How did you buy/sell guns before the internet?

Stores, gunships, pawn, garage sales, friends, friends of friends....as I do now also, Internet is for guys with too much money to spend and want instant gratification...
ALTHOUGH, I HAVE FOUND SOME GUNS AT PAWN SHOPS ON ARMSLIST, that I went and looked at or bought.

Some in the newspaper but the Nickel Ads were the most active place for firearms folks.

Daveboone said:

It seems there were more small scale FFL holders

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Oh yeah, I have at least one gun, my Model 63 Smith that the FFL holder (one of the Storekeepers at the factory where I used to work) filled out the paperwork on while we were sitting at his dining room table drinking coffee. I think he ordered that gun for me from Shotgun News.
I remember that guy also ordered a tang-safety Ruger 77, 7mm-08 for me to give to my wife for her birthday. Unfortunately whoever he ordered it from sold out of tang-safety Ruger 77, 7mm-08s before he ordered it, so he gave me my money back. I ended up finding one in a pawnshop/gunstore in town. My wife still has it.

1KPerDay said:

Local classified ads.

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Best answer!

I recall going with Dad to purchase a firearm or two, decades ago after calling the one who posted an ad.
Still works today! See ads in the local periodicals that arrive at our house.
More shotguns and rifles for sale as the huntin' seasons approach.

Same way I do now.
I've only bought one firearm via the internet. Found a guy in town on Armslist once with exactly what I wanted at a reasonable price. Joined the site and 15 minutes later we were in Academy Sports parking lot making the deal.

Other than that, it's been local shops, classified ads and word of mouth.

Before the internet? Out of a trunk in a dark alley, just like everyone else.

OK, just kidding. There was life before the internet, we used to trade with friends, but from ads in the newspaper, go to gun shows, frequent gun stores. Heck, we even bought guns in places like Western Auto, Montgomery Wards, and Sears.

Newspaper classified ads.
Parking lot of the gun show
Gun show (they were better back then)
Friends

Didn’t know near as much about pricing or rarity either back then.

I grew up with the internet, I can't imagine LIFE before it!



















Kidding.....well not the growing up part.

Gun store and gun shows.

Ks5shooter said:

Gunshows meh...rarely a deal anymore. Years ago it was a go to for powder primers and such to avoid hazmat charges. No more.

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Sadly they LONG ago became a don't bother for me. I used to really enjoy the things. Both as a seller and just to go and look and buy. Last time I went was during the great mag ban. Had a couple new M9 mags. Went looking for some mags for a double stack 9 I had and immediately found a trade. Since I had paid to get in made the rounds. Even that long ago it was junk at prices like it was gold, and all kinds of garbage that belonged in a flea market. From what I keep hearing does not sound like it got any better since then

I used to buy guns from yard sales and friends, when I turned 18 I hit the pawnstores in every NW Montana town when I could..
Sheppards Pawn was a favorite of mine in Kalispell, in the 80's I could find some chopped rig or cheap milsurp, .......and I got paid on Mondays, which helped alot....including my first Mosin M-28/30 ( I thought "Just like Hayha's ! ") and the Mosin bug bit hard. Gun shows , too, because I could look feel and see what I was buying.
33 years later, Here NW Ak, theres been a gun shop or two, a pawnshop for a few years, 65 miles west by boat, plane or snowgo, but now not much, so its often a trip to the only store in the village and the FFL there, and then see what came.

We took over the kid's lemonade stand and sold guns on the side.

I didn’t do much buying and selling before the net became widespread; didn’t really get into guns much before my early 30s. I used to frequent a couple of LGSs that had good turnover of used guns and bought a few that way; also attended gun shows more frequently and had some success there both buying and selling. And I had a personal friend who was a kitchen table FFL who ordered a couple things for me.

But my interest and disposable income both grew with the early internet, which facilitated my becoming the horse trader I am today. I’ve been on gunbroker.com almost since it started, auctionarms.com even before that. I watch the classifieds on numerous gun boards, and classified ad sites like txguntrader.com. I could certainly survive without the internet, but I’d miss y’all ...

