We've got trouble right here in River City
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 11:03 am
And it isn't Pool....like in the song. And it isn't Facebook. And it isn't that people aren't interested in old Curio and Relics. But this site is slowly sinking into the sunset. Each passing year formerly active users drift away and this formerly cutting edge message board that used to attract noticable attention becomes less and less significant.
The biggest problem, as I see it, is that the milsurp new interest and enthusiasm has been drastically curtailed by the lack of milsurps available and the inflated prices and lack of variety of those that are available. That's even after less than 20 years back there were boat loads of different kinds and models of 20th Century war surplus coming in at really cheap prices. Makes me wonder what happened to those old war weapons that ended up in the hands of thousands of bubba's and dilettante's that outnumbered more serious collectors.
When I was selling my once upon a time from Century three for $100 long Mosins at the gun show for $200 each,and had no trouble selling them, it meant to me that the next generation of Milsurp fans are there trying to come forward, but there is not much in the way of milsurps in the commercial stream at a beginner price to let them into the hobby. Niner Delta reports one of the few online dealers left was offering a nothing special round receiver 91/30 Nagants for over $450 that only a few years ago might have been inflated at $100. And that "cheap" Nagant and Turk ammo is a lot less cheap now as well. The Turk ammo was all bought up a dozen years ago, although I still have a bunch of $4 bandoleers of the stuff in a closet. However today's shooter who just wants to experience firing an old weapon of war has to decide if he wants to fire a magazine worth of ammo or buy lunch.
But this site, for the serious gun collector , still remains. It has a search feature and you can find strings going back more than a decade. You can't do that on Facebook. If anybody posts on Facebook anything of interest, it's rolled on out of sight and mind withing a few days. Facebook has killed information sites in favor of a look at me social page. So..... I'm never going to go to Facebook as an alternative.
What this site needs more than anything is more posts that address what the poster has an interest in and knowledge of and is willing to share or who has a need for knowledge and asks questions. Will this happen to a more encouraging extent? No telling.
The biggest problem, as I see it, is that the milsurp new interest and enthusiasm has been drastically curtailed by the lack of milsurps available and the inflated prices and lack of variety of those that are available. That's even after less than 20 years back there were boat loads of different kinds and models of 20th Century war surplus coming in at really cheap prices. Makes me wonder what happened to those old war weapons that ended up in the hands of thousands of bubba's and dilettante's that outnumbered more serious collectors.
When I was selling my once upon a time from Century three for $100 long Mosins at the gun show for $200 each,and had no trouble selling them, it meant to me that the next generation of Milsurp fans are there trying to come forward, but there is not much in the way of milsurps in the commercial stream at a beginner price to let them into the hobby. Niner Delta reports one of the few online dealers left was offering a nothing special round receiver 91/30 Nagants for over $450 that only a few years ago might have been inflated at $100. And that "cheap" Nagant and Turk ammo is a lot less cheap now as well. The Turk ammo was all bought up a dozen years ago, although I still have a bunch of $4 bandoleers of the stuff in a closet. However today's shooter who just wants to experience firing an old weapon of war has to decide if he wants to fire a magazine worth of ammo or buy lunch.
But this site, for the serious gun collector , still remains. It has a search feature and you can find strings going back more than a decade. You can't do that on Facebook. If anybody posts on Facebook anything of interest, it's rolled on out of sight and mind withing a few days. Facebook has killed information sites in favor of a look at me social page. So..... I'm never going to go to Facebook as an alternative.
What this site needs more than anything is more posts that address what the poster has an interest in and knowledge of and is willing to share or who has a need for knowledge and asks questions. Will this happen to a more encouraging extent? No telling.