Local CA "gunshow"

[Mike D.]

I wasted time attending a gunshow, here in town, and won't EVER do it again. What a pee-poor excuse for a so called "gunshow"! It was nothin' but a freakin' FLEA MARKET. Gap toothed idiots buyin' beef jerky, silly knives and black rifle accessories was about it. The few levers were absolute JUNK!! Imagine an 1886 .33 WCF standard half mag rifle, with ZERO finish, with an asking price of $2775. I asked the dum-butt behind the counter where he got his prices and he looked at me like I came from the MOON. "Don't you know anything about these things", he said. I had no answer for him and walked out the door. Oh, there was ONE actually fair priced Winchester. It was a standard '95 .405 rifle, with nice bluing, a super bore, and nice front end wood. It was priced at $1700, but had a chopped off buttstock with a scabby pad attached. It would've needed a stock, so I passed. They wanted 10 bucks admission, too. One of my buds is a local cop, so he walked me in for nada. If it wasn't for that, I'd a really been ticked off. Oh well, it only took an hour to run through the whole shebang. Primers were priced at 25 bucks/thou, and they were Wolf to boot. Not for me!

[flatnose]

Same story here Mike.
I used to frequent the Del Mar Gunshow, but have not been there in 4 years, and that visit was to check and see if there had been any improvement for the previous 3 years. I think I will never set foot in one again. I stopped going for the same reasons that you and many others have. There is a much bigger selection and more affordable stuff online.
The times have changed.

[.45colt]

It's sad to say I'm finding the same here in ohio. We went to two small shows and one that used to be a good decent sized show in the past months. alot of over priced junk with real self-appointed "experts" behind the tables. the bigger show was noteable as My Retired friend pointed out that He saw ol'most no one make a deal in the three hours We were there.
The best show for Me seems to be on the internet.saves alot in gas$$$.Jim.

[Sixgun]

Mike,
$2775 for junk? Thats what I see in Colorado when visiting my son. $10 admission is becoming the norm around here too but........................we do have some good shows--just about every weekend there is a good show and the most you would have to travel is about a hundred miles, with most being under 50.

I would have bought that .405 as I can always find a junker to switch stocks on-----------Sixgun

[Modoc ED]

Mike -

I haven't seen a decent gun show in CA in years.

I have been to a couple of good ones in OR and NV but guys are asking way too much for most guns now-a-days.

[Bronco]

Can't think of anything good to say about california but the climate, and that ain't worth the pain anymore. Gotta get out of here!!

John

[Rusty]

I'd really have to be needin something pretty bad to go to another one myself. Everything around here is either black rifles or one major dealer that buys up 1/2 of all the tables they have.

[71fan]

I've been seeing the same thing down here, also at the Del Mar show. I go about once a year just to see what there is to see. There are three tables at the show that usually have quite a few old rifles, but the prices....ugh.

The most impressive thing that happened last year was I found a set of 40-70 wcf loading dies, and the same guy even had loaded ammunition (re-formed brass of course) AND a vintage mold for the 330 gr bullet. I was amazed. I paid for the dies without a thought, but he was too proud of the mold.

Still, it IS a flea market for the most part and hard to justify the price of admission.

[Mike D.]

No kidding! Are you goin' to Reno next month, Chad?

[Kansas Ed]

You'll regret passing on an original .405 for that price in a couple of years. Stocks can be had and matched well enough.

Ed

[Shasta]

Mike,

You should have come up to Redding for the Lions Club Gun Show last weekend. I posted a notice about it on this forum February 27. Sure there were lots of overpriced guns, but reasonable deals could be had.
One widow lady selling out her husband's estate had primers at $29 thousand, older unopened cans of powder at $16, hundreds of boxes of jacketed bullets at $10 to $14 each, many dozens of RCBS reloading dies at $19 per set, 38 Special reloads at $5 box, new brass in many calibers at $20 per hundred and fired brass at $10 per hundred, and shot at $20 per 25 lb. bag. She had upwards of 150 bullet moulds, including many obsolete moulds still new in the box. There were used 8 cavity Hensley & Gibbs moulds priced at $85, 4 cavity Lymans priced at $60, and a slew of double and single cavity moulds for as little as $10.
She also had quite a few guns; a .45-120 Shiloh Sharps at $1800, a couple well worn Winchester 1906 .22 pumps at under $200 each, a Winchester .410 single shot at $115, and a Ruger Mini 14 for $500, just to name a few. Needless to say she was a very busy lady and did quite well with sales.

