Popped my Gun Show cherry today.

HarryPottar

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First off let me say that this post is not meant to offend anyone just a newbie inexperienced observations.


My son and I are new to shooting and all things related, so neither of us had ever been to a gun show before, so today we took a farther and son road trip up to Concord NH.


Let me also say that our expectations where high, we heard all the urban legend and myths about gun shows in the land of the free, unicorns, rainbows, Willy Wonkers Chocolate factory all come to mind.


Expectations shattered as there where no bikini clad buxom body amazonian women handing out fully automatic 9mm Uzi’s at the front door, just Boris and Doris hand stamping for $8. WHAT HAPPENED New Hampshire???


So we walked the hall up and down each row looking for that mystical bargain, that mis-priced Performance Center 911 for $250. But no joy, no bargains to be had anywhere.


Noticeably powder, primers and bullets a "lot" more than what I just paid at my localish gun store. Now I do my home work where I can and there a few items on my wish list that I keep an eye out for that deal of the century.


Like the NIB Walther 9mm PPS I picked up last Wednesday for $379. I’ve been looking for Walther PPK/S, a 22 pistol plinker (Colt Rail, Walther P22, Ruger SR 22 etc), I’m after a M&P 15-22. I just missed a Performance Center 15-22 selling for $460, some one beat me to that one.


I’m talking super deals like a M&P15-22 for $325-$349 range. What I found was lots of arms at more than I see in my local store. Some a lot more, there may have been bargains to be had, I may have missed them going up on Sunday and not Saturday, may have been bargains in things I wasn’t looking for, however nothing for us.


There was a lot of war memorabilia and collectors guns, I can not speak to price as I’m not in to that side of things. Lots of knifes that seemed on the high side, again thats just me.


We left some 90 minutes or so later with nothing but a fake tattoo to show for our efforts. On the way back down we stopped off at Riley’s and Shooters Outpost, both places packed, we noticed a lot of people from the gun show, I would say these two stores did well this weekend from people with money in there pocket to burn from the show.


The prices at both stores where a lot better than that of the show, Shooters Outpost had a labour day sale. Spent a couple of hundred on some odds and ends for my reloading room, some cheap 556 and my son picked up some 5.11 tactical trainer/boots that where 20% off.


Had nice day out with my son, breakfast and dinner on the road, next time I promised we would go to a diner with table and chairs. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to another Gun Show, I might go to the one in Braintree in a few weeks as that is close.


Popped my cherry too early, should have listened to my Mother and waited for the right one to come along, maybe Vermont as amazonian women handing out silencers.


harry
 
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Experienced the same at my first gun show. All the bargains must of walked out before I got there. As I didn't see any.
 
I nailed a sweet deal yesterday on Swede Mauser...plenty of great deals there yesterday...and Sunday is usually better.

If you go in there looking for a new Nighthawk for $600...you will be disappointed.
 
You have not been to a gun show until you walk by the guy that smells like swamp ass.
 
You have not been to a gun show until you walk by the guy that smells like swamp ass.

Thats my wife that smells like that! Not me.

Really gun shows are generally or used to be just that. A place for us to take a gander at guns we might not see any other time. Along with other odd items.

I will go to a show if it falls on a weekend of bad weather. I have a list of items I'm always looking for or parts and just anything that catches my eye. Deals can be had cash still has some pull.
Last plymouth ma show I went to guy had buckets full of 20 round pre bans for 35$ each.
30 rounders where selling but no one was going for the 20s. As I walked by the vendor again I said " I got 100$ in my pocket I wanted to spend today, will you take 10$each for the 20 round mags"
He took the 100$ and asked me to try not to take all the colt mags.
I also scored some 8mm mauser and 1903a3 parts at Wilmington few years ago...

You need to make the day of it. Early start nice breakfast, list of half dozen shops to hit to and from
Go to lunch and get back in time for a pit stop at the range... I don't look for deals but take the time to find things I need and venture to places I have not been. My dad used to bring me to a gun show in NH in the 80s high school first floor every room was filled. Forget the town. It was cool. In there for hours sometimes. My dad always found stuff he wanted or needed.

The good thing is time with your son with a common interest. I never said no to going fishing or shooting related activities with my dad. It was always time we got along and everything was good.
Can't say that for the motocross days or trying to wake him up for early practice.....
 
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Gun shows used to be fun, but post Sandy Hook every ******* with a table and a $60 box of .22lr thinks they can still rape the panic buyers, it's lame.

I am hoping that someone opens an FFL as kind of a hobby in the area and goes to these shows and just blows everyone there out of the water on products people actually want, not like the tables that look like a 1980's army navy store vomited all over them.

