Tell me about the craziest issue you've seen with a USED gun...

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fpgt72

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We have a new gun thread going how about a used one......see if it gets any traction.

I bought a WZ-48...for those that don't know it is an old eastern block single shot training rifle in 22. Looks like to took a Mosin and tossed it wet into the dryer.

Anyhoo buy it at a show from a guy that had two. Why is this one so much cheaper....oh that one is mine....this one is a friends....ahh ok. I buy the cheap one...it was in better shape.

Take it home and it shoots about 3 rounds then gets real iffy....VERY soft strikes....so Hmmm...now I know why this one was $100 cheaper. I will figure this out.

As I take the bolt apart everything inside is super sticky....the spring sticks to my hand. I usually don't take a bolt down on a used gun....everything else looked clean. and on this rifle the "plunger" that hits the firing pin is held in with a "bolt" that had darn near backed itself all the way out. Well it would not hit the actual firing pin with any oomph so soft strikes. Clean oil put together and it shoots great now. And boy howdy does that pin hit hard.
 
I picked up a Yugo captured K98k at a pawn shop a couple of years ago. I have an 8mm field gauge in my truck (along with 30-06 and 7.62x54R field gauges) so I checked it before I bought it. I tried to chamber the gauge in the rifle and it would only go about half way in. I put the gauge away and pulled out a bore light. Checking out the chamber, lo and behold it had the front half of a case still in it. While I was talking to the owner of the pawn shop (who knows me and knows I know guns) about the issue, I noticed that the rear sight wasn't right. It was about 20* off to the right looking from the but of the gun. There was definitely an issue with the gun, but I thought I could fix it. The pawn shop didn't want to deal with it so I picked it up for $100 when they were going for $350. I also picked up an M48 the same day.

I spent about a year off and on trying to get the case out. I didn't know if it was brass or steel so I tried the freezer thing because brass contracts more than steel at the same temperature and that didn't work. I tried a broken shell extractor and that wouldn't get a grip on the neck. I even tried cerrosafe and couldn't get that to work either. I finally took it to a gunsmith friend and he was able to use cerrosafe to get it out. Here's what it looked like when he got it out.

stuck_case_2.jpg

Something's wrong with the neck but the chamber was perfect after he got it out. It almost looks like two case pieces stuck together where the neck should be. After he got the case out, he tightened the barrel back up and the sights were in the perfect position. Headspace is really good (won't close on no-go let alone the field gauge) and it shoots really well. But that's only one of the many basket-cases I've picked up over the years.

Matt
 
Well I was thinking of putting this in the new gun thread but since I bought the rifle at a gun show I decided to put it here. Several years ago I was looking for a Timber Wolf rifle in 357 Magnum. Not many around and those that were cost too much. I went to a gun show and there was a really nice one. I asked the guy how much and he said the rifle belonged to his friend and he wanted $150 for it. I offered $100 and we agreed on $115. There was a full box of commercial ammo with it. I took it home and next trip to the lake it went along. Loaded it up, took aim at a can and ---CLICK---nothing. Looked at the round and very faint pin mark. Looked at the primers of the unfired rounds in the box and each one had a very faint mark. Took the rifle back to the cabin, cleaned the packing grease out from around the firing pin and---I got a brand new, never fired rifle for a REAL good price!
 
Back around 1975 I traded a Ruger single six .22/.22mag for a Ruger Mark 1.
When you pulled the trigger with the safety on it would not fire but when you released the safety it would go off every time.
Safety worked like a set trigger.
Took it to a gun smith and he repaired it for $6.00.
He said it wasn't uncommon but it scarred the hell out of me.
Called the guy I traded with and he said "Oh, didn't I tell you about that?":fire:
 
Bought a used AR-7 from a dealer in Manhattan back when Charter Arms was making them. You know, the take apart .22 semi auto rifle that fits in it's own stock? Wouldn't fire more than once or twice without a jam. Back to the dealer who sends it back to Charter Arms. Returns, same problem. Back to the dealer, back to Charter Arms. Returns with same problem. Find out, "they all do that", literally. Seems they had a reputation for being jam-o-matics. Sad thing is, you couldn't even get rid of it by throwing it in a lake because it floated. lol

Traded it to a friend who knew about the problems for a vintage Stevens Visible Loader pump action .22. Pretty even trade because it also only worked sporadically. lol
 
I am not sure it qualifies as an issue, as this didn't affect the function of the firearm. Sure does count as odd though.

I bought an AMT backup several years ago. Very difficult item to clean as it doesn't field strip easily. After the first range session with it I took out the firing pin block to expose the internal hammer. And underneath the hammer was part of a very human looking tooth.
 
