Wasn't miss marked, but possibly the best $239 I ever spent. From the looks of mine it had never been issued.

Someone wanted one really bad a couple weeks ago.

This wasn't mine, mine is sitting in the safe right now.

About 3 years ago. I also got a nice model 19-3 for $300. Every now and again the gun folks don't make it there for whatever reason.

This is waaaayyy old news, but nevertheless...

Dad bought an old 12 gauge double at a pawn shop for $35. (I still have the original receipt) It had a slightly pitted barrel and that's why it was so cheap. Probably fired with black powder. Later he went to the local gun shop to buy a case for it and the owner offered him $100.

Dad kept it and hunted deer with it for 40 years. In the '80's a spring broke and he took it to a local gunsmith to be repaired. He said no parts available, but he offered him $1000.00 for it. In the end the smith made a spring and put it back into service.

The next year Dad shot his last deer with it.

Dad's old Parker is the centerpiece in my collection.

Two or three years ago my Trump-hating friend wanted to dump his S&W Model 19 and his Bersa Model 223, 22 rimfire for a total of $350. I happily obliged him.

A while back I was contacted about a scrimshawed Randall knife purchased at a Texas pawn shop. The buyer wanted to know if it was my work, I told him it is my scrimshaw. Of course he wanted to know what it is worth. I asked him what he paid for the Bowie, he replied $250.00. He sent me the knife on consignment. When I opened the package I instantly noticed that along with ivory and scrimshaw the knife carried .999 pure silver hardware! I sold his $250.00 knife for $3,500.00. He was tickled! Makes me wonder what the pawn shop paid for it.

Went to an auction of a small Gunsmiths'GunShop that had closed down, this was in the late 90's.

They sold off the few complete firearms that were still there first.
The first was a TopBreak large frame revolver of some make I don't now remember. Opening bid was $20.
One person finally bid after a long silence and it was 'Sold'.

Next item was a Parker 12ga Hammer shotgun. Not a high grade but in nice condition. These I was familiar with and I had examined it before the auction.
Starting bid was $35. I was prepared for some action on this one as SxS vintage shotguns and especially Parkers were really hot at the time.
Again a long silence.
I held up by number..
I bought the shotgun for the $35 bid.

Must have been Benadryl laced coffee they were serving or something , everyone seemed asleep there.
I bought quite a bit of 'stuff' there which is not like me for an auction.

I sold that Parker to a local collector/shooter of vintage SxS's about a year later for $650. A good price at the time and a good profit.

I still sometimes think about what that large T/Break revolver might have been for $20.
I always end the thoughts by telling myself it was a loose and ratty Spanish copy of a US Revolver Co copy of an IverJohnson.

I had a neighbor once that knew I had guns, and he brought a rifle over and asked me if I wanted to buy it. It was a Sako built on a Mauser action in 30-06. He brought it back from Germany in 1954. I said what do you want. He said " I want what I got into it, 75.00. For that I got the rifle, case, and the other half box of ammo he never fired.

An hour later, he comes back with a beautiful Ithaca SXS field grade shotgun made by The Ithaca Gun Co in Ithaca, NY. They were on the list of curios and relics. I said how much. He said 100.00. so I bought that too.

A few years ago, I sold the shotgun to the guy's son, because I realized it belonged in the family since it was his Grandfather's.

The rifle is still in my safe 45 years later

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Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

A few years back i spotted a ".38 Colt Snub nose, staimless steel, bobbed hammer" for 500.00.
I thought with the bobbed hammer, it might be a custom shop gun, possibly worth 1k. I passed, and the gun continued to appear in the local bargain trader for another few weeks. I finally told my work buddy that he should check out the gun. When i got home that day, i looked up Colt detective specials in the Blue book. A listing at the end jumped out at me," Colt Special Lady, .38 stainless detective special with factory bobbed hammer. Very limited production. extreme rarity precludes accurate valuation. My heart skipped a beat. About that iij instant, the phone rang. My buddy had gone to look at the Colt, and had purchased not one, but two Colt Special Lady detective specials, each with box and paperwork. One had been dry fired a few times, and one was untouched. The seller had purchased them for his elderly parents for self defense and would take no less than 500.00 each, which was what he had paid for them. My buddy sold the unfired one for 4800.00, and the other for 3800.00.

