What's the best gun deal you've ever gotten?

[EH1]

Well I've been lucky enough to have received lots and lots of guns for free. Mostly from elderly women whose husbands died and left them with guns they didn't want. That would be a long list of guns from junk to really nice,including N.I.B. I was also a LEO a long time ago and it wasn't that unusual for civilians to just turn in guns. The policy was whoever was on duty and wanted it got to keep it and I always wanted it. Often when it wasn't my turn for the free gun I could get it from the guy whose turn it was for almost free or maybe swap shifts or buy lunch. This was a long time ago, I don't imagine it happens these days. Another time my elderly neighbor wanted to sell his guns and asked me about local gun shops. I took him to a few and they gave him quotes. I told him his guns were worth a lot more. He decided he just wanted to get rid of them and told me I could have any I wanted for whatever the store quoted. I took them all. How about a 1955 model 94 which he used one time for deer hunting. Like new for $80.00. He refused to take more.

My advice to you young guys is be really nice and polite to old ladies with gun enthusiast husbands. Cut their grass, shovel their driveways. When I die someone is going to end up with a lot of nice guns and my adopted kids and nephews are just not that interested in guns.

 

[SharpDog]

Sig p229 .357 Sig refurbed trade-ins. One 15 years ago and one 12 years ago. Approx $400 each. Both have functioned perfectly as my EDCs since I've got them. They both have gone through caliber changes from .357 Sig to .40 S&W and now sport 9mm chamberings. I have kept them identical until recently when one got a Legion RX slide:

 

[BBC-M]

Marlin 39 TDS for $80

 

[JWF III]

“My” best deal ever was technically not me, but my dad. But I still have the gun. Back in the late 60s or early 70s (I never got a date when it happened) he made a deal, sight unseen, to buy a P08 Luger for $25. The man brought it into the bank my dad worked at to complete the transaction.

The story the man gave him was that his brother was part of the invasion of Germany. His squad/platoon/company (I don’t know which) found a stash of hidden weapons. Everyone got whatever they wanted. His pick was a mint condition, LNIB, Luger with all the accessories. All the numbers match, including the magazine. He sent it stateside to his brother, and was later killed in action. Brother kept it for 20 to 30 years, firing only 1 magazine in those years.

When he showed it to my dad, my dad tried to up it to $100 because of it’s condition. But the man refused it, saying that they made the deal sight unseen, and that he would honor only that deal. To this day it has only had that 1 magazine fired through it. Last I looked, the same year and manufacturer, in similar condition had asking prices in the $6k range. I haven’t found an actual sale price for 1 though.

Wyman

 

[Oldschool shooter]

I bought a late 70s vintage custom built lh flintlock rifle for $40, had it appraised at a local muzzle loader shop for $1500.