Expo Center Gun Show - Huge Mistake

[Koda]

you know what they should start doing is have 80% only gun shows... back to the good ol days.

 

[bcp]

I don't know why anyone is complaining. After all, it was advertised as a Gun Show, not a Gun Sale.



Bruce

 

[Quartermaster]

See, now that's a great idea - plus, if it were a sanctioned 'gun show' (not sure what the requirements are to do that), you could bypass SB941's requirement for FFL transfers for private sales - folks could simply call in their own background checks.

It's not even bypassing. It's RIGHT IN THE LAW that it's 100% legal to do a transfer yourself "inside the building" of a gun show.

 

[best defense]

I went to the Expo Center for the gun show today (first time in about 4 years) and reminded myself why it's been so long. $10 to park, $10 to get in-after arguing with the ticket "master" that my daughter was only nine (she's tall like me, I'm over 6'4") he wanted to keep my twenty dollar bill for the two of us! Then absolutely zero deals, I mean none. Even Keith's wouldn't dicker on price. Maybe I'm an old fashioned thirty something year old but, what gives? Prices were well over normal on the shelf prices at any store. Several bulk packs of 22lr for $60 or more? Even worse, it is now located in the oldest and smallest building that was sectioned off because they couldn't attract enough quality vendors to fill it.
OK, done ranting-lesson reiterated-Portland sux!

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My friend gave me a free pass to get in, I rode MAX down there. Good thing too, because there was not much of anything there that I wanted to buy.

 

[billdeserthills]

The gun shows in AZ are just the same, and thinking back I can say it was the Crossroads gun show people that ruined the shows. They came in and began buying out the other gun show marketers. Then (of course) they started raising the cost of the tables-Next came the raising of the prices for parking and food.

The reason those 10 year old gun shows were so good was because of the large amount of private sales, and not just guns, but folks selling old gun parts & ammo too--These people were largely phased out when gun show tables went up to the $100 mark, at that level mostly just the commercial sales people are to be found. Even so near the end of my selling guns at gun shows, I had to hope to sell 10 handguns in order to pay for my 2-3 tables and the help to unload & reload all the inventory. Once the smaller shows dropped below 10 sales, I had to quit going there.

 

[oremike]

Interesting thread, and right in my wheelhouse, I recently (last May) started going to gun shows as an ammunition manufacturer. I've been to the Expo center show twice but this week end was at the Eugene show which is local to me. As observed above I do all right at the shows because I fill an under-served nitch. I sell quality target/practice ammo for a reasonable cost. The joke I tell my friends is that if they go to the show looking for me is that I'll be between the beanie babies and the socks. A couple behind the scene things, there are two main promoters of the shows competing with each other so as like this weekend there were two shows within a 2 hour drive of each other. There is a limited number of vendors so that cuts into who goes to what show, makes it hard to fill tables. It's not uncommon to be offered and extra table or two just to fill the space. Unfortunately me and the gun dealers don't bring enough inventory to fill extra tables but it's easy for the beanie babies and socks to spread out, making it even less a gun show.
I've been going to gunshows for about 40 years and they have changed for sure, gone are the collectors you know like the Weatherby, guy, the High standard, guy the Dan wesson guy, ect. Gone are the used gun vendors where you could buy, sell and trade. Barter was king and the deal was fun. Now it's just business, dollars and cents, no deals.
Lastly we've lost the gun culture, they were a part of our heritage and we were proud as a country to stand and fight. Not so much for a while now, but I do think that after last Novembers election people have realized that the nanny state lost and they need to be responsible for their own protection. Here's an interesting to me at least side note, you know what is the most common new gun (person just bought their first gun) ammo is? Hint it's not 9mm, it's 38 special. The good old fashioned 4" wheel gun is more popular than all the plastic fantastic wonder 9's.
Back to the gun culture thing, my Grand father took me shooting for the first time when I was about 5 or 6. My Mom was thrilled that I was going to learn to shoot the same .22 rifle she got to shoot as a kid. Fast forward 30 years or so to when my Grand father died, my Mom made sure that the my grand fathers guns went to me so that I could teach my grand kids as was done for me. My daughter in law wouldn't allow guns even the same house as my grand babies (the oldest is 18). Locked in the safe doesn't matter, she won't let the grand kids visit because I own guns. We have to meet at a neutral spot like Sizzler or a state park for the day. It's pretty hard to pass on a gun legacy against that. It's not just my daughter in law, we have at least a whole generation of sheepeople that think like that.

