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Old January 5, 2013, 01:50 PM   #1
Skans
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Gunshow Report

I just came from a gunshow about an hour ago. Here are my observations:

1. Arrived at 9:30 - line was HUGE, but it moved and I got into the gunshow within 45 minutes or so.

2. Lots of folks new to guns and shooting waiting in line - made my wait in line interesting hearing all of the comments. A decent number of women in their 20's - 50's actually their on their own, not just tagging along with husbands/boyfriends.

3. People were trying to sell AR builds for $1,500 - $2,000 outside the gunshow. There were few, if any, buyers at those prices. In the gun show, one dealer was selling Spikes Tactical AR's for about $1,000 - they were selling, but not as fast as I thought they would. There was only one person selling AR lowers - $325 and there wasn't much of a selection. Most AR uppers that I saw were A2's. One guy was trying to get rid of A2 Uppers for $60/each (used) and no one seemed interested. Barrels were priced from $200-$400.

4. Sig 556's were all priced right around $2,000 - none were selling at those prices.

5. I saw a couple of nice Witness Match pistols with rail, two-tone 9mm w/17 round magazine - $675. That price almost seemed reasonable.

6. There was no shortage of your average Glocks. Glocks were around $500; The larger (non-polymer, alloy-framed) Sigs were priced at around $1,000.

7. It seemed like every other table had AR doo-dads; i.e. stocks, rail systems, sights, uber-tactical stuff; but no selection of bolts, bolt carriers, and the parts that actually make them work.

8. Good luck trying to sell a revolver - you could hear crickets chirping at those tables.

9. Lots of Imbel Fals for sale, but not a lot of interest in those.

10. Folks were mostly buying ammo. Lots of ammo at inflated prices was being sold. I even bought some 9mm ammo and 10mm ammo.

11. I did notice that the guns that were being sold were mostly carry-sized small semi-autos.

I walked through several times until I finally had enough, leaving with some ammo and a big headache.
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Old January 5, 2013, 06:06 PM   #2
g.willikers
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Thanks for the report.
It sounds like this show was like how things were in October.
New gun folks buying CCW suitable pistols and ammo to go with them.
It's surprising, though, that small revolvers weren't included.
If most of the buyers were new to guns, it's not surprising that the ARs and such weren't popular.
Especially just the parts to build.
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Old January 5, 2013, 06:15 PM   #3
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It's gotten crazy

By any chance, was this an Iowa show. I ask because I just got back from one myself and it was just as you described. I might add that I could not believe the madness. In over 20+ years of going to show, this one was the most extreme that I have ever seen. Seems as if the Black-Gun paranoia has really kicked in. All the dealers that I spoke to, are having a great weekend. ..

Be Safe !!!
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Old January 5, 2013, 09:39 PM   #4
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Did you see any primers???
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Old January 5, 2013, 09:44 PM   #5
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Quote:
8. Good luck trying to sell a revolver - you could hear crickets chirping at those tables.
You got that right. Doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in wheelguns anywhere I go. I'm glad I traded my S&W 13 for an XDs back before Thanksgiving. He still has that gun and I thought it would fly off of the shelf.
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Old January 5, 2013, 09:57 PM   #6
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Good luck trying to sell a revolver - you could hear crickets chirping at those tables.
Holy cow, maybe I should go check out one of the local shows, them.

Gun show attendance in my area has been off the charts. One of my regulars texted (is "text" a verb now?) me pictures of some of the prices, and they were worse than what Skans posted.

Colt 6920's are over $3000. Bushmaster rifles that were $750 are $1999. Magpul PMAGs are $80. And people are paying it. Amazing.
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Old January 5, 2013, 11:33 PM   #7
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My guess would be people are not worried about restrictions against revolvers, so those go on the back burner.
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Old January 5, 2013, 11:35 PM   #8
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But wouldn't they, atleast DA revovler atleast, be considered semi-automatic in that each pull of the trigger results in one shot fired?
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Old January 5, 2013, 11:39 PM   #9
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But wouldn't they, atleast DA revovler atleast, be considered semi-automatic in that each pull of the trigger results in one shot fired?
Only if they are black and have a rail.
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Old January 6, 2013, 12:27 PM   #10
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My guess would be people are not worried about restrictions against revolvers, so those go on the back burner.
In as much as that mirrors my own thoughts exactly I'd say you are correct. I was thinking of buying a .32 cal muzzle loader and a semi .22 lr rifle and pistol but now I'm re-evaluating my immediate needs.
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Old January 6, 2013, 02:06 PM   #11
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Low demand usually means low prices. Any revolver bargains to be had?
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Old January 7, 2013, 09:01 AM   #12
Skans
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The gun show I attended was in Orlando. I do not recall seeing anyone selling reloading supplies (or primers) at this one.