[wink]
 
OP, you summed it up well. Sorry your expect ions were not in line with reality. Riley's and shooters will always beat gun show prices in my experience. It's a fun place to walk around and look but I seldom spend anything more than the door price.
 
You have to realize that the price marked is not necessarily the selling price. Anyone who says bargains can't be found at these shows has not practiced the art of negotiation. First things first though, the real bargains will be gone in the first few hours of the first day. The second day is when you go to make deals on everything else and avoid the ridiculous crowds of the first day, the dealers don't want to have to pack everything up again and haul it back home. Use that to motivate them with a reasonable offer on something you want. Come back again after an hour or two if they declined the first time and try again if its still there. Use CASH, put it in their face. I went to 4 shows in the beginning of the year and scored bargains at each one. They are there but you have to look/work for them.
 
Gun shows use to be a place where you could get real bargains but not any more. Most small gun shops have the same guns at $25-$100 less.
Gun shows are good for bits and pieces and a few rare "deals" can be found but don't expect much! Most of the dealers when they set up (before the show is open to the public) check out the other dealers, adjust their prices and get any real deals that are around.. that's why prices among the dealer are always so close!
That being said, its a place to see tons of guns .. and every show I have gone to , I gave found some small deals well worth the price of admission!
 
Gun shows used to be fun, but post Sandy Hook every ******* with a table and a $60 box of .22lr thinks they can still rape the panic buyers, it's lame.

I am hoping that someone opens an FFL as kind of a hobby in the area and goes to these shows and just blows everyone there out of the water on products people actually want, not like the tables that look like a 1980's army navy store vomited all over them.

[wink]

I wish army navy stores were like they used to be in the 1980s. They used to have actual army surplus as opposed to all this nylon cordura new production non-army shit that they sell at full retail these days. That's pretty much all I've seen at army surplus stores near me anyways.
 
I wish army navy stores were like they used to be in the 1980s. They used to have actual army surplus as opposed to all this nylon cordura new production non-army shit that they sell at full retail these days. That's pretty much all I've seen at army surplus stores near me anyways.

Even in my age group (I am mid 30's) I've seen a decrease in good army-navy stores. It went from being most of the store, to being half and half, to a small corner of actual surplus while everything else is "north face" or something similar. I guessing new carp has a bigger mark up then surplus stuff these days (and I bet that the .gov is letting much less stuff be sold to civilians)

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Yes the glory days of gun shows have ended. Unfortunately your son missed the opportunity to go someplace like Marlboro and stand in the rain for 3 hours to get in hoping to score some of the rumored 22LR ammo that dealers had supposedly stacked 5 cases high on their tables only to find that it had all been sold.... (apparently while you were standing in line) so you were left to stare at the $800 Glocks that your local store wouldn't sell you.

Ah... the good old days.
 
Last show I had been to, one vendor had a Smith 4506 that looked like it had been flushed and retrieved from a sewer. I think they were asking $650 for it. Shook my head and walked...
 
Gun shows used to be a lot better,price wise.

I used to go to every show and buy ammo,never bought a gun at a gun show..I used to get amazing deals on ammo and that is how I got the majority of ammo I have.Haven't bought ammo in years and I only go to the Marlboro show because it is close,and I usually just look at knives..If there is a good deal on ammo I will buy it,but I have yet to find what I consider a good deal.

First things first though, the real bargains will be gone in the first few hours of the first day.

Wrong.

The best deals are done before the doors even open,dealer to dealer.

the dealers don't want to have to pack everything up again and haul it back home. Use that to motivate them with a reasonable offer on something you want.

Lol,that may have been true 20 years ago,but not anymore..Even back when I used to go to every show I would see the same dealers with the same overpriced crap year after year.

Gun shows used to be fun, but post Sandy Hook....

I guess you haven't been going to shows that long because they started sucking before Obama got elected,and the prices and dealers have been getting more tarded ever since.

When I say sucking,I am talking about prices,not selection.
 
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Pretty much all prices at gun shows are negotiable. I rarely even look at the new guns anymore, I already know what they all look like. I mostly check out much of the other crap to see what I didn't know I needed. I go about every other year just to wander around.


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Just to give you an idea, I saw an M&P 15-22 standard, not MOE or PC version. The dealer wanted $499, Mass Firearms as them for $438 thats credit card price, discount for cash and not a bad price.

Sportsmans outdoor superstore as them $379 MA Complaint, free shipping and no tax and they have an approved list of FFL dealers in MA they will ship too. They do float in and out of stock all the time. However I've seen post where they go on sale now an again for $325, thats the bargain I'm looking for. Maybe it's a pipe dream, but I keep my eyes and hears open, the bar as been set so low now that I find it hard to pay over $400.

