Scammed at the gun show

[Koos Custodiet]

P.S. Apologies for the above insult to all you honest used stuff salesman .

Both of us?

Hey, a friend who emigrated to your part of the world sold his 1911 "Property of US Government" to me for... let's say 5 flats of beer equivalent. Work it out yourself. Whatever it costs you to not drink beer for two months or so

I think it was a bargain.

He says he's not allowed to re-import it, or he's heard something to that effect, or something. Me, I don't care

 

[Dhelynn]

Online sales...

In your opinions, it's pretty chancy, buying a used gun online then? I'm looking at a used Bersa .380 in Mn for a low price... You're thinking I should just buy new, to avoid taking chances?

 

[wideym]

The funny thing for me it when I sell a problem gun at a gun show I always tell them what the problems are, and they usually sell faster that way.

Happened with a Keltec .380 that had failure to feed problems and an Olympic Car15 that would shoot bursts at odd times even though it had semi only parts.

 

[Dravur]

and now for a different persepctive...

I buy and sell alot of guns and am a fixture at the Tanner show in Denver. Sometimes I buy a gun for pure spec purposes. I picked up a Glock 31 the other day, as an example. It had a brand new .40 barrell with it as well and a few mags. It didnt trip my trigger for my collection, but the price was fantastic for an almost new gun.

Did i test fire it to make sure it worked and I got the greatest firing gun on the planet? Nope. I don't even have any .357 sig ammo. I placed it on the table, and built in a nice profit. I sold it the same day to a person who thought my deal was fair. and it was.

There is no way in heck I could test fire or really put through the paces every gun I acquire. I would be at the range every day and would be so sick of shooting, I would give it all up. Some guns I buy are mib or nib and I simply don't want to shoot them for fear of dropping value for the ones I am planning on reselling.

Now, the one thing I do is tell the customer about the flaws in a gun. I will point them out. I also know what I'm doing for the most part when it comes to buying guns. I know what guns I know and if something odd walks up to the table, I find someone who knows it. I had never seen a Steyr GB before, but I ended up trading a Glock 22 that I had $350 into. I think that worked out well.

 

[joab]

You really thought that you could buy A decent 1911 for under $400.00?

In the time frame the OP is talking about it was quite common
It can still be done fairly easily

Within the last few months I sold three Norincos for $350 and two Sistemas for $250 and one for $300

I have also bought a nickle Norinco for $380 and another Sistema for $250

Just saw an Essex framed 1911 for $375 at the last show I went to

I occasionally sell at shows
I go out of my way top let the buyer know any and all deficiencies in the gun
I don't want him writing bad things about me years later
But I also have that out of sight warranty

 

[19-3Ben]

I ended up buying a sporterized (decently, but I wouldn't say "well") Mosin Nagant with a decent but not fantastic bore for $95 about 2.5 years ago.
it works, and works fairly well. But a big rip off given that perfectly original condition ones cost less than that. Didn't know that. It was my first one. Luckily though, a relatively inexpensive mistake.

 

[tank mechanic]

I bought the gun in the summer of 2000.

Quote:
You really thought that you could buy A decent 1911 for under $400.00?

I thought this quote was funny too. The highroad always has some one selling a 1911 for around 400 dollars. They usaully do not have names like Ed Brown or Nighthawk any where on them but they are decent pistols.
http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=307523&highlight=1911+%24400

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=264400&highlight=%24400+1911

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=261075&highlight=%24400+1911

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=260365&highlight=%24400+1911

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=96397&highlight=%24400+1911

 

[aufevermike]

I once bought a Colt Mustang for $325 at a gun show. I was so excited to own a Colt. Bought some 380 and proceded to fire away.............bang, bang, stovepipe. Cleared the weapon inserted new mag ful..... bang, stovepipe......cleared bang, bang, stovepipe. I said to myself and I quote "***" Had it inpected. Guy told me the slide was worn out and for $300 hecould get me a new one. At the next Gunshow I walked up to the table of the guy who sold it to me and told him I wanted to trade this Mustange in on your new Defender. He gave me $375 for it and I gave him$175 more to cover his new price on the Colt Defender............. Don't get mad, get even!!!!!!!!!

 

[jakeswensonmt]

wideym:

and an Olympic Car15 that would shoot bursts at odd times even though it had semi only parts.

I know guys (and a girl) who would pay extra for that.

