I havent been to a gun show since I was kid, are these things still heavily cash only?
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Well, the best laid plans always get shot to hell, and no good deed goes unpunished. Since NICS/PICS was down almost all day Saturday it made sales all but impossible. Of course, it came back up on Sunday when the weather was gorgeous and the crowd was not in the building. This was one of the worst shows in York i have ever had but it wasn*t just the insta-check system as no one was buying anything regardless. Thinking about skipping Harrisburg and heading over to Allentown instead.
The crowd was strong. Once people had shopped and then decided what they wanted sales would have been better if PICS hadn't been FUBAR. I had buyers till mid afternoon but once we had start telling them 3 hours + delay they just gave up even attempting to buy anything. I lost at least 6 sales to the PICS issues.
Sunday was much better for us but as Marines55 said, the impetus had been lost. I did have a good buying show though. I got some really nice collectable goodies and a few other peices.
As a civilian show attendee, I thought it was a good show. Good collection of guns for all taste's . Bought a few items myself. Talked to some old friends, all in all a good day...
Marine55 not sure if it was you or not and of course I didn*t ask at the show but I was the guy with the PSP trooper shirt on Sunday
I thought it was a decent show. I heard about the nics being down Saturday from several vendors. It was good to see a good crowd but not overcrowded. I got some things but no firearms. I want an m1 carbine but not ready to dive into the $2500 pool just yet
Tough to say to be honest. If it were only a few dealers that had a bad show i would say they just had stuff the public wasn’t looking for. But every dealer had a bad show. The crowd was heavy on Saturday but it didnt matter because no one was really interested in buying. I have never heard so many people pick up a rifle to look at it and immediately say “i cant afford it” or “i wish i had the money”. We always have the typical person that likes to pick stuff up, play with it, scratch it, throw it around, and then slam it back down on your table while hitting as many other rifles on your table as possible, but this show was literally the first one in a long time i have heard many people say they cannot afford things.
I think we are at a point in the “world’s best damn economy” where record high inflation and interest rates are killing the people that typically had $500 to spend at a gun show. The guys that had $2500 to send at a show still have that and always will, but the guys that were in the market for that $500 price range are not there anymore. It’s also important to consider that this was a south central PA gun show where the public isn’t interested in paying retail price. But that aside, i also know of a dealer that only sold one $250 gun, while other dealers sold absolutely none. Even small stuff wasn’t moving and there were tons of empty handed persons walking around the show. I also noticed far more people walking around the show with guns for sale on their shoulders…something that hasn’t been seen in many years.
Seems to be more of a buyers market right now. IMO.