I didn't try but I would be very surprised if any dealer would negotiate that low and I understand buying power and making a living, I'm not asking anyone to not make a profit.

Don't get me wrong, we both enjoyed the show, lots and lots of things to look at that you would not normally see else where. Interesting bayonets, swords, parts to make AR15, some tactical displays, some really nice looking guns way above my pay grade. Nice looking at things we're not deemed mature enough to own in MA, I like Sig Sauers MPX I like this style of gun.

Not a waste of time, my own expectations of myths and urban legends imagination got the better of me, took cash and truck expecting it to be in the shop for new springs on our return.

Thanks for all the input, might see some of you at the Braintree MA show, I'll be the one running from the dealer I just low balled, dodging the 15-22 it's test firing on my tail.


harry
 
I stopped going to gun shows about 5 years ago......

Just not worth (my) time and effort because of the pricing (IMHO).
 
I did the same with my son at about age 15. He loved the show. It's a great father son day. But... finding hot women in bikinis, bargain firearms, clean bathrooms or 72 female virgins at these shows is mostly a myth.

I will admit, however, the way some of these guys smell there may be 72 male virgins on premise...
 
I did the same with my son at about age 15. He loved the show. It's a great father son day. But... finding hot women in bikinis, bargain firearms, clean bathrooms or 72 female virgins at these shows is mostly a myth.

I will admit, however, the way some of these guys smell there may be 72 male virgins on premise...
Yep... if it wasn't for those gunshow loopholes that let me buy automatic weapons with a drivers license and no background checks it wouldn't be worth it.
 
You guys do it wrong,I've been going to shows since '94 and really have not noticed a whole lotta difference....the only thing that kinda stinks is there is a few shows that no longer exist.
 
Thanks for all the input, might see some of you at the Braintree MA show, I'll be the one running from the dealer I just low balled, dodging the 15-22 it's test firing on my tail.
Just know that Braintree is not a big show. It's a club show with just a few local vendors. I'd only go if I needed a Hunter's Trading Post 10% off coupon (and even those might not be there). You really need to hit a Marlboro show or a Wilmington show. Those are the best MA has to offer.
 
every now and then I feel like I need to go to a show but then I read a thread like this and I'm good for another year or two.

I can't imagine it's much fun working one of these shows trying to make a profit either. I can see they're great for non-profits like GOAL and such but for vendors to haul all that crap there and set it up just to stand around for couple days then break it all down then bring home like 99% of it sounds like pure hell. A local dealer asked me if I wanted to go to one but I think he wanted me to carry all his stuff in exchange for getting in free. um, no.
 
Thanks for all the input, might see some of you at the Braintree MA show, I'll be the one running from the dealer I just low balled, dodging the 15-22 it's test firing on my tail.

harry

My Wife and I (both members of BR&P) will be there on Saturday, working the show as volunteers for the club. Say hi!


Just know that Braintree is not a big show. It's a club show with just a few local vendors. I'd only go if I needed a Hunter's Trading Post 10% off coupon (and even those might not be there). You really need to hit a Marlboro show or a Wilmington show. Those are the best MA has to offer.

There may be some surprises this year. Last year was our first show in many years and vendor interest was pretty low. But a number of members rented tables and sold off their surplus items. I scored some M1A/M14 pre-ban mags for $25 each, some scopes and mounts for AKs, etc. for cheap money as well. I spent more and got better deals there (which really surprised me) than I had in 10 years of "real" gun shows at Marlboro or Wilmington.

This year the organizer has told us some out of the area dealers have rented tables, both guys that do ear plugs said that they wanted to be there (they were warned about their competition also being there), the guy that does those awesome wood carvings out of tree stumps expressed interest (but was unsure if he can make it this year but definitely said he'd be there next year), etc.

Yes it's a small show (100 tables) vs. 300 at Concord NH or the 3-400 typical at Marlboro. But if you find what you want at a good price that is what makes a good show and I doubt that you'll find a lot of non-gun vendors at BR&P. And admission isn't an obscene $12 either! Similarly, Holbrook runs a good show (usually May and November), don't know how many tables, but I find it a worthwhile show to attend when I can.
 
First off let me say that this post is not meant to offend anyone just a newbie inexperienced observations.

The prices at both stores where a lot better than that of the show, Shooters Outpost had a labour day sale. Spent a couple of hundred on some odds and ends for my reloading room, some cheap 556 and my son picked up some 5.11 tactical trainer/boots that where 20% off.


Had nice day out with my son, breakfast and dinner on the road, next time I promised we would go to a diner with table and chairs. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to another Gun Show, I might go to the one in Braintree in a few weeks as that is close.

harry

lol, I think I saw you in there fitting 5.11 boots with your son.
 
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