Whats the best lie you had a gun seller tell you

kw11b2p said:

what's wrong with the Taurus 800 series? Have you fired one or simply basing your response on Taurus hate.

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I wasn't calling the Taurus a piece as in, POS, I was calling it a piece as in, slang for gun.

Overheard at a gun show...This guy had a shotgun which I saw him pay $200 for. He was asking $350 for it. Another guy came along and offered him $300. The guy said, "if I sold it to you for $300, I'd be losing $50 on it".

After the potential buyer walked away, the guy turned to me and said, "it's true". "If I sold it for $300 instead of $350, I would be losing $50".

"The Japanese used these here rifles to bring down American dive bombers during the war." - man points to a few Arisakas

"The Japanese used these here rifles to bring down American dive bombers during the war." - man points to a few Arisakas

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The rifle was actually designed for shooing at planes (amongst a great deal of other uses, it was the Swiss Army knife of WWII), the rear sight has sight arms for leading aircraft...actually shooting down a plane is a whole different story, pretty unlikely if you ask me.

After looking and calling gunsmiths to find a "Colt Smith", was told to bring them in to a (will not name) a certain store with a older (70+) gunsmith that knows Colts very well, works on them all the time. Well to be short, took my 2 Colt Officers Model Matches (OMM's) Wanted the internal's cleaned / lubricated, (haven't been done for about 10 years). Got into a discussion about "Target" pistols, the gunsmith said that if i wanted a "real" target pistol that i should buy the one in his case, he the proceeded to pull out and show me a Rock Island GI version for $575.00. I took my OMM's and left immediately. Funny thing is, I already own a RIA FS Tactical.

The rifle was actually designed for shooing at planes (amongst a great deal of other uses, it was the Swiss Army knife of WWII), the rear sight has sight arms for leading aircraft...actually shooting down a plane is a whole different story, pretty unlikely if you ask me.

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It was a bit ambitious on the part of the Japanese engineers. If one of those rifles actually brought down a plane I'll eat my hat. This guy was making it out to have been shooting down P-47s left and right...so maybe more of a shameless exaggeration than an out and out lie.

Had a gun store employee tell me while I was shopping for a 1911..."I don't like to sell .45's to gals...it's a bit too much gun for them. A .38 packs as much punch as a .45 and will be lighter for you". (I was a LEO at the time)

^And you could break a nail loading those big manly cartridges.

It was a bit ambitious on the part of the Japanese engineers. If one of those rifles actually brought down a plane I'll eat my hat. This guy was making it out to have been shooting down P-47s left and right...so maybe more of a shameless exaggeration than an out and out lie.

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Agreed...just figured I would share that little tidbit in case you didn't know about it. I am sure that is where he based his misinformation.

I brought a Colt Python in to be sent off for a factory refinish, and after 2 months I went in to check on it, and was told it hadn't came back yet. After a few months went by and I demanded it back, I was told it was lost. Still ongoing battle, but he has offered me 200.00 for it. I guess the small amount of holster burn on the barrel destroyed the value, that is his reason for the small amount. I had it appraised at a gun show and the dealer offered me over 800.00 for it. He swears you can pick up Colt Pythons in good condition from Shotgun News for 2-3 hundred, but he won't get me one for some reason.

hammers2121, welcome to THR! Sorry you have such an a$$ of a dealer, looks like itis time to find a new one.

Im allways having to point out firearms to the dealers because they dont know the model or name? who hires these guys?

Im allways having to point out firearms to the dealers because they dont know the model or name? who hires these guys?

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Everyone can't be an expert like you. As long as they don't misrepresent something I have no problems with a dealer/gun shop clerk that doesn't know all of the models of every firearm ever made. Often times I feel we (gun gurus) are too critical of others that work in the industry or the public in general.

Everyone can't be an expert like you.

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Spending all day in a room full of guns they can sure figure out the model names if they want to.
It's the same with any retail situation. You should learn to at least the names of what you're selling. You don't have to be able to tell me at approximately what serial number a manufacturer made a minor change to a particular model in which year to hand me the gun I ask to see.

Spending all day in a room full of guns they can sure figure out the model names if they want to.

