WASHINGTON COUNTY LARGEST GUN SHOW

[renegadephoenix]

lots of vendors, hardly any crowd. good show so far.

[Noah_Zark]

. . . hardly any crowd . . .

Seems to be a recurring theme at funshows across the state the past month or two. VF, Hbg, Lebanon, PGCA, York, and now WCF.

Tough to draw a crowd with a still-in-the-crapper economy, multiple graduation parties, the start of vacation season (for those that can afford it), the annual seasonal slowdown in interest in firearms, and residual "Obama Hysteria" pricing on the offerings on many dealers' tables.

Noah

[VooDoo1VooDoo1]

Wow, this will probably be one of the last ones I go to at the fairgrounds. The big building was so dark inside and freaking hot that I was dripping with sweat as soon as I stepped inside. The two smaller buidings were much cooler with the A/C, but only a small number of vendors in each.

I found a new Sig mag for my P238, and spent about the same on gun bash/raffle tickets. Bought an FOAC Gun bash ticket and 2 of the M1 Garand drawing tickets, total 45.00. The sig mag cost me 41.50+tax....

Was looking for a reasonable stripped lower, but didn't really see any bargains, or many bargains on anything, really. I mean, if I want to pay retail, I'll just shop retail....at least I wouldn't have to wait 2 months to return something if it didn't work out after I took it home.....and the air conditioning works in most retail shops!!!

Was also looking for a master reloading book and probably the Lyman's 49th edition....but I get loyalty points and discounts at both Borders and Barnes & Noble, so I can get both at well below cover price.....so I just passed on those as well.....

One bright spot, there was a lot of ammo available, in all popular pistol calibers that I could tell, both practice and higher end defensive ammo, and prices on that were a bit lower than they have been over the past several months....But I'm still in sticker shock like a lot of us, and I have a hard time buying more than I really need at present. Maybe that is shortsighted, I don't know.....

[nfafan]

Astute observations by both Noah and Vd1Vd1...

Yes, there was ammo - but I was surprised at how HIGH some of the ammo was priced by MANY of the vendors.

Folks; time to get back to earth - or your only going to keep loading it back into your trucks and carrying it back home with you at the end of the show; do you want to SELL it, or take it home?

The BEST price I found on 7.62x39 was some incredibly obscure off-brand in pink and red paperish packaging, maybe Romy - for the same $5.50/20rds that Dunham's sells the black-box Wolf for every other week.
All the rest of the 7.62x39 ranged from $6.00 to $WTF?

Other than that, the WORST gun show is still better than NO gun show these days.

[Emptymag]

Astute observations by both Noah and Vd1Vd1...

Yes, there was ammo - but I was surprised at how HIGH some of the ammo was priced by MANY of the vendors.

Folks; time to get back to earth - or your only going to keep loading it back into your trucks and carrying it back home with you at the end of the show; do you want to SELL it, or take it home?

The BEST price I found on 7.62x39 was some incredibly obscure off-brand in pink and red paperish packaging, maybe Romy - for the same $5.50/20rds that Dunham's sells the black-box Wolf for every other week.
All the rest of the 7.62x39 was at least $6.00 to $WTF?

Other than that, the WORST gun show is still better than NO gun show these days.

Agreed. One day, in the not too distant future, there will be no more chances to visit vendors from all over the state conveniently located all in one place. If you want a gun, or parts, or accessories, you'll have to either buy online, or go to the shop closest to you. If there are any more shops, that is.

[JAnkrom]

I am going to have to agree, this was a disappointing show. I left empty handed and I am not sure if I am going to attend the next one if the vendors are not willing to come with more competitive prices.

[ScotsGuards]

I am going to have to agree, this was a disappointing show. I left empty handed and I am not sure if I am going to attend the next one if the vendors are not willing to come with more competitive prices.

Define "Competitive Prices" if you could please? Do you mean the average retail on items or some discounted rate you feel is appropriate? Remember something; for alot of these vendors this is not a hobby, it's their livelyhood.
Sure everyone wants a good deal(Me included.), but sometimes expecting dealers to discount items an excessive amount is just not worth it for them. They have overhead, alot in some cases, and I'm sure most would like to make a profit. Ohhhhh there's that awful word again..... They too would like to pay their rent, feed their kids and maybe buy some gun stuff as well.

I'm sure most of you would just love to have your employer negotiate a more "Competitive" rate to pay you.

Ok, donning fire suit.......

[nfafan]

My version of "competitive" would be for the vendor with the $10.00 boxes of 7.62x39 to get a clue and find out what people are buying it for these days.
Speculation over: the Obama panic ended; understand that in today's economy, many folks need to spend on food and rent before their next gun.

I'm all for a reasonable profit. When I was a dealer in the pre-Internet days, pretty much everyone with an IQ in double-digits had a rolled-up SGN in their back pocket.

We knew that if wanted to leave the show with an empty van - we priced our stuff "to market".
Sometimes we made out, sometimes we paid our bills and that was all. Hopefully we met the customer somewhere in the middle where we both felt good by the deal...

Nowadays it's an absoloot fact that every swingin dick behind a table uses the 'net. The SGN is 1980's news now.
There aren't any dealers driving in from the boonies with a LNIB Mini-14 at a 1981 price "because it never sold back at the Tack and Feed and was collectin' dust".
Today's dealers know EXACTLY what they have on their tables and what they need to get out of it.

Sorry, no pity-party for table holders tonite; if I had a buck for everytime I asked for breathing room and heard "can't get no more", "everyone wants these", "Sorry, these fly off the table, if you don't buy it, someone else will".

Well... I made sure to stop by the same two but different vendors I made offers for stuff at the last Wash Cty show - you know - several months and several PA shows ago? - well, they had the exact same shiit on their tables that I was ready to buy back then.

"Sorry, these fly off the table, if you don't buy them, someone else will".

Sure.

Several shows later and these two jamokes still have their inventory - and someone else has my money. Maybe the items will fly off their tables at the next show they drag them to.

[huntingbeaver]

The objective of being in business is to buy, then sell for profit. If a dealer bought ammo during the extreme shortage, he paid more for it than normal. As prices lower, he can choose to lose his a$$ on that purchase, or hold out. Either is a valid choice depending on circumstances - if that is indeed the case. But, if he's buying at lower prices of today, and trying to charge yesterday's rates, that's being dumb.

I also don't see wide discrepancies on new guns. Unless the person is a major dealer with a volume discount, all the prices are pretty much within 50 bucks -- the major difference being the dealers profit, as they are all buying from the same wholesalers. The amount of profit needed depends on the overhead of the shop. A guy operating out of his garage with other income can operate on a thin margin. A guy with a formal store, employees and rent has to make a little more.

The problem I have is these folks and their used gun prices. I've been to so many shows, ohio and PA over the last few months, and have seen the same drudgery and people show after show. There are only so many people in this world that will pay $785 for a k-22. They likely gave a guy $300 - $350 for it, but mark it down to $500 and maybe sell it? NEVER. How about a $600 model 12 field -- they carry that back and forth, back and forth. If they wanted to sell it, they'd break rank with the rest of the room and price it right.