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Occassionally we have a small gun show here, in Illinois of all places, where the tables are mainly rented by guys selling their personal collections. Those are fun to go to.
Same thing happens here in Iowa and Missouri when you stay away from the metro areas. I've got some fine deals on antiques, which I prefer, recently.
I was into antiques for a long time. The problem is what somebody already hinted at previously, the same guys with the same guns. I've seen some of the older guys drag around guns that they must've had for twenty years. It would be comical if a lot of these oldsters didn't have enough money to pretty much drive the marketplace. They'll just buy a gun and shop it around for years saying stuff like, "you can't ever pay too much for a gun, just too soon," and whatnot. Well some of them bought theirs damned early.
IMO, a lot of people on the outside of the aisles have done as much as Walmart and the government, to drive gunshop owners out of business. "I can get that same gun at the show in two weeks for a hundred less," and the like. I've been an FFL holder and a regular guy and I'm as much to blame as anybody, but the fact of the matter is that you can't run a gun business with a for real storefront at cost plus 10%.
The latest, greatest gunstore around here is run by a guy who actually has a fair-sized shop at his house. It's now in a building separate from his home and is pretty danged nice. The problem from the buyer's point of view, is that he won't keep any stock. At any given time he's got maybe two dozen guns. His thing is ordering you a gun. And he won't trade. His prices on an order are indeed, extremely low. And he provides a great service AND he is a great guy. In the end though, all he's doing is making money off the government's own penchant for laws and regulations. $20 a gun for an order. If he was in something other than an outbuilding in his yard, he couldn't make it.
The little shows are a crap shoot IMO. Some are great and some are a waste of time. The big shows have so much stuff that even in times like these, you can always find something to make you part with your dinero.
