Observations and thoughts on gun shows

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  • dist1646

    Ultimate Member
    May 1, 2012
    8,758
    Eldersburg
    I remember the old days and there have been several changes that I believe have hurt the shows. Private sellers used to set up and get rid of what they didn't want. Prices were more reasonable. Laws changed. Promoters raised table prices and you don't see many of the private sellers anymore. Then, there is the internet, both private sellers and the FFL dealers use the internet to sell. It is simply more convenient and cost effective, plus they reach a larger market of potential buyers.
     

    Sundazes

    My brain hurts
    MDS Supporter
    Nov 13, 2006
    21,296
    Arkham
    Top hat did not die. I know someone who talking to him this weekend, he was asking how the show was going. He sold a lot of his inventory to the promoter who runs the other Maryland shows and his girlfriend was selling off the stuff. Top hat still does shows just not in Maryland anymore.

    I bought some stuff from her at the last Timo show. Top is indeed very much alive. I think I have been buying stuff from him for 20 or 30 years.

    Yes I still go to MD shows if time allows. I wanted to hit HoCo the other weekend, but life got int the way. I can understand why folks bitch about the MD shows, they are a fraction of what they were years ago. I am old enough to remember the Pikesville, Parkville and other smaller shows.
    If you really want the MD shows to go away completely, keep doing what you some of you guys are doing and don't go to any.
     

    iH8DemLibz

    When All Else Fails.
    Apr 1, 2013
    25,396
    Libtardistan
    I bought some stuff from her at the last Timo show. Top is indeed very much alive. I think I have been buying stuff from him for 20 or 30 years.

    Yes I still go to MD shows if time allows. I wanted to hit HoCo the other weekend, but life got int the way. I can understand why folks bitch about the MD shows, they are a fraction of what they were years ago. I am old enough to remember the Pikesville, Parkville and other smaller shows.
    If you really want the MD shows to go away completely, keep doing what you some of you guys are doing and don't go to any.

    The shows don't have to go away completely. I think that's why so many folks feel passionately about keeping them here. And getting them right.

    Reduce the size of the shows. Stop selling table space. Start selling quality space. Make them about guns again. Guns!

    I would like to see an area set aside for local, non-dealer, types that want to sell off parts of their collections. Have it monitored if need be. To keep it simple. To keep it legal. Have standard Face To Face forms available for use. Take the undercover MSP and ATF boogieman BGOS bullshyt out of it. Cuzz it's still a legal way to sell long guns in Maryland. For now anyway.

    Again, they don't have to go away. They just have to be better.
     

    G8tor

    Active Member
    Nov 30, 2013
    373
    Calvert County
    I went to the Howard county gun show a couple years back. A lot of used/abused glocks with no mags and expensive custom ARs. Not a lot of in between. One table had decent ammo prices though. Haven't been to one on MD since.
     

    Scrounger

    Active Member
    Jul 16, 2018
    357
    Southern Maryland
    It has been said we are only one generation from losing our right to firearms.

    Unfortunately, there are some here that seem to want that to come to pass. When one goes into a grocery store do you expect to have every shelf only stocked with food that interests you? The same can be said of gun shows. Yes, there are regulatory limits on what can be sold at Md shows.

    We as a country have freedoms that were bestowed to us by people that sacrificed for future generations.

    A few things to think about. While Md is a minority when it comes to CCW, who would have thought that twenty years ago. Most states now allow their citizens the right to protect themselves in public.

    While I don’t expect to see Md change in my lifetime, stranger things have happened, just look at the 2016 election.

    And don’t forget, those people in Annapolis will someday be replaced, mortality eventually catches all of us. Who knows, perhaps some veteran who has seen tyranny first hand may choose to run for office to fight the tyranny in this state. Hopefully there will be gun shows around for the next generation.
     

    Combloc

    Stop Negassing me!!!!!
    Nov 10, 2010
    7,212
    In a House
    I remember the first time I went to the Harrisburg show back in the 80's. At the end of the filled with vendors hall was a Soviet trailer mount quad automatic anti aircraft cannon. I knew I had come to the right place....
     

    Doctor_M

    Certified Mad Scientist
    MDS Supporter
    I still go to several a year, but I agree that the move towards tacticool retail and beef jerky has taken a lot of the fun out of it. I always liked to go to find something unique, odd, or different... that was always possible when there were a lot of folks selling parts of personal collections. That has mostly dried up. I still occasionally buy a gun someone is advertising on their back as a way to exercise my right to a face to face sale while they are still legal in MD. I must admit that the handgun waiting period killed pistol purchases for me at gun shows. I don't even look at them unless it is a dealer I know... nothing worse than finding a great deal on a pistol only to find that you have to drive to the eastern shore to pick it up after the waiting period.
     

    RepublicOfFranklin

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 16, 2018
    1,137
    The ‘Dena - DPRM
    I’ll be honest, I really enjoy the local Silverado shows around HoCo, but I haven’t been to some of the others in upper MD yet. You don’t always, find what you’re looking for but I like to go, chat with vendors, and pick up something.

    I will say the amount of vendors has gotten smaller at these shows but most of em are good people who sell some neat items so it’s always a good time to go.




