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It sometimes takes a bit but this one cracked me up!!
Jim

Keep 'em coming....for guys like me who have NEVER been to a gun show, I have to admit that these stories are priceless - thanks to all for sharing!

I get preverse humor out of going to the larger shows in Dallas with a motor case that is empty. A lot of dealers want to stop me and find out what's in the case. I just say it's just an old Parker and keep going.

Childish on my part, Yes it is. But I can't help myself.

Regards, Gordon

I used to go to the shows as much as I could with Uncle Loren, and he's the one that really got me interested in the old sxs's. He's been gone for 6 - 8 years now, I sure do miss him.
We were at a Tulsa show and ran across a table with 4 or 5 doubles on it. The guy mentioned he had others for sale, but they were under the table in cases, was there anything in particular we were looking for. Unc told him he was looking for some certain gun, I don't remember now what it was. The guy said he had one and it was a dandy. Unc asked to look at it, and the guy asked if he was gonna buy it. Unc told him he probably would if it was what he wanted, and if they could agree on a price. The guy told him that wasn't good enough, he had to commit to buying before he would get it out from under the table. It went downhill from there pretty fast. Him and Unc was nose to nose across the table, and getting pretty loud. His buddy started around the table towards Unc, I stepped in front of him and told him me and him weren't involved.............yet, but one more step and we would have dealings of our own. We stood out of the way, and kinda eyeballed each other til Unc and the other guy "Talked things over". (Heck of a cuss fight!)
Next time we headed for the Tulsa show Unc said "If that got-danged Perfessor son-a-(beep) is there and says just one word to me, I'm a-gonna fetch him over to my side of the table and adjust his got-danged attitude fer him!" And he meant it!! I think he looked more for the "Professor" (Perfessor) than he did at the guns. Didn't find him though. Whew!
Yessir, Unc had just the least little bit of a temper, and the perfessor had done went and lit his fuse!!

Speaking of old Parkers, I was at a Gun Show in San Antonio a few months ago, and ran across a feller with an old 12 ga Parker on his table. The barrels had been chopped off 2", the stock had been chopped off and then lengthened with mis-matched wood. Other than that, it was plain, decent gun. I figured it would be a decent shooter for upland and a little skeet, so I asked the price: "$6,000, and I ain't budging". Needless to say, it was still on his table at the end of the show.

A few rows down, another guy had a much nicer Parker, unaltered, some engraving, and in 20 ga. This guy was asking $3999, which seemed like a reasonable price to me.

But the best part of the show was a guy who had some German drillings on his table. Very cool! There was a button that when pushed popped up a rifle sight, and a lever on the side to drop it back down. The guy running the table was very educated on them, and didn't mind talking to us for probably close to an hour. A great guy, and if I'd have had the $$ in my budget, I might have brought that gun home...

Back in the bad old days when I was a young lawyer of early thirties, making serious coin of the realm, me and my equally qualified hunting buddies (United Airline's captain, IBM executive, et al), would go to gun shows to be insulted by the self-important old farts with over-priced junk guns on their tables. You know the drill; "Don't touch until you show me your money; Cash talks and BS walks, etc..." So we evolved a plan...

My friend Dan had a real nice Parker Brothers CHE 28-bore that we would carry to selected shows, not to sell, but just to flash around and get our jollies off watching the excessively obese just-barely-mobile would-be "dealers" drop their hot dogs and try to climb over their tables, saying (pant, pant) "Excuse me sir, is that a Parker?"

We'd say that we just bought the gun from some walk-in guy who had it in a case; we'd invent some ridiculously low price, and the story that he inherited it, but his wife didn't want a gun around the house. We'd play dumb, look on the action, announce that it was, in fact, marked "Parker Bros," and ask if we got a good deal... Fun, fun, fun. EDM

For several years I would see an old man toting a rough Model 12 28ga around. He would never price it or entertain an offer.... I think he just wanted someone to talk to.

I think I mentioned this before but back in the 60's I accompanied an older friend of mine to the OGCA shows that were held in the Veterans Memorial Building. He had a trick he pulled many times that was a lot of fun. When some know it all type would look at one of his displayed guns and make some ridiculous offer he would act like he was shocked and ask "Is that all its worth?" After being told yes, he would decline and when the guy walked away he would take the gun and put it in a case under the table. Later when said know it all returned as they most often did, after looking around they would ask "Did you sell the gun?"
He would tell them yes and thank them for letting him know the true market price and would tell him that as he wanted to be fair to everyone he sold it for "and would name price about $25.00 or so below what the expert had said it was worth. It was always great to see the look of dismay on their face.

I have had tables at Gun Shows for 35 years.The dumb ones are exasperating but sometimes humerous. The ones that come back and work over and handle a a gun for 30 minutes may be the most frustrating. I had one idiot in Houston come back time after time to look at an 1894 Remington and move the top lever back and back and back and forth until he broke the top lever spring. I don't believe from his appearance that could have bought a cap pistol. He then walked quickly away without an apology.

My"50 foot" Browning:

I was walking around a gun show one day and I guy coming at me from the other direction was carrying a Browning standard grade 22 auto. I stopped him and asked if it was for sale. Upon looking it over the only real problem with it was extremely thin washed out blueing on the receiver. After commenting on the receiver blueing I asked him what he wanted for it and he said $125. Knowing this was reasonable I bought the gun and continued down the aisle. I had gone about 50 feet when a dealer stopped me and asked to look at the rifle. He bought it from me for $300.
Jim