Hit the gun show this morning

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Old Stony

New member
Two friends and I took off to a gun show this morning and gosh it was a mess ! The first thing we had to do was wait in a line that was at least several hundred feet long to get in ! Once we made it into the show, what a bunch of people...virtually elbow to elbow. I have never seen a gun show...and I'm an old guy that has attended a lot of them....with that much ammo for sale. There were virtually tables and tables full of ammo and every bit of it was WAY over priced. I saw 9mm ammo anywhere from 18.95 to 50.00 a box and 5.56 was all over the place as far as price also. One fella had 9mm reloads in bags of 100 for 60.00. I was not really in the market for any ammo, but watching the guys trying to take such advantage of other people was a bit disheartening.
I and one other of us did manage to sell one gun apiece, so it was not a total loss for us...but what a mess !!
 
That is market price for ammo. When things are in short supply— price goes up to balance it out.

Ammo is available. Cheap ammo isn’t.
 
The gun show was at Big Town in Mesquite. Some folks might consider the prices going up to balance things out, but I consider it differently. I have commented at tables about smelling a scent of sex there about as the guy at the table was trying to screw someone !!
Guys at the shows trying to absolutely screw you out of your money is someone I would do business with....no matter what. A normal markup is a lot different than some of the things selling there.
 
You have a choice... you don't HAVE to buy anything. Or, you can make a polite offer and possibly negotiate a better price. But as the prospective buyer, YOU have the power to walk away.
Finding a "deal" at a gun show? It happens, sure. But not very often. Fun to look though.
 
The gun show was at Big Town in Mesquite. Some folks might consider the prices going up to balance things out, but I consider it differently. I have commented at tables about smelling a scent of sex there about as the guy at the table was trying to screw someone !!
Guys at the shows trying to absolutely screw you out of your money is someone I would do business with....no matter what. A normal markup is a lot different than some of the things selling there.
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And what was the seller's overhead? How much did those tables cost? Hotel? Food? Gas? His time? If you didn't buy because of his pricing, that means you really didn't need any and therefore it got left for someone who might really need it.

Is a gallon of water worth its weight on gold? Maybe if you're in the middle of nowhere and dying of thirst........................someone may be in that same situation as far as ammo goes............
 
I hit one in PA today. Gotta say that you saw some cheap 9mm! I didn't see a single box of 9mm under $30, and most were more. What got me was the vast amounts of old ammo that was going for sky-high prices. The very same boxes that were about $10 15 years ago are now priced upwards of $100 (ie: Chinese 9mm and South African 7.62 from the '90s, etc.)! I hope those dealers choke on it. They bought it for pennies years ago, sat on it because they weren't satisfied selling for a modest profit, and now want to cash in on the newbie sheep who don't know any better.
I ended up with a couple of mags and a few rounds of Egyptian .303 I needed in my collection.
My "big" prize was a rusty M-1 Carbine mag for $5 that just needed a quick clean and a few spays of Rustoleum. Range test tomorrow!
Gonna be a loooong time 'til I attend another show.
 
One of these months there could be a slowly-deflating price bubble, and the rate of deflation tends to accelerate after certain 'critical masses' of semi-auto ammo create a buyers' "waiting game". Then even more anxiety.

Example: When the Newtown panic began to visibly cool off, a single seller of 7.62x39 ammo on Gunbroker offered, at the same time, about 50,000 rds. of mostly Golden Tiger. We counted the multiple ads.
The listings were in Keene, NH and she/he must have been rather 'uncomfortable'. :D The ads seem to be there for days and days.

For those of us who years ago learned to always use self-initiative (ammo and guns), the only waiting game is finding out just When a layer of stain or varnish will Finally dry on a few guns-in an air cond. room.

We had a gun show in Southaven MS, very close to Memphis, but there would have been a very slim chance of seeing the few types which I might consider buying.
But the prices.....yes, we Knew Years Ago about gun show sellers' added overhead costs :rolleyes:........would, nevertheless, have been quite unacceptable.
 
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When I go to a gun show, I'm not looking to buy modern ammunition. I'm likely searching for odds and ends, like a Herter's .401 Powermag, 10 Ga 2 7/8" shotgun shells, Ben Pearson Bushmaster or Cobra recurve bows, or a Crossman 101 airgun, items that long ago ceased production. Those are the REAL hidden gems at a gun show... vintage estate or private sale items. NOT Chinese made tactical knifes, corrosive primer 1950's Egyptian 9mm or overpriced beef jerky :D
And if you want it bad enough, it will be well worth the asking price.
 
the GUN SHOW vendor's have been holding back, they had the ammo all along, they just held on to it so they could over charge during the panic

you can really tell because they are often selling old ammo that was imported or mfg years ago

old stock that they hoarded
 
A young doctor (radiologist) I know, who lives in downtown Memphis was in an "ammo-investment" club beginning at least two years ago. I sold him a handgun, and also to his roommate, who practices Geriatric Medicine.

Did anybody else out there choose to also invest in ammo?:)
It's quite often a personal decision.

This young doctor just earned decent profits on what he chose to invest in.
It's mostly because many other people--many of whom didn't take any 'hints' during good times about having a gun and extra ammo--decided to take their chances.

He sold it now because he is fed up with Memphis crime (his MD roommate still has a bullet in his leg)
and >>>> didn't want to transport -- in his car -- many cases of this same ammo to his new home in Colorado. <<<<
 
The attitudes among ammo shoppers should become more apparent in about a week, don't you suspect?

Days, or a few weeks from now will allow today's apparent news to sink in.
 
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