What's up with our gun shows?

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Our local shows are put on by C&E Guns shows and have nearly nothing when it comes to reloading/casting equipment or supplies. If I had to guess, I would say new guns make of the majority of the offerings with the remainder being enough used guns, overpriced ammo (except the bulk guys), holsters, knives, and tacticool accessories to select from for most folks. But, to find a single primer, would be practically impossible.

The next closest gun show is put on by Mike Kent Shows in Fletcher, NC. Anyone know if they have more in the reloading/casting dept?

[BD]

Same with the Eastman shows in SC and GA. It's the show promoters agenda that is represented at the show. They make the call on who gets the tables. If I was to make an overly broad generalization, I'd say that the shows in the south east are oriented to selling new guns, while the shows in the north east are more oriented towards "collectibles", parts and supplies.
BD

[Baja_Traveler]

Yea, well - at least you have mostly guns at your shows. For over a decade we have had to put up with mostly swap meet **** and cheap costume jewelry at our shows (Crossroads of the West). Actual guns making up maybe 50% of the tables if we're lucky.
But - that said, I can always depend on powder and primers in the tent outside the exhibition hall, so maybe we don't have it all bad...

[Frank46]

Here in Louisiana you have some dealers that sell mil surps of varying kinds. But by far are those
who sell either new guns or those in the upper price range used ones. When winchester went out of business all winchester firearms had their prices jacked up this was for either new or used. Saw the same happen to marlin lever actions as well. There are a couple dealers who specialize in higrade S&W's and colts. Prices are top dollar. One dealer whom I bought my 24-3 3" lew horton 44 special will dicker somewhat on prices the other will not. Then you have the beef jerky, candles, t shirt folks. Frank

[bob208]

same around here. if it is anything it is all tactical this and tactical that. cheap pocket knives. with the under 30's there is only afew gus made glock., sig, ar and ak. the only cals. are 9mm,.40 .223 and 7.62x39. they go through ammo so fast that they don't have time to reload or cast.

also with everything online it is hard to find a bargin. if the guy on gunbroker wants $500 for it i am going to get the same.

[captaint]

About 75% of our gun shows here are the same way. There are, however, 3 or 4 shows each year that have all the primers, powder, dies, ammo boxes etc. that we want. Generally, I only attend the good ones. I mean, spending 10 bux to get in, you better find something to buy, right ??? enjoy Mike

[dragon813gt]

None are worth my time by me. Over priced admission to be shoulder to shoulder w/ Darwin award winners to look at over priced firearms. I stopped going when the line to get in became at least an hour wait.


Brought to you by TapaTalk.

[dragonrider]

Many shows in this area are inundated with cheap *** chinese knives. More tables with junk than tables with guns on them.

[KCSO]

Thank your insurance companies. We have a small gun shop in a small town and for uus to handle powder or primers (Hazmat) we would have to pay an additional $6000 a year in insurance. Guess why we don't take powder and primers to the gun show. Now if you can't sell powder and primers how much call are you going to get for reloading equipment and as to bullet casting, remember we are the chosen few and less than 10% of reloaders cast bullets. Now when we buy used reloading equipment we have someonne waiting for it when it comes in so none of that goes to the local gun show.

Now that is reason #1 #2 is current cost to small dealers. I can buy powdder and primers at Cabela's cheaper than dealer cost unless I can afford to order say 50,000 primers. Then i pay shipping and hazmat and I can sell them almost as cheap as Cabela's. So I buy 50,000 primers and take them to the gun shoow and sell them for 10% markup and have people stream by all day saying,"Hey I can buy them cheaper at Cabela's". And I go home with 50,000 primers.

Boottom line iif it isn't there it's because there is no profit in it for the small dealers.

[Rio Grande]

You gotta pick your shows.

For instance here in Houston we have shows almost every weekend. But the only one worth going to in my opinion is the 3 times a year Houston Gun Collectors Show.
Yes, it is expensive to get in, $8 plus unreasonable parking fees. But worth it.
Long wait too.

Any show can be good though if you watch out for the individual bringing something in to sell or trade. After they get insulted by dealers offering 1/3 of the items worth they are likely to sell at a reasonable and fair price.

I think back to when FFL dealers were not allowed in shows. Then Mom and Pop tables had real treasures along with unusual stuff. More interesting characters selling back then too.

Oddly enough, the best recent show I attended was in California, in Glendale. Lots of used casting and reloading items. Good prices on hard to find used guns.

