I don't know why I bother with gun shows

[dakota.potts]

My family went to a gun show today. It was at a local elk lodge (nothing against the elk lodge) in a back room. It was like an after school meeting or something. $6 a person to get in. The first thing we saw when we got to the door were hand made reloads of ammo going for the same price (or more) as factory. One seller was selling Ruger 10/22 mags for $45 (knockoffs for $35) and told me I couldn't even legally hold the magazine if I wasn't 18 . Some kid looking like he was off Sons of Anarchy swaggered in, picked up a revolver, and pointed it directly at my center of mass while examining it. A guy selling a lot of very nice weapons told my dad there was only one size 1911 while ignoring the Officer series he had right in the case in front of him. Saw some Bushmasters going for $1,400. But also saw DPMS for $800 and Windham for $1,200. Also had a guy get angry with a customer who questioned him selling .45 ammo at $65 per 50 rounds. He said he wouldn't find any better prices unless you went with Chinese or Russian crap because he was all American. This as I was looking at Silver Bear Makarov loads and Tulammo 7.62 rounds. When I asked same guy if his 20mm rounds were live he said they were not, were $8 a piece if I wanted to buy them. I said not at that price and he glared at me and told me not to mess around with them then (I had pointed at one to ask him).

The other one was just vaguely disappointing with panic prices and everything gone.

Over all a bad day. Gun owners have proven themselves to be great people but at least 50% of them I dealt with today absolutely were not.

 

[M1ke10191]

That sucks man. But hey, you showed them by not giving them your business.

 

[myusername]

I stopped going to gun shows many years ago. I went to one about a year ago just out of curiosity. Waste of $5. I used to sell Saturday night specials at gun shows in Florida many years ago. It was totally different. People were helpful. Now it just seems to be gougers waiting for desperate suckers to come along.

 

[g.willikers]

The main reason to go to one is just to oogle stuff.
Not to buy anything necessarily, but just for entertainment.
Assuming the crowd allows even getting close enough to see anything.
On second thought, visiting web sites and youtube might be better.

 

[Come and take it.]

Gun shows should be like swap meets. Too many businessmen want to ruin all that by trying to get their hands involved in every transaction for monetary gain (even if it results in a universal background check).

 

[chiefr]

I enjoy gun shows.
I always go with the attitude that I am not going to buy anything unless it is a fantastic deal.
I also enjoy talking to the sellers there and looking at their stuff.
Understandably the panic has inflated prices, but unless you must have something, I would just ignore the prices as the market will take care of that.

As a gunowner, I almost feel a moral obligation to at least show up at a gun show if it is in my local community. Keep in mind, there are those in state, local, & federal government who want to ban gunshows outright. Showing up at shows is another way of showing my support for the Second Amendment and its freedom.

 

[TheNatureBoy]

I go to a gun show occasionally to look and see. I really don't need anything and thank God I don't because the prices are crazy.

 

[shuler13]

I enjoy gun shows.
I always go with the attitude that I am not going to buy anything unless it is a fantastic deal.
I also enjoy talking to the sellers there and looking at their stuff.
Understandably the panic has inflated prices, but unless you must have something, I would just ignore the prices as the market will take care of that.

As a gunowner, I almost feel a moral obligation to at least show up at a gun show if it is in my local community. Keep in mind, there are those in state, local, & federal government who want to ban gunshows outright. Showing up at shows is another way of showing my support for the Second Amendment and its freedom.

Yeah. Pretty much agree with everything here.

On a good note, I did find a good deal at the last slow I went to in May. Found a pistol 10% less than I had seen anywhere else. Traded some ammo in for part of the price. Found a belt a a good price.

I go to support the show and keep it coming back and to get some time away from the house. I never lose with a gun show.

 

[shouldazagged]

Potts, clearly you are wise beyond your years.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

I've heard rumors that there used to be "gun" shows around these parts a long time ago. All I've ever been able to find are what I call "Knives, beef jerky, Nazi memorabilia, and a couple of guns on the side" shows.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

We have decent shows. But dealers and customers can be full of baloney.

At the first Obama panic in 2008, I saw a guy sucker a dude with a Kimber in some camo paint job. He told the sucker that it was a SOCOM special that never makes it to the USA but HE had the only one in the states. Schumck bought it for $2500. The guy had another on the table later. haha.

 

[Spats McGee]

I like gun shows. There's one going on about 50 miles from me, and I'd be there if I didn't have too much other stuff going on. I go to look at the guns, talk with all the nice people who show up and, occasionally, to buy something. However, when I do go to try to buy something, I have two rules:
1) I know exactly what it is I'm looking for; and
2) I know the going market price on it.

I know enough about the things I'm likely to buy that I can identify an absolutely smokin' deal, but I decline to guess when it's a borderline good deal. If I don't know enough about the product to know what it's worth, I probably don't know enough to need to buy it.

 

[FoghornLeghorn]

I stopped going to gun shows about the time gun show attendees stopped using deoderant, brought infants in side-by-side strollers, felt compelled to stand in small aisles talking in groups of three or four, and "dealers" thought that every customer was a sucker who knew nothing about guns or gun prices.

It's just so much easier to click on gunbroker, etc.

 

[deepcreek]

I go to a gun show about once every 2yrs usually in the middle of winter when I am board. Everything is usually over priced, one old couple has awesome quality ammo cans at a good price so I usually buy a couple of those.

Usually the dealers are singing the same old song "These are the last of the _____" "better buy now" "As soon as the Senate passes _____ these will be gone"
Same old songs as 20 years ago.

 

[Old Smoker]

I took my grandson, age 11 to a gun show in Eagle River last weekend. I don't buy anything at these shows, because the sellers usually have priced themselves out of buyers with any idea of value. After leaving the show, my grandson shows me some ammo he bought. I said WHAT???? Here he, 11 yrs old was sold 5 rounds of 7.62 x39. I asked him which table he bought them from. I went back in and raised hell with the seller. A private seller. Money back and and apology. But what the heck,selling ammo to an 11 yera old. I think the moral of the story here is, pay attention to who these sellers are and what their doing. Rather than more gun control because of stupid greedy people, we as gun owners are obligated to police ourselves and our interests. Raise hell when a seller does something stupid. I sure did.

 

[44 AMP]

Years ago, the majority of people who had tables at the shows were hobbyists who came to the shows to deal/trade/buy/sell guns, and maybe make a little money. Local shops would also often have a table.

Today it seems that the people are there to make money, and dealing in guns is just them means to that end. There are, of course, exceptions, still.

As to the selling of a handful of rounds to an 11 year old, in 1965, that wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in most of the country. In 1968, it became prohibited by federal law, if you were an FFL dealer. Private sellers were not under that restriction, only existing state laws. Today it's a horror to allow ammo to get in a child's hands! How things have changed.

 

[jonnyc]

I go to most in my area and usually have a few things in mind to look for. I enjoy getting those great deals when I happen to know more than the dealer. More often than not I get things I can sell on to fund my other purchases.

 

[arch308]

I still attend a show now and then just as a past time. I never expect to buy anything as the prices are silly. Now and then I'll pick up a cool t-shirt or hard to find mag. It's fun to people watch and see what's new, well worth the $6 price tag. And every so often I find a deal.

 

[jag2]

Kind of like playing the lottery, if you don't play you can't win. Are the odds in your favor, nope, and you certainly can't expect to win something every time you play. But you can do okay from time to time and I've got the winners on my wall to prove it.

 

[dakota.potts]

I love to go and look myself as well as talk to people. For that to be worth the price, though, there has to be things to look at and people worth talking to.