I attended my first gun show in Florida this morning.  I went to the Lakeland show.  I just moved down from Washington State.  I thought you might be interested in know the difference between the shows in the NorthWest and what I saw this morning.

1.  The Lakeland show seemed to have a lot more Black Rifle stuff.  Good military and assault weapons stock.  

2.  The prices seemed to be high in Lakeland.  Everybody was asking top dollar for everything.  For instance $225 for a Yugo SKS when it should sell for $170.

3.  They wanted tax money on purchases in Lakeland.

4.  At the NW shows there seemed to be always someone with really good deals.  Like AR mags for $14 or a good pre-ban AR for $800.  I didn't see any really good deals.

5.  There were a lot more dealers at the Lakeland show.  In the NW you would have a lot more individuals selling things.

6.  The beef jurky guys are more aggressive in LL.  One guy almost forced me to tastes his shit.

I just thought you would like to see a comparison.  Not meant to knock the Lakeland show.   I'm not one these idiots that think that everything is better "up north".  I was born and raised in Florida but have spent the last few years working a job in Washington State.

I'll be going to the Tampa show in a couple of weeks and the Orlando show at the end of the month.  Maybe my impression will change after seeing these two larger shows.

Can anybody tell me the rules for selling a gun at the Tampa and Orlando shows?  Can you walk in with a gun and sell it to an individual without any crap?    What are the rules for Hillbrough and Orange counties?

Thanks

Negotiating is an art in Florida, especially at the smaller gun shows. All of all the gunshows in Florida probably most favored to me are the ones in West Palm at the fairgrounds and the ones at the War Memorial in Sunrise. You have more vendors and I am usually up front with the vendors. Money talks and if you got cash it's in your favor. Checks and credit cards usually you cannot bargain with in my opinion. If you feel uncomfortable with a price, walk. My favorite gun show is the Tulsa, Oklahoma Waanamachers. It is bargain city.

When I am ready to buy at the shows I just ask how much. They really come down on the prices. I feel I always get good deals at the shows with all the competition.
You can bring anything u want to sell to the shows. I asked a guy about a mini14 and he said it was a private sale and we would have to do the exchange off the property.
That was Fl state fair grounds and i think he said it was their policy.

Flash66,

 You got off to a wrong start for impressions about our gunshows. The one you went to today is put on by the Suncoast Gunshow group, kinda like a traveling circus.
 Twice a year, the Lakeland Rifle and Pistol Club puts on one that takes up the hall you were in today, plus the one across from it. Pretty much double in size. It has lot more variety of weapons and accessories.
 The Suncoast show comes around more often, but is mostly paramilitary, and has many vendors that don't know what the hell they are talking about and try to charge you full retail for everything. I usually go to this one and just browse and look for the occasional bargain.

 The Lakeland Rifle And Pistol Club will be around 9/20-9/21. It usually kicks a$$!

556mm

I'll parrot 556mm's comments above. The Lakeland Rifle and Pistol Club shows are always far bigger and better than the SCGS.

The Suncoast shows are 9 out of 10 times the same old tired vendors with the same old tired stuff.

How would those shows rate compared to the Florida Classic Gun & Knife held at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando.  That one is pretty big.

Quoted: Flash66,  You got off to a wrong start for impressions about our gunshows. The one you went to today is put on by the Suncoast Gunshow group, kinda like a traveling circus.  Twice a year, the Lakeland Rifle and Pistol Club puts on one that takes up the hall you were in today, plus the one across from it. Pretty much double in size. It has lot more variety of weapons and accessories.  The Suncoast show comes around more often, but is mostly paramilitary, and has many vendors that don't know what the hell they are talking about and try to charge you full retail for everything. I usually go to this one and just browse and look for the occasional bargain.  The Lakeland Rifle And Pistol Club will be around 9/20-9/21. It usually kicks a$$! 556mm

Good info 5.56

I kind of suspected what you indicated about the "traveling circus".

Are there links or published schedules for the other shows or do I just go to the 9/20 show and pick up a schedule?

Also, is the Tampa and Orlando shows just more of the same only a little bigger?

Gun shows here in NE FL used to be among the best........................years ago. Late 80's up to about 91/92. Then they started going down hill. After 94, they bottomed fast.
Used to, the prices were great, and deals abounded. Could wheel and deal on everything. Lots of NICE stuff. HUGE crowds. They were so fun to go to.
I havent been to one here in the last 3 years or more that I havent walked out mad at myself for wasting another $5-$7 getting in.

I see the same dealers, more or less at all the shows. Suncoast, Lakeland rp club, Orlando.
     dont take sticker price, ask how muchfrom this guy thatguy and the next guy. If u are ready to buy u will find good deals.

