A bargain is only a real bargain if it is what you want. 25-25” barrels appeal to very few these days. But I have bought several AYA model 4’s in 12, 20 and one 28 which were absolute steals even with importing fees. I had under a grand in the smallbores in total and they were 95+% guns. Good luck finding one of them for twice that price here. The 12’s were like new and cost under 750 in total to bring in.
I feel sorry for gun owners who honestly get almost no serious money for solid doubles, because there just no interest in them. I don’t blame gun shops who struggle to sell used doubles at any price. But economics tell you that even a “free” gun will cost you $500+ by the time you pay to import it, pay any tariffs, taxes, shipping, insurance and fees. Pay 500-1,000 for a gun and it better be worth 1,500 or you are going into the hole.
With that in mind there are some values. I bought several small bore hammer guns and have less than 750 invested in each. Several 20’s will be enjoyed just as they are. I am going to need either have screw-in choke tubes installed or careful back boring in a .410 hammer gun to get serious chokes for my needs. But I looked several years for a 30” .410 hammergun. This one passed 3” proofs but just lacks tight chokes. In the end I might also restock it with a very nice quarter sawn English blank. It just will not look right with a crotch blank but a straight grain, with a lot of contrast will look just fine on it. Plus I can get adult dimensions for me to shoot. 13.5-14” lop and lots of drop just does not work for me.
