[BattleRifleG3]

Personally, and I guess I'm on crack for this, I thought having a stainless steel receivered G3 or CETME would be cool.

If replacing US made parts with foreign made ones, make sure you keep track of imported parts count for the stupid import ban law. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check the sticky at the top of this forum, and if you don't care, just don't talk about it on the internet.

 

[ruger22com]

defense

Speaking in defense of the guys who sell those guns at shows at "inflated" prices....What do you expect? Do you expect a business to sell you a gun for the same price they paid for it?....and just eat the costs for there licenses (batf, state, county, local), required safes, table space at the show and more?????

Look, if you want to buy an SKS for $100...PAY the BATF for a C&R license and then buy a safe, and then buy it yourself from Sog or Allen's or another distributor....and then spend a few hours cleaning off the cosmolene....(and I won't even go into the costs of doing business with an FFL) and see if the $100 you saved (minus what it costs to get the license and safe) was worth it.

Most retail businesses have at LEAST a 100% mark-up on goods just to make a MINIMAL profit (heck, jewlers charge an average 300% mark-up!), a dominos pizze only costs them $1 to make...look at that markup! yet for some unknown reason, most guns go for MUCH LESS than 100%...usually 30-50%....most handguns 10-15% tops.

So please consider this next time you are at a gun show....or better yet, get the licenses needed (mine cost over $800.00 a year..sales tax, etc), put some cash up that could be drawing interest somewhere else, buy a few guns and "do" a show......you will walk away with a whole differant viewpoint.

Bob

You may now start flaming..........

 

[BattleRifleG3]

What I wanna know is where to some of these guys selling guns at gun shows get their guns from at the prices they do. I have a darned near impossible time selling a gun at a fair price, even taking a 20% depreciation or so, having gotten it basically at cost, while dealers laugh at my price and claim they got a zillion of them for less (haven't seen any though... think they might be lying.)

I've overheard dealers saying to each other how depressing it is to see another table retailing a gun for less than they paid for it.

I think part of the issue is that not all dealers get the same prices wholesale. There seems to be some in crowd that gets killer wholesale prices that retail lower than other dealers' wholesale. Gun shops that I know make only a marginal markup quote me prices way above what I see things go for elsewhere. Not their fault at all.

I sadly can't often justify just plain giving dealers the price difference when they have a significantly higher price, (though $20 or so to a local shop over a chain store is worth it to me) but I do try to buy other items regularly, such as cleaning equipment, mags, ammo, and other accessories. Figure buying commodities regularly helps more than buying a couple guns over time.

 

[OneInchGroup]

Cheap SKS?

Ruger22com has a point about pricing. Dealer costs vary all over the map, sometimes because of connections, or volume, or catching a disty with an overstock he wants to dump fast. Back before the ban, some pals and I had a chance to get a load of SKS original Chinese units for $85.00 apiece, because the distributors were blowing them out before they were going to have to eat them. (6 cases of them wound up at my house) Needless to say neither I nor any of my pals sold those off at $85.00 after the commercial sale was banned and only individuals could sell them person to person. Nobody should expect a store owner to recycle stock at a loss, or agree to match the Walmart price on stuff that they buy one at a time while Wally World negotiates not with the dealer, not with the distributor, and not with the wholesaler, but with the MANUFACTURER for a couple railcar loads at a time. Supply, demand, volume discount, annual contract price......any of these terms sound familiar??????? A smart dealer looks at what the big chains carry and then makes sure to order something different, better grade, fancy stocks, ANYTHING but the exact same item, so he won't be embarassed by the comparison shoppers dumping on him for his "ripoff" prices. Want the lowest price in the world on a rifle or shotgun? go with the rest of the sheeple over to Wally's and get the same exact thing everybody else got. Want to keep the local dealer alive so he's there when you need him? Order your heart's desire weapon from him, and let the guy make a buck for a change. All the dealer buys I've made I still have around, because each has something special about it, and I've recovered from the pain of actually paying what it was worth. Lots of the Wally World bargains have been traded off, or turned into truck guns, because they're not anything special, except for being cheap at the time and boring now. :hmmm:

 

[BattleRifleG3]

I believe Wal World also buys factory seconds. While not necessarily the rule, I have read this and based on a couple store specimens I think I'm right.