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FTF transactions are legal in Arizona.

Gun shows there are loaded with guys walking around with signs on them advertising what they are selling.

The show itself is much like the ones at the EXPO center I have attended since moving home (except there are ALLOT more vendors).

If Oregon only changed the measure 5 law it would make gun shows worth going to again.
 
I'd probably go to another Expo show IF it was less expensive. I'm cheap and I have a hard time paying for parking then more than $5 for admission. I know the reasons for the costs, but I still don't like paying that much

Since I live in Keizer, Albany is closer than the Expo center, doesn't charge for parking and admission is only $5. I'll keep going to that show as well as the Rickreall show, even though the last one was a little disappointing.
My point is the average guy, back in the day, could get a table at any local gun show and sell or trade.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe they still can, the only difference now is that they have to do the state backgound check thing. Yes, I understand that some people don't like that requirement. I don't see that changing.

There are tables at the Rickreall show with what looked like private sellers and their collection of used guns for sale. I was sorely tempted buy a couple of M1 Carbines for $450 each.
 
I think I misunderstood your original intent. I was only considering the advantages we have as Oregonians to buy and sell FTF without the constraints of the show requirements. I agree with you though on the days past when we could do as you described
with a couple of buddies and sell/trade our stuff. It was cheap, easy and fun.
I too have been going to gun shows pushing 30 + years myself and I too remember the 'good ol' days. I do not have an easy answer to your question but it may be something we never thought of - maybe all the tools, hunting gear and grandpas guns are already long gone? Maybe all the good stuff has been farmed out with nothing to replace it? I remember seeing (late 80s - early 90s) there still being a lot of WW2 stuff at the shows, including ammo in the period brown boxes. It's all shot up now. The former guns we used to see, such as 1911s (when no one wanted them) are all gone now. At the same time a lot of former items of interest are losing their market base. Take antiques for example (and I have mentioned this before) The buying and selling base is aging out, and unless an item has some kind of Provenance or important historical background it does not have much chance today. Trust me I know. My mom has a house full of antiques that are worth half of what they were just ten years ago. I am no expert though just a casual observer of what is taking place.
 
It used to be an event for friends to go to the gunshow, stop by the Dancin Bear on the way home etc..and you were looking for parts and such..Now with the internet its at your door and the gunshow has turned into a dealer show.. By the time you count the cost of fuel, parking and entry you could of had a box of .45's and some .22's...Yes, it has changed and it has lost something that it once used to have.
 
I'm aware of a few folks who get together, rent a table, and sell stuff at shows no problem. For firearms, they just have an agreement with someone at the show to do the background checks for them. Or they can call up as a private owner and do the transfer themselves (I'm aware of some old-time collectors who are finally selling their collections off).

So it seems "do-able" (in Oregon) for small collectors/sellers to do their thing at the shows. Now, perhaps the people running the shows are charging too much for tables, I don't know. But it seems to be working in Albany & Rickreall because the shows there do have a number of smaller players/collectors.

But I do remember going to shows with my father long ago, and there were more interesting deals to be had & more interesting tables overall (and more used stuff). But at the time, people really didn't realize that...
 
I've been to gun shows in Portland and Eugene and this is what I've gathered from my experiences:

1. The internet has made many aspects of the gun show obsolete. Between large auction sites, vendor websites, and forums with classified ads it nigh impossible not to find whatever firearm related thing you are searching for;all from the comfort of your computer chair. Hell you can buy stripper clips and red dot sights (among many other things) right off Amazon and get free two-day shipping.

Most websites can't even match that type of offer, much less the local gun shop or joe schmo renting a table at the gun show.

2. Speaking of prices, bargains are less prevalent at gun shows now then (probably) before the internet exploded as a shopping hub. I say probably because I didn't go to gun shows before they didn't require background checks. Which has also had an effect on sales but in my honest opinion not as much as the simple fact that the economy is in the toilet while prices are high and fees are high. Table fees seem to be higher (based on anecdotal evidence), parking fees are uninviting (you mean I have to pay for parking and admission?). And selection is often times scarce or too pricey for what is being offered.

3. The proliferation of non-gun items. Some of the stuff isn't terrible. Knives are cool (even if they're kitchen knives) and sometimes I do want some jerky but by-and-large I don't want to see tables full of beanie babies and a bunch of useless crap. I understand wanting to sell your wares but this isn't the flea market its a gun show. Even a flashlight table can be filled with questionable items or of questionable quality.

4. Variety of inventory is non-existent: With striking accuracy I can guess which vendors will be there and where they will be located and already know almost everything they are going to be selling. Sure there are the occasional differences and every now and then I was able to find a really good deal and be genuinely surprised but more often than not I see the exact same table of police trade-in Glock 22's or the same table of hunting rifles that appears to have remained unmolested since the last gun show. And the ammo vendors that seem to have every caliber except the one I happen to be looking for at that moment. Currently it just feels like, once you've seen one, you've seen them all.

5. Customer service is laughably awful. With the exception of a couple times I've been met with cranky and unhelpful people manning the tables. When I was looking for an AK I asked one vendor what the difference was between two nearly identical models that were $50 apart in price. His reply? "Did you read the tags?" Instead of giving me a straight answer and helping me understand, he was condescending and completely unhelpful. Needless to say I bought an AK that day from someone else who was helpful.

Any one of these reasons probably wouldn't be enough to dissuade someone from going. But when taken together, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify going when I can get a better experience at a gun shop or in the comfort of one's own home.
 
