behind a truck from Ocala to the show, $1400 Model 19 and $2300 6" model 27, $909 Ruger GP 100. Primers (SP and no. 41) were $80K, didn't check powder. In and out in 90 minutes and that's with a couple half hour conversations with "old time gunshow acquaintances." Joe

If you were needing, you shoulda jumped on the $80/K SPP...that's a VERY good price for primers around here...LGS price is $100/1K and up.

 

[Reloadron]

Needless to say. Prices were...unattractive. No real deals. Still...it was pretty crowded, but I didn't see a lot of buying going on. Does this match what you are all seeing?

More or less. I am seeing used guns in the $1200 range which sell new for $1000 at about any sporting goods store. That said at the last show I went to I found a guy with a box of assorted magazines I found four Colt 1911 magazines and the guy took $10 each so worth digging through the box. You can never have too many actual Colt manufacture magazines especially at ten bucks each. I also figure the sellers can price something however they wish and I have the choice to buy or not to buy.

Ron

 

[AlexanderA]

an entire world where criminals are running gun shows and the gun industry in general

That's a pretty serious allegation. Got any proof?

 

[CapnMac]

We only get about six shows a year in deep south Texas

I've seen that on the show schedules--but, if just feels so wrong to me.

Probably from memories of already being on road trips to San Angelo, Helotes, San Antonio and the like, and catching a decent show over the weekend. Even if just a smaller onw in the County Fairgrounds or a VFW hall.

 

[SwampWolf]

Joe Shmoe, small time seller at the gun show, is taking advantage of a situation to get more of your money.

And small time capitalist Mr. Shmoe is one of those worldwide "criminals running gun shows"? Whether it's a good thing or not, the internet is largely responsible for the demise of gun shows in America. I still attend gun shows because I like guns and the camaraderie to be had with likeminded fellow patriots and the, albeit less likely, possible good find.