No thanks. I use slickguns to find the best price.
Do all gun shows suck?
- Thread starter skyactiv
- Start date
- Status
Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
I absolutely will not pay to attend any show where they are trying to sell something.
The shows around here are quite large. It's a great opportunity to handle "things" that otherwise might not be available at stores. For example Georgia Optics came down to South Florida and had an awesome table setup. I was able to look through all the optics, choose the ones I wanted and purchase them at a nice discount!
While your local gun store might have 35 different ACOG's, a few MRO's, Aimpoints and Vortex optics available for you to test, we certainly don't have a store like that.
Nor do we have a local store that carries multiple 50 Beowulf choices or ammo.
So, I see your point, but disagree due to the quality of the local shows.
I absolutely will not pay to attend any show where they are trying to sell something.
The shows around here are quite large. It's a great opportunity to handle "things" that otherwise might not be available at stores. For example Georgia Optics came down to South Florida and had an awesome table setup. I was able to look through all the optics, choose the ones I wanted and purchase them at a nice discount!
While your local gun store might have 35 different ACOG's, a few MRO's, Aimpoints and Vortex optics available for you to test, we certainly don't have a store like that.
Nor do we have a local store that carries multiple 50 Beowulf choices or ammo.
So, I see your point, but disagree due to the quality of the local shows.
You never know what you might find at a gun show around here. I've found some real gems recently. Also, sometimes the best finds are from people who are not setup at the show. Lots of people bring items to sell to the people with tables the show or others attending the show.
I found this un-refurbished, original condition Tula SKS45 (made in 1957) for $425. It's tough to find arsenal refurbished ones for that price anymore!
I found this un-refurbished, original condition Tula SKS45 (made in 1957) for $425. It's tough to find arsenal refurbished ones for that price anymore!
Originally Posted By: totegoat
Some U.S. Surplus guns interest me, but non of the commie weapons are worth looking at.
I think if you ever got your hands on an SVT40, you would disagree. Too bad they are banned from import, because up in Canada they are plentiful and cheap.
An ideology does not prevent a firearm from having merit. And this is coming from a person whose family has some very unpleasant history with communism.
Some U.S. Surplus guns interest me, but non of the commie weapons are worth looking at.
I think if you ever got your hands on an SVT40, you would disagree. Too bad they are banned from import, because up in Canada they are plentiful and cheap.
An ideology does not prevent a firearm from having merit. And this is coming from a person whose family has some very unpleasant history with communism.
Originally Posted By: jjjxlr8
Originally Posted By: Doog
No thanks. I use slickguns to find the best price.
You aren't going to find uncommon stuff through slick guns.
I found full cans of Lake City Match ammo from 1968 at a local show last month...
Before Prvi Parisan started making new 7.5 French ammo, the only way to feed my MAS36 was to dig up Syrian surplus ammo at shows or Gunbroker(where it was insanely overpriced)
Originally Posted By: Doog
No thanks. I use slickguns to find the best price.
You aren't going to find uncommon stuff through slick guns.
I found full cans of Lake City Match ammo from 1968 at a local show last month...
Before Prvi Parisan started making new 7.5 French ammo, the only way to feed my MAS36 was to dig up Syrian surplus ammo at shows or Gunbroker(where it was insanely overpriced)
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: totegoat
Some U.S. Surplus guns interest me, but non of the commie weapons are worth looking at.
I think if you ever got your hands on an SVT40, you would disagree. Too bad they are banned from import, because up in Canada they are plentiful and cheap.
An ideology does not prevent a firearm from having merit. And this is coming from a person whose family has some very unpleasant history with communism.
A friend of mine once owned an SVT-40 very briefly.
Unfortunately, on his first range trip it started doubling as it warmed up. It did a mag dump right before he packed it up for the day.
He took it home and cleaned it completely then put it back together.
On a trip to the range the next day, it doubled again on the third mag.
Since my friend obviously didn't want to find himself with an unregistered fully automatic, he returned it to the store where he'd bought it(the local Cabelas) and they accepted it back without batting an eye. Granted they didn't have much choice.
Supposedly a gun smith was able to fix it, but after that my friend wanted nothing to do with at least that particular SVT.
Unfortunately, I think that's the only local one he's come across for sale.
Originally Posted By: totegoat
Some U.S. Surplus guns interest me, but non of the commie weapons are worth looking at.
I think if you ever got your hands on an SVT40, you would disagree. Too bad they are banned from import, because up in Canada they are plentiful and cheap.
