Pawn shops are just as bad. I'm always looking for used Magnum Savages or any Savage really, and I just walk out with nothing, to just but a new one on sale from Cabelas or Sportsmans WH.
What happened to gun shows?
- Thread starter skookum
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Huggy
Well-Known Member
Good for the dealers with the FFL but sucks for Mr. Joe Common looking for a reasonable purchase.
Why have a Good Old Boys, FFL ONLY show and spend the money when those holders can sell online without paying to rent a table for a weekend, pay city/state taxes plus drive time, gas and wages to helpers?
Just do away with ALL gun shows would be the result and everyone would have money under that version IMO.
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I sell at gun shows sometimes and I do walk the show and look for deals when I can, but you cannot put that gun on your table and sell it for a profit as a private seller. You then become a business instead of a private seller. If the gun shows would ban flea market junk (perfume, and unrelated to guns/shooting) it would help. If people would sell at fair prices and buyers would be willing to pay them it would help too. I spend most my time buying old .22's and fixing them up, refinish and metal clean up and such. It is a hobby to fix and refinish and then a joy to sell them. I give one to a kid every show when I can find the right one with willing parents. Most people think it's a gimmick at first or set up and they freak out a bit, but in the long run I am just looking for a kid who looks at something on the table with a gleam in his/her eye. As a kid gun money was a dream for me so it is fun seeing dreams come true for kids. I also know some great, fair and honest people who run the tables around me. I also know some crooks out there as well. Believe it or not there are some fair dealers at gun shows but they are getting rarer. Look for the private sellers who don't have a super fancy set up and a mix of guns, offer a fair price and don't expect them to even want your trade in and you will come away happier. IMHO
I attended the first gunshow I"ve been to in about six years, this weekend, in fact I had some stuff to sell, so I rented a table! Things have changed, here are my observations. Private individuals trying to sell their old or unused stuff to raise money to upgrade used to be the majority of the show, they have vanished and been replaced by large dealers with 10 or more tables of new stuff in sealed boxes. Mass production AR's and cheap knok-off accessories abound. I walked the show looking for a deal on a used 12g. over/under. I found a total of three for sale at a gunshow with over 400 tables. About 20min after the show opened, I heard a gunshot, A vender blew a hole in his own hand. What happened to safety? There where several venders selling CDB oils. The only things I sold were old unused boxes of factory centerfire rifle ammo and eley practice for $5/box. Few people looked at and no-one made offers on the used guns or reloading gear, chrono's, and rests. None pf the real shooters I know from local club matches, or regulars at the range showed up, it was like a casting call for the next Wanes World movie. Now I remember why it had been so long, my wife and I left early, and didn't go back sunday.
KyCarl
Well-Known Member
The reason for me is if I'm making a relative expensive purchase..I want to see it ..hold it..really look it over. I like to trade which is much better in person! And I do Cash only
no plastic. I have my book with what I have in each item and my want list. Horse trading is a tradition here in the South and a skill! And every transaction is private not public like the net!
no plastic. I have my book with what I have in each item and my want list. Horse trading is a tradition here in the South and a skill! And every transaction is private not public like the net!
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New International Version
"It's no good, it's no good!" says the buyer-- then goes off and boasts about the purchase. Proverbs 20:14 It has been this way for quite awhile and it does not just concern guns!
Gun shows suck here in CO as well. However, I find I can get a deal every once in a while if I'm around the last 2-4 hours of the last day of the show. My best deals have been a M700 ADL with 4X Leupold for $275, an M110 Savage in .280 for $200, and the last deal a HVA 1640 6.5-06 with Leupold M8 7.5X and VXIII 3.5-10x40 for $600. Granted I haven't been to a gunshot since 2012 because I moved over 100 miles away from the closest one, so these guys are fairly old.
Before I moved out of Colorado Springs I had a pawn shop I'd buy from regularly. It wasn't a chain, just a one man shop. I bought a couple of cheap .22's off of him and some small hand tools for his full asking price. That opened the door for me as he knew I wasn't just there to look, so I bought several firearms over the years. I got a really nice rifle a time or two for a good deal and he still made money, it is called building a report with a little cash investment. It would probably work at the chain shops as well if you got the same salesperson every time to build the relationship with.