A few weeks ago I took a lap through the local Scheels Sports store after work. In the case was a Smith & Wesson Model 67 No Dash in excellent condition, complete with Stainless rear sight and original Magna grips and a trigger shoe... Marked $449.00.
Being an absolute sucker for any Combat Masterpiece, I asked to look at it and asked if they had any room on the price, trying not to giggle at my own comment. The sales lad said they had just put it out so that was the price, and I said "OK I'll take it".
He then said, "I think there's a box with it too".
And there was.
The matching box numbered to the gun... with the manual and all the original paperwork... For $449.00... in 2020.
It turned out to be a 1972 gun (first year of production), and tight as a tick. It cleaned up extraordinarily well with just a few light handling marks that were easily removed.
I put a set of Ahrends Cocobolo Retro-Combats I had around on it and it now awaits a range trip.
I have no idea what they were thinking at that pricing (around here that's a $700 gun easily), but I'm a happy boy!

Love this thread.

I went to our local first friday of the month auction, back in 1997. One night there was some knife making materials and a couple bowie knives. A marked Randall in a homemade sheath and a homemade knife copy in a Randall Johnson rough back sheath. I told the auctioneer that they were switched, but he had an absentee bid left on one of them and couldn't switch them back. All I knew at the time was that Randall's were expensive and they were backlogged for years. I decided any bowie was worth $150 so that was my max. I got the Randall for $95.00. I had to pay $110 for the fake one just to get the sheath. Took them to the Blade show in Atlanta, met Pete Hamilton, shop foreman for Randall who introduced me to Tom Clinton. After seeing some prices at the show, I told Tom I thought the Randall was worth $3k. He turned to his wife and said, honey hand me my money bag. A crowd had gathers by then and a guy asked if I had any other Randalls, I told him I had a copy, how much, $200. Done.

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Charlie

Two more S&W "buys" are my early 38 SA bought at a local gun showy $60. Seller wanted $75 but I had only 60. He took it. Said it was in a box of miscellaneous stuff he bought at an auction for $20 so his "deal" topped mine!

Another good buy was my 8 3/4"model 57 that I bought at an estate sale for under $400 around 10 years ago. Sale was on site at the owners home and she did not allow parking in the yard. It was out in the country. Had to park along the road and walk 1/4 mile up the driveway.They really screwed the pooch by not allowing closer parking as there were under 100 bidders.
Also bought several box lots of reloading equipment for less than $40 which included thousands of 180 grain 30 cal rifle bullets, several hundred 240 grain 44 caliber plated bullets, bullet molds, muzzle loading gear plus more. Sale had over 50 firearms, mostly older Mauser military rifles of all calibers and about a dozen newer inline muzzle loaders. Most of the Mausers sold for under $150, the inline averaged $50.
There was a WWII era 1911 that went for $500. Had not a wit of original finish but had a nice brown patina and no rust. Don't remember the brand. I saw a similar condition 1911 sell for $1100 the year before. I was there for the 57 and didn't have enough for the 1911 too.

John

Last Tuesday saw a rifle listed as Winchester 70 .243, turned out it was a pre 64 standard weight model 70 in .243, bought it for $749.99 did not quibble on price.

The closest I have come to a deal like these was finding a nice set of N-Frame combat grips in a pawn shop marked for $25.

This was mis-marked as a "Model 35". Got it for a sub $300 opening bid







Turns out fuzzies kinda suck unless you have the exact hand they were made for, but hey worked out financially.

Bought a NIB 3” 66-2 that was marked and priced as a 2 1/2” .

