Gun shows....

M

Mike38

New member
Every now and then you'll find a good deal at a gun show! Went to the local gun show this morning to pick up reloading components and hope to find a good used magazine for my Beretta 92FS that I use in Combat Pistol league. Found a 17 round magazine, not in any packaging, but marked "PB 9 Para Made in Italy". Looked new, no wear on the bluing at all. By memory only, it looked like it would fit my 92FS. I asked the lady behind the table how much? She looked at it and said how's $10 sound? I couldn't pay her fast enough. I almost feel guilty. A couple tables down I saw the exact same magazine in the package marked $30. Yep, every now and then you find a good deal at a gun show. :D
 
Mike38 great buy on the magazine, that was a steal!

My review of gun shows in my area:

34% Honest gun, knife, and accessories dealers.

33% Predatory gun dealers taking advantage of buyers that don't know any better.

30% Accessories dealers that sell "Made in China" stuff at double the price you find online.

2% Small, single booth gun dealers selling beat up guns they apparently found at the bottom of a lake or buried in someone's backyard.

1% Assorted jerky dealer.
 
Personally, I don't bother with gun shows anymore. A lot of junk, stuff I don't need or already have or had. Don't much care for the lines and the crowds either.
 
It's been years since I went to gun shows. I refuse to pay an entrance fee for the privilege (?) of seeing what someone is trying to sell me.
 
i like jerky, not fond of Predatory gun dealers taking advantage of buyers, or loud mouth gun dealers either.
 
I hit a smaller one in my area today that I've been hitting for coming up on 40 years now, with a friend that I probably attended my first at that venue with.

Wound up buying a nice little Chinese made Interarms imported copy of the little Browning SA 22 for a really good price from a conservative radio host that I listen to on talk radio every weekday afternoon.

I don't much care for the lines, crowds, fees, or the crooks... but I do still enjoy the shows. :)
 
When I lived in Indiana the Indy 1500 Gun & Knife show usually had some good deals. The gun shows in Texas are horrible. Much smaller, high prices, too many politicians wanting to talk to you.
 
It seems like most of the shows around here have neglected the private seller in favor of dealers - dealers of all sorts and not just gun stuff.
The tables are very expensive, proof of liability insurance is often required, plus other obstacles to the private collector and seller.
The folks selling stuff to clear out their garages and safes was one of the attractions in the past.
With the convenience of buying from the web, gun shows have lost much of their appeal for me.
Where I used to hit just about every one in our area, I seldom go these days.
So, am I really missing anything?
 
Gun Shows

A show I went to a couple of years ago. I was in line to get in behind a nice older woman with a couple of handguns that were her late husbands. I asked to see what she had for sale. One was a pinned/recessed S&W 19 with a four inched barrel and the other a Colt Hammerless 1903. I asked her how much she wanted and was told she would only sell them to a dealer?
I followed a discreet distance and saw her sell both for two hundred dollars. Predatory gun dealers work both ways. I'll bet both of those guns came out at the next show with $700 price tags.
:mad:
I'd have bought the S&W for the $500 I had in my pocket and left that show happy.
 
I started going to gun shows over forty years ago, I got tired of the dealers and crowds I guess, haven't had the urge to go for quite a few years.
 
Gun Shows are like SWAP MEETS

I noticed gun shows are a lot like going to a swap meet, you have to go all the time and you will eventually find something good or a good deal

If you only go a couple times a year you wont find much or any good deals

you have to be a regular to get the hard to find stuff / deals

dealers find all kinds of nice stuff because they are always there before you
and get first pick of everything that walks through the door or before it gets put on the table.


I used to find lots of good stuff at swap meets when I was a regular, but I dont go as often as I use to, some are once in a lifetime finds.
 
I've always enjoyed myself at gun shows and always will. I like seeing the many different kinds of firearms; I relish the camaraderie with like-minded folks and I look forward to spotting the "deal of a lifetime" you see every so often.
Of course, I still like reading gun magazines in spite of the scorn heaped on this practice by so many internet aficionados. :o
 
The gun shows in my area are always the same. Same merchants, same merchandise, same guy trying to sell "vintage" military clothing, same guy trying to sell really shiny but odd brass, same food vendor...

Same prices at the LGS.
 
I used to go, back in the day. But now the best deals I find are on Gunbroker. It may take a while, even a few months, but I am very patient.
 
We had one this past weekend here in my area, it was horrible...Only 2 or so dealers had anything worth looking at. Most was so overpriced that people would laugh and move on. The general public standing around the walls had much better deals than any dealer, but that is a given I guess...
 
To date I've spent more on roasted almond than guns. My second most purchased item is the roasted cashew (whenever they run out of almonds)
 
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