Anyone here go to Gun Shows anymore?

[tank_monkey]

I got a couple of passes to a big Show in Nevada and I went "meh"....... I ended up not taking the trip. For one, I think most items are overpriced and a lot of the vintage parts guys think their stuff is made of gold. I used to LOVE to go to Gun Shows and I always had a couple thousand in cash in my pocket, just in case I saw something that I didn't know I needed .... But nowadays. Beef Jerky for days, good selection of gun safes, Native America Art, and way too many Fudd guns.

Had anyone else here 'fallen OUT of love' with Gun Shows?

[alismith]

We used to have some really good, small shows around here, but everything got so high priced, I seldom go anymore.

[l921428x]

Same here, there used to be selection with good prices.
With the net these days just about all can figure their prices
to store prices. About all you save is shipping and some add
1/2 the cost of shipping into the sale.

[FunkyPertwee]

I haven't been to a gun show since Obama took office.

[Aggressive Perfector]

I still go on the rare occasion there's one in my area on a week day (Friday through Sunday I work). I even more rarely come home with anything more than well priced ammo or some oddball milsurp odds and ends. You're right about too much "art work", few guns of particular interest, and not to mention almost anything I take interest in the guy selling usually wants an arm and a leg for. The last time I bought anything at a gun show was my Mosin still packed full of cosmoline, and all the accessory items packed in greasy plastic bags, minus the oiler, which was wrapped in brown paper and full of cosmoline..

[ltorlo64]

I go every few months. Don't always find something to buy but I almost always find something cool to look at and touch. The people, at least the vendors, are nice to talk to as well. It is not like when I was in my teens and 20s finding all sorts of good deals, but they are still out there if you look.

[Schuetzenman]

I'll do a couple a year, but almost never purchase anything. I occasionally find a good deal on 30 round AR mags but that's about it. It's also good for getting to see and go hands on with some new tech. Seen the ACR, FN SCARs, TAVORs etc.

[mrkalashnikov]

I still go, more to look than anything else.

Though I did score a very nice 1917 Spandau Gew 98 last fall.

[Dan Morris]

Rarely, most have turned to jerky fests and tremendously over priced! What I find, I've got more of it than they have......
Dan

[Helen Keller]

only small shows.


most things Im after anymore are $$$ and rare birds so I have my 'clique' that can find me most anything if the $$ is right.






Unbathed ,waddling, mouth breather masses are not my thing.

[skorpion]

I still go once or twice a year, even though shows are pretty much boring any more. It's not like the days when one would see tables loaded with hard-to-find guns and crates of Mosins, SKSs, and Walther P-38s for sale. The internet has replaced most of my gun show needs.

[coppertales]

There are alot of shows around the DFW area. The only one I go to is the Market Hall show in Dallas. The Fort Worth shows are too expensive, 8 bucks to park and 10 bucks to get in. The days of C&R are over and now priced out of my pay scale. Cabela's prices are close to what I find at shows so I just go there and pick up what I need. Cheaper than dirt moved 40 miles away so I don't go there any more...

[Altarboy]

The last gunshow I attempted to attend had a line three to four wide and 100 yards long. I said nope and kept rolling. Back in the day you might have ten people in front of you.

[Schuetzenman]

The last gunshow I attempted to attend had a line three to four wide and 100 yards long. I said nope and kept rolling. Back in the day you might have ten people in front of you.

That's unusual, haven't seen anything like that since Obama got elected the first time.

[jakebrake]

was going to drag the wife and daughter to one this weekend. figured they'd be bored senseless.

let my daughter have a friend over, threw some ribs, burgers and dogs on the grill, did some yardwork. felt like more of a person that way.

another one in October...will stock up on jerky and garlic pickles then.

[Lightning 351]

I go when they are close to me.once in a while ill find something good.ive gotten alot of older usa,german,finnish knives that way.some were almost giving them away,lol.last time,i got a new glock 34 gen 4,nib,no paperwork for $550.00.

[imanaknut]

We have what was once one of the largest shows in the midwest that lately has become too expensive to go. Believe entry fee is $10 if not $12 and parking is $5 since it is on state property. Back when the parking was free and the entry was $5 it could be justified because several ammo sellers showed up and by late Saturday, early Sunday a price war broke out and you could get great prices. Not any more.

Same with the prices of firearms. Used stuff is on the gold standard, and new stuff is rarely marked down enough to overcome the cost of just getting in the door.

Lately from what I have been told, it no longer is the true "Gun and Knife Show" that it once was, but as my daughter likes to say, there is a lot of "and" there, as in not firearms nor knife related. Lots of someone's junk who hopes to find the buyer who believes it is a treasure.

Stopped going years ago.

The local shows have gotten bad as many sellers have been caught going to Walmart, buying the ammo and not even removing the price stickers before adding their mark-ups. Price of firearms follows the old - your trade is junk, but what I am selling is worth it's weight in gold and then some. Ammo is crazy and reloading stuff is only lately making a comeback.

I know the promoter of many of the small shows. Getting in free only makes choking on the prices and stale air bearable.

Can't say I haven't gotten a few bargains at the small shows, but that was years ago. Lately the bargain is only in the eye of the seller.

[Penguin]

I hardly ever go to the gun shows anymore which is kind of sad since I used to hit just about every one of them.

There is too much junk there now days especially since they have raised the price to 12 bucks. On top of that when it seems like 1/3 of the tables aren’t guns or even gun related stuff? No thanks, I don’t feel that is worth it. There is more and more junk at the show and less and less guns. Believe it or not I spend 12 bucks to go in and look at guns not to buy pillows.

As well I just don’t have the disposable income that I used to have. Why pay that much to go and probably not find anything you want and if you do find something good you can’t afford it.

I suppose about the only reason I go from time to time is to see if they guy selling tables and tables of books is there. If he is there I can find something good to buy if not it is a crap shoot and I don’t like wasting 12 bucks to be asked 3 times if I want to buy pillows.

[Full Otto]

It's been years now since I've been to any. Porter county, north of me, has two a year that I really liked going to
Bigger one in spring but they don't really advertise it and when I look it up I've usually missed it by a week or two
Fall one should be coming up I'll have to look this thread is a good reminder.
Gotta see if they have as much other stuff like I'm reading about here. I didn't know it had gotten that bad

[AK-J]

I mostly only go to look for stripped lower AR receivers, and occasionally to shop for particular new firearms that most shops don't carry. I get fair prices on the lowers, and I have been able to get pretty good prices on the firearms I've bought. That said, I haven't been to one in over a year.