Some amazing deals! 25 years ago I was looking for my first handgun in the local Sports Authority. Decided on the Ruger Mark II priced NIB at $169. While waiting for the at-the-time 3 day waiting period, the store called to say the price tag was mislabeled and should have been $279. When it was pointed out that the deal was done, I picked it up for the $169. Its still one of my favorites and as you know Sports
Authority is out of business.

The only positively mismarked firearm that I ever purchased was a Walther PPQ Subcompact that was sold as an ordinary PPQ full-size, but the picture clearly showed that it was a Subcompact.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

This is hearsay, so take it for what it's worth.

Back in the 1960's, as a young gun collector, I did business with an old codger that was a custom gun builder, having started in the business around 1900. He was in his 90's and was going out of business, liquidating his inventory. My buddy bought one of his custom guns, that was brand new, never fired, and was commissioned in 1901. The buyer never came back to pick it up. My buddy paid a good dollar for it, regardless of the provenance, and shot it for a few years. Eventually he passed, and the gun went to his son, who was also a member at my Buffalo, NY club.

The story was that the buyer ordered the gun and then went on vacation to hunt in the Adirondack mountains of NY. A catastrophy happened and he rushed back to Buffalo, but never picked up the gun. It sat in the gun shop for all those years until the smith sold out.

The potential purchaser was Teddy Roosevelt, and he came back to Buffalo to take the oath of office after President McKinley was shot.

Liker I said, it was the old codger that told me the story, so I make no claims. But, I dare anybody to beat this story.....LOL.

What type of gun was it?

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I saw the gun only only once, and that was probably 40 years ago. It was a bolt action centerfire rifle, with a large adjustable peep sight and a custom made stock.

That's a great story, how thick were the glasses on the guy working the counter?!!!

Kobsw

This pistol is up on GB, now.

Thank you for sharing at the OP.

I am in the market a lot, because it is one of my hobbies.

One of the most interesting, and best deals, in the past month was a 1928 Handel lamp all original, really nice for $ 1.98. My guess is that the shade alone is $1K+.

This was at a thrift store. While I do not normally share this type of info., I donate over $100.00 a month to the food pantry they support. And then some. One of several. I sleep well at night and only share the latter part of the story because I don't wish anyone to think I am taking advantage by the knowledge over many decades. Regardless of a good deal or not, I still try to do the best I can, who need the most, in my community.

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Rather be outdoors

Best deal I've made was at the Montgomery Wards closing sale. Gun case had a sign for 60% off all guns, all being smith revolvers, blued and nickle, and 2nd gen semi's. I bought em all and the store manager gave me an extra 5% off for paying cash.

Entertaining thread.

I've posted on this one awhile back as "Best Gunshow Deal Ever" but I got my Colt 1908 .380 from 1926 out the door for $400 last year. I have no idea what the seller was thinking, but I managed to talk him down from $425.

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Teddy became president in 1901. Weren't many sporting bolt actions around then. He was more of a lever action man.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

One good l I made was several years back at Walmart. They had a SAK huntsman on cluose out for $9.99. I said "gimmiee" As an afterthought I asked if they had any more-they produced 4 more Huntsmans and 4 Tinkerers all at $9.99 each. I bought them all.
Then there was the time I bougt a "stainless" python from a gut for $300. When I got it I found out it was Nickle and I called pissed and demanded my money back. We compromised-he gave me back $100. I sent it to Houston to the show there and got back $500 (This was in the 80's when I had babies and that extra $300 profit helped out a LOT)

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Forum consigliere

This little jewel, an ASP 9mm, was in my LGS. It had come from an estate sale and entered in the store's bound book as "customized S&W." The store staff was obviously too young to know what is really was. OTD for under $700 after haggling.

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A few years ago I was in my LGS and spotted a nice 2" Model 10, I forget if it was RB or SB because I have had quite a few, for 200 bucks and change. I grabbed it. Store owner (who is a friend, actually) looked at the gun and the sticker and said, "This gun should be 4 bills." I laughed and said, "I know." He shook his head and muttered something about speaking to his folks but stated a deal is a deal or words to that effect and sold it to me forthwith.

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Come and take it!!