I'd like to see new shooters clubs form and have their own shows, members and guests only. That harks back to the very first shows and would be fun.

[Kraschenbirn]

In this area, what pass for 'gunshows' haven't been worth the price of admission for several years. Everything in the way of guns seems to be either new, 'tacticool' stuff or worn-out junk that's being offered as 'collectible' simply because it's old. So far as reloading equipment/supplies...fugetabutit!! Even the Indianapolis 1500 Show has gone pretty much the same way...tons of new plastic, cast aluminum, and stamped steel but, maybe, a dozen tables (out of 1500) with any reloading components/gear, at all.

On the other hand, the fault doesn't lie exclusively with the sellers and gunshow promoters...they're only providing what the majority of their customers want. A few months back, the club where I shoot tried what Rio Grande suggested and put on 'in-house' show/swap meet at our range. Guess what...outside of folks with stuff to sell/trade no one else showed up and, afterwards, there was apparently considerable complaining to the club officers about the range being closed to shooting during the event.

Bill

[Boyscout]

Lack of quality cast bullets for sale is the main reason I began casting. Our show in Indy is once a quarter and it's belly button to bottom getting through the thing. One booth carries Lee casting products and a couple others sell brass. For the most part I have to depend on one shops more than 30 miles away from home and companies like Midway and Graffs.

There is no RCBS/Lyman/Saeco in any of the booths.

Oh yeah, and you can get the lots of the Flea Market stuff.

[km101]

In the Dallas-Ft Worth area we have local shows every weekend too. I go to a few each year if they are close, and have no trouble finding primers, powder and used reloading equipment, but it is usually at retaip +. If I am going to try to stock up or make a major purchase, I wait for the Dallas Arms Collectors shows that are put on 4 times a year at Market Hall. Huge show, greaat variety and you can find almost anything at a decent price!

Most people are within driving distance of a major metro area. So pick your show, and get your stuff! Dont patronize the shows that only have junk, or dont carry what you want! If you dont go they will either go out of business or wise up and carry a larger variety. Its your money, spend it where it does YOU some good!

[Revolver]

The shows here usually have about 5 tables of interesting stuff. I don't really have much interest in new stuff other than primers & powder.

[1Shirt]

KCSO's logic is sound and well thought out!
1Shirt!

[gsdelong]

Went to asheville, nc show in July and purchased 8 unused older Lyman molds including 2 hollow points at a very good price in first 5 minutes on Saturday morning.

Went to show in Hickory, NC 2 weeks ago and same guy said he had not seen a mold since, did get a good deal on some .243 LEO range brass 280 pieces in federal boxes same lot.

I travel a lot and tell my wife that 1 in 10 shows I go to have something I really want.

Therefore we need to go to 100 shows ASAP[smilie=w:

I used to be leave the best way to find something I cannot live without at the Flea Market was to ride the motorcycle and have no way to get it home.

In Indiana I always look for the club shows and make sure I am there 30 minutes before opening.

[Houndog]

I live on the other side of Sam's Gap from you and almost all our shows are sponsored by RK shows. Firearms dealers are in the minority and WAAAAY overpriced! Unless you want cheap Chinese made knives, siding for the house or worn out surplus junk, keep your money and go somewhere else!

[gsdelong]

Houndog, I was just through there on my way to Asheville and had some great pizza and beer at Knight's. My wife and I love that area through there.

[uscra112]

Those old, interesting guns which I used to be able to see and touch at shows are now all on Gunbroker at prices that make your ears pop. Big shows now are acres of Glocks and AR-clones, new-made shotguns, "survivalist" foodstuffs, ninja-wannabee toys, beef jerky, and carport-commando accessories. The reloading supplier I used to frequent at my favorite Michigan show has disappeared.

I reckon KCSO has it pegged as far as the reloading stuff is concerned. I have no gun store near me that carries anything I need, and it's doubtless because the cost of carrying inventory is such that Internet buying is much cheaper. This isn't just gun stuff. I went to price a new coil for my Stihl chainsaw the other day. $90+ at the local dealer, $45 on the Web, plus about $7.00 freight. What would you do? I'm not made of money, and I can wait 2-3 days to get it. The world is changing.

I too don't bother going to shows any more, except for one local one that's fortuitously located near where I do my grocery shopping, so I burn no extra gas. It's table fees are low enough that an ordinary collector who wants to display a dozen guns and maybe sell two or three can afford to be there. Might even rent a table myself one of these days.

