How often are guns for sale mis-marked/mis-identified?

[Aim1]

Was looking at Smith and Wesson 629 Mountain Guns on Gunbroker and saw this S&W 629-5 Mountain Gun for sale.

The problem is if I am correct the internal lock on Smith 629's was added added on the 629-6 generation not the 629-5.

It got me to thinking how many guns for sale are mis-marked/mis-identified?




I would be upset if I believed I was purchasing one gun and received another.

It's easy to see the mistake here but a lot of items for sale online only have 1 picture and if it's the other side of the gun you aren't gonna see the internal lock and believe you are purchasing a genuine 629-5.

Is there any recourse for the buyer if he buys a gun believing he is getting what the ad states it is when it is in fact not that?

 

[Rudolph31]

It’s best to ask questions and request more pictures before you bid.

 

[Aim1]

It’s best to ask questions and request more pictures before you bid.

For sure.

This is a pretty obvious indication that it isn't the right gun but some might be internal differences that you could tell by normal pictures.

 

[Rudolph31]

One of the pictures I would request would be of the model stamp under the crane. And I’d want an assurance that the pictured gun is the one I was bidding on.

I’ve bought many older Auto-5’s on Gunbroker, and the descriptions were often way off. Know what you’re looking at.

 

[40-82]

So I walked into a gun shop some years back, and there it was, a pre-war N-frame Smith 2nd Model hand ejector. The tag read 38-40, the forty being a little smudged. My heart skipped a beat. According to Roy Jinks, the Smith & Wesson historian, the 38-40 was listed for this model, but he said he'd never seen one and couldn't verify they actually existed.

Closer examination proved that it was the 38-44, or in other words the common .38 Special.

 

[reddog81]

Impossible question to answer, but there are quite a few out there. The older the gun the more likely it is to confuse people. Even many gun shop employees get confused with what exactly they have. I once bought a pristine series 1 Colt Woodsman Match Target for the price of a series 2. The series 1 versions are much rarer and finding an accurate price on one takes a couple more minutes of research.

 

[Fyrstyk]

I once bought a S&W model 29 Lew Horton special with a full underlug, 6" barrel and unfluted cylinder from a gun shop for the agreed upon price of $275.00. When the manager came by to observe the completion of the paperwork he tried to stop the sale cause the gun was worth a whole lot more than the sticker price and had been mis-marked. I told him that the price was agreed upon, and he had my money (cash), and I expected to walk out with the gun or I would report him to the BBB. He was not a happy camper, but I was.

 

[1KPerDay]

I bought an as-new CZ75b Omega from Cabelas that had CZ85 on the tag, and the cashier raised his eyebrows at the lowish price ($400). Based on the trouble I’ve had with it so far and the $250 I’ve spent trying to fix the issues, I’m thinking I didn’t get such a good deal after all.

 

[Aim1]

I once bought a S&W model 29 Lew Horton special with a full underlug, 6" barrel and unfluted cylinder from a gun shop for the agreed upon price of $275.00. When the manager came by to observe the completion of the paperwork he tried to stop the sale cause the gun was worth a whole lot more than the sticker price and had been mis-marked. I told him that the price was agreed upon, and he had my money (cash), and I expected to walk out with the gun or I would report him to the BBB. He was not a happy camper, but I was.

Nice! How much was it worth?

 

[Fyrstyk]

Based on Gun Brokers sales, the gun was in the neighborhood of $900-1000 dollars. It was in very good condition, with a very light mark on the cylinder from rotation. I should also mention, the gun had the 4 position silhouette front sight on it which was a rare S&W option.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Considering the difference between a -5 and later is significant, it can be pretty upsetting as can most any dash-particular S&W to the discerning buyer.

But then too, there's this, if one were to really care about that particular issue, one would already know - I guess.

Now, a Dash-none to Dash-5 AND if one pays a premium relative to the dash can get pretty dicey.

Last year, coincidentally, I had both a -5 & a -6 for sale at the same time, intending to keep which ever one did not sell first. I made considerable difference in the pricing due to the one-dash difference which (as above) means lock or no-lock.

In any case, I apply my delineation paradigm here for the seller: "Are you stupid or are you screwing me?" Or; are you not intelligent enough to place an accurate ad (honest mistakes grudgingly excepted) or do you not care/intend to mislead?

There are few things more easily, accurately described than a modern firearm but I've screwed up too from time to time. Once, I had a 4 inch 629 identified as my since then, sold, Mountain Gun. I felt correctly foolish when a pal pointed it out.

In any case "Caveat emptor!" I wouldn't buy a single-pic represented gun in the first place.


Todd.

 

[FROGO207]

I live for the hunt. These days I have a trapline of all the LGS/pawn shops in the area looking for that one deal they overlooked. It happens still but is rare with all the info available on the net. A couple times I have lucked out because a local swap magazine has put firearms in the wrong category and I am the only one that inquired about it. Case in point, an old front stuffer shotgun in the antique car section instead of firearms.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I’m flattered that you are making the same observation that I made in this other topic.......of which you were the OP.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...fair-price-for-this-gun.861405/#post-11343580

 

[earlthegoat2]

On another note. I was at a Gun Show a few years back and was eyeballing a Remington 760 Carbine. Price tag said $350 which was about right for a 30-06 carbine at the time. Most 760 carbines are 30-06 and the tag said so. As I was examining it I saw it was a .280. I handed my money over and walked out with a $2000 dollar rifle. (A few months back one sold on GB for $2200). Blatantly mismarked and the seller was most likely operating on an assumption. If he was an FFL and had to keep a bound book he probably would have noticed it was a 280 as any good FFL should verify all the info on the gun itself and not any paperwork or whatnot.

