Worst Gun Show Ever

Maybe 10 years ago summer show attendance around here was always lighter than winter and not nearly as many tables. More things to do on the weekends in the summer than in the winter I guess. Summer attendance back then wasn't driven by panics so much either.

One thing I have noticed but might just be my perception (or bad memory). Back then I always recognized probably 80% of the faces walking by. Now days it's probably more like 20%. It seems like most of the old crowd quit coming and the new crowd must not come often enough for me to remember them from show to show.
 
I haven't been to a gun show in Columbus in years due to the cost vs what I see. The last couple had tons of beads and crap with few guns or ammo deals.

I do think GunBroker/web is killing the local deal.

When I was a kid in MT, I remember gun shows as where the local dealers could move their off shelf inventory. Basically, lots of non-premium used guns at great prices. There were some nicer pieces too, that were just hard to sell in a quick sale storefront.

The same was true for overstock ammo.....often at good prices.

This is also where reloaders could have a heyday. Bullet and brass guys would show up with truckloads of inventory at reasonable prices.

Now all these guns are moved online. Buying and selling is so common that I'd better pawn brokers and dealers get fewer nice used guns. Brass is sold on Facebook of smaller websites. Bullets are big business in usps if it fits, it ships boxes.
 
I never go to them anymore, I have never made a purchase. I have never been to one that had anything close to a reasonable price; a fair amount of vendors had items that weren't even Remotely REALISTICALLY priced.
 
I see lots of complaints that someone can't find a "good deal" on whatever it is someone is looking for. I've been going to guns shows for a very long time, but never thought anyone lugged all their stuff down to a gun show, paid for tables, set up, tore down and reloaded unsold inventory, to give me a good deal. I have occasionally encountered a serendipitous deal on a gun, ammo, accessory, etc. Great! But I never went to a gun show just because I figured I'd find a good deal on anything. Always just went as, what used to be, a relatively inexpensive way to indulge my interests for an afternoon.........ymmv
 
Many years ago I used to attend local gun shows as often as I could. Always good deals on both guns and ammo. In the last 5 years I have attended one show and that was only because a group of my shooting buddies felt the need to go so I joined them. The cost of parking and the price of admission alone would kill any good deal, if you could find one. I find that the shows are always very crowded here in South Florida and most buyers do not know prices or are impulse buying. No deals on guns. I used to go for the ammo deals and there are no deals on ammo. Much cheaper to buy online.
 
I have a gun show less than 5 minutes from my house several times a year. Haven't attended in over five years. The last time I went, the prices and selection were both pretty poor. The last straw was that, after browsing most of a morning to find something I wanted (some affordable mags), I stood there with money in my hand, eventually waving it up and down in front of the person attending the booth, and he wouldn't get off his telephone to complete the transaction. I could overhear enough of his conversation to know that it was a personal chat with no substance or urgency. After a couple of minutes of that, I put the magazines back where I got them and left. Quite literally haven't been back to a gun show since. Bought the mags I wanted online. I paid a little bit for shipping, but the people I dealt with were friendly and courteous.
 
Oh, the tragedy.
Once upon a time, long long ago, flea markets had rows and rows of gun stuff.
Now, even the flea markets are pretty much gone.
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Not where I live. There are always several guys, with no FFL, selling from their "personal collection". Most have idiotic pawn shop prices, but I have snagged a few good deals, like a S&W K17 (22 Masterpiece) that looked like it had barely been shot - girl was selling her late dad's guns.
 
skywag said:
Internet is killing Sears, Kmart, Nordstrom (thankfully)..................and gunshows.
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Maybe that's the case now but years ago before really good deals could be found online gun shows could not even compete on price with most of the LGS.

Maybe the golden age of gun shows was in the 70, 80, or 90's? all before my time.
 
The prices are high
There's fees
The vendors are jerks
The browsers are jerks
Never been a golden age of gun shows in my book, or I've picked the wrong ones at various times and places.
 
Free parking
$7.00 admission
The 1 vendor with a large selection had fair, not outrageously cheap or expensive, prices but said he had sold 2 guns.
Alas this was my last show.
 
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Internet is killing Sears, Kmart, Nordstrom (thankfully)..................and gunshows.
Click to expand...

It's really not. I've been attending gun shows since the late '80's. What I have noticed is every now and then there are "trends" where everyone at a gun show is selling the same stuff. Yes, that is boring. I remember there being SKS's on every other table. Then, I recall the Neutered AK's with their bayonet lugs cut off. Neutered Colt HB AR's. Thumbhole AK's. The hoards of Polytech M14s'. Swiss K-31's.

I would get bored seeing all of this stuff on every other table. Now, it's AR builders - Everything AR. That was fine while I was building a couple of AR's, but now I'm done. When the AR manufacturers figure out that no one is buying, gun shows will get a bit more interesting. Hang in there. Unless Libs shut down gun shows, you'll hit some that you really appreciate.
 
You are right, Skans, but the truth of the matter is that the internet has ruined a lot of how we buy things. Pre-internet, if we needed a mag or gun part or hard to find caliber we'd hit the shows and search high and wide. What other choices did we have? If your LGS couldn't get it you had few other choices than hitting the gun shows. Now, all you do is type in what you need on a search engine and you can have it in your hands in less than a week.

Personally, I love today's shopping because if I want something... anything, I can usually find it and even shop prices before I buy. I do feel sorry for the mom and pop stores of yesterday who were forced to close when they decided to rely on reputation than computers but the saying goes that you either adapt or perish. I'm sure the Bud's of the world started out as a local gun shop and they ran with an idea. Amazon has spoiled us with their free shipping..... order it today and get it tomorrow and not pay shipping! That is amazing. Shopping the gun shows looking for that obsolete part, gun or ammo still has it's mystique but the days of depending on gun shows for our needs vanished when Al Gore invented the internet. :rolleyes:
 
Come on Larry, gun shows are still lots of fun, even post-internet. At my last one I found a very low serial number Dan Wesson, with original box from the 1960's!

At another gun show, I found the 44th Colt Mustang ever made with serial number MU00044, with genuine Ivory Grips. I paid too much for it, but I consider it a great find!

I've had my fun shopping for cheap AR parts and for knock-off Eotech sights too. I also like to look at the knives - some really nice forged damascus ones. Oh, and some really interesting vintage switchblades.

My daughter and I even liked looking at the new "high-tech" spinners - yes, stupid, but cool too. About every 3rd gun show I go to (and I still go to a lot of them), I find something that just grabs me and begs to be taken home.

In the early days of attending gun shows, I was very focused on finding that one gun or part I was looking for. Now, I will look at anything I might find interesting - I'm a lot more open minded about what I might be interested in.
 
I'm a recent guy. I went to some shows when I was really little with my dad but don't remember much. I've been seriously going to shows since around 2015, multiple shows every year since then.

The last few shows since the recent election have been the worst I've ever seen. Definitely a correlation.
 
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