An ideology does not prevent a firearm from having merit. And this is coming from a person whose family has some very unpleasant history with communism.
A friend of mine once owned an SVT-40 very briefly.
Unfortunately, on his first range trip it started doubling as it warmed up. It did a mag dump right before he packed it up for the day.
He took it home and cleaned it completely then put it back together.
On a trip to the range the next day, it doubled again on the third mag.
Since my friend obviously didn't want to find himself with an unregistered fully automatic, he returned it to the store where he'd bought it(the local Cabelas) and they accepted it back without batting an eye. Granted they didn't have much choice.
Supposedly a gun smith was able to fix it, but after that my friend wanted nothing to do with at least that particular SVT.
Unfortunately, I think that's the only local one he's come across for sale.
I have seen many guns do it actually. They usually had free floating firing pins and crud, grease, or cosomoline were usually the culprit.
My old Yugo sks did it even after several cleanings. I had to eventually disassemble the bolt and soak it in mineral spirits and then blow it with compressed air to get whatever stubborn preservative was causing it to happen. FN49's, specifically the 8mm models are known to do this from time to time due to the mass of the one piece pin and the velocity of the bolt.
Your friend was wise to play it safe, especially if he resided in a less than friendly area concerning firearms.
My old Yugo sks did it even after several cleanings. I had to eventually disassemble the bolt and soak it in mineral spirits and then blow it with compressed air to get whatever stubborn preservative was causing it to happen. FN49's, specifically the 8mm models are known to do this from time to time due to the mass of the one piece pin and the velocity of the bolt.
Your friend was wise to play it safe, especially if he resided in a less than friendly area concerning firearms.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: bunnspecial
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: totegoat
Some U.S. Surplus guns interest me, but non of the commie weapons are worth looking at.
I think if you ever got your hands on an SVT40, you would disagree. Too bad they are banned from import, because up in Canada they are plentiful and cheap.
An ideology does not prevent a firearm from having merit. And this is coming from a person whose family has some very unpleasant history with communism.
A friend of mine once owned an SVT-40 very briefly.
Unfortunately, on his first range trip it started doubling as it warmed up. It did a mag dump right before he packed it up for the day.
He took it home and cleaned it completely then put it back together.
On a trip to the range the next day, it doubled again on the third mag.
Since my friend obviously didn't want to find himself with an unregistered fully automatic, he returned it to the store where he'd bought it(the local Cabelas) and they accepted it back without batting an eye. Granted they didn't have much choice.
Supposedly a gun smith was able to fix it, but after that my friend wanted nothing to do with at least that particular SVT.
Unfortunately, I think that's the only local one he's come across for sale.
Do not forget the beloved Mosin Nagant. The 91/30 is one of the cheapest and most reliable forms of entertainment in the gun market. ~$200 and about $.50 a round at your local Walmart. They used to be much cheaper, but times have changed.
Their history is quite interesting too. The gun is more of a platform like the 1911 or AK47. Remington used to make them way back in the day actually. I believe it was the Polish who needed something better than a single shot to fight the Turks since they had Winchester (lever action?) rifles.
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: totegoat
Some U.S. Surplus guns interest me, but non of the commie weapons are worth looking at.
I think if you ever got your hands on an SVT40, you would disagree. Too bad they are banned from import, because up in Canada they are plentiful and cheap.
An ideology does not prevent a firearm from having merit. And this is coming from a person whose family has some very unpleasant history with communism.
A friend of mine once owned an SVT-40 very briefly.
Unfortunately, on his first range trip it started doubling as it warmed up. It did a mag dump right before he packed it up for the day.
He took it home and cleaned it completely then put it back together.
On a trip to the range the next day, it doubled again on the third mag.
Since my friend obviously didn't want to find himself with an unregistered fully automatic, he returned it to the store where he'd bought it(the local Cabelas) and they accepted it back without batting an eye. Granted they didn't have much choice.
Supposedly a gun smith was able to fix it, but after that my friend wanted nothing to do with at least that particular SVT.
Unfortunately, I think that's the only local one he's come across for sale.
Do not forget the beloved Mosin Nagant. The 91/30 is one of the cheapest and most reliable forms of entertainment in the gun market. ~$200 and about $.50 a round at your local Walmart. They used to be much cheaper, but times have changed.
Their history is quite interesting too. The gun is more of a platform like the 1911 or AK47. Remington used to make them way back in the day actually. I believe it was the Polish who needed something better than a single shot to fight the Turks since they had Winchester (lever action?) rifles.
