The Big Lake gun show

I think we’re past the spring gun show season now. I’ve been told the next area gun show won’t be until this coming fall. Based on my memory, which is less reliable every year, the timing sounds about right. With the snow finally melting, folks have other things to do than wander around a gun show.

I attended both days of this past weekend’s Houston/Big Lake gun show, helping man the Mt. McKinley Mountain Man blackpowder group’s tables. That’s after helping to set up the tables on Friday afternoon and dismantling the displays and sales items after the show Sunday afternoon.

I had brought three handguns I hoped to sell and a pair of “Mickey Mouse” boots which no longer fit because of my ankle surgery. One of the other guys had brought three rifles he was looking to sell also, so we actually had a good display of firearms for sale compared to our normal situation. The other two display tables we had held muzzleloading long guns, mostly flintlocks, and information about the club and how to join.

The day started out with high hopes I would sell something but went downhill from there. The one handgun I thought had the best chance of selling drew the least amount of interest. It was a 3-inch barreled Smith and Wesson stainless steel 44-magnum revolver. I figured folks might be interested in using it as a carry gun while fishing or just woods walking. I brought a leather holster for it which would have been included in the purchase. I have enough other 44-magnum revolvers, so this gun was surplus to my needs.

I had it priced at what it was worth, but I was willing to negotiate if someone was serious about buying it. There were a couple of “tire kickers” for it, but no serious interest. There was more interest in the other two guns, a “Remington-style” derringer in a small caliber with a holster, and a Desert Eagle 44-magnum semi-auto complete with a second barrel, extra magazines, two holsters, the operations manual, cleaning tools, and other assorted pieces.

Again, none of these guns were cheap, but I was willing to negotiate, up to a point, if there was any real interest. I’m trying to downsize my personal firearms inventory, but I wasn’t going to give these guns away! I had several other vendors walk by and stop to look at the Desert Eagle. Every one of them commented that my asking price was fair, just as the price ticket showed. I was surprised how many folks who did stop by to look commented that they either already owned a Desert Eagle or had at one time.

I did get an offer to trade for the derringer. The vendor offered two pistols for the derringer because his “significant other” collected derringers. It was a good offer, but I didn’t want to trade one gun and end up with two when my whole purpose was to cut down on the number of guns I have. However, I did, finally, sell the boots!

I’ve always enjoyed this gun show because it’s close to home and the variety of items has always been good. I knew a lot of folks walking by the table and chatted with most of them for a few minutes before they moved along. For whatever reason, the attendance at this show seemed to me to be down from previous years. Saturday was below normal, and Sunday was borderline dead attendance wise.

The guys at our table speculated that the overall condition of the economy probably was a major influence for the lower attendance. People didn’t have the “walking around” money they would have had if things were better. With all the inflation and higher costs of groceries and gas, the spare money just isn’t there.

Don’t get me wrong, vendors did sell items, and some even said it was a good show for them. Most all the vendors in the area where our tables were located said sales were, at best, “fair.” Several of these vendors were selling items other than firearms, (like leather goods, knives, and artwork) so the lower sales were not because of gun prices.

Since I’m a listed seller on a couple of online gun auction sites, I’ll probably start listing these guns on the auction site. I figured I’d try local sales first, but since there was no serious interest, I’ll probably do better going nationwide with the listings. Let’s hope things are better online.