I looked at the revolver prices - the prices are about where they have been for a couple of years now. I was checking out some S&W 8-shot .357's. I didn't happen to see any Pythons for sale - not saying there weren't any, but just didn't see them.

There was a real lack of high-quality semi-auto rifles for sale like: FN FAL's, SIG AMT's, HK-91's (not even any PTR-91's), or FN SCAR's. I saw a few MSAR's, priced at about $2,000.

Also, no Sig X-Fives (competition, all around, or Level 1), although I did find an all stainless Sig Elite with a price of about $1,000 on it.

What I found interesting is that, while you couldn't find any of the newer AR upper receivers, you could find stripped A2 uppers, but no one wanted them. I guess they are too "old school" and not tacticool enough.

I saw very few AK's for sale, even the cheaper builds seem to have disappeared. I did see a guy trying to sell what appeared to be a Norinco RPK (integral bipod) for something like $350. I was definitely a Norinco, but I'm not familiar with exactly what it was and couldn't get through the crowd to see what it really was.

Tactical looking pump shotguns with shrouds on them also seemed to be popular.
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Old January 7, 2013, 09:52 AM   #13
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Gun Show Report

Text; can be a verb,adjective or noun, the way it was used in sentence structure determines which. :-)

I have to wonder/ask; do you suppose there were texts being made to the antis' by their "plants" for purpose of use to pass or regulate the nature of gun shows? TL
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Old January 7, 2013, 10:35 AM   #14
Skans
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You never really know who could be an "anti" at a gun show. With as many people who attended, I'm sure there could be a few. I wish more antis would attend gun shows, they might just find a gun they like enough to purchase!
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Old January 7, 2013, 11:56 AM   #15
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I went to the big Dallas show over the weekend, and my observations mirror Skans' for the most part, which I find quite interesting. However, I went on Sunday to miss the rush.

I would like to add a few other observations, which IMHO are particularly interesting since I was there late in the show.

12. Seemingly every vendor had marked up every single >10rd pistol magazine. In many cases this was very obvious; many vendors had crossed out the old price and written the new one next to it, or written over black ink with red marker. The average increase seemed to be ~$15/ea.

13. Big vendors with lots of pistol mags told me that new or lightly used mags for common >10rd pistols had been flying out of the display cases at a furious pace. However, less-common mags were still plentiful, and I could hear the proverbial crickets at many small tables with a few loose, dirty, and hard-worn "Mystery Mags" for older >10rd pistols. I believe that people were snapping up mags for pistols they actually own, but few were buying random mags simply for possible future resale.

14. A few vendors had marked up your typical formerly $400ish CIA "parts kit" Romanian and Bulgarian AK's well past the $1,000 mark. However, most potential buyers seemingly weren't taking the bait; I saw several people walk up, examine a rifle, look at the price tag, scoff, and walk away. These vendors still had plenty of the rifles left when the show closed.

15. Many boxes of large rifle and a few boxes of large pistol primers could be had, but vendors told me they had sold out of small pistol and rifle primers within an hour of opening on Saturday.

16. Tactical-style shotguns = crickets. (This observation is the only one that seems to directly contradict Skans.)

17. Vintage military bolt rifles = more crickets.
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Last edited by carguychris; January 7, 2013 at 12:01 PM. Reason: info added...
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Old January 7, 2013, 12:09 PM   #16
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Went to the Eastman Show in Macon I few weeks back.

Went on sunday because Pop had to work Saturday and I was hunting.

Nary a modern semi-automatic rifle with a black finish to be seen. Saw a few Mini-14s. No magazines worth buying, just some junk STANAG ones and Beta-C drum mags.

Correction- there was one H&K-91 with a 4,000 price tag on it. My love of all things Burt Gummer only goes so far.

The double stack polymer pistols were pretty well picked over, but, if you were willing to look a bit you could probably find every Glock or XD variation in existence there.

Plenty of plain jane Mossberg 500s and Remington 870s, but a noticed lack of any sort of shotgun with a pistol grip or rail on it.

Next to no pistol mags. Little in the way of reloading supplies. Bulk ammo was scare.
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