Milsurp After Hours

I went to a gun show yesterday. There was the usual amazingly large crowd. I got the usual feeling that whoever was running the thing must have been making a mint with the $6 entrance fee plus whatever they charged for the multiple rows of fully stocked tables. Many of the merchants were the same ones that come to every gun show and about as familiar as the vast nameless elbow room only crowd was not.

One thing that strikes me more and more now days is how each show seems to have a different supply pattern of the kinds of offerings. It's like going to the farmers market and seeing whatever is in season.....like a lot of peaches on display one week and watermelons taking their place a couple weeks later. Some things, like tomatoes seem to have longer seasons and okra tends to vary in size with the time of the year. The gun shows seem more and more like that too.... Mosins one time in abundance, Mausers another, AK rifles of one sort or the other sometimes on many tables....and different ammo offerings too.

This time...the surplus rifle supply was slim pickings. No big piles of 91/30's like a year ago. There were very few M1 Carbines on display while last spring there seemed to be a lot of them for sale at $600 on average. And the only two 91/30's I noticed were a couple of the last batch of refurbs....and offered at a reasonable, for a gun show, price of $120 with the accessories. Other milsurps, like Mausers and Enfields were tucked into assortments here and there but none in abundance and none particularly cheap. There were a few Arisaka's ....one a parts gun for $85, another a clunker sporter for $200 and an example in "good" condition for $239.

What I did see.... lots and lots of modern, black plastic auto pistols in the $400 average range. There were also plenty of 1911 knock offs and "cheaper" than premium Springfield Armory production versions and some of the Remington and other more expensive versions. I was really surprised to see so many handguns. There were a lot of shotguns, old and used, and mostly priced more than they were worth to anybody who had priced new ones at Academy Sports or Bass Pro. And there were a lot of "hunting" rifles of the used and often abused variety too. There were plenty of black rifles of the M15 variety.....including what has gotten to be a calling card...discarded police M16/15/tactical/assault/whatever it is for $899 in good condition. There were also a fair number of SKS rifles around at about $300 take you pick.

Looks like the $100 milsurp gunshow find has about dried up and gone the way gasoline at a buck a gallon. And... we could sure use some more imports of surplus arms to freshen up the collecting interests.

I just saw this posting. You are so right on everything. When the surplus rifles were plentiful, you saw postings flooding all the forums. I visit alot of them. There were so many posts when the Yugo SKS was available for example; that on one forum it was had the highest thread count. Then there was the M1 carbines...Postings everywhere of see what I got, or this is what I ordered. Alot of that is dried up.
Then the ammo prices went up, people shot less.
Then it is hard to play...""This is what I got". Show and tell stuff. People who do that post, but after awhile, the whole forum seems to shut off interest to the guy. He kind of gets the cold shoulder treatment.
Me, I visit every day, but sadly don't post alot.
Here in the southern U.S. there is little restriction on ownership of anything. Want a pistol?... I could visit a shop today, pick one out, go home with it, and shoot it on my small private range. All in one day! Try that in Great Britian or Spain, or Italy. Not rubbing that fact in your faces guys. It makes me thankful that in this part of the U.S. we still have all our rights.
Flea markets? There are 4-5 within a 35 mile radius and all have gun vendors. One flea market has an entire aisle
of vendors. Just last week picked up a Parris-Dunn trainer from 1943 with original '43 sling.
Sadly, most vendors in the flea markets, or the gun shows, tout their wares with exorbitant prices. Sometimes there is a bargain, normally the prices are way too high.

My brother and I went to the Richmond, VA gun show this weekend past. There were plenty of new guns on the tables but milsurps were sadly lacking.
Quite a few milsurps wandered in throughout the time we were there on the backs of folks wanting to do a private sale. I did see some decent deals but none that fit in my current program.

Ammunition was in abundance, both new and milsurp. Lots of parts, bayonnets and web gear. The beef jerky tables were once again there in high numbers. Reloading components were plentiful and moderately priced.
I did see a nice S&W 1917 Colt revolver that I normally would have snagged but couldn't because the seller wouldn't accept my C&R and I'm not a Virginia resident. The price was right but no sale.

A couple cases of ammo followed me to the range later in the day and the remainder came home. All in all a good day, especially at the range.

Have another show next weekend in Raleigh, NC where I may have better luck.

Let us know what it is like in Raleigh, David. The new hunting season always inspires the promoters to get the the shows going in every town and city in the gun states. And......I've never gone to one that looked like it was going to lose money for the promoters as the ones I go to always draw lots of people. Like many of you, the main reason I go is to see what the asking price is on guns like the ones I own more than to buy. However, I'll sometimes come across one I just have to have and come home with one more for the collection....although not nearly as often as years ago.

I can foresee the day coming in the not all that distant future when I will have to sell off much of my collection because I don't want to leave my wife with the burden of doing it when I go senile or get into that stage where the body has set the death clock running on fast forward. One of the things I do is keep a list of what I have and what I paid and what I expect it should be worth to somebody else....realistically worth...as of the date I make a guess. Going to gun shows is important to me to feel the pulse of what is available and what people are asking. Milsurp gun values, as a whole, have gone way up in recent years....but like the stock market, there are bubbles here and there that go pop, as we all know.