 

[22-rimfire]

There are no guarantees when you buy a gun at a gunshow. It may be a great gun or it may be a problem gun. I have a number of Colt revolvers that I can not say if they work or not as I have not shot them nor do I intend to. Other than to check they aren't loaded, they pretty much don't get handled. Problem semi-auto pistols or rifles are one of the reasons I often suggest that someone new to guns not buy a used gun unless they know the owner and can trust what they say. If I buy a semi-auto and it does not work right, it gets sold. Someone else can figure out what is causing the problem. I'm not going to loose any sleep over it. They are often just another gun.

 

[Okiecruffler]

I buy alot of guns at shows that have a problem. I wish the folks would just be up front about the problem so I could either tell them how to fix it, or know what parts to order when I get home. I've lost count of how many Marlin mod60's I've bought for a song when the only thing wrong with them was they needed a good cleaning/degreasing. Spring gets weak, you start getting misfires, and you try to dump it at the gunshow. Easy fixes usually, I'll take that gamble. Been thinking of buying a table just so I could advertise "will buy your crumby broken gun."

 

[goon]

Actually, most of the guns I buy anymore have something wrong with them.
And the sad thing is that most of them are new and the problems that they have when I get them rarely get fixed.
The current one is a SIG P-226 CPO. It is failing to eject loaded rounds. I really am a magnet for the guns with the strangest and apparently most incurable problems. This one is on its way back to SIG a second time as we speak to get this fixed - they didn't fix it the first time they had it back, they just tweeked it until they thought they fixed it.

Really, I can't contribute any "gunshow" stories to this thread.
But I could add a half dozen in the past two years about the new guns I have had that didn't work right.
It sickens me and it kinda makes shooting not be fun anymore.
But I guess that's a different discussion.

 

[tinygnat219]

Shoot,

You can imagine how small the world can be! I was given a Kel-Tec P40 by a friend because he was fed up with the gun. Being as beggars can't be choosers, I accepted his generous offer.

I can see why he wanted to get rid of it. Uncomfortable trigger, hellacious recoil, magazines wouldn't feed correctly, etc.

Now, after 6 months of trying to get it to work, I decided to put it up for a consignment sale, 250 bucks, with a list of all the known issues and problems. My dealer thought I was nuts, and so did I when it didn't sell for 3 months. One day, I got a phone call from the dealer who said that the gun had sold, to a Kel-Tec collector of all people (didn't know they existed). The dealer told me the buyer was astonished at the list of "issues" and then stated it was because I didn't know how to fire the gun (common viewpoint of KT P-40 owners). Whatever, I thought to myself, as long as the check clears. Well, low and behold, at a slow gunshow the following month, I ran into this guy who worked at booth next to me. He was Open Carrying his P-40, and I asked how he liked it. Said it was the best compact .40 S&W he had ever owned, that he had also bought it for a song, and then started in about how odd it was that the previous owner listed the faults and issues of the gun. He swore that he had no such issues with it. Thinking Deja Vu, I asked him what the SN started with. He pulled it out and let me look at it. Lo and behold, this was the SAME gun I had put on consignment. Seeing the look on my face, he asked what was up. I told him this used to be my P-40. We both had a laugh, and he stated that he was very happy with the gun and appreciated the honesty with the "list" that I had given, and that he hadn't experienced any of the problems I had. I ended up buying an older Smith M&P revolver off of him at that show and have been happy ever since.

Seriously, I have found that it pays dividends to be honest about the used guns that you are selling. List known issues, etc, or mention them. I have found that most people don't really care, or say "I can fix that". I also state that the price reflects the issues and won't really dicker with them. Sometimes it gets a sale, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[logical]

..................... But he assured me that the gun was a great shooter and would be a great first gun

You sorta left that little tidbit out of the original post.

 

[1911-22 Shooter]

Tank Mechanic, I would get the weapon back from my Dad, find a competent, honest gunsmith to tell me what I needed to repair the gun, get online to Sarco, Brownell's or one of those
outfits and order the parts and get a 1911 manual and get at it. When you get done
you will be a basic 1911 owner, fixer upper. I know, I did that.

 

[Reloadron]

The thread dates back to 2007 and Tank Mechanic's Last Activity: May 23, 2015 11:56 PM. That said it is a good topic and why I like to inspect a used gun before I hand over the bucks.

Ron

 

[Vonderek]

These are the lemons that you read about on the forums when some one says they couldn't get the gun to run right or was unreliable even after several returns to the factory so they sold it or traded it off. Not a whole lot of scruples at the gun show or elsewhere.

 

[Art Eatman]

Ah, necrothreadia!