Which is better to buy from?

[cbmyers2007]

Gun shows or gun/pawn shops. Just wondering because I'm thinking about buying a shotgun and a gun show is coming to town next week. Should I go there to buy or stick to a shop?

 

[cheygriz]

In my experience, a LARGE gun show is the better of the two.

The best, however, is to belong to a club that has a FFL. They can order new guns for you at dealer cost, and provide "booking" for guns that you can buy from Shotgun News, or the internet.

If there is no club in your area that has an FFL, it's not that hard to start one.

 

[cookie4u1]

Just like anything else there are good and bad with gun shows and shops. Get a idea of what you want and do a little research and you will be in a much better position to know when to buy. Personally I love to go to gun shows, but I do not always buy guns there. Looking can be alot of fun.

 

[Plink]

Over the years I've found good deals at both. It seems that it's a lot harder to find a good deal at a show though. Show prices just seem to be higher overall. A lot of pawn shops seem use a bit lower pricing to get merchandise to turn. Often you can get more hands on time with a gun at a pawn shop also. Check them both and see what you find! Good luck.

 

[Titan6]

+1 Cheygriz - Dealers at shows are a mixture of dealers with no shops (less overhead) and dealers with shops who are trying to move stuff that has been sitting around their shop for a while and are more likely to cut you a break.

The best deals are usually first thing when the show opens and right before everyone packs up. But good deals can be had just about any time. Pawn shops often don't care if a gun sits there forever because they make money on other things. There guns in shops near me that have been sitting there for literally years and the price is still too high.

 

[Outlaw Man]

In my experience, it's hard to divide them that way. You can get good deals and horrible deals at both. I bought my Taurus 1911 for $425 and saw it at a local gun store for $600 the next week. On the other hand, I've seen mid-priced guns go for $200 more at a gun show than most shops.

Pawn shops are probably the most likely to be flexible on the price (some aren't at all, though). They usually get the guns dirt cheap and have them marked up a lot. YMMV, though.

 

[qajaq59]

Surprised by trash

My buddy and I hit a few pawn shops a few weeks ago just to see if they even had any rifles for sale. They all a had a few. But they were in terrible shape. One was so rusty, including the barrel, that it wouldn't have even made a good "hang over the fireplace" gun. And the rest weren't much better. The prices were so high that we laughed all the way home. I really thought we'd find something good, but there wasn't one in the bunch that I would have bought for $25 much less $415.

 

[cheygriz]

The best deals are usually first thing when the show opens and right before everyone packs up.

That's been my experience too, Titan6! I think the first lesson to learn is that you must know what the gun you want is worth, and not be in a hurry to get it. Any dealer worthy of the name, can tell in a New York minute if you've "just gotta have that gun right now."

This may be off topic a bit, but I really miss the "old time gun shows where EVERYBODY was a shooter/collector, and there were darn few, or no dealers.

All (well, almost all) of the tables were manned by guys that cleaned out the basement, and wanted to their trade grand dads old 10 guage for my grand dad's old .30-30

At some of these old shows, I moved (traded) 7 or 8 guns in a weekend, and a dollar never changed hands.


The fun part was that if Pete had a pistol I wanted, but I had nothing Pete wanted, I'd ask Pete what he wanted. If he wanted a shotgun that Charlie had, I would try to make a trade with Charlie for something I had in order to trade that item off to Pete. Gun shows were fun back then.

"Ya din't make no money, but ya sure had a good time!

 

[cbmyers2007]

Well, the pawn shop I bought my Glock 17 from has ALOT of guns, new and used. I'll probably go up there this weekend and see what all they have as far as shotties go.

 

[cbmyers2007]

bump