I am headed this weekend to the first local gun show in town in over a year. I am going to hit it Sunday morning so (hopefully) it isn't stupid busy. I am certain ammo prices will be beyond belief, and reluctantly figure gun prices will be equally as stupid. Maybe the stars will align and I will stumble across an A5. There are a handful of other gun shows within an hours driving time scheduled for the next couple of months. All of the pawn shops and local sales forums have been pretty well dried up as far as A5s go, but there are quite a few other brand shotguns (that I've never heard of before) up for sale. I'd say "wish me luck", but those days are long gone.
Update: Worst local gun show I have been to in decades. (Notwithstanding the fact there were no Auto 5s!) Prices of guns were beyond belief. Ammo (although admittedly there was more ammo on the tables than there has been in a year) was crazy expensive. A bunch of empty tables, a couple of guys I know that set up said attendance Saturday was way lower than expected. I was there at 0920 (opened at 0900) this morning, and the parking lot was still pretty shy.
I almost went to one as well on Sunday but decided not to. I'm sure prices would have been the same as yours so I'm glad I didn't go. I'm not sure things will change any time soon. Plenty of buyers even at todays prices.
I think the fact that supply seems to have caught up with demand means prices will soon fall. And, at least at Bill’s gun show, there weren’t plenty of buyers. I won’t be buying any $20 boxes of 9mm.
Shotgun shells at Walmart are few and far between. I guess because they didn’t raise prices. But there seems to be no limit at $90 per case. My favorite source for pistol and rifle ammo, Aim Surplus, had been out of stock for quite a while. Now ammo is available again, though the prices are high. These are good signs.
Walmart here is empty. 10 box limit on shotgun shells everywhere else. Academy is just about every where so I guess you could travel to exceed that limit in one day. Not all of them are stocked the same. No 410 anywhere period. 20 is hit and miss. Seems to be ok supply on 12 and 28 for now, but it’s going fast
Starting to see some 12 gauge show up here but it’s a two box limit. My brother in law scored some CCI 209 primers for me today. They were $65 per thousand. Not great but not terrible either
I went to another LGS yesterday ('Tis the season) and was somewhat surprised. Gun prices have settled down noticeably. Ammo was more abundant, and even priced a little lower than the last show two weeks ago. In regards to A5s, there were about 5 or 6 laying on the tables. A couple were priced way beyond belief, one was a parts/frankengun, and one was worthy of a detailed inspection. That one (a 1937) was close to my price range for its overall condition, we just couldn't get to an number that worked.( this time....he wear down...) My question is- the frankengun I mentioned had something I never noticed before----it was a 1928 receiver (reblued with a paint brush I think!),a square butt aftermarket satick, no butt plate, Remington Model 11 forearm, and a solid rib, shortened barrel (about 19" or so). The barrel looked to be from the 50's or so, based on the stampings. The guy wouldn't let me take off the forearm to inspect the proof marks. The top of the knurled surface on the solid rib had "Browning Arms" molded into it. It wasn't merely stamped into the surface, it was somewhat recessed---hard to explain. Definitely not done later. I don't think I have ever seen that before. Anyone see that before?
