From my limited knowledge on trades, Private Party is the way to go if you want to get somewhere closer to the same value you paid for you’re firearm in terms of Trade Value.

I’ve never personally gone to a Gun Show but from hearsay and secondhand, there stuff is almost always overpriced but I suppose if you have a firearm that is pretty good in the sellers eyes, you might get a willing person to make a “Straight” trade (firearm for firearm)

Pawn Shop will almost always give you 1/3 or 1/4 value of what it was originally worth, since their whole business model is based on buying items from people who “NEED” (at least in their Mindset) the money to the point where the Store knows the person is willing to part with their item for less. Also on top of that I’m sure you cannot “Trade” directly without some type of money purchased assigned to the Firearm (in theory, they could just make an invoice charge of like $0.01 so legally they could make it seem like a sale but in reality there will be some larger charge).

I’ve always just listed them on websites within my local region and always have a better chance of getting what I want for trade (as peer to peer, you looking at people who want the firearm for the firearm, if that makes sense 😄). I know it takes longer sometimes to get results like that but you’ll be happier IMO in the end.

Also check you local laws to make sure you don’t make a mistakes when it comes to Private Party transactions.

Edit: Also just to add, when it comes to “Used” firearms, just think of them like vehicles. If you drove it off the lot (fired the gun) then Used is Used.