S&w 29-2

[1911austin]

I was in a local gun store today when a gentleman came in to sell a couple of guns. One of the guns was a 4” S&W Model 29-2 serial number N343***. The store offered $300 and he said that he would think about. I approached him in the parking lot and offered $350 and he accepted. He had the original wood box and cleaning kit but not the original grips. How good deal did I get?

 

[MICHAEL T]

I'll give you 351 and pay shipping right now

 

[Gordon]

You bought for half it's value.

 

[Srigs]

Heck I'll offer $400

 

[1911austin]

Now I feel kinda bad for the guy. He said that he was going through a divorce and needed the money. This revolver seems to be in very good condition. The bluing is a little thin around the muzzle and there is a drag mark on the cylinder. The rest of the bluing is in very good condition. The forcing cone and breech face are in pristine condition. No carbon rings on the front of the cylinder either. It looks like this one was dry fired in front of the TV some but has very few rounds downrange. It also has a nice tight lockup on all 6 cylinders.

 

[Zundfolge]

Yep, you got a good deal.

I've got basically the same pistol in Nickel ... I think of it as my pimp cannon

Lot of ole M29s out there that haven't been shot much ... some guy plops down the cash for a shiny new one and a box of full house loads, takes it to the range, puts 6 rounds through it and it gets cleaned and put back in the box (and some ice put on the guy's wrist).

 

[Gator]

Now I feel kinda bad for the guy.

Sorry, but you should.

 

[SaxonPig]

You cheated the man.

Yes, he should have made more of an effort to learn the true value of the gun he needed to sell (and I assume he NEEDED to sell it) but in my book that doesn't excuse you for taking advantage of him.

Dealers usually offer between 50-70% of retail value on used guns because they figure they need that much mark-up to turn a profit that allows them to pay their bills and stay in business. But you are not a dealer paying rent, employee wages and utilities. You just wanted the gun cheap and you got it. Then you you ask how you did. You know how you did.

And I know what you did.

Enjoy your new gun.

Now a whole slew of people will chime in telling me how wrong I am and that is was the seller's fault for not educating himself. Fine. I just hope that I never become so materialistic that I prefer to save a few bucks on a gun purchase over doing what I know in my heart is the right thing to so.

And yes, before someone asks, I have indeed passed up great deals by informing people who were not gun dealers that the guns they were trying to sell were worth far more than the offering price. Again, I agree that anyone selling a gun should do some homework before setting an asking price but I still can't take advantage of widows, elderly men selling guns they bought decades ago or anyone else for that matter.

That's how I feel.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I just paid $400 for a 90% 29-2, you stole it.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

$350!?!



I paid $495 for a nickel 6 1/2" one ... in 2000.

 

[Walkalong]

You cheated the man.

Nope.
You gave him more than he was offered or would have gotten from the gun shop. Yea, you got a great deal. You were in the right place at the right time. Congrats. We should all be that lucky now and then.

If you knew the value of the gun and felt guilty about paying $350, then yea, SaxonPig has a point.

 

[10X]

Fantastic price! Don't feel bad, you gave him more than the shop offered and he didn't have to take it.
He could have done a bit of price research and advertised it in the paper.

 

[Mongo the Mutterer]

caveat emptor.

Don't feel bad for one second.

Price is only one part of the bargain, speed and need are the others. He was satisfied with your offer, and he walked with your money in his pocket. The transaction was made above board and at arms length, and there is no, repeat no, reason for you to feel bad.

If you do feel bad, next time you have to sell something, pay the good fortune forward. I will gladly take it.

 

[19-3Ben]

Meh. I'd feel bad. But it sounds like you weren't doing anything on purpose, you just got caught up in the heat of the moment and ended up getting an incredible deal at this guy's expense. If there was any way to track him down, I might try to do so and give him another $100.
But in the end, you've got a fantastic gun at a fantastic price. Congrats.

 

[SWMAN]

Hey, he did better with you than the gun store. And you did better than you would have had you gone to the gun store and bought it for $600.00 + tax, etc. I never feel sorry for most gun stores, especially the ones in my part of the woods. Competiton is a pain sometimes.