Local gun stores in our small town were at the Coast to Coast Hardware store, but the better stocked for used guns was at the Gambel's Hardware store. My first gun was bought there. A used Remington Model 10 Target Master for $7 . Within a short drive there were 3 small gun stores at farm places with gun shops usually out of a big room in a large farm house.
Then came a nation wide paper called Shotgun News that was issued a couple times a month and was about 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick at its peak. Mail order was straight to your door. I remember a gun shop out of a used everything store. It was a huge building in a town about 70 miles away (a long drive back then). on the large open beams hung punt guns and old muzzle loaders. In the back section were floor racks of all kinds of used guns.
.At about the same distance away was Herter's. They sold mainly by catalog, but had a good size sales floor and a separate close out building. I bought a couple nice barreled FN Mauser actions (new) that were in a 55 gallon paper barrel along with barreled BSA actions. The Mauser barreled actions were $25 and the BSA barreled actions were $35. 90% finished close out stocks were $10 .

I was 16 when I bought my first handgun. A S&W Model 10 being sold off by a local police department. They had a cardboard box with S&W and Colt revolvers for $15 ea. cash and carry.

In larger towns there were Army surplus stores. The day I went to the induction center for my physical I stopped into an Army surplus store where there were 3 cases of 1903 bolt action guns. The top case having the lid removed you could pick out your new in cosmoline gun for $25 . Mine was a 1903-A3 made by Remington.
Then of course Gun Shows and other ways mentioned above in other posts.

Paul R Zartman said:

Internet is for guys with too much money to spend and want instant gratification...

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Now , that's just a wee tad judgemental , don't you think?

Before the web you could always find good deals at pawn shops. Most shops didn't have a "gun expert" like they do today, SMH. so they sold guns based on what they actually had in that gun. You used to be able to post a gun in the newspaper want-ads.
I didn't really start collecting until after the web so my purchases were rare during the old days. A couple of Marlin 336s, a Remington 700(1970's gun), and a Colt Detective were a few I got at a good price in the 80s and 90s.

I like shopping pawn shops for guns. I have made some great deals over the years.

The FFL at a local pawn shop is my go-to guy for transfers. However, I've never found a deal on his in-stock guns.

AFSG said:

I like shopping pawn shops for guns. I have made some great deals over the years.

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Legionnaire said:

The FFL at a local pawn shop is my go-to guy for transfers. However, I've never found a deal on his in-stock guns.

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I've been in more pawn shops than I can count looking at gun inventory...however, I've only actually been able to buy 2 over the years. Some will negotiate but usually their prices are so inflated they need to come down 50% to be in the ballpark.

Before AlGore invented the interwebs my firearms transaction were nearly all at gun shows.

Mostly at gun shows, some at local dealers, but gun shows always netted me the best price to this day. In fact, I just ordered from the internet for the first time ever, on Saturday last. So the internet has provided me with information a bunch, but very little in gun purchases.

Howland937 said:

I've been in more pawn shops than I can count looking at gun inventory...however, I've only actually been able to buy 2 over the years. Some will negotiate but usually their prices are so inflated they need to come down 50% to be in the ballpark.

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I live near a Marine base. There is a pawn shop on every corner. I try to get around to my regular shops every week. It's important to get to know the folks there and not just run in and out. Spend a little and let em know you aren't a BS'er. I have a couple of shops that will even hold guns for me if they know it's something I like.

I used to go to every gun show within a couple hours drive, and I would make the circuit of gun stores in the closest cities as well.

Alex Clayton said:

Sadly they LONG ago became a don't bother for me. I used to really enjoy the things. Both as a seller and just to go and look and buy. Last time I went was during the great mag ban. Had a couple new M9 mags. Went looking for some mags for a double stack 9 I had and immediately found a trade. Since I had paid to get in made the rounds. Even that long ago it was junk at prices like it was gold, and all kinds of garbage that belonged in a flea market. From what I keep hearing does not sound like it got any better since then

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yeah I haven’t bothered in 20 years. Pawn shops around here are worthless as well. $600 for beat-to-hell Glocks, $300 for crappy break-open single barrel shotguns, etc. I have no idea how they ever sell anything.

Waveski said:

Now , that's just a wee tad judgemental , don't you think?

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Maybe...pick a small statement out of my post and YES...it does sound slightly judgmental...but also a wee tad bit of experience, online used/new gun sales require the bidder/buyer to normally pay for item without touching, working or feeling the gun...let alone firing it. Need I say more... I always handle, inspect and sometimes fire before I buy...call me old fashion, but, I have some very fine guns. But if someone prefers to buy online ...so be it...I was asked my preference...