doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Did I get screwed on this 16ga Bernardelli?

I have the Italia Extra and really like it. People on this forum have made some very good suggestions. If you really want to keep it, I would suggest you send it to a gunsmith that you know or trust or someone here recommends....sorry, my guy is here in the east, can't help you, and get a professional opinion coupled with a price for the repairs. Go back to the seller and see then if he will cover the repairs. If not, then send to him for refund.

To me, the pitting looks pretty severe, may just be the picture. I wouldn't want a bore with thin walls. If it were me, it would go back as I would never truly be comfortable or happy with it. Anyway, something else will pop up sometime if this one doesn't pan out.

Wish you good on this.

I've been down that road in the past and it usually hasn't worked out. Unless he is visually impaired he had to know about the severe pitting so I'd be nervous about anything else he says. And Doug is absolutely right--the pits are in the most critical area of the barrel. I understand your desire to have a 16 and its relative rarity but the deal has already gone bad.

Scrub it. If the pits don't disappear, return it. Honing won't help a plated barrel. Barrel work will exceed the value of the gun. How much did you pay anyway? Get your money back.

Yup- for a change here, I find myself in agreement with the semi-esteemed Murph- as the old poker adage goeth- "Don't throw good money after bad money"!! Doing what you propose to that distressed 16 bore would be like putting a new set of Pirelli tyres on a 1948 Studebaker..

Let me add my recent experience to this so that you can take care if you return the gun. You can't just pack it carefully; you've also got to take a lot of pictures. For someone to say that they "didn't see the pits" right there in the chamber is a bit ridiculous. Right? I don't know anything about your seller, but don't assume that this bit of trouble will simply end when you return the gun.

I recently picked up a Manhattan Arms 16ga off Gunbroker. If you aren't familiar, Manhattan Arms was one of the trade branded guns that were actually The Fulton by Hunter Arms. None of the Hunter Arms trade branded guns turn up very often in 16ga, so I was excited to see one.

The gun looked good n the internet, with nice colors but the pictures were a bit blurry. Listing said EXCELLENT. At $430 I purchased with assurance that the listed 26" barrels were uncut. So the EXCELLENT condition gun arrives with the light handling marks promised in the wood and metal, but also with about a dozen dime sized areas of pitting up and down the exterior of the barrels. The pits had been covered over with cold blue so that they wouldn't show in the blurry pictures. Naturally, the seller claims to have missed those imperfections. Uncut barrels show up with a small gap between the barrels and measuring 26-3/8" instead of the listed 26". Obviously shortened. The auction was AS-IS, which I hadn't worried about since the seller on Gunbroker: Freeman_Arms in Drexel Mo had promised the gun in excellent condition.

So we start going back and forth, politely even though this person starts saying the same things as your seller. We haggled back and forth about returning or a significant refund but my fairness was always met with another attempt to nickle and dime. Gun was carefully packaged and upon receipt the seller says, "Well I got the gun back but you aren't going to be happy. The forearm got loose and chattered along the barrel, getting in to the blue. I see the package was insured. You might file a claim with insurance."

Surprised? Yes, I was, but I shouldn't have been surprised at all given the earlier misrepresentation.

I asked for pictures of the new "damage", which I was fortunately able to match up with my own pictures. If I wouldn't have had the pictures then I am confident the dealer would have continued down the path of claiming the gun had been ruined by the forearm. I was incredulous that they would claim a tiny scratch to the blue was detrimental to value of a gun that had rust pits and shortened barrels, but there you go. DOCUMENT. DOCUMENT. DOCUMENT.

Naturally, this gun is now for sale again on Gunbroker, only now at a higher price but incredibly - still no mention of the rust pits, cold blue, and the barrels are still misrepresented as being 26" in length. Go figure.

Thanks for all the help guys. I was able to get my money back with no problems. I took pictures of the gun while I packed it just to be safe. I did end up sending the barrels to Brileys just to see if anything could be done, but they said it was too deeply pitted. It cost me a little shipping for the whole ordeal, but I'll know what kind of pitting is workable or not in the future.

If they don't offer 3 day inspection, remember what the robot on Lost in Space always said (while waving his arms madly) "DANGER Will Robinson, DANGER"!!!

when there is damage, wear,issues that even Stevie Wonder can see, and it is described as excellent condition or very good and no mention of the defects, that's usually why the photos are usually blurry and no 3 day inspection.