You have to love the absurdity of pawn shops

[Dumptruck]

My dad got a Sig226 in great condition from a pawn shop for $200. We swing by the same pawnshop all the time because they are the only pawnshop that will occasionally have a deal.

 

[onlymeself]

We are friendly with the guy that owns the pawn shop here. Last winter we got a pretty good package deal. We bought 2 Ruger M77 7mm magnum, one with a Bursa Scope, one with a Leupold Scope, and a Savage 110 .243 with a Nikon Buckmaster scope. The Rugers are in 98% condition, the savage had a bunch of mud on it, but cleaned up real nice. We got the 3 for $1000. Then we went to pick them up with our boys he started giving them stuff, cased, slings, bipods, cleaned the rugers, bored sighted the rugers, I was handed a muddy savage. LOL He was very excited about selling the boys their first hunting rifles.
Then our oldest boy wanted a side by side shotgun for trap. He ended up buying a Winchester side by side (I could be wrong on the brand, the shotgun doesn't live here, and I've slept since I last seen it) brand new for $1000. We looked it up before he bought it and the cheapest we could buy it off the internet was $1500. This shotgun is pretty. Looks more like a wall hanger than something you would take out and shoot.
But as nice as he is, I've told all my boys if you find you are running short on money, pawn your guns with me. DO NOT take them to the pawn shop. No questions asked and I will hold them for a month or the rest of my life. And they will end up with them back, sometimes thats not so easy at a pawn shop, that is why they have some many guns. Most people intend to pick up their guns, but then life happens.

 

[SirDarksoul]

I ran across a Nagant revolver here for $349

 

[ezenbrowntown]

I'm not one of those that is going to jump on the "pawn shop degradation wagon". Pawn shops do what pawn shops do. My theory on any sale is that if you don't mind asking for something cheaper, I don't mind telling you no.

Our pawn shops here are a tad high, but I believe that has more to with market capitalization than anything else. Our small town (20,000) is about 80 miles from a larger town, and 2 hours from Austin. There is one gun shop in town, which sells nice stuff. So if you're looking for a used handgun, you can either pay those prices or head out of town to get it. (Or use the internet! )

Why should a shop sell a $300 for $275 when some uninformed consumer will come in pay $365 for it? He shouldn't. That's not gouging, that's smart business.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I like pawn shops. I've used them all over the country. The over-priced stuff never bothers me. After all, it's the buyer that makes the sale, not the seller.

I don't feel bad about taking advantage of the ignorance of the pawn shop clerks, either. I figure that they're getting a fair return on whatever they loaned. I don't need to educate them about the current value of whatever they're selling. Setting the price is their job.

My main gripe is that the shelves are bare down here in South Texas. Between the online auctions, the Opanic, and the guns that head south, there's not much left.

Dang it.

 

[Erik M]

Pawn shops are high, but IMO they always have been. The best thing they (we) have going is that most of the time they dont know the true value of what they have.

 

[candr44]

Why should a shop sell a $300 for $275 when some uninformed consumer will come in pay $365 for it? He shouldn't. That's not gouging, that's smart business.

Because the uninformed customer may become informed (easy to do in the age of the Internet) and realize he payed too much. Then he will be pissed that you took advantage of him and not come back as a repeat customer. He will also tell others your prices are too high and he may do it on the Internet gun forums.

That business practice is a short sighted one. Why not just charge a fair price to begin with instead of giving yourself a reputation as overpriced and greedy.

Back to the topic. There are several pawn shops around here that I like to do business with. They charge fair to good prices and will often negotiate also. Those are the pawn shops and gun stores that keep me coming back and I have bought several guns from them.

On the other hand there are ones that are just the opposite and I only use them once in a great while for window shopping. That's all they're good for.

 

[Phydeaux642]

I used to love my local pawn shop as far as finding deals went. Not any longer. I haven't seen a good deal on used guns in several months. "Would you like a Kahr PM9 for $675? Or, I have the same gun used for...$675." The prices on their new stock is better than anyone in town. Trouble is I'm shopping for used wheelguns.

 

[Wile E Coyote]

I have a local pawn shop ( actually two stores owned by same family) that has a smattering of stuff that's overpriced, the bulk is spot-on, and a smattering of smokin deals. I just follow the lead of the fellow that turned me onto shopping there: Letting my patience prevail. Eventually, most of what's on my short list will turn up in the circumstances I prefer. It's working well.

 

[Cannonball888]

Sometimes they have no clue what is in the rack and you can every now and then find a treasure.

You described my dating experience with women.

 

[jad0110]

Best thing about pawnshops are cheap FFL transfers. $20 for my preferred one.

Yep, $25 here is the cheapest I've found (Pawn Shop). Most of the Gun Shops charge $30-$45. I know of one that charges $65.

All things being equal, he will overprice about as often as he underprices.

This has been my observation as well. Great deals right alongside ripoffs. For example, I have seen a $200 S&W 5906 sitting beside a $300 Hi Point. Or a $65 Marlin Model 60 and a $250 Yugo SKS with a DeWalt cordless 14.4 Volt drill priced at $85 (you can buy a freakin' new one for less). Don't know if anyone else has noticed that, but the Pawn Shops in my area most frequently overprice the cordless power tools.