 

[Norm0931]

So is it worth it? Do you make enough sales to cover that $1K and still turn a profit?

Seems the only ones really making good money are the event organizers.

It's cash flow and some customers come to the shop later.

 

[djharteloo]

I just parked across the street at that truck loading pull off... saved $10..
I was extremely disapointed with the show as well... I bought steel target just because I didn't want the trip to be in vain. They had crap for reloading supplies, it was about 100degrees inside, and the prices sucked!
Seems like the vendors are targeting impulse buyers, and ignorant people that don't know that they could get the same stuff online for 1/2 as much. And a couple of them looked like they were just there to show off thier collections, with prices up so high that it was obvious the had no intention of selling anything.
I'd like to see a gunshow with more used guns and gear, More like a flea market, or a swap meet. Basically the NWFA classifieds spread out on tables.
That's a thought... An NWFA swap meet!

With free parking.

I like the swap meet idea. One day a month, everyone digs out their old junk, and tries to sell/trade/barter it for everyone elses old junk. Maybe even the nive stuff too.......

But in all seriousness, the PDX shows have been terrible the last like 5 times i've gone. The ones at the Clark County Fair grounds are just as terrible. No selection, huge price hikes on everything, no one is willing to haggle (THATS THE BEST PART), and some of the vendors are less then friendly. The ACSW shows are where its at.

 

[Mygrainman]

I'll still go to the centrailia, WA GS every month. I actually bought my first gun there 20 years ago... although it was probably a different promoter. Its only $7, free parking, and small enough that it still feels like a gun show. There are a hand full of vendors there that I have got to know over the last year or so that are willing to trade and haggle... as long as there is a little cash going in thier pocket to cover thier gas & table fees, the less they have to pack home with them the better. I figured out the hard way which guys to avoid(or deal with cautiously), and which ones I can confidently deal with.

 

[mudslinging79]

took a friend, was his first gun show. we noticed no real mil-surp tables, mostly handguns and ar style platforms, over priced, and nothing "different and unusual". we noticed alot of vendors upped the price in average by $50 if one used a credit card... i don't know many people who carry thousands of dollars on them. and im sure the atm will gouge one and only dispenses up to x amount. what happened to decent prices and haggling? no real bulk ammo deals, and no parts tables for older mil surp rifles such as the mosin nagant, k-98 mausers, etc. i remember why i stopped going to the gunshow at the expo. used to be good 10-15 years ago, before the liberal snowflakes raised on the thoughts that all guns are bad have grown up. lost quite the following due to that belief.

 

[billdeserthills]

I recall another reason Crossroads lost popularity,
in the beginning each vendor got up to 2 passes per table, but they found that some dealers were selling the passes in order to defray costs and the promoters were unable to control their monumental greed. I used to advertise online for helpers who spent 4 hours helping me in return for free admittance into the shows--eventually the free pass idea was confined to 4 passes per party and then only with the purchase of multiple tables, many times I would get 3 tables and 3 helpers wasn't enough sometimes

 

[JJF123]

Does anyone out there know the older fellow and his wife that sells all the books on survival, how to's, gun repairs for older military firearms, prepping, resistance and such? Seems like about 4 tables in the middle, on the far west end of the bigger building they don't use much. Would like to find him for a few booklets. TY. Jeff

 

[LTCRMB]

@kmk1012 I guess the one thing that you should consider is the time spent with your daughter. Think about what she learned and having the quality time with dad. It could go like this.

parking $10
entrance fee $10
quality time with

 

[LTCRMB]

Portland gunshow has been worthless for the past 10 years not worth the money but glad you had a great father daughter day

 

[Aero Denezol]

It's been a few years since I've been.. so what I'm hearing is all the used gun sellers are gone? That's a bummer if true.. Was hoping to find a pistol caliber lever gun.

