After stopping by the Analog Mom’s house to pick up Ken, the Analog Step-Dad, he, the Analog Wife and I went on down the show at the (unnamed county) Fairgrounds.
Ken was looking for a holster and magazine for the Colt 1910 Pocket 25 he’d recently picked up and a spanner for the early style Poly-Choke interchangeable choke system, I was looking to sell a pistol and divest myself of my Bushmaster stuff, including a rifle and a shorty lower. The wife, on the other hand, wasn’t looking for much except to try and see what all the hoopla was about gun shows, from myself on one side and the hoplophobes on the other.
We got sort of a mixed bag.
After paying admission, getting our hands stamped and having the firearms safety checked at the door, we each set about on our missions.
Ken, to my surprise, almost totally struck out. Even with the three vendors selling nothing but pistol magazines, there was not a single one to be found for his Colt and the holster tables were much too overpriced for his liking. He did find a nice box of hollow point ammo for $10 though.
I didn’t even make it to the first row of tables before I got a low-ball offer on the pistol that I didn’t take. I got a decent offer on the shorty Bushmaster lower as I made my way down the third row of tables though. The guy didn’t have the cash, but he did have a well taken care of Remington 870 (something I was definitely looking for) that he was willing to trade for the lower, but I wanted $25 more than what the tag on the scattergun said. But without too much haggling I was able to get the cash included on the deal.
One item down, two to go.
Everyone wanted to look at the pistol I had, but my Bushmaster rifle was nearly the opposite. Since it was Clinton Assault Weapons Ban compliant (no flash suppressor or bayonet lug), it wasn’t very popular.
As I made my way through the building, getting stopped when asked about what I was carrying or when I saw something I would have traded for, I was getting my heart broken on the Bushmaster. I was stopped by the guy behind the table with all of the stuff that is scary to Gun Fearing Wussies (20+rnd Glock mags, Bi-pods, AR pistol uppers, etc) near the end of the room and he asked to take a look at both items.
We haggled for a bit and finally came to a price on the combo. It was $50 less than the low-end price I wanted for the Bushmaster, which may not sound too good, but by the halfway point of my walk-around I came to the conclusion that I had entered the building with my price range set way too high. The Ban Compliant part was really killing me and I should have figured that into my price before arriving. I had gotten offers of two-thirds of my low end asking price and had to make a decision during the bargaining session. Keep a rifle that was something I rarely shot or take less than I wanted because I had over-figured the sale price
I ended up taking the deal because even with the $50 hit, I will still be able to pick up a very nicely appointed Remington 1187 or something in that range in the near future. The money for the pistol will go where it needs to go and since I had already put the 870 I traded for the Bushmaster lower in the car, I walked out the door empty handed, but my pockets quite full. Pretty much how I had planned it.
Today’s dealings complete and a smile on my face, I left the gun show.
Oh, and the Analog Wife, having attended her first gun show, has come to the conclusion that they are no big whup. “Eh, a bunch of guys trading guns and stuff. What’s the big deal? Oh, and honey, don’t bother asking if I want to come along next time. This was boring.”