Ok just a few things from both sides of the fence.
yea lots of the same vendors at gun shows.
No one elce is dumb enough to get in the gun busniess Dam hard way to make a living.(hard to make a profit when wholsale prices are published in shotgun news every week.)
oh yea and tables are 60 to 80 dollars each depending on the show.

by the way you need to make 40 to 50% mark up to stay open.{min}


Lots more customers with no clue wich end of the gun is the front and tell me it must be that way because they read it on the internet.

yep lots of dealers who suck!!!
give us all a bad name.
so I recomend if you have a dealer you like and trust support them!!

for example dont buy that $225 sks when I sell better quality ones for 1$59.95
yes I see this happen a lot!!

moving on to the sales tax issue when was the last time you went to wal-mart and asked them not to collect the sales tax on your purchace.
dont like sales tax tell those gimps in the legeslature to stop spending money.

oh dont get mad at me if I offer you dealer cost for your gun  what kind of dumb ass whould I be if I did not.

yea some dealers think there stuffs made of gold
but the worst ones are the Private guys  who get a table and sell "private sale".
I realy would not mind this so much but it gives the gun grabbers another thing to hammer gunshows with.

help me out a little lots of dealers have the same stuff  each show. What kinds of stuff would you like to see and buy at shows?
always looking for good imput.

man have I been rambling.

as a dealer I prefer the suncoast shows.
as a customer I prefer the lakeland pistol/rife club shows.
I'll get into why if you want.

but the most important thing to rember is to have fun at the shows work with your dealers and let the gimps in the legelature know we like our gun shows!!

just so you know ware I'm coming from about a year ago I stated doing shows for FAT phil at florida ammo traders befor that I was just another gun nut .
come to think of  it I'm still a gun nut.
come see me at phils set up I try to make at least one day of all the shows in the tampa/orlando area. My name is Don.

ok it's time to shoot this post.
www.floridaammotraders.com

Man am I going to take heat for that post.
lmao

Quoted: Ok just a few things from both sides of the fence. yea lots of the same vendors at gun shows. No one elce is dumb enough to get in the gun busniess Dam hard way to make a living.(hard to make a profit when wholsale prices are published in shotgun news every week.) oh yea and tables are 60 to 80 dollars each depending on the show. by the way you need to make 40 to 50% mark up to stay open.{min} Lots more customers with no clue wich end of the gun is the front and tell me it must be that way because they read it on the internet. yep lots of dealers who suck!!! give us all a bad name. so I recomend if you have a dealer you like and trust support them!! for example dont buy that $225 sks when I sell better quality ones for 1$59.95 yes I see this happen a lot!! moving on to the sales tax issue when was the last time you went to wal-mart and asked them not to collect the sales tax on your purchace. dont like sales tax tell those gimps in the legeslature to stop spending money. oh dont get mad at me if I offer you dealer cost for your gun  what kind of dumb ass whould I be if I did not. yea some dealers think there stuffs made of gold but the worst ones are the Private guys  who get a table and sell "private sale". I realy would not mind this so much but it gives the gun grabbers another thing to hammer gunshows with. help me out a little lots of dealers have the same stuff  each show. What kinds of stuff would you like to see and buy at shows? always looking for good imput. man have I been rambling. as a dealer I prefer the suncoast shows. as a customer I prefer the lakeland pistol/rife club shows. I'll get into why if you want. but the most important thing to rember is to have fun at the shows work with your dealers and let the gimps in the legelature know we like our gun shows!! just so you know ware I'm coming from about a year ago I stated doing shows for FAT phil at florida ammo traders befor that I was just another gun nut . come to think of  it I'm still a gun nut. come see me at phils set up I try to make at least one day of all the shows in the tampa/orlando area. My name is Don.

Don't have any problem with anything you say.  Remember that I started this posts by saying that I wasn't trying to knock the Lakeland show
only compare it to the guns shows in the Northwest.  I also wanted to find out if it was a typical show or not.

To me there are four different types of dealers at gun shows:

1.  The hard core gun/parts FFL dealers.
2.  The part time dealers.
3.  The individual who rents a table to sell his surplus parts or to get rid of the guns he doesn't want anymore.
4.  The craftsman with a specialized product (i.e. handmade stock sets)

I understand that the hard core dealers must make top dollar in order to stay in business.  The part time dealers need to make a profit also but won't starve if they only make a little.

I think that I saw a whole lot higher number of #1s in Lakeland than I ever saw in a Northwest show.  That tends to drive the prices up.  You get the best deals from #3 and occasionally from #2.  I've been to shows in Spokane Washington where about 2/3rds of the vendors were #3s.  Lots of good stuff at reasonable prices.

As far as the tax thing goes.  I have rented tables several times to get rid of my surplus stuff.  I have never given the goddamn state government one cent.  If they want to extract the tax from me they will have to pry it from my cold dead hands.  I already paid tax when I earned the money to buy the stuff.

