Tales from the gun show.

[dogmush]

Got bored and went to the local gun show today.  It was crowded, but not too bad, you could still walk.  There was a big mix of people in there, and all the CCW classes were filling up in advance.  I probably saw 100 people walking around with FL CCW applications in the couple hours I was looking.

NICS calls were 20-30 minute turn around.  The vendor I was at said they got to 2 hours yesterday.  Lots of folks buying.

There is still a HUGE AR market.  Lowers were $75-$100 and selling like hotcakes.  A million different combinations of AR, and all selling.  That cat is so far out of the bag it ain't funny.

Also small CCW pistols were selling like hotcakes.  At one point I had to wait on 5 people asking to see small 9's before I could hold a revolver.

My P30 sold for $650 cash to a lady with a 4 month old CCW in 15 minutes of walking around.  Bought it new last year for $535, so I felt OK with that.

I was looking for a decent K98k, but it wasn't to be.  I took my P30 money and added another $300 cash and made a package deal for a pretty clean, non police turn in 5906 w/ 3 mags, matching box, and papers and a 1909 1910 manufactured 1903 Pocket Hammer.  The colt's finish is kinda worn, but it functions smoothly and everything works.  I felt pretty good about the tradeoff.

Also got some overpriced venison jerky, because 'Merica!

Edited date.  Red the colt site wrong.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Got board and went to the local gun show today.  It was crowded, but not too bad, you could still walk.  There was a big mix of people in there, and all the CCW classes were filling up in advance.  I probably saw 100 people walking around with FL CCW applications in the couple hours I was looking.

NICS calls were 20-30 minute turn around.  The vendor I was at said they got to 2 hours yesterday.  Lots of folks buying.

There is still a HUGE AR market.  Lowers were $75-$100 and selling like hotcakes.  A million different combinations of AR, and all selling.  That cat is so far out of the bag it ain't funny.

Also small CCW pistols were selling like hotcakes.  At one point I had to wait on 5 people asking to see small 9's before I could hold a revolver.

My P30 sold for $650 cash to a lady with a 4 month old CCW in 15 minutes of walking around.  Bought it new last year for $535, so I felt OK with that.

I was looking for a decent K98k, but it wasn't to be.  I took my P30 money and added another $300 cash and made a package deal for a pretty clean, non police turn in 5906 w/ 3 mags, matching box, and papers and a 1909 manufactured 1903 Pocket Hammer.  The colt's finish is kinda worn, but it functions smoothly and everything works.  I felt pretty good about the tradeoff.

Also got some overpriced venison jerky, because 'Merica!

Pictures?

[MillCreek]

My S&W 659 is still one of my favorite pistols. 100% reliability, accurate, low recoil due to the weight, and in the final extremis, can be used as a club on the zombies.

[dogmush]

Pictures?

The 5906 looks like a 5906.  I sold my last 3rd gen Smith like a decade ago, and ever since wished I'd kept at least one example.  Most of the ones you see these days are beat to hell LEO trade-ins.  This one's not perfect, but it's pretty good for $200.



The Colt is pretty cool.  I really like the dual link barrel system that keeps the bore level for unlocking.  I understand why JMB went with tilting barrel later on, but I think this is more elegant.  It goes well with my Pocket Hammerless.

[Strings]

Your comment on having space to walk reminded me of something I've noticed

Having been to a number of different events that are similar to gun shows, it seems that the gun show crowd tends to be far more civil. Less jostling, less cutting people off, less attitude. Guess an armed society IS more polite

[BlueStarLizzard]

Pretty Colt. 

I love the worn finish. Pristine old guns are silly.

[dogmush]

Pretty Colt. 

I love the worn finish. Pristine old guns are silly.

That's the fourth ~ 100 year old auto pistol I've collected.  All of them have worn finishes, but all still function well.  It's a lot of fun to hold and shoot them, and see what manufacturing could accomplish that long ago.

I can see that Smith still working in 100 years as well.  Polymer framed handguns have many advantages in weight and manufacturing, but I'm not convinced they have the over-engineered timelessness that steel guns from the early 20th century did.  When was the last time you saw a VP70 that came out of someone's attic still working fine?  Or a Gen 1 Glock for that matter?

[BlueStarLizzard]

Your comment on having space to walk reminded me of something I've noticed

Having been to a number of different events that are similar to gun shows, it seems that the gun show crowd tends to be far more civil. Less jostling, less cutting people off, less attitude. Guess an armed society IS more polite

Some of that is an awareness and wish to maintain personal space. You know pretty much everyone at a gun show is carrying despite pretty much all gun shows being posted and nobody carrying wants people bumping into them. With everyone present all maintaining personal space, you naturally end up with a more civil crowd.

