Pawn shops?

[deltastorm11]

Is shopping for a gun through a pawn shop a safe buy? What are the negatives in buying a weapon at a pawn shop,also if anyone has any personal experiences please feel free to share them with me.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

They're great if you know what you are looking for/at, otherwise you could be taken.

 

[Rockwell1]

I've always been told that people don't sell their favorite guns at pawn shops, they sell the ones they never shoot.

Now I don't know how true that is but I've seen some nice guns in pawn shops .

Like Throttle said know what you're looking for and what your looking at.

 

[desidog]

Now is the right time of year - when folks need loot for taxes - but i concur with ThrottleJockey that you need to know what you're looking at and how much it should cost, otherwise you might get ripped off.

 

[kingpin008]

One of the Mods here, XavierBreath, owns a blog in which he frequently posts about his pawn shop finds. Some of the things he's come across have been quite amazing.

Here's an example of some of his thoughts on the subject:

http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/2006/05/pawn-shopping-secrets.html

 

[Hungry Seagull]

I always feel dirty inside a pawn shop; I might have gone in one or two looking for ammo. (Sad aint it?... winchesters too.)

Spotted a few lonely sad weapons sitting there with a price tag tied to them.

Makes me wonder sometimes.

I think Pawnshops will have thier day in the sun when the sheep discover that there are actually guns availible today for sale.

 

[Phydeaux642]

Like any other business, some are good and some are bad. My favorite shop is a pawn shop. They are very honest and work with law enforcement when an item is thought to be stolen. They have as good as, or better, prices than anyone else in town and a decent selection for a small place. They have so far resisted the urge to inflate prices during the panic. I have spent many dollars with them.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Whether good buys can be found at pawn shops depends entirely on the pawn shop. I've seen some that are clean, friendly and reasonably priced, others grimy, surly and selling old junk for 50% more than new MSRP.

 

[alemonkey]

Saw a 1942 Izzy 91/30 for $200 last time I went to a pawn shop, about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately that seems to be typical from what I've seen.

 

[Dr. Fresh]

I like my local pawn shop. I've bought four guns from them.

The best deal was $60 for a broken Hi-Point carbine. I told them they could send it off to get it fixed and sell it for twice that price but they sold it to me anyway. Good guys.

 

[BCCL]

We don't have a lot of pawn shops around here, and they are usually way to high on prices.

 

[rogerjames]

My local pawn shop is a gem! Mostly sells guns, very little other merchandise. He can also order almost any gun NEW. I recently ordered and purchased a NIB XD9 from them for $491 out the door!

 

[theotherwaldo]

I've probably bought over forty guns at pawn shops over the last forty years. All have been satisfactory, and a few have been even better than expected. I have no complaints.

I've sold a number of guns at pawn shops. In fact, with only two exceptions, I have only sold guns at pawn shops. They were Lorcins, Ravens, and others of that type, picked up in trades or needing minor repairs. I fixed them up and sold them to the shops, as I didn't want to keep them and I wouldn't inflict them on my friends.

I have also pawned away two guns, an RG .38 and a thoroughly Bubba'd SMLE of mixed ancestry. Neither was interesting enough to go back for, although both were perfectly functional.

There was nothing wrong with any of the guns that I put in the pawn shops, although I saw a lot of beat up junk in some of the shops.

Still, if you know how to look, there are a lot of good deals out there.

 

[rdhood]

There are pawn shops... and there are pawn shops. My pawn shop, 400 Jewelry and Loan in Dawsonville GA, is great. They have a good selection of new guns, and have been the ONLY place to get primers in this huge primer shortage. They do FFL transfers for $10.

 

[Impureclient]

A local pawn shop by me also sells new guns also. I bought my Kahr CW9 for 10%
over wholesale cost from them. I never knew they sold new until I was going to buy
a barely used P9 and he asked if I wanted a new gun instead.

 

[theotherwaldo]

-Matter of fact, I bought a gun at a pawn shop just yesterday - a Remington 870 Express Magnum 12 gauge in excellent condition for just under $169.00 out the door. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but it looks pretty good.

It was the only gun in the shop!

 

[armoredman]

There is one gun shop in this town, and two store that sell guns incidentally. I shop at the pawn shop, VERY nice people, low recieve fees, and despite the clutter, a very friendly place.
The one gun shop I will never patronize again.

 

[Cannonball888]

There are pawn shops which happen to sell guns, and there are gun shops which happen to be pawn shops. I consider Alachua Pawn to be the latter.

 

[chuckusaret]

My local pawn shop is a gem! Mostly sells guns, very little other merchandise. He can also order almost any gun NEW. I recently ordered and purchased a NIB XD9 from them for $491 out the door!

I frequent the pawn shops and find good deals sometimes, but mostly on long guns.

 

[S&W-Keeper]

If you know what the gun is worth, and know how to check it out, you can get some very good deals on some really nine guns.

 

[GotCoffee]

Pawn shops in my area are overpriced, asking almost new prices and only taking 10 to 15 percent off their asking price. They can keep em!!

 

[bonza]

I live in a Navy town, so there are to be alot of Pawn shops. Nearly all the ones I've been in looking at guns are way overpriced. Quite some years ago, when I worked in downtown Seattle I picked up a real clean & tight Colt Army Special .32WCF for a fair price from the Pawn shop two doors down the street from the gun store I worked at..

 

[jbkebert]

Two of the pawn shops here in town are often cheaper on NIB guns than the gun shops. Both have very nice folks working there and are a pleasure to deal with.

 

[WardenWolf]

It depends on the locale. Many pawn shops have higher overhead due to additional reporting procedures required by state and local laws. I've done some computer work for a local pawn shop; they have multiple specialized printers that print on special police-provided forms that they have to buy from the police department. Because of this, unless they buy cheap and sell high, it's hard for them to make a real profit.

Getting those printers working is a pain, by the way. Normal printers (aka, all printers made since 1996 that weren't designed by an utter moron) are entirely configured by driver settings. Some of these are so archaic that some settings must be programmed directly into the printer via console. The memory chip on one went kaput, and I had to diagnose it. Oh what fun.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Saw a 1942 Izzy 91/30 for $200 last time I went to a pawn shop, about 2 weeks ago.

Is that good or bad?