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

LOL, I'll go along with that. And it's not only guns. Wives too!

Stan, I'm a very trusting person. Plus I knew of this guy and felt safe in what he was saying and selling. The Purdey did check out as Purdey did say the barrels were original 27 1/2".

I have had two guns that were not the gauges stated when sold on GunBroker.
In both cases GunBroker was zero help. One was a 12 which turned out to be a very light 10 and the other was a 16 which again turned out to be a light 12. How hard is it to drop a shell into a gun I wonder?

The other mistakes are often hidden flaws that creative camera angle have omitted in spite of many pictures. Worse have been a couple slightly out of focus photos which clearly were meant to hide problems. Or clearly mistaken facts in the descriptions.

I once purchased a 14ga side by side on gunbroker only to discover it was a 20ga upon receipt, I imagine the 14mm stamped on the barrel confused the seller. Fortunately it was actually a great price for a 20ga. I informed the seller of his error and asked if he wanted it back, which he did not. It later figured in a good trade for another 16.

Glad it turned out to be original, Mike. In retrospect if you had measured the barrels before buying you might have passed on an original gun, thinking it had cut barrels.

SRH

I had one dealer who I am certain tried to scam me once. He knew I liked doubles so as soon as I entered his shop he piled out a Holland Holland box lock> I looked it over & told him, first an H&H should be a sidelock, 2nd it should say Holland & Holland &3rd it would not be wearing a full set of Belgian proof marks. He never tried again.

Another dealer did Scam me. He was a very well known dealer at the time, now deceased, & sold through Shotgun News, GunList as well as several other places. I asked if he had any Lefevers. He said one at home but did not have it with him. He described t as being a Syracuse built Lefever box-lock 20 gauge but not a Nitro Special, said he thought it was an A grade. Right then is where I should've gotten real suspicious, but just thought he had forgotten the grade marking. It was priced way below what an A grade "New Lefever" should have cost. It came in on about a Wed but I was working overtime & could not get to my dealer before closing so I had to wait for Saturday Turned out it was indeed an A grade but was not a Lefever, but a Syracuse Arms Co.had to wait for Saturday. By the time I picked it up & could call him he was closed for the week, so I could not call before Monday.

He refused to take it back on the grounds I did not contact him until after three days. I explained the situation of my work & that I did indeed call him within three days of my picking up the gun. He also adamantly refused to accept that it was not a Lefever, because it was made in Syracuse, he said.

Anyway, it was actually priced OK for what it was, but I was not interested in SAC guns. I traded it it in for the sidelock J P Clabrough 12 gauge which turned out I liked so well I still have it.

Back in the late 1980s, a dealer, no longer with us, from Cape Girardeau, MO., advertised an NID Ithaca No. 1E .410-bore with 28-inch barrels. I called, struck a deal and mailed off my check and a copy of my local gun stores FFL. In due time a package arrived at my local FFL. What it contained was a very early NID Field Grade (no ejectors) .410-bore, fully Turnbullized, with wonder of wonders 28-inch barrels!! At any rate I called and informed the dealer I was sending it back and had my money refunded in exactly 30 days from when I sent it back. Everyone I talked to who had dealt with said dealer opined that I was damn lucky to get my money back that quickly!!

Researcher;
'
May just be a coincidence, but my "Mis-Identified Lefever also came from Cape Girardeau. Most likely was the same dealer. I would say you were Extremely lucky he took it back at all.

I had a strange deal with a guy from Cape Girardeau also, but I don't think he's dead.

Not a double but I bought off GunBroker a nice looking Simmons upgraded Model 42. The seller posted a lot of pretty pix except one that showed this:


He initially claimed it was damaged when opening, but I finally got my money back