Remington and New England Westinghouse both made the M91 (predecessor to the M91/30) rifle for Russian under contract in the years leading up to the Russian revolutions in 1917. Interestingly, Uncle Sam had to bail Remington and N.E.W. out after Russian failed to pay for the last ones in 1917. A bunch of these US made M91 rifles were stamped with the Flaming Bomb and brought into US arsenals. Most were used for training, but they were really only purchased to save these companies. The US made M91s are quite beautiful, with really nice walnut stocks. Many of the ones that went to Russia ended up in Finnish hands, used by both the Finnish Army and the Finnish Civil Guard.
Last edited:
A guy on Soviet Steel bought an old Remington with the bluing worn off. It actually had Finnish sling mounts insinuating its owner (I think Polish, but not sure) was captured by the Finns and the gun was used by them. If only that thing could talk. What a piece of history.
Interesting about the bailouts.
Interesting about the bailouts.
Last edited:
The history is long on some of these old rifles and with a little knowledge of the markings, you can learn a lot about where they have been. For example, this is a N.E.W. rifle made for Russia that has Finnish service history. The "M->" marks on the barrel and receiver tell me that is was made at the Meridan factory, then at some point after going to Russia, was acquired by the Finnish and issued to the Finnish Army (SA in box stamp). It was later loaned to the Finnish Civil Guard ("SS district number" mark) in the Vilpuri District (home of Simo Haya) before being brought back into the Finnish Army inventory (hashed out SS numbers) and eventually re-furbished by Finnish and put into storage before being sold as surplus to the US in the early 90's.
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
A guy on Soviet Steel bought an old Remington with the bluing worn off. It actually had Finnish sling mounts insinuating its owner (I think Polish, but not sure) was captured by the Finns and the gun was used by them. If only that thing could talk. What a piece of history.
Interesting about the bailouts.
The Finnish did capture plenty of weapons from Russia, but they also purchased them from others, as well. There are records that have been discovered that document the Finnish buying 57,000 Mosin Nagants from Nazi Germany in June of 1944. Many of these rifles went through refurbishment at German depots and have unique characteristics as a result. I was lucky to find one of these Nazi captured M91/30's at a local gun show for a very reasonable price!
A guy on Soviet Steel bought an old Remington with the bluing worn off. It actually had Finnish sling mounts insinuating its owner (I think Polish, but not sure) was captured by the Finns and the gun was used by them. If only that thing could talk. What a piece of history.
Interesting about the bailouts.
The Finnish did capture plenty of weapons from Russia, but they also purchased them from others, as well. There are records that have been discovered that document the Finnish buying 57,000 Mosin Nagants from Nazi Germany in June of 1944. Many of these rifles went through refurbishment at German depots and have unique characteristics as a result. I was lucky to find one of these Nazi captured M91/30's at a local gun show for a very reasonable price!
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
I have seen many guns do it actually. They usually had free floating firing pins and crud, grease, or cosomoline were usually the culprit.
My old Yugo sks did it even after several cleanings. I had to eventually disassemble the bolt and soak it in mineral spirits and then blow it with compressed air to get whatever stubborn preservative was causing it to happen. FN49's, specifically the 8mm models are known to do this from time to time due to the mass of the one piece pin and the velocity of the bolt.
Your friend was wise to play it safe, especially if he resided in a less than friendly area concerning firearms.
We both live in Kentucky, which is one of the most "free" states in the country in regards to gun ownership.
Both times he took it out, he went to Knob Creek, which goes so far as to host a very large and well attended machine gun shoot. The notoriously surly RSO knows both of us well enough that if we're the only ones on the range he gives us free reign of it and watches TV in the RSO shack. About the only time he talks to us is to ask about an interesting gun. In any case, the SVT got his attention.
Since both my friend and I(whether alone or going together) basically only shoot on public ranges, him keeping it definitely could attract the wrong attention. With it being very much a legal "hot potato" he had too much to lose by keeping it.
It's also somewhat amusing to me that Cabelas-like most gun stores-has a pretty strict no returns on guns policy. They will usually "buy back" a gun if you decide to return it, but you'll take probably a 20-30% hit on the price. With the SVT, he walked in, said it shoots full auto, and they basically handed him his money back with no questions asked. Granted, he's a good customer(as am I)-in fact when he still lived here in Louisville we had standing plans to go to Cabelas every Monday night-but I'd still think they would probably treat anyone in that situation the same way.