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    knovotny

    Active Member
    Feb 5, 2013
    980
    Aberdeen, MD
    We go to as many as we can. I find it important to support them, so that we still have them. It's a fun day out for us to go and fondle some guns we may not see at our local shop. Vendors are going to bring what sells. If AR's sell, that's what they will bring. And at the end of the day, we are all looking for different things. What you may hate seeing, another may love. We've found plenty of deals on vintage military rifles and some other oddball stuff. Sure, some shows have too much non gun stuff. But I figure they are paying for a table, which may be helping keep that show open. They are easy enough to walk by if you aren't interested. I don't see how anyone who hasn't been to a show in 10 years can speak to how they are now, imo. And certainly can't complain when shows close due to low attendance.
     

    chooks9

    Bear with Arms
    Jan 3, 2013
    1,155
    Abingdon
    I think that a few things are driving down Gun Shows, especially in Maryland. You see few private people buying/selling parts of their collections at shows anymore. That part of the hobby is dying, for many reasons. I notice a lot of the same stuff and the same vendors from show to show. You see fewer people bringing guns to sell/trade in shows, and when you do, vendors often make ridiculous lowball offers (definitely not all and I understand they need to eat too). It's not enjoyable to see thirty vendors all selling low-to-mid level AR parts and Remington 870 police shotguns for more than they are probably worth. It's also not fun to pay $10+ To get into a show where the only reasonable deals are on Jerky and pickles. Also, I think the loss of availability of (cheap) C&R hurt gun shows as well.

    Plus, politics, the Internet, and venue issues are a problem. And promoters.
     

    Zorros

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 10, 2017
    1,407
    Metropolis
    I go, don’t spend hardly anything. But from time to time.....and that’s why i go. Treasure hunting. But i do like to speak with some of the vendors. Some are interesting, some have lots of knowledge. I thought hoco was okay. Had fun.
     

    Docster

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 19, 2010
    9,768
    Internet sales and anti-gun sentiment in the Maryland ruling class killed them here.
    Can't get good venues, can't fight low internet pricing and instant availability of what you are looking for.
    I hit the ones in York and Harrisburg occasionally and once in a great while the big one in VA.
    Deals on firearms at shows are few anymore, everything basically priced the same as on Gun Broker.
    Used to love going to a gun show, now I have to work at it.

    My feelings EXACTLY!
     

    Alea Jacta Est

    Extinguished member
    MDS Supporter
    Frankly, I see the relationships at gunshows having changed dramatically.

    Used to be much more congenial and good natured. Used to be lots of interaction. Folks were generally happier and easier going.

    There were deals to be sought out and had. On both guns and ammo and other stuff too. I don’t see that anymore at gunshows anywhere...here or there.

    Frankly, I haven’t bought much if anything at a gun show in years. I had my FFL when I was living there in MD. I still went to talk and mingle. There were some interesting vendors and all kinds of regular folks who would go to chat with like minded folks and find a couple good deals or to see really unique stuff in person.

    Kinda like flying if you ask me. They’ve pretty much wrung the fun out of it. Damnit.
     

    snakep

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 4, 2013
    1,047
    Behind enemy lines...
    I go, don’t spend hardly anything. But from time to time.....and that’s why i go. Treasure hunting. But i do like to speak with some of the vendors. Some are interesting, some have lots of knowledge. I thought hoco was okay. Had fun.

    These days I only buy jerky at the Chantilly gun show. Then McDonalds on the way home.
     

    Rack&Roll

    R.I.P
    Patriot Picket
    Jan 23, 2013
    22,304
    Bunkerville, MD
    I enjoy the Chantilly show, where biggfoot44 and I compete to ferret out classic used revolver holsters.

    It has transitioned to a treasure hunt day for me.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,881
    I found G&G Security Holster for Ruger P-85 ! ( Also fits my P-90 .) And a Buchiemer Fedeal Man for K frame, for $4 .

    When I had to leave , R&R was going to go do further negotiating on a Hunter, don't know how that worked out .
     

    Rockzilla

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 6, 2010
    4,516
    55.751244 / 37.618423
    All the bases are being covered, internet sales, Gun Broker, times of change whether, in Merryland, or in general, and the culture has changed it's like "take it or leave it", the prices while I understand it's about making a margin not a killing, and I also understand "supply and demand" then you have the box stores with the buying power to buy many instead of a few.. honestly my gun show was my Gunshop / Insurance company / Pawn shop years ago, they would throw the catalogs on the counter, whether Lew Hortons, BumbleBee sales and HK dealer direct,have at it, was looking for a rifle in a "magnum" they would call, run the list down and settled on a .458WM.. even a gunshop/ bow shop in Waynesboro Pa. they had a impressive line of Colts and Smiths, or The Trading Post in Jefferson Md. (Ralph Brown) had racks of used rifles, Blast from the past and times change. THe last good deal I got was in Westminster was a TRG-42 in 338LM. The last I've been to may have someone who may have some older reloading stuff, maybe some supplies but once again you can sometimes get them cheaper online with 'Free Hazmat" etc. The culture has to change back to what made it grow back then...just a thought..

    -Rock
     

    Magnumite

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 17, 2007
    6,564
    Harford County, Maryland
    Maryland gun shows are not entirely bad. I enjoy the few I go to, small and large. Beats none at all. Several times all I do is pay admission, walk the isles, chat and buy jerky. Done for the day. Today I attended the Bel Air show. Prices ranged from reasonable to good...a couple just outside those parameters...mostly in the firearms department. I found 3 good buys, friendly, chatty sellers and both parties benefited fairly. Other venders were willing to talk and discuss possible transactions. Time well spent.
     

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