Gun auctions and gun shows

[RicePaddyDaddy]

I missed a chance to go to my first gun auction today but will be trying to get to one soon.What should I be on the lookout for as far as the way they're run ?

[Planning]

I missed a chance to go to my first gun auction today but will be trying to get to one soon.What should I be on the lookout for as far as the way they're run ?

when i was a dealer i would go to the PD gun auctions. the PD guys and cherry picker dealers would blow all there money bidding against each other so i would wait until they were out of money. they would leave. the last half of the auction would be great. the auctioneer would be tired, very few bidders left. sometime they would put together lots of 5-10 guns for one price. many times i got them for less than $100 a lot. i have ended up with a truck loaded down for under $1000. many times all they needed was a good cleaning or they made very good parts guns. just don't get caught up in the bidding frenzy. i have seen many people buy junk for what they could get a new one for. if you see something that no one is bidding on, just make a low ball offer to the auctioneer, many times you will get it.
also try to go early to look over the stuff. mark your bid sheet list what you want to bid on and then sit on you hands.
ron

my best lot i got was at the end of an auction and i got 27 guns for $500, half were old shotguns and 22lr rifles, a few lever actions and the rest were old military rifles, one was a like new M-1 carbine and a M-1 garand. i still own the winchester M-1 carbine. i sold the m-1 grand and a lever action rifle for $500 to an old guy that just had to have it. i sold the rest to dealers at the next gun show ( at a big profit:icon_biggrin:). i need to add that this was in 1988 and rifles were a lot cheaper then, but it was still a good deal for me.

i love to go to gun auctions, but my wife says no to that. i just no longer have the room to put them...so sad.......

the carbine on the top is the winchester.

[Old Grump]

Agreed, I went to an estate auction and couldn't buy a thing during the first half because the dealers were there and they had chosen what they wanted. I got one wild life print nobody else wanted and a couple of old antique shotguns for a song plus a 32 Win spcl in a coffee can because it was in such bad shape. I also picked up several hundred rounds of 32 Win Spcl ammo because those who had bought the earlier cherry guns weren't paying attention and it was part of a box of miscellaneous stuff and almost a thousand rounds of shogun shells. I had the gun blued and put together and it is so accurate it's almost a crime. It may be antique status but its a shooter.

Just because its a prize doesn't mean it's going to be if you are bidding against the money people who don't care what they have to pay. A lot of hidden prizes can be found that only need a lot of cleaning and some love to make them shine and shoot. .

[RicePaddyDaddy]

Thanks,I knew there was probably some techniques I didn't know involved in these things.Also I'm trying to pick auctions that take debit cards so I won't be toting cash on me.My next chance of going will be in about 3 weeks.