Sales on CalG vs CaG

[sicks]

First time posting a gun sale on CaG... I have done ~ten firearm transactions as both buyer or seller on CalG.

I do feel like looking thru posts was easier in the list format on CalG, especially when just browsing and not searching for something in particular. Now that I have a post up, I do see the view counter and doesnt seem that I get nearly as many here as I did there. I have rcvd a few offers but all only have one post here or seem a bit odd.

This isnt meant to be a post to on current CaG format. Looking to see if any folks that were on the CalG experience similar or if just me. Completely understand that my Shield 1.0 just isnt very desireable, but I am adding my buyer search experiences as well.

I feel like a list format with a higher number of listing per page gets more exposure across the board (maybe with no pic or small pic for each)

 

[echo1]

Since I joined this place, I've found that the users/buyers here are mostly interested in modern or "upgraded" stuff. I've posted the same ads on both sites for my C&R guns. Not much action or even tire kickers here but at least some question at Calguns. All sold on Calguns in the usual amount of time (or slightly long because of the site hiccups I presume). This site is kinda on a parallel universe with Nevada Shooters. That place is primarily a marketplace, but the few folks I've posted threads with have been quite responsive and knowledgeable.
On Calguns I've never found anyone dissing this site like they do here, ragging about Calguns performance. It's too bad what's happened to the place, once ruled supreme for data and sales. Was great but is dying a slow and painful death. I've prolly bought 30+ guns, 5K boolits, tents and gear from their posters. Since 2018 sold as many once I decided to sell after never having sold anything. I moved 17 SKSs alone. Bartered a lot too, PAX

 

[281express]

I agree with echo that this site contains more modern/upgraded stuff in the marketplace, but ive bought a few "modern" off rosters on CalG with ease. Most of my sales have been on CaG albeit not a lot of the users provide transaction feedback like CalG.

I do prefer the current set up of CaG's classifieds page with selecting location etc. CalG's list view is sometimes cluttered with so many posts and long titles.

Also, this site is fairly new? So there may not be as many users compared to how long CalG has been around. Some of the people I've done business with on CalG didn't know about CaG once we met up at a ffl.

 

[Ryan Gosling]

caguns has 300 users online rn. cal has 6000. sites still new and the people who know about this site tend to skew on the younger side

 

[KingRansom]

Everything about this website is infinitely better than cal guns other than the fact that it had been around for a very long time and had a very large following. Many of those people have migrated over here. These guys are constantly trying to make this website better and in due time it will be bigger, stronger, faster, etc etc. Nothing wrong with the way it is right now. Had cal guns taken that same mindset and not waited until the last minute to do that retarded software migration abortion, this website might not exist. The classifieds are definitely not as crowded, but very legit. I've bought and sold a bunch of firearms through this website and everybody has been completely legit. Stands to reason some people are not going to have any feedback which can make you sketchy as a buyer or a seller, but is 99% likely that they're a legit user who hasn't had a need to post feedback in the classifieds, and not some scammer. Good luck and enjoy the site

 

[Tere_Hanges]

Calguns is simply unuseable at this point. The marketplace here is far superior in everyway. Havent conducted a transaction through calguns in over a year. But Ive done a lot of deals here the past year. There is no reason for calguns to exist. I still stop by once a month to check if Im missing anything. Nope. There is nothing of value being discussed over there and the site is nonfunctional most of the time. Those clowns can hate on the raccoon all they want. He puts the effort into making this site work really well and it shows.

 

[Tere_Hanges]

Also, from a security standpoint, I trust this site a lot more than calguns. Using calguns is a security risk now. The raccoon seems to take security very seriously and he seems to be knowledgeable about it. Calguns is a liability, I'd urge people to leave that site based on that concern alone.

 

[Ryan Gosling]

Also, from a security standpoint, I trust this site a lot more than calguns. Using calguns is a security risk now. The raccoon seems to take security very seriously and he seems to be knowledgeable about it. Calguns is a liability, I'd urge people to leave that site based on that concern alone.

on that note, make sure you go back and change your old PW to something you dont use elsewhere

 

[Gromann]

I gave up on Calguns since it was down for most of 2025. While my account here is basically empty - I don't see going back. Being able to sort classifieds by region and then some is just such a huge advantage. Nothing against guys in Sac region, but I have no interest in that venture from LA for a .22

 

[sicks]

I am posting less about CalG site overall and more about the classified section format. The number of users variable does make sense and I had not thought about it so much.

 

[cali_jazz]

Have you tried browsing the Classifieds in the Grid View? It may be more to your liking. We're always open to suggestions on how to make the site experience better, let us know your ideas for improvement!

 

[sicks]

Have you tried browsing the Classifieds in the Grid View? It may be more to your liking. We're always open to suggestions on how to make the site experience better, let us know your ideas for improvement!

