If you went to a Gun show with $600????

If you are really wanting to stay at or around $600, you can't go wrong with a CMP "service grade" M1 Garand. I hear that their current batch of Springfields and H&R Garands in "service grade" condition are really nice. Furthermore, at $600, you really won't ever have to worry about throwing your money away on something that'll depreciate in value. I have a Winchester M1 Garand that came from the CMP several years ago as a "service grade" rifle, and it shoots wonderfully and is in nice condition. A nice M1 carbine may be another option from the CMP.

Another rifle to consider would be the French MAS 49 series of semi-automatic rifles. The MAS 49/56 carbine is commonly found for under $400, and with careful searching, you might even be able to locate the uncommon MAS 49 rifle for under $600.

Other than these, you might be able to locate a Hakim. At $600, you'll likely be dealing with a lot of Century builds, which I haven't heard great things about. An Arsenal AK-47 would run about $700, and I've heard lots of great things about those. Personally, if I had $600, I'd save a bit more and find a good Arsenal AK, an FAL, or an SVT-40. The prices on the SVT-40 rifles are dropping a bit right now, and they are really interesting rifles with a lot of history. FALs can be a bit expensive, but I've seen several nice rifles sell for less than $1000 with Imbel receivers.

Needless to say, you have a lot of good options. It's just a matter of what YOU are interested in.

I actually did this exact thing this morning.
South Austin gun show with 657 dollars.

I bought a bag of jerky.


Gun shows used to be the place to go to find the deals on weapons, but since the big shortage/scare of last year, the gun show booths (for the most part) still think they can charge an arm and a leg for their guns. The biggest thing I can't shake from today is a guy who tried to sell his used WASR 10 underfolder for 600 dollars, claiming that the Romanian was the best AK and that they "had all dried up". I even went so far as to go and get a Shotgun News and show that a brand new one from century ran 400, but he wasn't hearing it.

The average going price for ak-74's was 650-700 dollars, while you can get one at centerfire systems for 350. SKS rifles were still in the 500 range. The AR/HK/Ruger semi rifles were all still above a thousand dollars. Disgusting.

Bolt guns were not as bad, but they were still ridiculous. I don't care what you say, a Mosin Nagant 91-30 that has no particular history or interesting markings is not worth 275 dollars. I found a nice M39 for 325, that was appropriate. I also found an svt-40 for 500 dollars, I liked that as well. The Czech and Yugo Mausers were priced appropriately, but of lower quality. Enfields were all about 150 dollars too high.

There was only one Garand under 700 dollars, and it wasn't the greatest shape. It was a Korean era rifle, and looked like someone drug it behind them as they fled the Chosin reservoir.

I have a suspicion about all of this. As you all know, guns and ammo all but dried up in the winter of 08 through the late summer of '09. It was then when I saw gun shows begin to resemble high-end auction houses. Now rifles and ammo have been heavily imported, and I suspect there may be a surplus, as cabelas does all but throw ammo crates at me everytime I go in. Most folks don't know this I suppose, and still kindly fork over their money for double the price of a weapon. I saw a fella pay 1200 dollars for a Romak 3 PSL, and I bought one the next week online for 719. Now they're 599, and I feel like I got burned.
I once loved the gun show, it was like a giant amalgamation of people, stories, and unusual or rare weapons. Now it seems (at least the one's Ive been to) that it's the dime-a-dozen weapons trying to be sold at the premium gun's price. WASR is not Arsenal Inc, and 91 30 nagants are not numbers-matching k-98's.

I used to think people would fork out all this extra dough so that they wouldn't have their newest toy on the registered owner list, but now most booths have one fill out the transfer form. There's no way in hell I'm going to pay 600 dollars for a century build WASR.
I bought some home made jerky and went online. I bought the Bulgy ak 74, a thousand rounds of 5.45x 39, and a new wheel bearing for my truck. Definitely the better choice.

Damn... quite a few negative waves being strewn about! High gun show prices aren't some conspiracy, and sooner or later, the dealers will have to lower their prices if buyers don't like their offerings.

I've had a great time at all the gun shows I've been to. I guess it's all about your mindset and expectations. At a local gun show in the beginning of this month I picked up a really nice KBI import Russian SKS complete with all its accessories for $350 OTD. Seemed like a very fair price to me. The same show had several other great deals, including an "Irish contract" Enfield No.4 Mk.2 in very good condition complete with matching bayonet for $275. The dealer also had a REALLY nice Manurhin (AKA Walther) post-war P38 for $300 with two magazines and its original holster. It didn't even have any import marks. There were other good deals I'm sure. The show before that my brother found a STG-58 Austrian FAL built on an Imbel "gear logo" receiver for $575. Just today I visited a show and found several goodies at good prices: a new hold-open catch for a CZ-52 pistol for $10 ($20 part from Numrich), two MAS 49/56 magazines for $15 each, and a few other spiffy things at a TINY militaria/gun show nearby. Heck, I had a better time at this tiny show compared to shoving my way through the aisles at Tulsa.

Perhaps you guys just need to find some better shows?