BTW in my not-so-humble opinion Cabela's ain't even close to being cheap. I won't go in one even if milady is shopping next door.

[abunaitoo]

We have only two gunshows a year here.
Very little reloading equipment for sale.
Not much in part too.
Mostly black gun stuff and non gun stuff.
But it's all we have.
I was lucky to catch the Last Great Western Gunshow in Pomona kalafonicate.
That was like heaven . So much of everything. It was what I always thought a gunshow should be.
Even got to talk to Tom Selleck there.
Started making plans to go the next year when they outlawed it.
To bad. Our group spent a bunch of money there. Hotel, restaurants, stores, two van rentals, and many other expences.
They just didn't want our gun dollars.

[9.3X62AL]

I'm not a fan of gun shows generally, the Pomona shows at L.A. County Fairgrounds became 10% LASD/BATFEd snitch shop and 90% churro and T-shirt vendors. I do hit the Reno Gun Show about once a year, and I certainly hope that next time I stay at the Grand Sierra for the Show that the place DOESN'T run wall-shaking techno music until 2 A.M. again. Leave that s--t in the Bay Area. It turned the hotel tower into the world's largest tuning fork for 5 hours. That sort of thing will crank off earthquakes in fault zones.

[Olevern]

Went to the Rochester, NY show last weekend. Waste of time. Was looking for several things including a Weaver style base for a handi rifle. Saw a display of them behind a table, looked like pretty old stock, asked about the base I was interested in, man looked at a fitment chart and said he had one, then handed over a base for the Chipmunk rifle. Before I got it in my hand and saw what it was, asked price, he said $22.00. I thanked him and told him "no thanks, besides, that is not the correct base."

He looked on his chart again and asked me "Is there any other model number on the rifle, 'cause I have a model 58 and 158 listed?"

I just thanked him and left. Didn't know what he was selling, priced at well over retail and tried to sell me the wrong base.

Moved on and looked for a source for reloading powder and primers, unable to find a single table with more than a couple of cans of partially used powder and no primers.

Also looking for .25-20 brass, but didn't find that either.

Hardly worth the effort to go, and charged $8.00 apiece for the two of us (I took one of the boys I mentor) entrance fee. At least I didn't have to pay for parking, as some of the larger venues have been charging.

Drove 45 minutes each way to pick up the boy, then an hour and a half to the show; what a waste. Of course the boy, not knowing what he was looking at, after the first four or five tables of looking at rifles (they all looked the same to him) got bored and complained so I spent considerably less time under the roof as I might have had I been by myself.

Left after about 45 minutes or an hour, took the boy to WalMart to spend the birthday money I had given him in a card, where he made some good choices and bought himself a nice pair of workboots (plus a light device to afix to the spokes of his bike).

I was pretty pleased with his choosing to buy something practical and that he needed with no prompting from me, I left his spending of his birthday money up to him. He explained that the boots could give his relatively new sneakers, his only other footwear, a break and make them last longer if he wore the boots after school and particularly (hint) "when you take me hunting". Pretty sound thinking for a just-turned 11 year old.

[Texantothecore]

Most reloading components are sold by internet. Probably 95% and it is getting more and more difficult to find reloading equipment at gun store as well as gun shows.

I haven't been to a gun show in years.

[Philngruvy]

Went to asheville, nc show in July and purchased 8 unused older Lyman molds including 2 hollow points at a very good price in first 5 minutes on Saturday morning.


I went to the same show but could not get there early due to chores with the horses etc. There were quite a few booths with powder and primers but I did not really see any bargains. I did pick up a used Lee hand primer tool for a decent price. I was really disappointed in not finding any Civil War weaponry. Mostly, it was a waste of my time to drive the hour and a half to go there.

[Mike in TX]

San Antonio TX has a monthly show that used to be decent then went downhill. Obviously Saket smartened up and it is now more gun oriented. Problem is that the prices are out of sight for reloading and prices on rifles out of this world. Tactical and new pistols are the rage.

There is a show that comes in every 3 months and it is a decent show, I believe out of Houston.
They still have too much junk but there are more tables than the monthly show and some of the pricing is better.

Still buy my reloading needs at 1 store in town. Prices reasonable and the folks are terrific when it comes to service.

Mike B

[gsdelong]

Philngruvy, I stood in line with a guy that was part of a civil war museum nearby. Told him about this site. Gsdelong