Gun Show report 11/23/16

[kens]

Went to local gun show.
I am getting old now and have decided to thin out the heard before my wife gets stuck with all my toys should I get sudden illness.
I decided to take 1 piece to every gunshow to sell at my own bartering rather than her being stuck with it.
Here is what I noticed when attending from a different perspective than years before.
There is not nearly as much polished blue/walnut as years before. Today it is mostly polymer/coated guns.
Remember as you first walk in, there is the many presentation cased guns, drillings, O/U's, high end guns at the first tables??
Not much of that.
Very large tables with Glocks, polymers, AR's, and the like are by a wide margin what is there.
I saw some Rem 870 wingmaster shotguns, that previously held high prices (blue&walnut) tagged at pittance above a new polymer/coated mossberg.
Browning A5 squareback still at it's same ~700 level. Those being old now (blue/walnut) I would think to be a higher price in today's good economy, but it not that way.
US Military arms, didnt see a single carbine nor '03, and but 1 Garand. Does nobody have interest in these anymore?
I did see a few military 1911's, and they were priced about the same as the now DCM prices. ~1100. Go figure.
SAA Colt Peacemaker?? Remember the ones in glass cases? Didn't see a one, once again (blue/walnut)
However, if you want a polymer 9mm pistol, you had thousands to choose from. Every size, shape, configuration you could imagine. (polymer/coated)
Tables only offering red-dot sights, there was more than one.
Tables offering hunting class scopes.......nope. Nowadays scopes are black matte and tactical style. If you want a straight 4x scope for a hunting rifle, don't bother with the gun show.
I bet I didnt see more than 6 revolvers in the whole place.
Ammo? You bettcha. I saw more ammo than ever before, not much spam can mil-surp, but whole cases of commercial stuff. All the calibers.
I saw whole cases of .38/.357 and other rimmed, I don't recall seeing that before. Decent prices
Powder/primers, you bettcha. I saw more than ever before, and prices were back to a resemblance of normal.
Enough rambling for now,
Gun shows just are not as they were years before.......it's a new millenial generation of customers

[Petrol & Powder]

I think we've all seen the changes to that environment over the years. Gun shows are now mostly dealers operating a remote storefront for a couple of days. Because there is a market for polymer framed pistols and AR platform rifles - that is what you see offered for sale the most.

On the plus side, the competition of all of those dealers in one place does help to keep the prices in check.

I still find the occasional cool old gun and buy it but....I mostly go for the chance to pick up powder without a hazmat fee or to find that obscure piece of reloading gear.

The heydays of gunshows were the pre 1994 years and a little bit of the post 1994 years after everyone clamed down.

[kens]

well, what about all those collectable bright blue/walnut guns we adore so much??
Are we stuck with them?
No more market to sell these?

[lead-1]

I have for the biggest part given up on gun shows, just not the same as when I started going. Used to visit 4-5 a year now maybe one every couple years.
Everything you have is junk and whatever they have is gold.
Reloading items are a thing of the past as are tables full of old parts of all kinds.
I was surprised to see at a show several years ago, a guy set up a show of his own. I would bet this guy had every item sold by LEE at his display, guy was from Pa. and I haven't seen him set up again anywhere.

[Plate plinker]

To the OP maybe you should sell your stuff here?

[Froogal]

Gun shows are pretty much ALL about semi-auto pistols and black semi-auto rifles. I am just tired of all that. I find it much easier to contact a local FFL, tell him what I want, he'll order it, and then I go pick it up.

[Winger Ed.]

I quit going to gun shows about 15 years ago.

Everything I saw was way over priced, or just junk.

[fatelk]

I have for the biggest part given up on gun shows, just not the same as when I started going. Used to visit 4-5 a year now maybe one every couple years.
Everything you have is junk and whatever they have is gold.
Reloading items are a thing of the past as are tables full of old parts of all kinds.
I was surprised to see at a show several years ago, a guy set up a show of his own. I would bet this guy had every item sold by LEE at his display, guy was from Pa. and I haven't seen him set up again anywhere.

I used to go to more shows when I was younger, but am more selective now. Around here there are two types of shows: promoter shows and club shows.

The promoter shows are like you describe, the same people with the same stuff, dealers with table after table of plastic guns. There’s a weekly show circuit and they’re pretty much all the same.

The club shows around here are like stepping back in time. There are three good ones within driving distance here, big clubs full of old guys with lots of cool stuff, that each put on a great show once or twice a year. Lots of older gun, tables full of odds and ends, good deals to be had.

Not all gun shows are the same. If you want to go to a good one, go online and find a big gun club nearby that sponsors a show once or twice a year.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I think that you're seeing all the plastic and polymer guns because that's what people seem to want. As more people have become gun owners the type of gun owners has changed. They no longer want to give the blue and walnut guns the care and maintenance that they need to remain looking nice. As for the Garands and Carbines, people do want them, and the market is established and expanding with no more to come, so those who have them hold onto them. I'd venture a guess that all of the commercial ammo you saw is a result of the big ammo shortage of a few years ago. The ammo manufacturers ramped up production and increased capacity to where it's now almost a glut on the market. A visit to most chain stores that have a gun department will find ammo like .22 L.R., 9mm, and .223/5.56mm stacked deep and high at prices which, accounting for inflation, are about the same as before the shortage. On the other hand, although many of the world's militaries have ammo aging in their warehouses, we may have exhausted the current supply of genuine surplus ammo. Even the Russians manufacture new ammo that imitates their military ammo. Some of these countries may be handicapped in exporting any surplus that they have by restrictions and sanctions. For sure, it is a changing scene at the gun shows.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I used to go to more shows when I was younger, but am more selective now. Around here there are two types of shows: promoter shows and club shows.

