Weird Horror Stories/Buying And Selling

[Nuclear]

Didn't know that many Viet Nam vets but the one that I knew really well was a real for-sure LRRP.

I met one of those, he was an interesting character. Very low key, said one time he was still looking for a job that was as exciting as being a LRRP.

 

[Trey Veston]

I have heard from more than one WWII GI and read in more than one bio about literal piles of guns and pits filled with guns along roads and streets where retreating German troops of all stripes passed in the closing day of the war or immediatly afterward. Guys said they would dig through the pile and take what they wanted.

I have hundreds of photos that my grandfather took during WWII while invading Italy in the 752nd.

One of them was a wagon full of guns...



He and his buddies played with an MP40 and a P38. He brought home a couple of K98 Mausers and my dad still has one of them.

 

[FlSwampRat]

These are very similar to my local armslist experiences! Enjoyed that.

Armslist.... ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!

We list our guns on several sites, A-list being one of them. It's the only site that our IT guys can't automate. That means once a week I have to comb through pages of listings comparing our website (auto updated instantly from our point of sale software) and Armslist to remove any sold guns from one of our half dozen pawn shops that do sell guns and then add any newcomers. It's a multi-hour process. Many calls a few days after doing this to "see if we still have such and such a gun" the customer saw on A-list.

I'm the point of contact for most of our online sales so I often get inquiries of the type @raindog talks about, particularly:

The Neurotic:

"I see there is a scratch on the slide in picture number 4. Can you give me a zoom in on that? Also, do you have a borelight shot of the chamber? Do you have a shooting log book to verify your claim of the number of rounds shot?" Will you be needing an electron scanning microscope examination, or is a metallurgic analysis sufficient? For the record, my listings contained 4000x3000 jpegs and tons of detail, and no one who bought them complained.

Well, granted mine are usually 1000 x 800 but you get the idea. Also, we've had M-1 Carbines listed with this as the main picture:
.
Got asked what we were hiding with the sling that way.

The Sad Luck Case:

"I realize you have a right to sell at market value but things are really hard for us here with all of the good jobs gone now that the factory closed. I'm wondering if you can help out a fellow American who is down on his luck and maybe accept $200 for your rifle?" OK, I feel for you and I'm the kind who would give you a deal on some hunting ammo if you needed to put meat on the table...but we're talking about an M1A, which is not really an item essential to modern life. Besides, if you buy it, how are you going to afford ammo or driving to someplace where you can actually shoot it?

Have to point out that there's no cross on the front of our building, we're not a charity, we have to pay our bills. Guys who work here, for some odd reason, seem to want to be paid to do so.

The Credit Risk:

"I'd really like to get that gun from you, but my atm card isn't working. Can I give you a check?" Riiiight...

And what was the quote about monkeys flying out of.....

Where do people get these ideas and why can't they just simply leave the ideas where they found them?

 

[Broccolis]

A few years ago I was selling an old High Standard snubnose .22.
I got an email from a young guy. He seemed ok, good grammar,etc.
He said he wanted to buy it for his Dad’s birthday but he seemed awfully anxious, in a hurry.
Before I committed to a meeting place, I checked his FB profile - full of profanity, throwing up gang signs, etc.
When he contacted me a few minutes later I told him I decided to keep it.
Another time I drove 30 miles to buy a Marlin 336. The guy pulled up and raised the price on me $100 because “a friend told me it was worth that.”
I left.

Right move!!! the gang dude would've done something terrible with that gun and it would definitely lead the cops to you.
The other is a moron for not sticking to an agreement. Lots of A'holes out there.

 

[bigmike45]

I used to work with a guy who purchased a Smith & Wesson Model 25 revolver in .45acp. He took it home and tried to load it with the only .45 caliber ammunition he had ever heard of, 45LC. When the rounds would only go into the cylinder about an inch, he was going to use a plastic pallet to try to drive them home, thinking the gun was just dirty from a lot of shooting.......but instead he knew that I was a gunsmith and brought it to me first, with the ammunition he was trying to load, and luckily the box and moon clips. After I showed him what he had bought, loaded it with the proper ammunition, and let him shoot it. he fell in love with it. He said at first he felt like he had been screwed buying a defective gun.