Gonzales Gunshow...Went? Thoughts?

[Hardballing]

Went to my first show in Gonzales yesterday. Met a few OUTSTANDING folks from Bayou Shooter I will add, but other than that, my impression was flat to say the least. Even brought a relative novice to "show the show" as it were and his comments were the same.

Did see a couple of "new" faces, one guy in particular impressed the heck out of me with his metal and leather work, Scott McInnis, out of Shreveport (was on the far right side, in the corner, from the entrance) . He had custom holsters that were every bit as good as ANY of the makes I have seen over the years including Bianchi, Sparks, DeSantis, etc. And he was hawking some handworked Ruger single actions, redone with custom barrel ribs and sights, in hand finished rust matte blueing that were simply worldclass in his work. He was not cheap, but again, the work was worldclass imo.

One of the unique ones was a .45 Colt Blackhawk that had a 3" barrel, rounded gripframe/grips with a soldered barrel rib and gold bead front sight, covered with a hood. Sounds odd as I write this, but the execution was pretty cool and I'll bet it is a blast (pun intended) to shoot. As I mentioned the rust blueing, that is not an easy process to master either and his work was very, very well done. Scott said he did all his metal and leatherwork in house and was a one man shop. Think I may be ordering some of his stuff down the road and I wouldn't be suprised to see a write up on this guy someday, somewhere. He's THAT good.

Anyone else attend? What did you think? Just curious.

To those I met who were BayouShooter members, thanks for the conversations. Nice meeting you in person.

Tim

 

[firefighter9158]

Gun "SHOW"

Gun "SHOW", That's about it ! I've went to it the last 3 times it was here. NEVER again ! If you like to Look, it's a good place to visit, but if your looking to buy a gun at a good deal, don't waste your time, go to your local gun dealer,let them(local gun dealer) know ya'll be back in the future if they give you a Good deal, most likely they will ! I've always got a better deal locally, never at a Gun"SHOW". Just my opinion !

 

[Guate_shooter]

I have never attented this specific one, but I have attented the one in Lake Charles and the one in Lafayette about 4 times each and last year I decided the same thing, never to go back, I remember when it was nice to find a good deal to trade or buy and people would wait around for a gun show, last time I went most used guns were "selling" for almost retail price and sellers were not looking forward at lowering their price. I have found them to be good to buy used accesories and so on but as far as weapons never again, just my .02, I know people gotta make a living just like me but I rather have the peace of mind knowing that the dealer has a store that I can come back to if I'm paying retail other than a random guy that I will probably never see.

 

[CloudStrife]

I saw a lot of over-price mags and ammo. If I had the start up money and time, I could kill those guys in sales.

 

[Born4spd]

It had decent prices on some things, the thing that pisses me off is the people that buy **** from century arms (aks etc..) and then price it 200 more then classic arms.

Makes me want to buy 10 WASR-10s and pick the best one out of it to keep, then sell the rest at ~ $50-$100 bucks more to pay for handpicked rifle!

Id STILL beat their prices!

 

[automan71]

I attended the show...I agree with firefighter, its a lookers show. The deals are few and far between. However, I did pick up an EA lower from Kevin w/ Extreme Weapons....good price, courteous fella. Next to him, I met Ammocanman...picked up a good deal on a lower parts kit from him. David from Cajun Cryogenics introduced himself and filled me in on his products...nice work, nice fella. It was a good outing......

My one gripe....My dad was with me and was walking through the show with a for sale sign on a revolver. More than one dealer asks him, "whatcha got there, whatcha want for it". Now, he had no intention of selling to a dealer nor did he ask any dealer what they would give for it! When he told them his asking price....One actually laughed, one snickered, one gave a wtf look and handed it over. The gun is reasonably priced.. way more reasonable than a lot of guns, especially used guns, I see on dealers tables, but do I ask them then gawk, laugh and in a round about way insult them....No! I look over the table or item and move on...This has happened to me on two occasions at other shows.... I am a business owner, and realize they are in business to make a profit, but this attitude just blows me away....IMHO its rude and unprofessional. They won't get my business, and if the trend keeps up I see a decline in attendance at the shows...which in turn affects us all as gun owners/enthusiasts.....rant over

There are some upstanding vendors/dealers at the shows and they will continue to get my business and questions...one thing I like about the shows is being able to check out something I've seen/read about first hand before laying out the cash. If a vendor is within the price range I'll buy from him instead of ordering....I'd like to see more selection of quality products at the shows too...holsters, AR rails, etc.

 

[BladeZealot]

hmmm...I have been to the Gonzales show twice now...enjoyed it both times.

In Nov. there was a dealer with complete lowers for 250, complete uppers for 450. All DPMS...he had a good price on mags too. I saw some nice older Rugers and single actions.

This show I saw several good deals on Ruger 3 screw singles and a couple Colts at good prices also. All these were .22 rimfire...what I like.

Also found a gripmaker...last thing I expected to see...beautiful wood and stag for several autos and SA's...you quite often see guys selling grips...but he was the maker and I greatly enjoyed the conversations we had. Bought two sets of grips.

Also found a good deal on a custom flashlight...don't even see those much at big shows.