I bought a Yugo AK that fired when you pushed the safety up and it got pushed up past the dust cover.

Good thing I always follow rules one and two of the four rules.
 
I bought a 1968 East German Makarov for about $160 from a gun shop that didn't know what they had. I fired it a few times and then it showed me it was possessed.

The malfunction that manifested itself was that during firing, the slide would lock back with a loaded magazine and a LIVE round in the chamber. It managed to do this a couple of times. When I noticed what had happened the first time and how close I was to "dry" firing to drop the hammer rather than using the decocker, I got chills.

Fortunately, I sold the gun to a dealer at a gun show for more than I paid.
 
Had a buddy who picked up a Marlin lever action for a great price. Get to the range, and it doesn't load. Was an "as is" deal, so there's no manual or destructions to go with the arm. Just a couple of reasonably-knowledgeable individuals with take-to-the-range tools. Turns out, the little bit that takes a round out of the mak and presents it to the bolt can be installed backwards. Fixed that, and it ran perfectly.

For me, the goofiest was the Universal carbine I traded for, log, long ago. Long enough ago that I was naïve, and not yet experienced enough to have the habits I have today. So, before going to the range, all that was checked was bore clear, magazines fit, and dry fire. But, it definitely ran 'weird' at the range. Get it home, and strip it down to clean.

It's a two-spring Universal--but, whoever had it before apparently "knew" carbines only had one spring, so the second one was gone. And the guide rod to go with it. Which meant a lot of trips to a lot of gun shows looking for unicorns. Finally found the missing parts. After which, the thing ran like a Universal--meaning, whenever it felt like it. traded it to some dude at an AstroHall gunshow for $150, and called it fair.
 
I got snookered on an otherwise nice S&W 1950 vintage Combat Masterpiece [Pre model 15]. Posted for a reasonable price on a local board. Met the guy at sundown, but still plenty of day light. The gun looked great and everything checked out, but something just looked different. When I got it home, I found out why it looked a little different. The barrel was only 3.5 inches. For whatever reason, a half inch was chopped off the end of the barrel. But of the plus side, it shoots great and right to the point of aim.
 
I bought an Astra A-100 on GB that appeared in the pics to have rust all over the muzzle and front of the frame. It went super cheap. I didn't care because it was just a fun toy and a parts source for another A-100 I already had. When it came, I realized the "rust" was raised up above the bluing. It appeared to have been some kind of rouge or polish that was red, the gun was loaded with it inside the slide and in the trigger mechanism, I guess it was a messed up way of polishing the gun without having to do any work. As soon as the CLP hit the stuff, it started coming off. After it was all cleaned off, the gun was almost new looking, inside and out. I kept it a couple of years and made over a $200 profit selling it! The buyer was very happy, even though he knows he paid too much for it. "Nobody made me keep bidding on it!". True.

Another one was an S&W 66 that I bought at a Vegas pawn shop. The cracked grips had been repaired and then glued on! I have no idea why, but it was a real struggle to get them off. The previous owner had used some kind of epoxy to put them on, even though the screws were there and since they had epoxy on them too. I bought a set of new grips at a gunshop and after drilling the screws out and then smacking the grips with a mallet about 3 times, they and most of the epoxy came off/out. A little bit of work got the rest of the stuff off and after it was all done the gun looked great. I sold it at a nice profit a couple of years later.
 
Three issues I have witnessed myself:
Number one - an acquaintance of mine brought a new Glock 19 and decided that it needs a "trigger job". You know, the 25 cent one, when one is actually polishing the nickel plating of the trigger group, but he decided to do it with a dremel... He is not so good at thinking BTW. So, he managed to round the edges, with just a disk loaded with polishing compound, to both the sear and to the striker locking notch. The result was a true "double" tap gun - when you pull the trigger the gun fires, when you RELEASE the trigger it fires again.
Number two - another acquaintance once had a stainless Beretta Cougar that, according to him, would drag the slide a little bit when hand cycling. So one day he had a revelation believing that he found out the ultimate solution - round the top edges of the barrel locking lugs... "Hey, feel how smoothly the slide is cycling now!". This was not enough to satisfy his pursue of perfection, so he decided to put dimples, lots of them, on the cartridge lead on the slide - "So the top round in the magazine would drag and slow the slide thus making the recoil more manageable!" I was speechless... When I pointed out that he ruined both the barrel and the slide he said: "You are just exaggerating things."
Number three - A well known local gunsmith is checking a WWII era Browning Hi-Power that a friend of mine just bought. The slide feels rough and sticky when hand cycling. His solution, you already guess it I believe, is to round the top front corners of the barrel locking lugs... Because, according to him, there was not enough clearance between barrel and slide when unlocking. My friend felt hesitant about said solution (no wonder) and brought the gun to me. The problem was that the hammer raised a burr just in front of the firing pin stop, at the end of the cartridge lead, that would drag on it. 5 minutes later the gun functioned just fine.
 
