Went to the Gun Show

I went to the gun show with a buddy today. It was one of the bigger shows, filling three of the buildings. Prices on all of the bannables were up. Olympic ARs I saw a year ago for $599 were $799 from the same dealer. Not as many ARs out there, but still plenty to be had, average price seemed to be about $1,200. AK variants were few and far between, those I saw were selling for about $750, way overpriced in my opinion. SKS rifles were generally $400 to $450 for the half a dozen I saw. Also overpriced: I remember buying one for $129 fifteen years or so ago, in better shape than those I saw today. The regular dealers had only modest price increased over what I saw over the past year. A lot of opportunists jacking their prices. Was not that long ago you could get a used S&W .38 in good shape for $300. My friend was looking for one, and most I saw were between $400 and $450. Ammo prices were markedly higher for what was available. 7.62x39 and .223 were about $3.00 to $4.00 more a box than in local stores (that still have it in stock, by the way). 9mm, .38, .357, .380, and .45 were scarce if they could be found at all. The ammo dealer who seems to be at every show had empty spots where the most common handgum calibers would be. I did not buy anything today.

Interesting thought I had while making my way through the other attendees: Everyone is exceedingly polite at gun shows. No one is allowed to have a loaded weapon, so in theory no one is armed. One constantly hears the words "please", "thank you" and "excuse me" being uttered. So different from a trip to the mall.