Used revolvers

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ZVP

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Yesterday my Grandson and I went used gun shopping at s favorite pawn shop. He had well worn Pietta Brassers for 4250 and up! Mostly .44's an one .36 Uberti for $280, ADLY WORN.
His cash and carry guns are way overpriced! His airguns run all over the place. Whenever shopping you;d better know what you're looking for! Remember, business men are out to make a buck. It's up to both of you to deal fairly.
Since BP revolvers are cash and carry
It;s a good bet to go shopping by being fsmilliar with the product and any accesories you'll need to figure into the price offer.
HTH,
ZVP
 
What is going on with the prices of these revolvers? I have an 1860 Army that I shoot and two 3rd Generation (Signature Series) Colts that just sit in glass cases for show but when I try to expand my Colt collection I keep getting blown out of the water on these auction sites.
 
Ive seen replicas repeatedly sell for more than what i can buy a new one for
pawn shops and second hand stores used to be the place to pick up a bargain
not any more I dont even bother trying to haggle with pawnbrokers any more
if its second hand and priced for twice whats its worth new i dont feel there can be any middle ground.
 
are you looking for some originals?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your offer Wap41. :)

Well, I'm really interested in the 3rd Generation (Signature Series) revolvers not the originals. A real nice 61' Navy with beautiful engraving was on Auction Arms a few weeks ago I bid on. It sold for a modest $470.00 dollars which I was really surprised by that as I dropped out way too early thinking it would go into the $700 to $800 hundred or more range. :banghead:
 
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I bought a couple of Pietta 1858s the last time they went on sale for $189 each.
Yesterday I dropped by the Cabelas near me and checked out a nice Pietta NMA that had a case colored frame and checkered walnut grips, but they wanted over $300 for it.
I see a lot of cb stuff on ebay that appears to be from parted out new whole items.
 
I just got fed-up with the high Used prices and bought a New Remingtin Police .36 from Cabelas. This way I know I'll get a good revolver!
I think it;s the "Cash and carry" thing that pushes the price up and when they find out about all the "extras" needed to shoot BP, the guns end up as decoration...
ZVP
 
I was in a pawn shop last month looking for a beater Mauser, one had a small ring on the shelf. I asked the price and the guy shot back with $250, outrageous for the hacked up piece, I turned around to walk out and he said I could have it for $120 cash. That is a lot of discount before I even haggled with him, I think pawn guys now a days put sky high prices on stuff to catch ignorant people.
 
Many pawn shops now have a resident gun "expert". Kind of like hiring me since I have a lot of guns and putting me in charge even though I have no in depth knowledge about the value of guns. These gurus look up the value of a gun in a book and then add about $100 for haggling room. I have made several very good purchases at pawn shops in the past few years but it isn't easy.
20 years ago pawn shops were a great resource for cheap, used guns. There was no internet so they just marked them up over what they had in them and you could pick them up for half their actual value if you knew what you were doing.
 
The internet, with sites like gun broker, places like Cabelas, etc have kept prices down competitively, but despite that some pawn shops and gun shops operate on the compulsion buyer premise. An item is not worth what the normal person would pay, but what the uninformed impulse buyer with $200 burning a hole in his pocket will pay,. I am on good terms with my local gun shop and know that he holds some guns prices higher just because he has a fair number of customers who want it now, without checking what prices may be elsewhere. Nearly any out of the ordinary gun gets a high price because of this factor. Add to that, that the demographics of the area include a rather high percentage of computer illiterate people. Fairly half of the adults I represent do not even have a computer or internet in the house.
 
Pawn shops are through the roof anymore, so here's a Idea. Go to local gunsmith shops and see what they've got. Trades, guns never picked up by customers etc. I once got an Uberti Walker for less than $200 that way.
 
Zim, this shop rests in a city of 380K, only 50 miles from the Silicon Valley. Folks around here can run computers!
I do agree it's fishing for the impulse buyer though.
Prices here have gone crazy with the Obama/ consumer gun panic that's prevalent today.
Gone are the days of cheap guns. That's why I gave up and bought a brand new one.
ZVP
 
To the contrary, I believe they mark up BP guns because felons can buy them with no background check.

Buy an overpriced Pietta and go rob a convenience store = a good return on the crook's initial outlay.
 
^ Can you cite any examples of crooks using BP guns? I mean, not crazies, but scheming crooks? ...and in this century...

as to the OP, i generally don't look at the hang tag in pawn shops, i just offer the guy what i'm willing to pay. Sometimes they bite... other times, when they throw you 400x market rate, i say "well, i've got one of those at home and i'll sell it to you for 50% your price." ...and see what they say to that!
 
Can you cite any examples of crooks using BP guns? I mean, not crazies, but scheming crooks? ...and in this century...
Click to expand...

SURE

Locked some juveniles up about 10 months ago with a Remington 1858. You think crooks are stupid... the average citizen in a liberal area will cough up their wallet on a bright sunny day at noon to some 12 year old schmuck with a painted water pistol, so flash a CW repro revolver in somebody's face, and they will comply without worries in almost all cases.

The funny thing was they called me to look at this thing to make it "safe" as I'm the only BP guy in the whole freakin' department where I work... it was loaded and capped... so we got rid of the caps, submerged the cylinder in water, then pulled the bullets. The fool had loaded the thing with blue dot shotshell powder. :what: We asked the knuckle headed robbers where they got the powder, and they stole it from one of the houses they had burglarized when they stole the gun....thought gunpowder was gunpowder and the can said "shotshell and hangun" powder.

The juveniles had no idea they were carrying a handgun shaped "hand grenade". :eek:

Another problem, and back on topic, with prices for used black powder is some folks have no idea what the going price is for some of the used guns, and think an older version is somehow "collectable", and think that knocking a couple hundred off the SRP for some expensive repros is a deal.

For example, with NEW Italian made Bess muskets going from $1300-$1500, you see used Italian muskets being offered from $900-$1200 dollars, AND even some of the Japanese muskets folks ask more than $800. REALLY? They don't understand that 1) when the kit guns go for around $900-$1000 (which gives the buyer an "unfired" musket when finished) then you're talking $850 for an unfired, previously owned, Italian musket... but for a used musket... $750 unless it was seriously customized. 2) Like it or not the Indian origin muskets have really compressed the prices for the used Bess muskets. As I mentioned, one fellow in Wisconsin wanted $1200 for his bess... when you could spend less than $100 more and get a new one under warranty... and couldn't "get" why the auctions didn't go above $800 and his reserve was never met, so it didn't sell.

LD
 
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Most crooks are so stupid they wouldn't know how to load it.
Click to expand...
I agree that most crooks would not know how to load a BP gun. Especially if they stole it and found some components. I imagine that many THR members wouldn't know how to load a BP pistol.
I disagree that most crooks are stupid though. Some of the brightest people get into crime though admittedly a guy that is stealing wallets on the street probably doesn't fall into that category.
 
ZVP said:
Zim, this shop rests in a city of 380K, only 50 miles from the Silicon Valley. Folks around here can run computers!
I do agree it's fishing for the impulse buyer though.
Prices here have gone crazy with the Obama/ consumer gun panic that's prevalent today.
Gone are the days of cheap guns. That's why I gave up and bought a brand new one.
ZVP
Click to expand...
Got a chuckle from this. My granddaughter could use a computer before she could read and now at 12 she is an absolute whiz. It is many of us oldster who are computer crippled and worldly smart. Many silicone valley geeks couldn't change the oil in their car.
 
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