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I won an auction item - a S&W Model 59. It functioned...barely. It was...bar none...the filthiest gun I have ever run across. It looked as if it had been dropped in a grease trap and left for a year or so...then rolled in dirt and aged. You couldn't touch the gun without it leaving black smudges on you. It was so bad, I did the initial cleaning by dropping it in a paint bucket full of boiling water like a black powder gun. Then solvent and a toothbrush, disassembled completely. I put an Aluma-Hyde coating on the frame and re-blued the rest. It was a fun project and turned out to be a great gun for $170.

BEFORE
59before2_zpscf22tar6.jpg


AFTER
59redo2_zpsitchlgxw.jpg
 
Oh, and I forgot about my 1903 Colt machine-pistol. The first time I ever shot it, I racked the slide and I had a 7 shot machine gun, without the trigger being touched. The firing pin was stuck in just the right spot to allow for the extractor to work, and slam fire.
 
Had a buddy who picked up a Marlin lever action for a great price.,,,. Turns out, the little bit that takes a round out of the mak and presents it to the bolt can be installed backwards. Fixed that, and it ran perfectly.
Click to expand...

Not this exactly , but close. Bought a Marlin 39A and realized the "elevator" wouldn't work to load a round. It rotates on a screw that simply needed tightened.
 
Remington 788 that I got for $75 about 10 years back at a gun show. Gun Show guy said it was at best a parts gun. Took it home and a friend and I took the bolt down. Found the firing pin had broken off at the tip. $4.50 later, it worked just fine.
Never should have sold that one.
 
.308 Norma said:
Ha! Just when I thought I'd heard everything! Where in the world do you suppose that came from?
Click to expand...

It was a really small piece so it was probably someone chipped their tooth and it fell in the action without being noticed. The hammer on that AMT is internal so hopefully it wasn't used as a blunt force object against someone's face.
 
Craziest thing was when I pulled a shotgun off the used rack at a large and well known SoCal gun shop. I racked the slide to check the chamber and out pops a live round.

Took shotgun and shotshell to the fellow behind the counter. Gave it to him and suggested they check the firearms they take in trade a bit more carefully. He got offended. Haven't been back.
 
My best friend sold me my Savage Axis and 'forgot' he had shimmed the rear base. I replaced the scope I put on it because I could get it adjusted far enough. :cuss: To balance it out he picked up a Nikon on clearance at work for me when they went to final markdown, so I got a 125.00 scope for 65. :thumbup:
 
OK, here goes: Bought a used P-38 back when they were cheap. Loved that gun, and it was, surprisingly, one of the most accurate handguns I've ever owned; but the chamber was so rough that I often couldn't extract a live cartridge. Since it wasn't convenient to always shoot it to get the round out of the chamber, I traded it. In retrospect, should have lapped the chamber and kept it. It was a gem. A couple of years later, just had to have a luger. Found one in good condition, that shot fairly accurately and functioned fairly reliably. Then one day when I was loading it in my apartment, KA-POW! Fired as the round chambered. Did NOT have my finger in trigger-guard. Had gunsmith replace the sear, which a previous owner had Bubba'd to achieve a light trigger pull. Never did trust it, so traded it later. And for my most recent acquisition, a LNIB Iver Johnson PT-22 that I got for a pocket pistol for coyotes and rattlers while working on my acreage. Had the opportunity to fire it shortly after I picked it up, so I put about 3 magazines of Super-X .22 LRs through it, found inconsistent ignition and failures to extract or otherwise function. When I got it home and disassembled it, it was full of caked gunk that stuck to the slide and frame, even up into the backstrap where the hammer is mounted. Am now in the process of detail-stripping and cleaning it with Strike-Hold to see if the little beast won't function reasonably well when properly clean. Thing is, I was hitting pieces of clay pidgeon with it at about 50 yds!
 
I bought a Colt commander from a dealer at a gun show. When I got home I test fired it and everything seemed OK. The next day I went to clean it and upon removing the slide I had to just shake my head. Someone had tighted up the rails by using a center punch on the top of the frame rails. Both sides had a row of craters from the center punch.
 
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