Anyways, here are some of the prices I or close family have gotten at Pawn Shops in last 2-3 years (some prices were quite good, others were fair/decent):

Marlin/Glenfield Model 60 (1980): $65 (April '09)
Marlin Model 60 (1984) with a 4 x 15 Tasco scope: $75 (April '09)
S&W Model 681-3 4": $350 (Dec '07)
S&W Model 15-2 2": $374 (Jan '09)
S&W Model 15-3 4": $310 (Jun '09)
S&W Model 14-4 6": $350 (Nov '06)

I have also stupidly passed on some really great deals on other S&Ws, like a Model 28-2 4" for $399. Great deals can be had on revolvers from Pawn Shops more often than semi autos - part of me thinks it is the "old man gun" syndrome in which the pawn shop underprices revolvers because they view them as "obsolete junk". There loss, my gain. Same is true for individual sellers - I bought a 44 Mag 5.5" Stainless Ruger Redhawk, 50 rounds of 44 Mag JHP, a plastic case and a nylon shoulder holster for $300 a couple of months ago. Basically, that means the Redawk only cost $220 or so!

There is also a real deal pawn shop in rocky mount nc if your close any and everyone should stop in and check out what they have. I have bought 3 guns from them and will eventually buy more. I got a new ruger p95 with an extra mag and a box of bullets for $300 out the door, A slightly used Remington 700 adl .270 with a box of bullets for $300 out the door and my last trip there landed me with a walther p22 with a extra mag and 100 cci stingers for you guessed it $300 out the door. So go there with 300 bucks and your guaranteed to get a good deal!

I have also heard good stuff about them, guess I'll have to make a trip to find out for myself.

 

[chuckusaret]

I have a very good friend that owns several jewelry/pawn shops. I have gotten several good deals from him on used guns, but he attempts to not sell the guns he has taken in and waits for the person that pawned it to return. He claims to make more money by doing this in the long run. He also told the story of one guy that has pawned the same NIB Glock 22 at least a dozen times and faithfully picks it up the following payday. What does a transaction like this make the shop owner? 30% to 75% on his money and a steady return customer..... Good business.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I have run into quite a few "pawn shops" that are actually dedicated gun stores that actually just work pawns so they can have a larger pool of guns to eventually add to their own racks. It makes running a shop with lots of used guns much more viable in these days of everybody buying up the cool older guns and them becoming less and less available.

In places where pawn shops are government regulated and pawn licenses are issued it makes it so there is less competition amoung pawn shops so then if the gun shop that takes pawns as well has an even larger market for finding good used guns out there. Then they can start adding filters too by not accepting run of the mill guns like Mossberg 500s and Remington 870s and they can start taking in Ruger 77s and Winchester Model 12s.

I know this scenario is not so common for most of us but I used to live in a state that just loved zoning and ordinances and all that. These shops generally know their guns and have them priced fairly on the racks. But you better believe they are not putting that much into them from the start.

 

[runner6m]

Most of the guns i see at pawn shops in my area are grossly overpriced. I was looking for a Ruger P95 and saw one at a pawn shop. He had one new blued steel with box and two 15 round mags for $429.00. i asked if he would take $300 and he had the audacity to laugh at me. When i told him he was asking retail price for a pistol i could get anywhere for 300-329 he told me to go there and get one then.

Would that have been Lincoln Place Pawn? I dropped by there once and haven't been back, his prices on handguns were insane.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I bought a Winchester Model 94 30-30 with fiddleback walnut wood and lusterous blue for $140 in 1991. A heck of a buy even back then. The same pawnshop had a "hardware store" single-shot 12 gauge shotgun also for $140. The buttstock and fore-end were held together with black friction tape. Go figure.

 

[DHJenkins]

The trick is to go to a privately owned, local pawn shop - not any of the chains. Even then it's still a crap shoot.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

naturally a used Colt will sell for more than a new Rock Island

dont bash all pawn shops guys

 

[Malamute]

I must be hanging out in the wrong places. I've seen my share of well worn stuff for more than new prices, but I've also bought a Uberti '51 Navy Colt for $100, a Uberti 1860 Army Colt for $150, and a Colt AR H-bar for $700. I shot it a couple times, and a friend offered me $900 a month or two later, which was the going rate at the time.


Oh, and the old tang safety Ruger 77 .338 with the outstanding wood, in excellent condition for $350.

 

[alfack]

I find it's always a crap shoot in pawn shops and I don't have the time to waste checking their inventories every day. To me they are like garage sales, which should be called garbage sales. Once in a blue moon you will find a deal, but if you count all of the time and gas it took to find that deal and added that expense to the savings on the deal, you come out behind in the long run.

Then again, one mans' trash is anothers' treasure...

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Sign in a local pawnshop: "This isn't Wal-Mart,you can make an offer".

 

[middy]

I recently picked up a lightly used gen2 Glock 17 for $400 at my local pawnshop, which I thought was a fair price.

 

[MarineOne]

I had a chance to pick up a Standard Products M1C before I got my current position in Iraq. I asked my wife to keep an eye on it because the pawn shop was asking $1200 and given the economy at the time, I knew it wasn't going to sell at that price.

Well it dropped to $600 and before she could get the FFL to do the transfer paperwork it walked out with someone else.



Kris

 

[Randy45]

I am pretty lucky. A female friend of my wife owns a pawn shop and sales guns. She found out I am a Milsurp Collector and if she runs across any deals she usually lets me know and I can get the guns off her for cost. I have been able to get a 1981 Romy G AK-47 for 200.00 and a Yugoslavian 59/66 SKS for 150.00, a 6,35mm (.25 acp) 1910 Mauser Pocket Pistol (1919) Portuguese Contract for 200.00 and a Romanian M44 Mosin Nagant Carbine for 65.00.....

 

[Madcap_Magician]

You guys should understand that pawnbrokers are not gun stores or discount stores primarily, they're loan companies that offer a unique service to a community, that being the ability to get a loan at a relatively reasonable interest rate in relatively small amounts or for relatively short periods of time. Unlike payday lenders, pawnbrokers charge less per loan because they receive resaleable collateral in exchange.

Collateral is only sold if someone cannot repay a loan, making it the choice of last resort for a pawnbroker.

 

[el gato]

Your not going to the right shops