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bisley
Posts: 10,815 Senior Member
Gun show frenzy dissipating?
bisley
Posts: 10,815 Senior Member
I decided to try another local gun show, Saturday, and was surprised to find a calmer, more mature crowd there...at least for early morning. Maybe the newbies tend to sleep in longer, but whatever the case, the early crowd consisted mostly of knowledgable old-timers with vintage rifles and revolvers. I visited with one old feller carrying a magazine fed .30-06 Model 1895 Winchester - the first I'd seen up close, and a nice Webley in .455. Everybody enjoyed looking it over, but nobody even bothered to ask what he wanted for it.
Of course, there still weren't many bargains to be found, owing I guess, to so many dealers being stocked up on popular guns that they bought before the prices starting easing back down. The only thing I saw that made me twitch a little bit was DPMS Oracles for $499, with forward assist and dust cover. That was more than $100 less than I've seen at the big box stores on the DPMS flattops w/o forward assist and dust cover (Sportical). I looked twice, but was able to resist, thinking it might be the start of a trend, and might go even lower. Had they been fitted with any kind of flip-up sights, too, for that price, I would have probably bought one.
Other than a few handgun models like the S&W Shield (9mm and .40 S&W) for under $400 and the XD-9 Service Model for $400, prices were still high. Used guns were ridiculously priced, as usual (in my opinion). All of the older Remington bolt actions that I think of as worth $450-500 were priced at $600-700, and were in chamberings I didn't want (.270, 7mm Mag, .300 Win Mag, .30-06, etc.).
I actually thought there would be a buying frenzy, after all the shootings in the news, last week. But, I guess it hasn't sunk in, yet, or else everybody has already armed themselves, if they ever intend to.
Of course, there still weren't many bargains to be found, owing I guess, to so many dealers being stocked up on popular guns that they bought before the prices starting easing back down. The only thing I saw that made me twitch a little bit was DPMS Oracles for $499, with forward assist and dust cover. That was more than $100 less than I've seen at the big box stores on the DPMS flattops w/o forward assist and dust cover (Sportical). I looked twice, but was able to resist, thinking it might be the start of a trend, and might go even lower. Had they been fitted with any kind of flip-up sights, too, for that price, I would have probably bought one.
Other than a few handgun models like the S&W Shield (9mm and .40 S&W) for under $400 and the XD-9 Service Model for $400, prices were still high. Used guns were ridiculously priced, as usual (in my opinion). All of the older Remington bolt actions that I think of as worth $450-500 were priced at $600-700, and were in chamberings I didn't want (.270, 7mm Mag, .300 Win Mag, .30-06, etc.).
I actually thought there would be a buying frenzy, after all the shootings in the news, last week. But, I guess it hasn't sunk in, yet, or else everybody has already armed themselves, if they ever intend to.
Replies
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
There's a local dealer advertizing that same AR at the same price as well as 40K rounds 0f .22LR. No price listed on the ammo but he never gouged during the panic.
I just frankly don't have anything I'm jumping up and down for right now. I'm trying to save up for something special and I know how I am. I'd go in there and fondle something and it would follow me home.
I do envy you the casual ease you describe so well.
My old local gunsmith, in a universe far far away, some what more restricted perhaps but still..........
If I ever get the chance, it would be nice just to visit and look at such.
That more or less describes me, at the moment. I still want everything pretty that I see, but common sense has put a damper on my buying, especially since my retirement. I already have many more guns than I pay proper attention to, and I haven't been to the range much to shoot them and haven't even been loading ammo for them, lately. Lots of excuses why, but still, it seems ignorant to just keep accumulating neat toys that I rarely play with.
I mostly just went to the gun show to re-invigorate my passion for firearms, and would have bought something I wanted for a 'fair' price, but I don't want to pay too much for something unless I just feel like I can't live without it, and at present, nothing fits that situation. I was on an 'accurate rifle kick,' before events forced me to scale back and put things on hold for a while, and now I can't seem to get back in the groove - kind of a 'general malaise' sort of thing.
Shush,
That universe you miss so much is mostly missing here, too, although a caricature of it still exists here and there. In my area, there are no old fashioned gunsmiths that you can just walk in and have a casual conversation with, or even interest very much in doing some small repair or modification. All are in a tough business and trying to feed their families while doing something they like, and it is rare, these days to succeed at that (socialism, don't you know). It may have always been that way, but there are definitely fewer who elect to try it, these days. It's kind of like the joke about the farmers who met in town one day for coffee, and one asked the others what they would do if they happened to buy a lottery ticket, and won a few million dollars. After several commented on their fantasies, one old-timer said, 'Heck, I guess I would just keep farming till it was all gone.'
Still, many individual states have managed to hold onto most of the gun rights that used to be universally accepted as 'God-given' or at least to be protected by 'natural law.' And, we can still occasionally capture these little moments in time when things almost seem like the good old days, but the moments don't last long and are fewer and further between.