I was looking at a .410 high grade Winchester 42 pump gun that the seller "described" as new in the box. When I looked at it I could tell it had been fired. The barrel was still dirty and slight wear on the action bar and bolt face. Not much, but you could see the wear so I asked him if he or anyone had "test" fired the gun. After a bit he did say he had shot it, only a "couple" times. Sellers who claim NIB when they clearly are not can be annoying but they still want to pretend they are NIB un-fired but to me that is a money thing. So I think no big deal and make him an offer.
While we are working out the price he ask me if I am going to shoot the gun or keep it as a collectable. Not wanting to make him mad and point out it is not NIB because he had clearly shot it I tell him I might shoot it a little not just not put it into a safe to be kept as a closet collectable he gets weird and decides not to sell it or at least sell it to me. And we were about two hundred apart in price so I figured it was almost a done deal. In the end I figured he wasn't really ready or willing to sell the gun and used this as an excuse to not sell.
I've run into this type of seller several times before. They almost don't want anyone to buy their guns because then they loose control of what happens to them. This guy was just protecting his baby too much. Pity it would have made a nice quail gun for pen raised quail or dove. Not the end of the world as I have lead to two other of the same high grade 42-.410. They might be "rare" but there are more than a few out there for sale if you have the money you might even find a seller willing to let his baby go.