[BlueStarLizzard]

That's the fourth ~ 100 year old auto pistol I've collected.  All of them have worn finishes, but all still function well.  It's a lot of fun to hold and shoot them, and see what manufacturing could accomplish that long ago.

I can see that Smith still working in 100 years as well.  Polymer framed handguns have many advantages in weight and manufacturing, but I'm not convinced they have the over-engineered timelessness that steel guns from the early 20th century did.  When was the last time you saw a VP70 that came out of someone's attic still working fine?  Or a Gen 1 Glock for that matter?

Well, too be fair, they didn't really work fine when they were new... 

[Perd Hapley]

They have CCW classes at the show, or are they just signing people up?

As far as the 100-year-old Glocks, I guess we'll know in about 50-some years.

[dogmush]

They have CCW classes at the show, or are they just signing people up?

As far as the 100-year-old Glocks, I guess we'll know in about 50-some years.

They do the class there.

[Perd Hapley]

They do the class there.

Cool. Never heard of that.

[HeroHog]

Your comment on having space to walk reminded me of something I've noticed

Having been to a number of different events that are similar to gun shows, it seems that the gun show crowd tends to be far more civil. Less jostling, less cutting people off, less attitude. Guess an armed society IS more polite

Try it in a wheelchair. What a pain!

[230RN]

Try it in a wheelchair. What a pain!

Yeah, I wondered about that.  Haven't been to a show in about five years on account of the walking without wheels.

[charby]

They do the class there.

My club hosts a gun show twice a year, one vendor does classes during the show. Next weekend is our "Spring" show, I need to see how long their class is.

AR market is kind of flat in my neck of the cornfields, just about everyone that wanted one has 3 or 4 from the last couple of panics.

[Scout26]

Yep, the only reason to by an AR these days is have it to shoot it.   

[K Frame]

Oh man that's a sweet Colt. I've always loved the early Colts but could never afford one.

[JN01]

A 5906 with 3 magazines for $200?  Wish I could find deals like that.

[dogmush]

A 5906 with 3 magazines for $200?  Wish I could find deals like that.

Yeah, I don't see them that often. The guy had a three on the table marked $275.  He said he'd had them for a while and they just weren't moving, I guess with all the new striker fired polymer hotness out there folks don't think a metal gun TDA gun is cool.  It's also not single stack and tiny.

I wheeled kind of aggressively because it was Sunday afternoon and I was looking at two of his guns. He ended up coming down to $200 for the Smith if I bought the pair.  Done Deal.

[MechAg94]

Yeah, I don't see them that often. The guy had a three on the table marked $275.  He said he'd had them for a while and they just weren't moving, I guess with all the new striker fired polymer hotness out there folks don't think a metal gun TDA gun is cool.  It's also not single stack and tiny.

I wheeled kind of aggressively because it was Sunday afternoon and I was looking at two of his guns. He ended up coming down to $200 for the Smith if I bought the pair.  Done Deal.

If I remember, those showed up at police trade ins some years back didn't they?  I don't remember them being that low in price.  I had my eye on other things at the time.

[MechAg94]

Try it in a wheelchair. What a pain!

As someone who has to walk around wheelchairs, I can deal with that.  What gets under my skin a bit is people stopping to have conversations in the middle of a crowded aisle or a group crowding around one person looking at a gun and blocking half the walkway. 

 

[MillCreek]

As someone who has to walk around wheelchairs, I can deal with that.  What gets under my skin a bit is people stopping to have conversations in the middle of a crowded aisle or a group crowding around one person looking at a gun and blocking half the walkway. 

 

When will the NRA fight for our right to mount lasers on shopping carts and judiciously use them on the yahoos who block the aisles at the grocery stores and Costco.

[brimic]

There is still a HUGE AR market.  Lowers were $75-$100 and selling like hotcakes.  A million different combinations of AR, and all selling.  That cat is so far out of the bag it ain't funny.

A funshop local to me has a whole display case full of $50 Anderson lowers.
The idea of making 80% lowers and ghost guns outside the confines of a few states is a farce, as lowers are so cheap these days.

[Ben]

When will the NRA fight for our right to mount lasers on shopping carts and judiciously use them on the yahoos who block the aisles at the grocery stores and Costco.

Word (and thread drift). I don't want to be racist, but at my Costco it's always one particular non-English speaking group who take up the whole aisle walking in a single direction.

[Perd Hapley]

Word (and thread drift). I don't want to be racist, but at my Costco it's always one particular non-English speaking group who take up the whole aisle walking in a single direction.

Poles?