I saw a very nice old Marlin 336 Deluxe for $350, A super clean Marlin 39A made in 1948 for $350, an Armi San Marco made Winchester 92 for $350, and a clean old Winchester 94 .32 Special rifle with not much finish left priced at $450. On the other end of the spectrum I saw Winchester 94's priced as high as $18,000!

I spent every dime I had buying stuff from the above mentioned widow lady, and my reloading room is now bulging with primers, powder, bullet moulds, and reloading tools. Oh, and my safe is now sporting a very clean old Winchester 94 in .32-40, made in 1906. I couldn't pass it up for $800!

[Mike D.]

You'll regret passing on an original .405 for that price in a couple of years. Stocks can be had and matched well enough.

Ed

The .405 is not far away. I may still try to "bargain" the thing. I have a habit of passing up good guns 'cause of being picky and CHEAP.

[Mike D.]

Well, Shasta, it would have been nice to go to your show, but I had too much to do this weekend as it was. Spoke to a friend that was there Friday. He's an antique dealer and long time collecting bud who lives up there, in Redding.

[Kansas Ed]

Yea Mike, I know what you mean...I get real picky and cheap to...then cuss myself all the next week. Did I ever tell you about the time I passed on an original Henry in 1989... for $700.... Didn't even know what I was looking at, cept it was a beat up old rifle and shot a caliber that you couldn't buy ammo for.


Ed

[jjames]

I quit going to the Del Mar gunshow a long time ago to look for guns. I have gone a couple times for powder and primers over the last year, and found they generally don't have what I want. After parking and admission there is no deal on those unless you can buy a lot of what you need. I'll get my jerky, tee shirts, sunglass, etc, elsewhere. Crossroads won't get the price of admissions out of me again.

[MikeS.]

Admission to the big show around here is now 12 bucks. Most other shows are about 6. The days of good buys at a show are very far and few between now.

[gary rice]

I too used to go the the del mar show. Last time was a year ago (hadnt been in 5 years prior) i thought maybe it had changed. it had, for the worse. The only thing i found were primers and the rest was pure junk. no guns but just junk.

[71fan]

No kidding! Are you goin' to Reno next month, Chad?

Nope. I haven't hit one of those shows since I left in 2000. I do miss them. I'll be down here at the NRA banquet that weekend.

[Mike D.]

Hey, the "good 'ol days" of 2000. You could have bought the best 1886 in the show for 4Gs, and '94s were DIRT! Not no mo'!!

[Slick]

They used to have these “road-runner / mcmann gun shows” at Cal Expo (in CA) years ago… I’ve only been to that one show about 4 years ago. There were more non-gun booths than tables with gun-related items. I called the promoter and they told me that they “fill tables” with any kind of vendor in the last week of sign-up so the show isn’t empty.

I told them that if I wanted sunglasses and Indian jewelry – I’ll go to the local flea market where parking AND admission is $2, and that I would never return..

The only gun shows that I attend now are in Nevada – where they actually have guns.

[jjames]

The best deal I ever found out of a gun show was a local FFL that decided to be profitable through volume. His prices were such that I probably bought 20 or more new guns through him. He would also place guns I wanted to sale in his booth, sale them, hand me all the proceeds, handle the transfer and charge the buyer his standard 10% or $50 which ever was less finders fee. He also invited me to the Shotshow as an "Honorary"employee. I always claimed to be in purchasing. Sadly for me he decided being an FFL in California was too big of a pain and lets his state and local license expire a couple years back. I have found another good FFL dealer but I have only used him for transfers of GB and AA purchases. These days nothing new interests me enough to part with money.