View attachment 128810

I have - this is likely a me thing. In either view I only see so many posts per page. Im used to seeing much more with text/titles only - which makes for quicker scrolling thru stuff til something catches the eye.

i'll get used to it - thanks for listening tho

 

[H. Bowman]

The sub regions part here kind of sucks. The closest thing to northern california there is Sacramento, which is smack dab in the middle of the state. And it's definitely not as open towards things less modern. Hell, 45 Colt isn't even a caliber option.

Overall, the marketplace is far better though.

 

[ikeo1]

I have - this is likely a me thing. In either view I only see so many posts per page. Im used to seeing much more with text/titles only - which makes for quicker scrolling thru stuff til something catches the eye.

i'll get used to it - thanks for listening tho

There’s a trade off. We limit the search query for performance reasons, to make things load in 200 milliseconds. The text list on CalG will show listings to 2003. We prune everything so they get cleaned up and will take it a step further next year.

We don’t want people to waste time so there’s a 90 default listing limit for free accounts. There’s also the real time search features so you can click and scan.

At one point early we used to copy every listing into the forum posts pattern which you’re used to but most people used the classifieds section specifically because of the search filters. In the forum, everything was bunched together from everywhere.

There’s definitely a difference in audience but it’s constantly changing here as we continue to grow. This year alone we’ve grown 3x, I ran a poll where 95% said we’re still relatively unknown. Most people that find us seek us out on Google or Reddit mainly now. CalG doesn’t really speak to kindly of this place, but there’s plenty of good people there.

I’ve offered help and to acquire CalG a few times in the past. I still support it as a contributor too. It’s hard running a site in this kinda space with very vocal opinions. We try to pay respect to OG’s with badges from the site and verification to leverage account age. I was a member there for over a decade and am a bit sad to see where it’s at but it was also the inspiration for this site. We also appreciate the reddit community because without them a lot of the existing features and users wouldn’t exist here. In the future we’ll likely do something with the Reddit group because there’s open communication and we all want to promote 2A rights. The main thing is to continue to grow the footprint and also keep contributing back into the space through classes, competition, and providing resources.

 

[KingRansom]

Calguns is simply unuseable at this point. The marketplace here is far superior in everyway. Havent conducted a transaction through calguns in over a year. But Ive done a lot of deals here the past year. There is no reason for calguns to exist. I still stop by once a month to check if Im missing anything. Nope. There is nothing of value being discussed over there and the site is nonfunctional most of the time. Those clowns can hate on the raccoon all they want. He puts the effort into making this site work really well and it shows.

Kestryll must have rectal damage after that disaster. I cannot imagine that the software migration was cheap especially with all the problems they had and number of times that somebody probably had an opportunity to invoice him to fix it. ROI = 0

 

[ikeo1]

Also, from a security standpoint, I trust this site a lot more than calguns. Using calguns is a security risk now. The raccoon seems to take security very seriously and he seems to be knowledgeable about it. Calguns is a liability, I'd urge people to leave that site based on that concern alone.

@doser wrote up some documentation that lets people secure their accounts with their mobile device. Considering many accounts were getting compromised and notice of one happening here, we encourage people to use this feature. Passkeys are a lot more convenient than authenticator, so we recommend that but it's up to you.

Announcement New Feature!  Thread 'Important Security Update: Protect Your Account with Passkeys'

Dec 24, 2025

This really isn't a new feature but one we're putting out there to remind people that this exists. I was told we recently had an account get compromised and wanted to share this with everyone. If you use this on mobile or desktop, use the passkeys option and change your password to something complex via password generator. Hopefully your email also has 2FA enabled.


Step 1:

https://caguns.net/account/security

Step 2: Add Passkey or Authenticator ( Personally prefer passkeys since it's more convenient and uses your physical device )



Save with the...

• doser
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Announcements

They're still running on an outdated version of nginx and php/vbulletin so the compromise still exists. I definitely encourage people who care to change their password on that system.

We run frequent updates here and can migrate fairly easily if necessary. The hardest part is moderation..

 

[RobG19]

Personally for me, CaGuns biggest strength is that I can sort my location. CalGuns gets annoying because half the posts don’t have the location in the title so I get to find a post for a gun I’m looking for and BAM, they are on the other side of California.

I also like that you have to leave your price up here. I hate when I’m trying to do price research and all the posts in CalGuns have the price deleted for “SOLD.” And when I suggested on their that maybe it would be cool if people left the price up, people got all paranoid fudd “I don’t want the government to know how much I sold my gun for”

 

[shroom]

When calguns actually works... it has a dedicated section for c&r's which is nice. Here on caguns you can select roster>curio but many listers don't do that unfortunately.

 

[JackRydden224]

I love the fact that I’m not seeing a bunch of junk posting (meaning irrelevant to me) in the marketplace. I don’t need to see anything outside of SoCal and I only want to see off roster pistols. Calguns market place is an unmitigated mess because the old timers insists on what-if’s

I’m also a firm believer that a market places needs structure. There are too many ads on Calguns without a location for me to browse effectively.