 

[Serpico]

Tough call...had you offered him 500 he might have thought, "hey, this gun may be worth a whole lot more, better do some checking" and it would have gotten away...good catch...and it's your conscience, no one elses...

 

[rcmodel]

If you hadn't bought it for $350, someone else would have.

Don't worry about it!

I had a guy bring over an excellent pre-war Colt woodsman that had belonged to his late uncle.

I ask him how much he wanted for it, and he said $150. I told him the gun was worth at least $800, probably more, and I couldn't give him that much.

He thanked me for being honest with him, and we settled on $300.

He got twice what he ask for it, and I got it for 1/4 what it is worth.

We were both very happy.


rcmodel

 

[realmswalker]

I had a gentlemen who couldn't walk well anymore who had a browning bar short trac in .308 in absolutely mint condition, 100 rounds through it.

he told me knew it was worth between 8-1200. he said I will give it to you for 450$. sometimes your in the right place at the right time.

as to cheating the guy, if he needed the money badly now, i think he did ok getting the money he needed now as opposed to waiting to find a buyer, or getting ripped by a gun shop.

 

[cortez kid]

Yeah, you got a good deal. Gun dealers do have to make a profit. When they buy guns for 1/2 the value, they make a good profit. He would have sold the gun for $550 in a few days and done very well. Don't worry, some lady trying to sell her late husband collection will get pennies on the dollar and all will be right with the world. Enjoy your gun.
kid

 

[Kman]

The 4" 29-2 are kinda getting rare, 6" and 8 3/8" aren't as hard to find, $350 with the box is a great deal without a doubt, don't feel too bad he needed the money not the gun. As long as both parties are satisfied it's all that matters, I just can't believe the shop let him walk off without offering more, they were trying to steal it, you just didn't know it's value, and it will sell pretty quick for $500 and $600 isn't out of the ballpark.

 

[OMCHamlin]

I would guess you are pretty much hell-bound IAW Saxon Pig. By those standards, if you offered it for sale here for $350, it would languish untouched until the end of time, as no true "High Roader" would pay you so little for it. Except that we would all council you via PM to raise the price to oh, say $600 or so. (pardon my sarcasm, but we tend to get a bit "holier then thou" here sometimes) Hopefully, he'll get over it, you don't need to. Great deal, good score!
R/
OMC

 

[smee781]

prices

Why do so many of you get saddled up on your high horse and start preaching to other's about how bad of a person they are for getting a good deal. The gun was sold for what the seller was willing to take for it. I don't here yall bitching about the gun store who offered him 300 for the gun, only for the guy who got a good deal. Get down off your horse and stop brow beating people about their deals, you don't have to agree with the price of what every gun was sold for because they are not your guns!

 

[1911austin]

Thanks for the responses (well most of them). I did not realize how good of a deal I was getting at the time. Can anyone tell what year this one was made?

 

[JB696]

At first I felt happy for you. Even though I don't ever come across deals like that, it is still fun to imagine that it could happen. But then I started thinking about the other guy. Getting a divorce. His wife ran off with a gypsy sheet-rocker from Serbia, here illegally. The weekly rent on the motel room is due tomorrow. The insurance on the old pickup truck ran out last month. There's no money for food. And waiting for him to return are three squalling brats. Each one with vomit on his shirt and a load in his pants. So the poor guy takes his favorite gun, the old 29, handed down from his Dad, into town hoping to get a fair price for it. The gun shop tries to screw him over. But he can't give up. There are three filthy, starving kids eating two-day-old bakery goods from the dumpster behind the grocery store. So he is desperate for any deal. And he gets lucky in the gun store parking lot. He sells the special gun, the one he got from his Dad, to a total stranger for $350. If it were me, I'd spend the whole Holiday Season searching for that poor guy so I could make it right.

 

[Zundfolge]

$350 is a good price (bordering on great) but its not theft.

The seller probably didn't sell at a loss if he had the gun for a while ... and 1911austin didn't lie to the man to get him to sell (its clear that he didn't know the real value of the gun either).

There are several sub $400 29s on Gunbroker.