Here's an interesting to me at least side note, you know what is the most common new gun (person just bought their first gun) ammo is? Hint it's not 9mm, it's 38 special. The good old fashioned 4" wheel gun is more popular than all the plastic fantastic wonder 9's.

Interesting. A DA revolver is the #1 gun I recommend to all non-gun nuts who want a gun. They're usually disappointed when I say this, because they like the types of pistols they see brave men use in the action movies. However, if I know someone is not going to practice, clean their guns, or take it seriously, the last thing I want is a person I care about fumbling around in the dark with a semi-auto.

 

[mrblond]

I would go there just for the pure entertainment factor. Where else do ya get to spend part of a day looking at guns and at all the strange people also looking at guns.

 

[Ownerus]

I think folks are mostly lamenting a change in the economy......

The economy will always have an effect. I've seen several cycles of the economy over the years that didn't destroy the gun shows. The biggest change I saw came about after Ginny Burdick's (spit!) measure 5 requiring background checks on private sales. It appeared to me that the added bureaucracy deterred the private sellers who brought the really interesting stuff. Hence the current dealers who move their store for the weekend and Beanie Babies. I don't think anyone younger than about 35 has actually BEEN to a real gun show. At least when they were old enough to shop. Once upon a time, a gun show was a really good way to see really cool vintage stuff. Not antiques only but just no longer in the store older items. Want a Krag? maybe a '95 Winchester? Something interesting with history? Very slim pickin's for anything like that at a current "show". Just another lefty effort to destroy our history and culture IMO.

 

[jbett98]

Lately, I just place last minute low ball bids on guns that I want on GunBroker and every so often I get a nice firearm for cheap.

 

[ma96782]

I miss the private seller(s) at the gunshows that were selling off their collections, firearms that no longer appealed to them and/or their odds and ends.

To do that again.....I'd imagine that, the tables would have to be cheaper.

Then.....

I also miss the days when the Govt and FFLs didn't have to be involved in my transactions. WA and OR now have universal background check laws. F*** them, that voted for it.

Really. They must feel really good that they have enacted a transaction/transfer tax on me. Yup....think about it. What is your FFL charging to record and do the background check? In some cases it's $25.

OK....say that I already own 20 firearms. Now I see a gun that I'd like to buy from a private seller. Well, back in the old days I could show the seller my CCW, ID and swap a few stories. The seller was free to determine for themselves if he wanted to sell me his firearm. No extra $25 to the price and no Govt involved (to record the sale).

Humm......I want that single shot .22 LR rifle. But, with that additional $25 transfer fee. F*** That. OK, Ok, ok.......I don't like being taxed at 25%. Yeah....I say it's a tax (even though, I know that technically it's not).

And forget about The US Constitution. The liberals are talking taxes and (they say) minor Govt regulation(s). All in the name of public safety. Really?

Could you imagine being charged a background check fee to preach or attend church or to publish a newspaper or book? Yup.....the Govt needs to protect us from those people that attend those churches that preach their brand of hate and non-acceptance. New Flash Folks....it happens. And, what if? The publishing of Mein Kampf or The Turner Diaries could have been stopped by some Govt regulation/law?

And by the way.....when will a background check fee be required to purchase a knife, hammer, or a pressure cooker?

Humm.......Ok, Ok, ok........enough with the rant. Please go back to what you were doing.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Bushman]

Stopped going to shows for this very reason years ago. $20 to get in and park so you can look at beef jerky, Beanie Babies, and $800 Gen 2 Glocks with a single 10 round magazine.