doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stupid Dealer comment

I was at a gun show in Mississippi and of course always looking for the bargain of the century..ok I'm cheap.. but any way there was a Dealer that had a German or Austrian SXS double rifle he said was a 45/70 Hammers and under lever no case or anything else. The rest of his table was AR 15's and simi auto's...I 'm pick it up and I'm thinking I might the only guy in the state that might buy this I can't wait to tell them on Double gun about this find.But.....no price...ugg..hummm..sir can you tell me how much you want for the double rifle...... quote "Sir all I can tell you is that I have turned down $14,000" He said it belonged to a famous Elephant hunter that has stuff in a museum .I could be wrong but he boxed himself in with a lie. He could have easily told me sir let me get your name and I'll get back with you....but what is he going to say later... the guy died that offered him the $14,000.It's possible I'm wrong... but I don't think so. I thought it was odd to have a 45.70 as a German caliber but I think I later found it was possible.

Ok... He has turned down $14k... So... What's his asking price???

Anybody who uses outlandish past offers on guns they are selling To justify even more outlandish asking prices, I always tell them they better look that guy up who made them the offer and sell to him.

Either he has no interest in ever selling the gun or his marketing strategy has not been well though out. Rare are the guns worth 14K at those type of gun shows and even rarer are men who can and will buy them. Most guys, at gun shows, are into black guns, camo stuff, jerky and the cheap hotdogs sold in back. Must be so because that is what the dealers bring and people keep coming to gun shows. If people did not buy the stuff dealers would either bring something else of go out of business.

WWII GI "bring backs", like the one you saw, are far off the beaten path and have few potential buyers at the average gun show. Worse the BlueBook is of little value to the dealer in price setting so they troll and see what bites. You nibbled but did not bite.

If I am interested in a gun, after such a dumb claim, I ask the dealer did that person show you money or just name a price. Then I take out a roll of money and tell him I might be interested for the right price. Most times the bogus high dollar claim is replaced by a less outrageous price. If not I just move along and let the dealer wonder how much he might have sold that gun for.

I like that idea !!!!$$$$$&flush him out!

I could write a book about the great guns I have bought from people who had only rusty or black guns for sale, other than the one I bought. This is true at gun shows as well as the internet.

My standard reply to those claims are "Well, that was a case of two fools. Him for offering it, and you for not taking it." Straight-faced, no smile, because I like pissing off those guys.

They're nut cases. The sob gets far more out of telling a prospect that story, seeing the standers-by reaction, then watching the prospect walk off, seemingly bested, than what he would make if he actually sold it at a fair price.
JR

I bought a very nice Ithaca ,Grade 2 ,Flues, 16ga, shotgun at a Pittsburgh gun show about 15 years ago, at a great price.. It was the only non military type gun on the dealers table. Security wouldn't let me out of the door without a dealer signed tag on it. I went back to the dealer and explained my situation , he did furnish the receipt but said
who would take a gun like that ?, you'd be better off with a bag of rocks.
terc

We all go to shows hoping to find the one decent diamond in a pile of coal. I spent 40 years learning what was a the gem and what was the trash and I know less than some and more than some. And like many here I have walked by guns that today would walk out the door with me. Live and learn. But some of the dealers are either full of hot air, BS or just misinformed to the point that they are better than the hotdogs. Stupid is as stupid does.

I liked the Louisville KY show for years. I bought more guns being walked down the isle or being walked into the show than sitting on the tables. The 16 AE Fox my father uses was such a buy. "Dealer" offered 1/4 its value, about like what a klunker Sterlingworth would have bought. Owner said he would be back. Half way down the isle I asked him if I could see the gun. Told him the truth that the offer was way to low. Made my offer and gave him my phone number. He went up and down the rows getting offers. Mine was the best and he sold me the gun later that day. When we went to his car to get the case he was including in the sale I saw the Fox 20 A grade in the trunk. That one also came home with me. Oldest son claimed that one last dove season.

Over the years I have most likely missed them all. Lindner made Dalys, solid rib pump guns that I love now, doubles of most makers. Bargains, steals and great values or rare and unusual guns which just are too hard to find these days. But I still keep looking. Sometimes you smile as you look over the stuff some times you think you might never find a gun worth holding again until....

I think John got it right...This guy loved to hear himself talk.Local seller of fine guns was just the opposite he only answered what he was asked.

I don't know what it is about German/Austrian doubles and drillings, but I hear this kid of over-inflated valuing of them more than any other type double gun.

BTW, a fall-out effect of this inflating of double gun prices is that the average Joe Blow has gotten the idea that if it is a S x S, and if it looks old, it is worth a lot. No matter that it may have been a bottom tier hardware store gun.

SRH