As far as the sign on your gun...everybody has the right to ask if he had no provision on his sign...but I quite agree about some attitudes...some of the guys are straight assholes...I have had an FFL, owned class 3 stuff...been to many a show on both sides of the table.

But shows are not what they used to be...back in the 80's and even the 90's a bit, you could go to a show, trade with a dealer {or individual} and both come out happy...both giving a little to get a little.

Now there are far too many there that are there for the $...not for the love of firearms.

I guess it's all in how you look at it...I never pay what's marked for a used gun...they are generally priced where the seller has a little room, as most expect to be talked down a bit {human nature}...if someone pays asking...great, but they generally have a little room. And I rarely buy a new gun...probably less than 5 in the last 15 years...and I have bought a few. If you know what you are looking at and what to look for...most often a used will do you just as well...after all...it's gonna be used once you shoot it anyway.

Anywho...just my .02 cents...I will come to Gonzales again...The guys I talked to behind the tables were all nice and friendly.

 

[flamatrix99]

I like going and hanging out with everyone. We would have stayed later but my 15 yo wanted to stay in the truck to read her book.

 

[JBP55]

(quote) automan

My one gripe....My dad was with me and was walking through the show with a for sale sign on a revolver. More than one dealer asks him, "whatcha got there, whatcha want for it". Now, he had no intention of selling to a dealer nor did he ask any dealer what they would give for it! When he told them his asking price....One actually laughed, one snickered, one gave a wtf look and handed it over. The gun is reasonably priced.. way more reasonable than a lot of guns, especially used guns, I see on dealers tables, but do I ask them then gawk, laugh and in a round about way insult them....No! I look over the table or item and move on...This has happened to me on two occasions at other shows.... I am a business owner, and realize they are in business to make a profit, but this attitude just blows me away....IMHO its rude and unprofessional. They won't get my business, and if the trend keeps up I see a decline in attendance at the shows...which in turn affects us all as gun owners/enthusiasts.....rant over
[/QUOTE]

I carry guns to the gun shows to sell and the dealers ask me the same thing and my answer is " I have to retail it " and that normally ends the conversation.
At the last Gonzales show the third dealer that asked the question then said can I look at the gun and bought it. I Sold the gun 30 minutes after I arrived.

 

[nickatnite]

It was an interesting experience to sit on the other side of the table. I expected people to haggle and had some room to wiggle built into my guns, but the market for $1000-ish revolvers is apparently quite thin in Gonzales, LA. I did have some people ask if I was serious about my prices on the guns - like a 29-no dash

Is that a "Dirty Harry" gun?

yup:

Look honey, this guy has a real Dirty Harry gun for sale!

 

[Hardballing]

I usually say, "Gun? What gun?"

Or just ignore them. I simply do not have any inclination to hear the standard gun show table-dweller line about how he can get it for much less, cannot sell it for what you're asking, there is no demand for that particular example, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

.

What I usually reply with faced with some of the more inane seller comments when examining an item for sale is, "I understand your point, guess I'll just have to both sell mine on the internet, and also buy one like the one you have there, but only for much less. I even think the condition is better than the one you have. Hmmmm. Guess I'll go back and check on that internet site".

Usually ends that conversation on the plus side for me at least.

 

[Hardballing]

Good... but too much effort required...

.

I hear ya. I hear ya.

Was going to answer you with a somewhat (I thought anyway) goofy story I heard/saw/participated in this weekend but then remembered that they guy in quesiton may be the next one to join or read this post so...I deleted what I wrote and came back with "I hear ya. I hear ya".

See ya.

Tim

 

[Mjolnir]

I was there Saturday and did see some things that were surprising: good prices on Colt 6920s, lots of bulk ammo and I had a very positive discussion with Cajun Cryogenics. Other than that, I cannot say much. Prices were about what one would expect, I guess.

 

[kengel2]

I got told I was out of line, when I told the dealer the prices I wanted for some guns.

I said lets make a deal, and he said no. I did have a bunch of cash in my pocket to add to get what i wanted. Too bad he will never know.

 

[Hardballing]

I got told I was out of line, when I told the dealer the prices I wanted for some guns.

I said lets make a deal, and he said no. I did have a bunch of cash in my pocket to add to get what i wanted. Too bad he will never know.

This was similar to one of the stories I was going to tell, but didn't.

Always suprises me that you would go to the expense, time, etc. to set up and have ZERO sales skills. Fully aware that LOTS of folks have emotional attachment to their weapons that makes rational discussion sometimes difficult, that there is a break point regarding profit, that there are a fair share of loonies in any event (including gunshows) but even with that being said, sometimes those on the "other side of the table" make you wonder what their purpose was in coming. You interested in business? Does EVERY item have to make you a 100% profit? Both ways?

On a different note though, I spoke with some guys at the Houston Gun Collectors Show last year (kind of like a mini Tulsa, or not so mini some years) that were there just to socialize. Seems they bought tables every year, set up 5-10 guns, and could have cared less what sold or didn't. For them it was about meeting yearly with friends.

So to each their own . My personal preferences are a little of both I guess.

But "I hear you" too.

 

[dukeryder]

Only thing worthwhile I found (at the Kenner show) was one booth had NEW .357 Magnum Ammo for $16.25 a box of 50

I couldn't find it anywhere online and the dealers in town want about $25+/box