BTW, a Mosin is the only true rifle I currently own. I've paired back my collection to a bunch of handguns(mostly S&W revolvers) along with a few Winchester shotguns, a couple of 22 rifles, and a 357 lever action carbine. For what it cost and the cost of ammo, it's just a great "go shoot stuff at the range" gun.
I have seen many guns do it actually. They usually had free floating firing pins and crud, grease, or cosomoline were usually the culprit.
My old Yugo sks did it even after several cleanings. I had to eventually disassemble the bolt and soak it in mineral spirits and then blow it with compressed air to get whatever stubborn preservative was causing it to happen. FN49's, specifically the 8mm models are known to do this from time to time due to the mass of the one piece pin and the velocity of the bolt.
Your friend was wise to play it safe, especially if he resided in a less than friendly area concerning firearms.
We both live in Kentucky, which is one of the most "free" states in the country in regards to gun ownership.
Both times he took it out, he went to Knob Creek, which goes so far as to host a very large and well attended machine gun shoot. The notoriously surly RSO knows both of us well enough that if we're the only ones on the range he gives us free reign of it and watches TV in the RSO shack. About the only time he talks to us is to ask about an interesting gun. In any case, the SVT got his attention.
Since both my friend and I(whether alone or going together) basically only shoot on public ranges, him keeping it definitely could attract the wrong attention. With it being very much a legal "hot potato" he had too much to lose by keeping it.
It's also somewhat amusing to me that Cabelas-like most gun stores-has a pretty strict no returns on guns policy. They will usually "buy back" a gun if you decide to return it, but you'll take probably a 20-30% hit on the price. With the SVT, he walked in, said it shoots full auto, and they basically handed him his money back with no questions asked. Granted, he's a good customer(as am I)-in fact when he still lived here in Louisville we had standing plans to go to Cabelas every Monday night-but I'd still think they would probably treat anyone in that situation the same way.
BTW, a Mosin is the only true rifle I currently own. I've paired back my collection to a bunch of handguns(mostly S&W revolvers) along with a few Winchester shotguns, a couple of 22 rifles, and a 357 lever action carbine. For what it cost and the cost of ammo, it's just a great "go shoot stuff at the range" gun.
Gun shows have sucked since about 2000. Unless you are into tapes of flute music and those dream catcher things . Everything is overpriced and one of a kind if you listen to the [censored] spewed by all the sellers. Lots of purses and peanut brittle too . RK puts on the worst as far as velvet Elvis items go .
I just went to a show in Winchester on Saturday and bought a very nice Ruger 10/22 stock for 25 bucks. A stock in similar condition sells for about twice that on eBay (I've been watching auctions for a decent stock lately). I also talked him into including a silver aluminum barrel band, to match my stainless barrel. I was quite pleased with the value of this.
2017-01-07_10-51-31 by jnjadcock, on Flickr
The prices on pistols are pretty comparable with decent sales from the majors (someone had a few SD9VEs for $275, for instance). I also bought two of the 525-rd blue boxes from Federal, 36-gr .22LR CPHP. These aren't easy to find anymore, and the guy had $35 each on them (about 7 cents/rd). I thought that was fair.
Like other shows I've been to, I thought it was done well, the vendors were friendly, the clientele was friendly, and I was glad I went. Cost me all of 8 bucks for my two daughters and me to spend an hour or so looking at the various wares. About half the show was tacticool, which I'm not into, but there was plenty there for everyone.
2017-01-07_10-51-31 by jnjadcock, on FlickrThe prices on pistols are pretty comparable with decent sales from the majors (someone had a few SD9VEs for $275, for instance). I also bought two of the 525-rd blue boxes from Federal, 36-gr .22LR CPHP. These aren't easy to find anymore, and the guy had $35 each on them (about 7 cents/rd). I thought that was fair.
Like other shows I've been to, I thought it was done well, the vendors were friendly, the clientele was friendly, and I was glad I went. Cost me all of 8 bucks for my two daughters and me to spend an hour or so looking at the various wares. About half the show was tacticool, which I'm not into, but there was plenty there for everyone.
I finally went to my first show here in VA at the Dulles Expo Center. I've been teasing my wife for years that I'm going to go someday (and take her with me, an idea she was not too thrilled about), but I finally got around to it this past weekend. Despite warnings from my friend that the third and final day is always dead and all the tables picked over, the show was busy like the mall at Christmas. The parking lot was full and there was plenty of guns/military/self-defense stuff on display and light on tchotchkes and random junk. It was a good time and I plan on hitting the next one in April with some money in my pocket for a potential purchase.
- Status
Similar threads
