Buying/Selling Used Guns: Buyer Beware??

[marklbucla]

Since I've gotten over the whole liability thing, I've started to get rid of a few of my guns. I take care in noting what's wrong with anything I sell because I want the buyer to know exactly what they're getting.

I've noticed that very, very few others will do the same. Is it because there's absolutely nothing wrong with them, or because they're hoping to get away with something, or because it goes without saying that anything sold used is going to have issues with it?

 

[Rockrivr1]

I've actually been lucky so far when it's come to buying used firearms. I'd say that 75% of my collection was bought used. Most of the time sellers were pretty correct in their assessment of the handguns they were selling. But, I will say that I always request pictures of them before hand. So far so good. There was one time that the handgun wasn't as 95% as the seller stated, but it wasn't bad enough for me to complain about it.

I'm sure there are bad sellers out there, but that goes for anything you buy used.

 

[Jim March]

So far I've posted a "revolver checkout procedure" over in the wheelgun forum and somebody else did a 1911 set of procedures found in the semiauto handgun area somewhere. I'm told that a universal checkout process for autos isn't really possible as there's too much variation.

The revolver checkout will work on everything from the Colt Patterson (1836) forward with rare exceptions like the Nagant .

 

[MarshallDodge]

Anything of mine that has been customized I only sell to friends and they get to shoot the gun before they buy it. I don't want anyone coming back and saying "I didn't know the trigger was so light", etc.

 

[Old Dog]

I've noticed that very, very few others will do the same.

I've noticed that as well. I'm very skeptical buying used guns these days unless I know the seller or he belongs to my gun club or I feel confident that I can contact him if there turns out to be a problem with the gun. I've been burned a couple times by guys trying to get rid of problematic pistols, pieces they had to have known had problems, and they never said one peep other than stating the pistols were "great guns" but for whatever reason, they were "forced" to sell them ... One 1911 I bought once turned out to have a poorly staked (really loose) front sight that the owner used superglue on to hold the front sight firm during our transaction ... and that was the least of the problems ... Now I know to check these things out before forking over my money, but there's now been more than a few times that I or people I know have been sold used guns where the previous owners have tried to hide or minimize any problems with the guns.

I'm just not real confident these days about a lot of folks who are trying to sell used guns. Lack of ethics on the part of those who want to dump off their problems on others while still getting the good price one would want for a fully functional gun.

 

[MSgt B]

Even though I trust my gun dealer....

Every used gun I buy gets a complete tear-down, inspection, and rebuild before it comes anywhere near ammunition.

Trust......but verify.