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Sure they should at least have some knowledge of the basic common firearms, but they can't know them all. Don't get me wrong I am a guilty of being bit critical of a less knowledgeable person behind the counter, but I think that often times we are a bit too harsh. When it is misrepresented, or a blatant lie, that is a whole different story.

Sure they should at least have some knowledge of the basic common firearms, but they can't know them all.

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Who said anything about knowing them all? They should however, know the ones they're selling. You can bet that if I started working in a gun store (or ANY retail store), I'd immediately start familiarizing myself with the products I was selling...because that would be my JOB. Remember, all we're talking about is remembering the names of the guns, not their histories and all their features.

This might not have been a lie, but I was at a local gun shop a month ago and another guy was looking at a nice 20 gauge semi-auto (don't remember the model for sure but it may have been a Browning Silver). Salesman tells the customer that he's actually killed five geese with that very shotgun. Customer asks why he's selling it and the salesman says that it's not actually his, it was a friend's. Friend was getting in years and no longer goes hunting.

It might have been the truth, but I've been around too many salesman of all sorts to believe that one.
Other line I hear a lot is, "I have one just like."

"If we don't charge 10% of what the gun is worth when doing an FFL trade we loose money." I heard that at a gun store last month.... I kindly asked them why they wanted to do such a little mark up on a gun i had bought from someone else? $10-40 is the norm ... FFL on most ar's a few months ago would be $100 easy.

I built a kit for a black powder revolver that when done by the factory looks like this:

http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=134981532

And this is what mine looked like:

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=453902&highlight=spiller

I took it to the local gun shop to see if they would make an offer (yeah I knew I wasn't going to hear anything good). The owner looks at it for a while and says he won't make an offer on it, and that by deblueing the gun it had lost half it's value. Guy was very rude in the way he spoke too.

Lost half the value? hmm I bought the kit for $200, sold it for $350. Hmmm....

hey tomakawk, i'm also from Saint Joseph , Missouri, what are the chances.....anyway you would'nt happen to be talking about Dean's gunshop would you?

Hello Gun addict, in fact I am talking about Dean's. I am sorry to say they have horrible service (have ignored a lot of people I know, and treat them like crap, including ladies) prices and ridiculous, not going in there again. By the way sending you a PM.

yes unfortunately you're right. Dean's got such a monopoly on this town they could care less about customer service and pricing. They also charge $35 for a transfer. Back then they charged $25 and without telling me they raised the price they charged me $35, needless to say i never used them for transfer again

This guy had a shotgun which I saw him pay $200 for. Another guy came along and offered him $300. The guy said, "if I sold it to you for $300, I'd be losing $50 on it".

After the potential buyer walked away, the guy turned to me and said, "it's true". "If I sold it for $300 instead of $350, I would be losing $50".

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I hope you said, "Since you didn't sell it for $300, you lost $100, Einstein."

I had the guy in a pawnshop today tell me that since I'm only 19 and not yet 21 I could not hold, inspect, or purchase a pistol-gripped AR-15 RIFLE (this was definitely a rifle- not an AR pistol. The barrel was 16" long and it had a collapsible buttstock.) Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was just a blatant lie. I guess because I was young he thought I just wanted to "play around" with it. He didn't think I knew what I was talking about. So I left and put a 12-banger on layaway at a different gun store that was offering a better deal as well as wasn't run by a-holes.

isthatajoke? said:

I had the guy in a pawnshop today tell me that since I'm only 19 and not yet 21 I could not hold, inspect, or purchase a pistol-gripped AR-15 RIFLE (this was definitely a rifle- not an AR pistol. The barrel was 16" long and it had a collapsible buttstock.) Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was just a blatant lie. I guess because I was young he thought I just wanted to "play around" with it. He didn't think I knew what I was talking about. So I left and put a 12-banger on layaway at a different gun store that was offering a better deal as well as wasn't run by a-holes.

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Might I suggest a couple things. First call the first store and ask for a manager. TELL THEM that you were in market for "xyz" but because the worker refused to let you shop/treated you badly you went to (other store name) and bought what you wanted.

Second (what is a "12-banger"??

Where do I begin?

In addition, Im constantly amazed (and disgusted) by the lack of knowledge and/or "pride in workmanship" as demonstrated by certain gunsmiths at the local range/gun seller.