Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Florida Gun shows has gone to hell

I was a private seller at the Florida Gun shows here in SW Florida,for many years,but we stopped because there were so many shows so close together it wasn't cost effective to keep going..The the owner of the shows ( who also owns Shoot Straight stores in Florida) mandated that private sellers must have his table perform a background check in order to sell a gun at this show.You can still buy a ticket and walk in with a gun for sale,cut a deal privately,and not have to do a background check---does that make sense?
Anyway I went to the show this weekend--it was packed which is weird for June shows.But it wasn't a gun show anymore,there were only a few gun dealers there (including Shoot Straight),mostly it was tables of accessories,a little ammo,knives and just junk--more like a flea market.

Haven't been to a show since 2015 probably. Same thing happened here. More guns at the local flea market than at the gun shows that looked like a rummage sale.

-jake

Savage 2400, Couldn't agree with you more. Same old stuff just gets recycled at the next show. The best deals are the guys bringing a long gun, or handgun into a show to sell it. My FFL here in Venice stopped going to the shows for the same reason you did.

I liked the gun shows of mostly private individuals selling used gear for shooting and reloading. I found some really good stuff. The last few gun- shows I went to, that's five or eight years ago, had no bargains.

SAVAGE - went to the Ocala show a month back, held at a COUNTRY CLUB?????? what a disaster. Waited in line longer than I was in the show, masks required, limited number of people in the room, three come out, three can go in.....

However Inverness show, a couple of weeks ago, was pretty much back to normal.............

Last year walked around with a really nice Savage 99, 1953, 300 Savage........ asking $600, one of the 12 table vendors said '... you're asking WAY too much for that gun...' I Looked at one of HIS guns and said 'I've come to the right polace then'

I rarely make a deal across the table, mostly in the aisle............

As to availability of guns, Florida has been on a buying binge for several months now, the shelves in the local gun shops are bare..............

We have a communist show down in Germantown bout 20 30 miles from memphrica.
They do that schitt also.
Never been to it, shame because they would probably draw more buyers and sellers and get to see another areas selection.

I had a big hiatus from 05 till 18 in not going to shows.
When I started up again.
Totally different type of sellers.
The scalping vulture of opportunity.
I cant begin to imagine what it was like during the 8 yrs of black jesus,s reign.....


Went to one yesterday afternoon at spur of the moment in Dickson Tn.
Waste of time.
Same dealers and wanna be ammo scalpers at C19 apocalypse prices now even worse than before it.
20 rd box of Red army standard 124 gr hpbt 7.62x39
Dude didnt have tags on it.
Asked...
10 bucks.
Laughed and walked away.
Nother dude
123gr wolf mil spec fmj. 11 a box
Some geco brass case 123gr 16 a box.

AK parts.....
LMFAO!!!!
75 RD Romainian drum
250 bucks....
Korean ones metal back and cheap plastic back
150 and 200.
Chinese norinco one
335

Fake east german pebble stock set
250...
Told dude it was fake in fronta 3 or 4 other people around his table.
LOL!!! Just speaking the truth.
He was all proud of it talking it up ,till I asked why are the GDR marks absent.
YGTBKM......


No lower form of life in my opinon.
Than some of these gunshow sellers.
Weasel written all over some of their faces big time.
GLWS azzholes, hope you sit on that ammo at pre C19 price you picked it at, for a looooooong time.
You can bet your azz for the most part they hope Biden gets elected so they can profit off another spree of panic buying.

This was the 2nd or 3rd show in the state to open back up in the last 2cweeks.

You think they would be ready to sell after being shutdown for over 3 months.
Fugg no.
Looking to exploit C19 is what they was hoping.

Went to a local show last year, for the first time in probably 15 years. Far fewer tables than in years past, ridiculous asking prices, no reloading supplies to be seen, no deals evident on anything. Nowhere near worth the cover charge to walk in the door.

No plans to go back. Waste of time.

And sellers think their stuff is worth 10-25% more than you can buy it on line. Prices are just stupid. I go to a few shows but very rarely buy anything.

Par for the course... 99% of 'em are as worthless as a bass pond on the moon...

Gun shows are hell.

I hope that sold. Fine rifle and price, at least where I am.

I haven't been to a show now in years. Expensive to park and get in and not much that wasn't overpriced.

welcome to the club

Haven't been to one in 30 years........

I quit going 20 years ago - even then the amount of Chinkernese toys/knives/cheap sights was getting out of hand.

fastest way to kill gun shows. The liberals have succeeded once again.

From the other side of the table...

Have rented a table at a local gun show every 2-3 years since the early 90's. Good way to sell accumulated stuff to get money to buy more stuff which I'd sell a few years later to get more money to buy new stuff et cetera.

But have grown tired of killing an entire weekend listening to people tell me ad nauseum about their "I hadda..." and "I gotta..." and basically "hey, you sit there and listen to me talk about me for a half hour - no, I'm not the least bit interested in you or anything you say but I expect you to hang on my every word - while I block the way for actual paying customers."

And "here, let me fiddle with this for 5 minutes and get my fingerprints all over it to finally ask what'll you take for it?" "I'll take so and so." "Well, lemme think about it..."


Gunbroker, here or another local classified site have been way more productive. Only those folks who are genuinely interested contact you. I recently sold two rifles on gunbroker that sat here for a week and got more than I asked for, one went for almost $300 more than the starting bid, and sold three handguns on the local classifieds the same day each was listed.

I might still go to a gunshow if there's nothing else to do that weekend, but really expect nothing but spending $8 to kill some time looking at guns.





Of course, it is a lot of fun to look at something for several minutes, point out all the flaws and dings on it while I prattle on endlessly about how I gotta milsurp Mosin-Nagant that'll shoot 1/2" groups all day long, then ask what the dealer will take for it and when he offers a better price say "lemme think about it" and walk away...

It was a really nice old 99, best offer I had was $500, I ended up trading it for a Savage 311 410, made the year I was born........... those 410's go for near $800 in these parts.....

But I have to stop now, because I've been talking about an 'I hadda' and an 'I gotta' and I don't want to make anyone from Idaho mad.............

In normal times I go a handful of times per year. I have found some pretty good deals from non-dealers. In the past couple of years it's been consignment guns from small gun shops. Last week I found a nice piece priced right at a pawn shop.

Pawn shops can be interesting...

Guy had an old Veterlli on the wall, I asked to look at it, said 'how much', he says '$1200', I says 'It's not worth half that', he says 'OK, I'll take $600', I say 'I said it's NOT worth half that'..... I ended up trading a bolt action sears 16ga and $80 IIRC.... He pissed and moaned next time i was in, He thought the 16 was a 12ga....

In a local pawn shop last week with my BIL, he was looking at a shotgun, I showed him that the stock had cast-off, Pawn owner comes and takes the gun, looks down it, sees the 'bent' stock and starts ranting and raving about how he missed the bum stock............. I said relax, it's a feature not a flaw............ he had never heard of Cast Off...... I said 'that'll be $20, it's worth more now' ...... he didn't pay!!!

The stupidest thing (TO ME) are gun shows that are held the opening weekend of deer season or any weekend during deer season.

What person wants to peruse a show full of popcorn and pork rind venders when they can be in a tree stand?

Makes zero sense.


Unless it appeals to lardass Waffle House deer hunters who leave the woods at 9am.