Before I moved out of Colorado Springs I had a pawn shop I'd buy from regularly. It wasn't a chain, just a one man shop. I bought a couple of cheap .22's off of him and some small hand tools for his full asking price. That opened the door for me as he knew I wasn't just there to look, so I bought several firearms over the years. I got a really nice rifle a time or two for a good deal and he still made money, it is called building a report with a little cash investment. It would probably work at the chain shops as well if you got the same salesperson every time to build the relationship with.
J E Custom
Well-Known Member
I still occasionally go to gun shows just to see what is there and what prices are like. lately most have been over priced and the flea market presents has been getting worse. with the cost of the tables they almost have to raise the prices, so some of the blame for this is the promoter charging the exhibitors two much instead of relying on the gate to make there money.
What I see happening more and more, is people paying the gate and walking around with several weapons to sell or trade. Trading is still the best way to get a deal because If the exhibitors have something you want, and you have something they want you can come to an agreement that both are happy with.
With the political climate, the tendency is to impulse buy and that can lead to some poor deals. It is best to use restraint and only buy if it is a good deal. Unfortunately
we sometimes miss out on something we wanted, but it does later save on being upset because you paid to much.
J E CUSTOM
What I see happening more and more, is people paying the gate and walking around with several weapons to sell or trade. Trading is still the best way to get a deal because If the exhibitors have something you want, and you have something they want you can come to an agreement that both are happy with.
With the political climate, the tendency is to impulse buy and that can lead to some poor deals. It is best to use restraint and only buy if it is a good deal. Unfortunately
we sometimes miss out on something we wanted, but it does later save on being upset because you paid to much.
J E CUSTOM
RAGGED EDGE
Well-Known Member
It would really be interesting to know the median age of the readers here. I grew up in the late 50s'-early 60s' and spent more time than I should have in a local gun shop owned by the family of 2 boys I went to school and hunted with. I wouldn't trade those days for anything in this world. I bought and sold a couple hundred guns between 1966 and now, some of which I still shed a tear over when they come to mind. Some of the rest of this is my opinion. Some is based on 60 years of experience.The value of a gun, or anything else in this world, is what somebody else is willing to pay you for it, period. To think otherwise is delusional. I didn't buy and sell to make money. I did it because I love the darned things. I'd buy a gun because I wanted it and would sell it because I wanted another one more. The "market" is shrinking dramatically. This is a fact I think we all have to face. The is very little money to be made in the legal gun market outside of the "highly collectible" segment.
D
Deleted member 110997
Guest
Ive always looked at gun shows as mobile pawn shops. Just now they're selling or trying to sell anything from china because you can find it much cheaper there and someone not knowing wont know any better. DHgate or wish.com is where they're getting a lot of these super cheap accessories. I know dudes who have lost their night vision mounts and instead of paying up for another and dealing with the supply they order one from china and surprising to me they've lasted.... tho i completely do not agree with this but that is happening
I got my second ever pistol, Colt Delta, at a show in the 90s for 300 dollars. I think i have been going to gun shows since trying to find that deal, or one similar. I guess these days it just ain't gonna happen. I'd rather spend 8 dollars on lotto tickets I guess, cause I didn't go to the show this weekend. CWF
Doc's Forge
Member
Gun shows around here have become a mix of 2 things; decent quality but way overpriced, and the biggest category of cheap junk that should be restricted to the flee market. Honestly as a bladesmith it is depressing to see the junk being sold at gun shows. Not that there isn't the occasional craftsman, but most is just ground from a stainless bar and not even heat treated or stress relieved after grinding. And the guns aren't any better. I see more rusty old junk for 3 times what it is worth than anything quality built and worth looking at.
D
Deleted member 110997
Guest
I think youre in the majority boat.... well at least for wise contributors to this forum you are for sure in the majority.
There's another thread in this site where someone asks a similar question because they want to know what the people do for a living to afford this hobby. To me in my work its to much personal info to divulge and this and Pinterest are my only forms of social media which for my age group is rare but not in my work. Also 99% if not 99.99999999999999% of social media harms peoples lives rather than helping. This forum is full of people I'd just be happy to follow around for a week and try to learn 1% of what they know with guns and ballistics.