Just about everything was better in the 80s and 90s. Better standard of living, more freedom to do what you wanted, better music, you name it. Gun shows are just one of a long list of things that were better back then. This is as good as it is going to get going forward; the 'last of the good times' so to speak. If we are around in 2025 we'll look back on now in the same fashion.
 
Not much more I can add to the discussion, but the reasons I hate gun shows these days are:

1) Overpaying for parking
2) Overpaying for admission
3) No deals to be had
4) Rude a-holes working the tables
5) Ignorant a-holes working the tables
6) Table after table after table of useless, worthless, JUNK. It's a gun show, not a damned flea market!
7) Table after table after table of political crap, survival food, or beef jerky.
8) Tactical, tactical, tactical, EVERYWHERE!

These are the reasons I stopped going, and will never go again.
 
When (if?) we return to some 'better' time for the gun industry in which gun shows are full of great deals on used guns, it means demand has waned and the gun industry is again in decline like it was in those 'better' times. Great hoarding opportunities, but dangerous for gun rights, gun ranges, and gun stores.

Every time a newbie overpays for a beat up old mousegun for HD is a potential gunny in the making. We need to pray they take it to the range, get hooked, buy more, learn about the hypocrisies of gun control, join the NRA, and vote pro gun! It happened to me, and it will happen to others.
 
5. Customer service is laughably awful. With the exception of a couple times I've been met with cranky and unhelpful people manning the tables. When I was looking for an AK I asked one vendor what the difference was between two nearly identical models that were $50 apart in price. His reply? "Did you read the tags?" Instead of giving me a straight answer and helping me understand, he was condescending and completely unhelpful. Needless to say I bought an AK that day from someone else who was helpful.

4) Rude a-holes working the tables
5) Ignorant a-holes working the tables

Honestly, with the exception of an ammo dealer who is on this forum, the above has been my experience, and I have stopped going to gun shows. I wasn't raised around firearms. What I know of them I learned in the army, as an armed guard, and through later training, practice and reading. I never knew anyone whom I could ask questions of. I hoped that gun shows would be a place where I could meet some firearms "experts" and actually learn something about various firearms displayed on tables. How silly of me. I could certainly be wrong, but I think that there are a lot of people attending gun shows these days with little firearms experience or knowledge, who don't belong to forums like this, who would benefit from some sort of learning experience at a gun show. Vendors are there to make money, I know, but maybe there is room for volunteer organizations like Appleseed or CMP or NRA instructors/groups (or even Vendors) to have tables or give seminars on various firearms topics.

Others here may disagree and be only interested in getting to their ammo or firearms, but I think a transition to something more like a convention could be helpful. That is, a large vendor booth/room, but also some seminar rooms for hour-long sessions, like "How to fit a shotgun to your body," "Collecting antique firearms," "Battle rifles of the 20th century," "Purchasing NFA items," "Competitive shooting sports," "Reloading for shotshell/pistol/rifle," "Care and maintenance of rifles/pistols/shotguns." I think these sorts of classes could be good for vendors and for shooting as a whole by increasing new firearm owners' knowledge and satisfaction with their purchases while giving them incentives to stay involved and make future purchases. I'm sure other people here could give more classes that they would be interested in, and I'm sure more people would be interested in them than just newbs. Maybe there are shows out there already doing this? I haven't seen them.
 
There is a gun show (in Porltand, of all places) that IS educational. It is the once-annual Oregon Arms Collectors show coming up in August (25-26th). Usually at the Airport Holiday Inn. The entire wall of the room is devoted to "display only", with sales tables in the middle. Free parking.

If you want to learn, you could EASILY spend two days in that room.
 
AUGUST 2-DAY SHOW

Don't miss our 2-day August 25-26, 2012 show at the Holiday Inn. Located at 8439 NE Columbia in Portland. Show features antique and collectible firearms, edged weapons, militaria, old west and many fine displays. Show Hours are Saturday 9 am to 5 pm Sunday 9am to 3 pm $6.00 Admission - Free Parking

Hot German chicky waiting in the lounge to serve you beers also.
 
A pre-64 '94, near mint, in .25-35 Caliber. Priced like the other '94's on the rack
I hope it is pre 64 because (and correct me if I am wrong) Winchester dropped the 25-35 in 1953 I believe. Regardless this is my next 'Dream' Winchester so don't even tell me what you paid for it because I'll be envious! Well OK, PM me with the details of it so I won't continue to wonder.
 
I can see the WAC shows going in the toilet over the next few years.
They've made it into a commercial gun show enterprise.
This means a commercial enterprise (A Business) run by elected officers. You know, just like a government.
Making this leap by what they claim is because of the State Dept of Revenue rulings will wipe out the shows. They claim they did all of this to save the shows. Well, that's a matter of opinion.
What can be done? It's up to club members, members who for the most part are members simply because it's the only way you can FTF trade, buy, sell, guns at the show.
So...
Who knows???

The following "open" letter is available on the worldwide web for anyone to read.
rmscollectors.org%2Ftable_policy%2FWAC_Membership_Letter_re_table_rent_changes.pdf&ei=OscKUJH6MpO2qAHQ18DOCg&usg=AFQjCNHwganpyHJcn-V9xHgaQvA2YPtzEQ&sig2=BTcN6epasoRE8XbbGc0mKA[/url]


Addenda:
After this latest mass shooting in Colorado, we'll be lucky if the State of WA does not outlaw all private sales, and then every single transaction will have to be done through an FFL.
Obviously you don't believe in WAC or their leadership so I guess you'll just have to go elsewhere to buy.
 

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