GUN SHOWS and SMARTPHONES

[browningautorifle]

Not really, I have the required license so if it's a long gun, I just buy it. A handgun needs a transfer done so that needs a phone call to enable...if the authorities are present at the gun show, it can be done at once.

[sovblocgunfan]

Re: gunshows and smartphones.

This is a double edged sword. On the one hand, it can provide a world of research and market data at your fingertips, if you're smart enough to use it well. OTOH, it makes everyone an "expert". I have found that, with the occasional exception, if I have to break out the smartphone AFTER I've seen the gun, I'm not going to be as successful as if I've already had my homework done beforehand. NOTHING can replace knowledge gained beforehand.

The game is still the same. Caveat emptor. Buy the gun, not the story, and know what you are looking at before you shake hands and pass funding. If it isn't something you are happy with, don't do it.

[browningautorifle]

The game is still the same. Caveat emptor.

I agree sir.

[Jim Tarleton]

I miss those gunshows on the bayfront. That is a neat coliseum complex. Moved from CC 14 years ago, and I miss the place.

I buy what I want, and price isn't always the decider. If I pay too much, big deal. Guns and women are a lot alike, and I go for what I want most of all and damn the price.

jt

[imntxs554]

The Gun Shows on the Bayfront were awesome....That was the last year "The Real Gun Show' stop coming here. Now there Saxet Gun Shows on 77 on the right side of Robstown.

Frank

[TDH]

While standing in line outside a show waiting to get with everyone exchanging ideas and BS I had to ask. "Remember when we came to shows to find a deal?" Very few deals anymore. I asked my gunsmith at one of the shows he was working where some of these people come up with these ridiculous prices. He laughed and said he wished he knew. I've seen people asking $600 to $700 for a post war Walther P1. I have a '43 P38 that has a post war slide and been beautifully reparked that I had been asking $450 for and no one wanted it because it had been worked on. Beautiful pistol great shooter but the collector value isn't there anymore. Go figure.

[Colonel Enfield]

This is a double edged sword. On the one hand, it can provide a world of research and market data at your fingertips, if you're smart enough to use it well. OTOH, it makes everyone an "expert".

I agree, although it's the internet in general rather than just smartphones. The thing is, there's just so many variations on even the most commonly encountered of military surplus rifles as to require considerable research to be able to make a properly informed purchase.

Take the SMLE Mk III* - there's no way you're going to be able to get enough information off a quick internet search from a smartphone at a gunshow to ascertain if the rifle you're interested in is a fairly standard, run of the mill piece or a rare example which was recovered from Gallipoli by retreating Anzac forces and "upgraded" to Mk III* configuration when it was pulled out of the armoury for WWII (for example).

Unfortunately, while the internet has made it much, much easier to properly research historic arms (especially though excellent forums like this one and informative web sites), it also seems to have collectively convinced everyone that ALL milsurp rifles are valuable collector's items worth ever-increasing sums of money simply because they're old military rifles (albeit ones manufactured literally in the millions and which are by no means rare today).

[imntxs554]

When i posted this thread, i didnt really mean that before your going to buy, search the internet sites to see what prices or information on different sites to come up with what should be paid, if i like something and its reasonable im going to get it, actually its the Apps on the Smartphone, i assumed they where called Smarphones cause of the ability to download Apps and by that i meant buyers and sellers are using "Blue Book of Gun Values" the one book in hard copy that they were using to tell me what my rifle was worth, but when looking at something he was selling he would say that "BBGV" didn't matter and it was the same book, but those Smartphones that have the capability to download the app is what i was referring to. Thanks

Frank

[Colonel Enfield]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're referring to?

A smartphone is basically any mobile (cellular) phone with the ability to run "apps", surf the internet, take photos & videos using a fairly good in-built camera, and play music as well. The most common type of smartphone is the iPhone; there are also similar phones made by companies like Samsung which use a different operating system (known as Android) but are fundamentally the same thing.

I'm not familiar with the Blue Book of Gun Values of which you speak; I'm guessing it's a semi-official "price list" of what various guns are worth? It sounds like you're saying people are using this particular book sometimes, but other times they're using a smartphone app you're unfamiliar with, depending on what will get them the best price - is that correct?

[sovblocgunfan]

You are right sir. BBGV is a book of stated gun values, with different numbers based on conditions. They are perceived and I am unsure about what real data the actual prices in the book are based on.

I have never seen BBGV be the primary driver behind a gun transaction, but the upshot is simple. The seller sets the price based entirely on whatever he deems important. Example: One gun dealer had several decent Auto 5's on his table and one miserable old Savage 720. Very clear that gun did NOT fit his business model. I knew he wanted it gone, and he told me so. I bought it cheap, and we didn't dicker around the BBGV.

As a buyer, I would ignore a dealer who publicly held BBGV up as his "bible" and would personally not use it as a basis for any of my own transactions. And I don't sell in public venues.

I would have my own homework done up front, especially if I am on the hunt for something specific. Using BBGV as my primary "source" would influence my sense of what would be "agreeable" in a negotiation, and would inhibit my ability to focus on the gun itself, as opposed to the story.