Folks,
When looking for surplus arms two sources might be gun shops or gun shops. Over the years I have never done well at gun shows and have never found a surplus arm in decent condition at a reasonable price. Gun shops have been a completely different story. I deal at several gun shops and can usually get discounts, payment terms and a "no hassle" return policy. Just curious what you good folks have found in searching for surplus arms. Take care...
Joe

hello joe, here in calif. when surplus mausers were plentyful, i had no problem getting k.kales, yugo m48 or m98 vz24's at my local Big 5 store. gun shows didn't have what i wanted either. i have a good supply them now. all they ever have are mosins. have fun looking . Dave

Joe Boleo wrote:

Folks, ... Over the years I have never done well at gun shows and have never found a surplus arm in decent condition at a reasonable price. Joe

Joe, I agree. I've attended many shows since my first in '64 but I pretty well quit several years ago. I've only gone once since about 2000, and then to see if anything had changed. It hadn't.

I think many - most? - of the "dealers" today are doing shows as hobby rather than a real effort to sell or swap much. They usually over price their items and many have a snotty "take it or leave it" attitude so I "leave it", and them, alone. And I reget that, I really enjoyed the gun shows until maybe the last 15 years but the golden era of serious shows has long passed away.

I enjoy gun shows -- selectively. It can be a smorgasborg or it can be bust, but, having been an exhibitor many times as well as a buyer, my opinion is that there are good deals to be made providing one has a fairly well grounded knowledge of values and can ascertain condition correctly. Evenso, little recourse is available to those that buy poorly.

wncchester's comments about exhibitors doing this as a hobby is fairly accurate from my POV. My experience is that about a third of my gun show sales occured prior to or after public hours to other exhibitors. Many travel the same circuit and are always steering one another to specific pieces or values or swapping amongst each other. Still, if one is a sincere buyer with cash, good and fair purchases can be made. Dramatic savings? No.

In a similar manner, internet auction sales are attractive. There are few guns that really sell below market value (some firearms sell well above) but the selection is irresistable and most sellers are easy to deal with and honor the auction policies and guidelines. I've found some great firearms on auction sites but, again, no dramatic savings. Just choices.

I agree with Joe. The local gun shows around here are a waste of time. The same stale and overpriced merchandise appears at show after show. The gun shops are my primary source of surplus arms. All the best...
Gil

gil beings yer from pa, you might have heard of the incident that happened at the expomart, a supposed empty gun being discharged.. that spelled the death bell for the good shows. now they are controlled by the pa collectors ass. so it is all the same old stuff with extremely inflated prices, and the stuff they are trying to sell is junk!! i have always found if you find the old time gun shops they will do you right..

Gun show sales guys have a way of buying their crap at high prices and complaining when they can't sell their overpriced stuff to make a buck. Considering that its $7 to get in and the gunshows around here are surrounded by Sportsmens, Cabelas, Bass Pro, Gander Mtn...they don't have a chance. I can park at Bass pro for free.............

There are no 'old time gunshops' left around here.

Local gun shows can make you great deals on jewelry, coins, cheap plastic toys, tools, clothes, posters, bumper stickers, knick knacks and foreign made knives.

No good deals on guns, ammo, components to make ammo or direct gun related merchandise.

i've been to at least a dozen gun shows in the last few years and have never bought a firearm at one. I have bought accessories, parts, reloading supplies, and, of course, jerky.

The best sources I've found for the occasional deal are pawn shops and auctions. Probably the best deal I ever made was at a pawn shop on a Winchester 1895 that had been on the rack a long time. It was worth at least a couple hundred more than I paid for it at the time and since Winchester has gone out of business, I figure I could sell it for 2-3 times what i paid.

guncollector wrote:

i've been to at least a dozen gun shows in the last few years and have never bought a firearm at one. I have bought accessories, parts, reloading supplies, and, of course, jerky. The best sources I've found for the occasional deal are pawn shops and auctions. Probably the best deal I ever made was at a pawn shop on a Winchester 1895 that had been on the rack a long time. It was worth at least a couple hundred more than I paid for it at the time and since Winchester has gone out of business, I figure I could sell it for 2-3 times what i paid.

give ya $10 for it i hear ya though, the shows are good if you are in need of something right now brass for the normal calibers, normal reloading dies, i went to one and got a fair deal on some cartridge boxes, you know the plastic ones from MTM (shameless plug they are guarenteed) but even the lesser known stuff at shows are few and far between, and then you will pay outrageous prices.. next time yer at one ask someone for a .41 AE round...

I keep getting sucked into one that occurs every month. I pay 5 bucks to get in, and hardly ever see anything new I can afford. But I end up buying something so the 5 buck admission isn't a total loss.