I'll look you up at the next show.  I'll wear my AR15.com shirt to the Tampa show next week.

what day you coming and that will be the day that i'll come to the show.

Quoted: what day you coming and that will be the day that i'll come to the show.

I'll be there on Saturday.  I'll be there a 9 when it opens.

I'll be doing the orlando show to.

I went to the Tampa show yesterday and it seemed like the same people that were at the Lakeland show including the same obnoxious jerky salesmen.  I did see a couple of good deals but much over priced stuff.  My next stop is Orlando at the end of the month.  Maybe there will be new people there.

Let me tell you the deals I got earlier in the year at guns shows in the Northwest:

Good GI AR mags for $14.
An excellent used Trijicon TAO1 for $350.
A great preban PWA for $700. (I think I lucked into that one)
Excellent M-14 mags for $35.

Didn't see any good deals like that in either Lakeland or Tampa.

Yea the reasion you you see the same dealers at the suncoast shows is that if a dealer dose not show they loose there spot and go to the back of the line for position and tables.
The tampa show to me is the worst show that they do for both the dealers and customers.
hell you spent to much for parking and entrance fee.
Flash66 sorry I did not see you I was there from 8am to 4pm on saterday
The only thing I bought for myself was a nice finnish m91 mosin nagant for $80 bucks from another dealer.

Quoted: Yea the reasion you you see the same dealers at the suncoast shows is that if a dealer dose not show they loose there spot and go to the back of the line for position and tables. The tampa show to me is the worst show that they do for both the dealers and customers. hell you spent to much for parking and entrance fee. Flash66 sorry I did not see you I was there from 8am to 4pm on saterday The only thing I bought for myself was a nice finnish m91 mosin nagant for $80 bucks from another dealer.

Sorry we didn't connect also.  AR15 was down last weekend because of the NW power outage and I could not go to the site to re-read your post to find out where you were going to be.  Maybe next time.  I do plan to check out the Orlando show on Saturday.

I went to the Orlando show today.  More of the same except the tiger was worth seeing.

I saw something interesting.

A guy had a pre-ban Colt AR for $1400.  It was an earlier model with no block.  It had a SP1 upper.  Excellent condition, reasonable price.  Private sale with no paper.  No tax.  We had a very serious and respectful negotiation.  I offered him less but he wouldn't take it.  I may go back at closing tomorrow afternoon and see if he will change his mind and take $1200.  

A FFL had a fairly nice Colt with a M-4 upper and many options like an Aimpoint.  The lower was a Sporter with the full block.  He said the gun by itself (without the scope etc)was worth $2200.   I told him that I would be interested if the price was right.  I was respectful and interested.  The sonofabitch started acting like a smart ass.  Told me that I didn't know a damn thing about the value of a pre-ban.  I told him (again, in a respectful manner)the most the goddamn gun was worth without optics was $1400-1500.  Anyway, we couldn't negotiate because of the hardheadedness of a Know-It-All.  On top of the 2200 he wanted to charge tax.  Pathetic.

yea I went over saterday for a couple of hours.
did not see crap I was intrested in.
picked up some sweets 7.62 and a reloading manual.  stoped at tenorock for some shooting on the way back to tampa. I'm always looking for good deals on finnish mosins and fn49s.
didn't see any better luck next time.

flash you should come up to hernando sportmans club. for the machine gun shoot next sunday the 31st.
I'v got some honey do's on saterday so I wont be going to the pinellas park suncoast show on saterday.

some of the guys from ourshop are going up sunday for some blasting.
check out the www.hernandosportsmansclub.com
for directions and info.
it's 2 or 3 bucks to park and you can watch all you want for free if you want to go out on the line and shoot it's $20.
we dont mind if you come and shoot our guns we just ask that you buy the ammo from us .

the other part of the range will be open for regular shooting to so you could bring some stuff with you to shoot also.
they have a club house with a snack bar if you need drinks or snacs.

it's better than any gun show you'll go to .

check out our web site www.floridaammotraders.com
it's not much but we all have a good time and people are always welcome to hang out and kill some time talking guns.

Quoted: flash you should come up to hernando sportmans club.

I was actually going to check out the Hernando Sportsman Club as a range to go shooting.  Living in Brandon it looks like I am half way between the Hernando Club and the Manatee Range.  I was going to check them both out.  My family has a couple of hundred acres over near Loughman where I grew up but you can't do much shooting around there nowadays without hitting a couple of dozen yankees.

Thanks for the link.  I will check it out.

yea I live in brandon to.
most of the time I shoot at tenorock in lake land.It's closer than the other two and the people that run the place are nice.tenorock is open wed-sunday they have pistol and rifle out to 100 yards. I think they have a web site I'll see if I can find it.