doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: gun deal scams

Considering the average age here and years of experience, I thought it might be entertaining to hear of folk's all-time worst gun deals. One of mine that comes to mind goes back to the days when Shotgun News ( my wife calls it The Gun Shot Wound) consisted of randomly arranged ads. I sold a Model 70 barrel, and the guy receiving it called to say it wasn't all that better than the one he wanted to replace and could he return it. I told him of course he could. When the barrel came back, it wasn't the one I'd sent. Appealing to SGN made no difference; they had no way to verify what happened. So, I ended up with the other guy's worn out barrel. The money involved here wasn't terrible, but the scam was hard to live with.

Whew, a little bit ago the sky was falling.

Recently, I was a little disappointed with a well rated scope. It's within my acceptable range mostly because of the deal, but that's the last time I go by a pbs review, kidding bill! Fairly recently I picked up an impulse buy Colt Lightning rifle in your fine state. I knew there's a crack in the stock and someone removed the slide lock, but otherwise worn some, fully functional, no rust. It was a great deal, but it could've been a scam since I just cleaned and oiled it and stuck it on the round tuit pile.

I had an interesting result of a buy from Gun List--which, at least, was much better organized than Shotgun News. (My wife called it Gun Lust.) Arranged to buy a 20ga sxs (no longer remember the make) from a guy down in TX. I'd previously purchased a 28ga AyA #4 from him and was satisfied with the deal. The gun arrived, condition as described in the ad--and in my conversation with the seller. Except it was a 16ga. Wasn't really looking for a 16 at the time. Called the seller, got his wife, who informed me he'd passed away a couple days previously. I expressed my regrets and kept the 16.

Hershel Chaddick sold me a Darne with a loose rib. I called to get the OK to send it back, but, he really didn�t want it back, and came down a little on price. I had it repaired, in France, and the maker had a second set of barrels that fit the gun. I ponied up to have them reblued, and backed into a Darne two barrel set. There was a little ball of solder that would roll back and forth between the ribs of the repaired barrel set. In a perfect world, it wouldn�t have been there, but, it didn�t hurt anything. The barrels rang like church chimes. When I sold it, a gunsmith convinced the new owner the rib was loose. He had it repaired.
The ribs had been stripped and relayed twice in a year, on the first set of barrels.

Never had a problem with private sellers. I�ve heard some auction stories that are hair raising.


Best,
Ted

_____________________________________________
Still trying to convince an old retired fart that he and the missus might get run
down on that little excuse of a motorcycle. Really hair raising.

I've never been scammed. Most of my disappointments, which have been extremely few, came from my over-eagerness.

Good deals do come along, but we would all do well to remember the old saw "If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is".

SRH

A few years ago I met up with a guy for a deal on a Purdey he had. I was trading a nice Italian hammer gun and some cash.
He advertised it as having 28" barrels. I completed the deal and took the Purdey home. A couple of days later I had it out of the safe and measured the barrels. Turns out they were 27 1/2" barrels.
I called him back and told him I wanted out of the deal because he had mis-represented the gun.
He said NO! That all gun dealers always round up on measurements.
Now this guy is a well known person in the shooting world.
He had advertised in GI, so I called them up and logged a complaint.
They said they flagged him but nothing was done. His other ads stayed posted.
I see him from time to time around and he advoids eye contact.
I sold the Purdey. But to this day I regret not pursuing taking some kind of action. Maybe one day when I see him cruising the tents at the Southern.

Mike, forgive me if I seem too hard, but all that was necessary for you to keep that from happening was for you to measure the barrel lengths before forking over the cash. I'm sure I'm "preaching to the choir" by saying that, too.

Caveat emptor.

SRH

I am a trusting soul and have paid the price for that a time or two. Always ask more questions!...Geo

years ago, one sunny sunday afternoon, walked into ah gun show at ah hotel ball room in eastern pa...very dark in there...could barely see anything...stumbled and felt my way along from table to table, asking the same question...do you have a model 70? most answers were, "not here"..."have one back at the shop" or "got one at home, but it aint fur sale"...finally got a positive response..."yes sir, got ah nice one right here", as he handed to me...

to be coninyud...

Ed,
please coninyu, some of us here can nardly wait for the next inalment, did he offer you a 69 instead?
franc