The promoter shows are like you describe, the same people with the same stuff, dealers with table after table of plastic guns. There’s a weekly show circuit and they’re pretty much all the same.

The club shows around here are like stepping back in time. There are three good ones within driving distance here, big clubs full of old guys with lots of cool stuff, that each put on a great show twice a year. Lots of older gun, tables full of odds and ends, good deals to be had.

Not all gun shows are the same. If you want to go to a good one, go online and find a big gun club nearby that sponsors a show once or twice a year.

This is so true.
I will add one more thing. Look for a Club gunshow that is the same weekend as a Promoter gunshow in the same region. Because Club gunshows will also have the big dealers, unless there is a bigger better Promoter gunshow that same weekend. The smaller Club gunshow that same weekend will be almost all private dealers and probably the LGS...and he is the one FFL you want to deal with anyway, if you are looking at new guns.

There is four or five such Club Gunshows (with Promoter competition) each year, in rural MN within a couple hours of the Big City...Those are the shows I go to.

The last time I was at a Promoter show (I think it was a MN weapons collectors show), I was in and out within 60 minutes.

[brewer12345]

My local indoor range has about 1 revolver shooter for every 10 plastic whatever shooter. I brought in a lever action a week ago and got outright stares.

[Misery-Whip]

I agree with Plate Plinker. Sell here.

Im in my 30s, i have bought 2 plastic handguns and was dissapointed. Never again. Im always lookin at the used market for tools, guns, cars ect. Ive about givin up on buying new of anything. The polished blued guns are almost art. Your items here wont be called junk. Hell we might even fight over it...

[Handloader109]

I went to the |Wanamaker's Tulsa show a couple of weekends ago. There are Plenty of wood guns on display, and a few being bought or sold there. I just go to wander around, picking up a bit of something here or there. They had a lot of plastic guns, but there are still collectors out there. But I'd sell here if I were you. Or just locally. Shows? Not worth the trouble.

[richhodg66]

Depends quite a bit on the show. The Chisholm Trail Gun show in Wichita twice a year is the best gun show I've ever been to, period. Mostly old stuff, and lots of used reloading stuff. I cherish that show every time I attend it.

I really like the small town shows around here too for the same reasons, just not the same volume of stuff.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Heck I remember even around early 2000 or so your stuff was junk and their stuff same as yours was invaluable and worth more the table holders offered next to nothing and wanted to beat you down while in the meantime tell you how the worn shot out mauser they had was so great , Yes there were a few decent table holders , and yes I to am a blue and wood man, though I do have polymer , stainless not so much it shines and I prefer my shine from deep dark blue . Went a year or so ago and it was a let down , saw one older gentleman I had bought from and was saddened to hear his wife who was always at shows with him had passed , saw few faces I remembered and saw prices well over local store , not much of the mil. surplus either and that stuff always perked my interest, the states mandated check system to satisfy the big city fools made it no longer worth while and little to no casting or reloading gear , little powder or primer and no good buys on any of that , sad .

[beechbum444]

interesting side note.....a friend of mine at work took a Winchester 94 out with some millennials to shoot....they all had the new cool stuff and NONE of them had the slightest idea what he had, nor had ever seen one......early twenty year old's....no clue

[Pressman]

I always enjoy the shows. They are a great place to pick-up single shot 22's, my new weakness. Looking for vintage reloading tools that are usually not there any more, everything is on eBay now. Sometimes there is a bargain to be found on smaller items if the seller does not mess with eBay. And I have met some interesting people and made a few new friends. For that reason it's never a waste of time.
I agree that I have no interest in long tables full of black plastic guns, I want to look at real wood and blued steel. Times, they are a changing, faster than I care to try to keep up with.

[elk hunter]

My passion is old guns. I pretty much gave up on gun shows years ago. Everything that was for sale was apparently made of Gold or maybe Platinum, what I had to sell was made of lead or more likely cast iron. I did go to a gun show in March of 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the "Maryland Antique Arms Collectors" show. WOW! 1000 tables of every description of antique firearms. I went looking for a shooter Civil War Springfield or contract musket and bought two, a Springfield and a Remington, at what amounted to the price of the Remington alone when compared to prices on the internet. If my son was still stationed there I would have gone back this year.

[Jedman]

I still go to a couple gun shows each year. The best one is about 1 1/2 hours away but I usually see a few friends when I go and it's worth going. I too am only interested in older blue/ walnut guns so I cruise right by all the tables that are all black.
I am trying to reduce my heard for the same reason as the OP but as soon as I sell a few I seem to find replacements just as quick and have not made much progress.
The past 2 years I have gotten 1 table at a small show and did quite well in 2 days for only 1 table.
The 1 ST show I sold 7 guns, last winter at the same show I sold 9
I believe that I sell at prices I believe are fair while most others with older used guns price them like they are all collectible prizes.

Jedman

[nun2kute]

kens ... +1 on the "Sell Here" theme.

I'd love to get my hands on a good Garand but for prices on GB I might as well go buy a brand new Springfield Tanker. 30 M1 ??? Pffft ..... I don't need a gold plated gun to have fun with it. Just shoot able. Your better off selling here anyway.