I bought two Marlin 336 Texans a few days apart at a local pawn. They don’t understand the difference between a standard 336 and the straight grip Texan and they just price them the same as any old 336. Same with 35 Rem 336 vs 30-30. I bought one 35 Rem and one 30-30 Texan. One for $350 and one for $400. The 35 Rem Texans catch about a 100% premium over 30-30 Texans.

Asymmetrical information. If you have it and they don’t, that’s not my problem.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I once bought a S&W model 29 Lew Horton special with a full underlug, 6" barrel and unfluted cylinder from a gun shop for the agreed upon price of $275.00. When the manager came by to observe the completion of the paperwork he tried to stop the sale cause the gun was worth a whole lot more than the sticker price and had been mis-marked. I told him that the price was agreed upon, and he had my money (cash), and I expected to walk out with the gun or I would report him to the BBB. He was not a happy camper, but I was.

In the vein of the OP's question: I wonder if you'd have reported him to the BBB if a misidentification had worked against you too.

Me, I'd have withheld the sale regardless.

Todd.

 

[Aim1]

I’m flattered that you are making the same observation that I made in this other topic.......of which you were the OP.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...fair-price-for-this-gun.861405/#post-11343580

Correct. Learning about them now. I agree with all points in your post there. Ironically I just reread your post and noted where you observed the gun was misidentified. I must have skipped that part as I quickly read through the posts.

Your post is a lot of the reason I bought it. Thanks!

 

[Jim Watson]

A friend haunts the sales boards for misidentified guns and scopes.
He said he has half a dozen spellings for Anschutz to search on.

 

[GEM]

Cabelas does it. They had in their case a SW 632 marked as 22 LR. It's 327 Magnum - a 32 caliber gun. I told the young clerk this and he got all huffy-puffy. He said the Model 63 is a 22 (correct) and this was the second edition (63-2). An older clerk came by, corrected the young one and said the stupid label comes from the main distributor. Duh.

 

[cjwils]

If you like older guns, you might find that it is relatively common for some older guns be misidentified as antiques when they are not. If you buy or sell a gun as an antique when it is not, someone could get into legal trouble, so be careful regarding this issue.

 

[Legionnaire]

I once drove an hour for a face-to-face purchase of an older Remington 700 BDL in .243 Win offered in response to a WTB I posted. As soon as I saw it, I knew something was wrong: it was obviously a long action. Barrel said .270. The seller was very apologetic; I think he just got it wrong. I was disappointed, but all I was out was a couple hours of time.

 

[tarosean]

I've "stolen" a number of guns on GB because of people not knowing what they had or typo'd the ad, etc. etc.

Humans are entering the info there. We are prone to make mistakes.

 

[bearman49709]

So I walked into a gun shop some years back, and there it was, a pre-war N-frame Smith 2nd Model hand ejector. The tag read 38-40, the forty being a little smudged. My heart skipped a beat. According to Roy Jinks, the Smith & Wesson historian, the 38-40 was listed for this model, but he said he'd never seen one and couldn't verify they actually existed.

Closer examination proved that it was the 38-44, or in other words the common .38 Special.

The 38-44 is not a "common .38 Special".
It is a large frame used for the .44 special triple lock chambered for a .38 special loaded to much higher pressure running 200-300 FPS faster than a .38 special that could penetrate car bodies in the 1930's leading up to the .357 magnum.
That .38-44 was probable worth two or three times or more than a common .38 special is worth.

 

[40-82]

The 38-44 is not a "common .38 Special".
It is a large frame used for the .44 special triple lock chambered for a .38 special loaded to much higher pressure running 200-300 FPS faster than a .38 special that could penetrate car bodies in the 1930's leading up to the .357 magnum.
That .38-44 was probable worth two or three times or more than a common .38 special is worth.

You're accurate about their value and that they were of the same N-frame as the triple lock, but I don't think they came out until 1930, well after the triple lock was gone. They are wonderful six guns, but they aren't the one of a kind example I thought for a second I was about to pick up.

 

[Fiv3r]

I've never gotten a deal from a mismarked gun, and as a very fallible business owner I would feel kinda bad taking advantage of the situation. I did find an SP101 at Gander Mountain in the used case for $350. It was like new, but they stuck it in there because they couldn't get the carbon off the front of the cylinder. I bought it, hand buffed it with some mother's mag and it looked good as new...of course the face of the cylinder looked all sooted up after my first outing, but at least she looked pretty for a day.

The only issues I've had with mismarked guns have been hassles. I was trying to buy a Blackhawk and someone at the other location a full county over had tagged it as a GP100. Just dumb mistakes. They had to find the right tag and scan it over to the store I was at so that they could officially sell it to me out of their system. Stuff happens. It cost me an extra 20 minutes.

 

[herrwalther]

I see mislabeled firearms at Academy all the time. Mostly in caliber. Quite common to see a firearm labeled as 2 completely different calibers like 9mm and 22. It just makes me laugh. But I can only imagine how confusing it is to someone completely new and looking for their first firearm.