An Open Letter to Some of You...

Lou45 · Feb 18, 2014

iH8DemLibz said:
Not to blow a ray of sunshine up Lou's A$$, but he and only a (((few))) others have tables worth looking at in the way of quality, quantity, and fair prices. I remember a time, albeit 25 years ago, when there wasn't enough time in the day to see all the great stuff at local shows. Crates of all matching 98/22s for 60 bucks a pop and enough U.S service rifles from Krags to Garands to make your head swim comes to mind. There were guys with tables with nothing, but old gun parts so a person could find that one of kind, much needed item for a repair or a project gun. It used to be a C&R cornucopia utopia. In my opinion, gun shows used to be put on by gun guys. Now they're being put on by greed guys. They are now over priced, and so packed with people that you can't get through an aisle sideways. That said, if they want to continue to sell tube socks, t-shirts, dried meat products, and bumper stickers, I know where to go.

There used to a special kind of gun culture and atmosphere attached to the old shows and until that is found and revisited, I don't see these shows getting any better.

And last, but not least, the "Buy it now before it's too late" BULL$HIT needs to end.

The old C&R craze that existed back in the latter 80's and throughout the 90's almost certainly won't be repeated again. The back then C&R craze was due to the '84 revision of the '68 GCA, allowing the C&R guns from most countries to be imported again starting in 1984. There were boat loads of these guns of many, many types that became available from around the world during that period of time as the flood gates opened. For the most part, the flood gates are still open but the reservoir has been pretty well drained. This is the primary reason there aren't many guns of the C&R variety available on the market, subsequently not many (other than 91/30's) at the gun shows at giveaway pricing.

"Buy it now before it's too late" ********??? Well in this state of Marylibtardistan it was and IS the truth on a number of various long guns on the "ban" list, short of a major modification or completely overturning SB281. I have to say that the "buy it now before it's too late" statement definitely had it's merit pre 10/01/13.

lumbermut · Feb 18, 2014

Over the last year and a half, I purchased 6 firearms. Three of them came from vendors who support our local gun shows, one came from Walmart (couldn't beat the price of the 10/22 stainless), one came from a PA auction, and one came from the York gunshow.
Of the three, two of them were purchased at the gun show from a dealer. One was a XdM 9mm two tone from Lou. I feel that I got a good deal (thanks Lou). The other was purchased from a non-IP last April. He had a CZ-75B (actually had 2 of them) that I had been shopping/searching for. The price was a little higher, but I took into account the legal situation of last year, limited supply, as well as the dealer having to provide a fired shell casing and eventually talked myself into buying it. The third was purchased from an IP who attends MD gunshows. He displayed a SR22 at one of the shows which I ultimately purchased at his business site.

In essence, I try to support the vendors at these shows but.............

I have a hard time supporting dealers who jack up their prices or who don't support our gun shows. Case in point; December of 2012, I was in the market for a Hi-Point 995TS. By far, I found the best deal at the York gun show. A dealer had several of these priced at $300 each. The best I could do at a MD gun show was $380 - $400. Maybe $80-100 is not alot to you, but I work damn hard for my money and I will justify my purchase price before my wallet is openned.

As for those dealers that don't support the local gun shows. I find it very embarassing to go to the Timonium gun show and not see dealers who are within a 20 minute drive of Timonium Fairgrounds. I guess they have their reasons.

iH8DemLibz · Feb 18, 2014

lumbermut said:
Over the last year and a half, I purchased 6 firearms. Three of them came from vendors who support our local gun shows, one came from Walmart (couldn't beat the price of the 10/22 stainless), one came from a PA auction, and one came from the York gunshow.
Of the three, two of them were purchased at the gun show from a dealer. One was a XdM 9mm two tone from Lou. I feel that I got a good deal (thanks Lou). The other was purchased from a non-IP last April. He had a CZ-75B (actually had 2 of them) that I had been shopping/searching for. The price was a little higher, but I took into account the legal situation of last year, limited supply, as well as the dealer having to provide a fired shell casing and eventually talked myself into buying it. The third was purchased from an IP who attends MD gunshows. He displayed a SR22 at one of the shows which I ultimately purchased at his business site.

In essence, I try to support the vendors at these shows but.............

I have a hard time supporting dealers who jack up their prices or who don't support our gun shows. Case in point; December of 2012, I was in the market for a Hi-Point 995TS. By far, I found the best deal at the York gun show. A dealer had several of these priced at $300 each. The best I could do at a MD gun show was $380 - $400. Maybe $80-100 is not alot to you, but I work damn hard for my money and I will justify my purchase price before my wallet is openned.

As for those dealers that don't support the local gun shows. I find it very embarassing to go to the Timonium gun show and not see dealers who are within a 20 minute drive of Timonium Fairgrounds. I guess they have their reasons.

I think the reason is that it takes a tremedous amount of effort to set-up for a gun show. Just my opinion, but I think a lot of local dealers have gotten tired of the tire kickers and those who just want to finger pretty things. I think that's where a lot of the attitude is coming from. It's a different time and I'll get off the whole C&R thing for a moment. Sellers used to really want to talk to the buyers, show them the guns, and just shoot the $hit in general. Now you can barely get a dealer to be polite. I can understand this to a degree. They are busting their ass and way too many people are just price shopping. Knowing full well that they are not going to buy from the dealer. They are looking at prices and features so they can go and buy it off the internet. I think it's rude to eat up a persons time and not buy. You see it at Bass Pro every day. A line that is 15 and 20 people deep and people still just want to touch, touch, touch with no intent to buy. Rude! The last rifle I purchased was one of Lou's stainless Mini 14s. I probably handled a half a dozen and asked a lot of questions, but in the end I bought one. Not enough people are doing this.

Lou45 · Feb 19, 2014

iH8DemLibz said:
I think the reason is that it takes a tremedous amount of effort to set-up for a gun show. Just my opinion, but I think a lot of local dealers have gotten tired of the tire kickers and those who just want to finger pretty things. I think that's where a lot of the attitude is coming from. It's a different time and I'll get off the whole C&R thing for a moment. Sellers used to really want to talk to the buyers, show them the guns, and just shoot the $hit in general. Now you can barely get a dealer to be polite. I can understand this to a degree. They are busting their ass and way too many people are just price shopping. Knowing full well that they are not going to buy from the dealer. They are looking at prices and features so they can go and buy it off the internet. I think it's rude to eat up a persons time and not buy. You see it at Bass Pro every day. A line that is 15 and 20 people deep and people still just want to touch, touch, touch with no intent to buy. Rude! The last rifle I purchased was one of Lou's stainless Mini 14s. I probably handled a half a dozen and asked a lot of questions, but in the end I bought one. Not enough people are doing this.

Your post ^^^ has merit. Another BIG factor why a lot of dealers aren't doing shows anymore is due to the cost of doing a show. For me it cost an average of $1,000.00 to do a show and this is only directly show related only, no other cost/expenses added. Some of the dealers that no longer do shows had up to four times that expense.

An Open Letter to Some of You...

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