Are Gun Sales Plunging?

[SoupOrMan]

Well how.... nice... for you.



Who said anything about buying firearms at random?

Do it for the children. I do, with forethought about their future utility, scarcity and the intent of being passed along one day to later generations.

No kids here.

[Rich Jordan]

With the exception of two firearms that are now out of my price range (a Springfield 1903 Mk I and a National Postal Meter M1 Carbine), I have all the firearms I want.

Sorry, guys. My bad. I stopped buying stuff at random.

On the Springfield Mk I at least, I'm set. A friend sold me a beauty back in the early '90s, all original, complete with the original stock (a bit beat up) and a beautiful pre-war C-stock at a very good price.

And I have an IBM M1 carbine because back when IBM was synonymous with microsoft caca, I swore it was the only IBM (or compatible) I would ever own. But M1 carbines are sweet sweet little guns. You should seriously get one even if its not an NPM; you can always trade or sell it once you find the one you really want. The values are not going down...

However I'm also not buying much right now. Nowhere to shoot rifles any more without a 2 hour + drive (and weekends usually too busy), ammo is too expensive and it hurts to shoot what I still have (and more to lose the brass), plus its time to spend time and money on the Challenger, so its getting the 'spare' money for now.

[Windy Wilson]

What Aesop said. After chugging along at Appalachian peak levels, the national gun salesman prodded them to Rocky Mountain levels, and then Newton and the frothings of leftists drove sales to to Everest levels. They have now plunged to Annapurna and K2 levels.
And as any investor will tell you, one month is a data point. We need trends.

And Dub_James, that lock step is the strength of the leftists. My brothers and their wives could not tell you anything about the Fast and Furious scandal, except maybe "It started under Bush", the IRS scandal is completely invisible to them, I doubt they know anything about NSA or Snowden, but by golly, my brother posted on his facebook page that the Tea Party was terrible and just like the KKK (in some unspecified way, of course).

For BAG, I have a hankering for a Ruger 10/22 or perhaps a Walther P1, or some such. I also don't go after the latest newest thing.

[Johnnyreb]

Hehe. I don't know about your gun shows, but around here there are plenty of private sales to be had at the gun shows. The last three rifles I've bought were a Russian SKS, Romak III, and an AK. All three private sales. Didn't plan it that way, but I like how it worked out that way.

Aside from many people wanting something semi-auto and high capacity. I think "private sale" has been high on the list of desired features in a firearm. I think a maybe a quarter of the guns at the last show were private collection sales, mostly cash only.

Come April there's a local thing done around here, where people bring all kinds of stuff, good or junk, to sell alongside a music festival. Every time since it started, there's always somebody selling some 22s, some pistols and such. Last year, if I'd had the cash, I could have picked up 2 snub nose .38s for 600-700. A Taurus and a Smith and Wesson. And before that a very nice Browning High Power in a presentation box for 500. There was a guy with a nice bunch of old military bolt actions too. British, German, you name it he had one. All cash and no paperwork. I didn't have the money then. But come April if the right thing is there, it's mine.

I've been thinking for some time about revolvers, probably .357 mag ones. I only have one, a single action cowboy gun. But last year I got to fire my brother-in-law's .357 snubby with a shrouded hammer and rather liked it, not near as much kick as thought it might have. And either way, .357 or .38 special, I'm kind of well supplied thanks to always checking the ammo and walmart and picking some up here and there.

[Netpackrat]

There is no such thing as a Romak III; that is a misnomer (one among several) hung on the rifle by importers. You have a Romanian PSL designated marksman rifle. They are a bit of a kludge, but a good rifle overall.

[Draven]

With the exception of two firearms that are now out of my price range (a Springfield 1903 Mk I and a National Postal Meter M1 Carbine), I have all the firearms I want.

Sorry, guys. My bad. I stopped buying stuff at random.

You have a Rock-o-la M1 Carbine?

No Rock-Ola. My grandfather worked as a sorter for the post office, so I figured a National Postal Meter carbine would be appropriate.

Pretty much same reason i wanted an IBM.... my grandfather was (a?) chief Data Systems Analyst for Reynolds Metals for a number of years. First computer i saw was their honkin huge IBM mainframe, seen from the shoulders of my 5' 11" grandfather.