I worked security today at a Flea Market In Santa Monica. One of the vendors was selling some old guns (pre 1902). A woman came over to him while I was checking them out and said she wanted a gun for self protection. She liked the look of this one and he told her it was $1200. She asked if he could do any better and said, "for you, since you are a lady, $1000." So she bought it on the spot. Since I couldn't interfere with the sale, I caught up with her later on. I told her it was a cute little relic but not very practical for self protection in your home and schooled her on some more modern day revolvers. I didn't have the heart to tell her she paid about $800 too much for it...

Condition was about the same as this one, maybe with a bit more pitting.

Priced in Auctions : Continental folding trigger Pocket Revolver .32 caliber  - HLEBOOKS.com & Collectorebooks.com

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

That vendor has the ethics of a wolverine.

Some people really need a butt-kicking.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I don't know how a guy could sleep after a deal like that. Seriously. What a crook.

Here's another...

Item:10588332 British Bulldog .32 folding trigger revolver For Sale at GunAuction.com

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

He also had a 1915 Colt SAA for $15,000. It did have a nice set of custom mother of pearl grips...

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

Too bad you didn't beat her to it.

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Dum vivo cano

Some years ago I was at a large St. Patrick's Day party hosted by close friends. A bunch of us were out on the back deck drinking beer, and the conversation turned to guns.

One of the other guests, a guy I had never met, boastfully told the story of how he went to a range, and an old guy there was shooting a beautiful vintage Browning High Power. The old guy expressed some interest in selling the gun, since he didn't shoot it much, and the guy telling the story bragged that he offered the old man $100 to take it off his hands, and told him how it wasn't worth much more than that because it was so old...and the old guy sold it to him for $100. This slug was actually proud of this, and was telling us the story with great relish!

I have a terrible habit of saying what I'm thinking. I looked directly at the guy, in front of about 10 other people, and told him I thought he should be ashamed of himself, and I didn't know how he could sleep at night. I then walked away, and avoided any contact with him the rest of the night.

Are you sure it wasn't a semi-auto that microstamped?

I wish you could have got to her first, that vender was a sphincter muscle of huge proportions.

That guy clearly wears his *** for a hat. Someone once asked me what I hate? and I couldnt think of anything till now. Well, I hate jerks.

Wait until she goes into Dicks and asks for help buying ammo for her new handgun.

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I'm with the banned ...

A conversation made even more interesting by the lack of gun knowledge of the typical Dick's gun guru. They'll probably sell her a box of 16 gauge shotgun shells and tell her to double them up.

I can't really say she deserves a pity party for that. If she is smart enough to say she needs a gun for home defense, she should have been smart enough to research it out. She will probably take it home and put it in a drawer with her nylons and say she is protected. It will never see the range and never be cleaned. We all know the saying from PT Barnum and the guy just walked away happy. There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them”.

She probably won't load it. If she's that gullible, she probably thinks that just seeing a gun will thwart a criminal.

I'm a big believer in "what goes around comes around"....

There's a flea mkt. over in Gary, Indiana I frequent. (no guns) The combined worth of all the merch I've seen there over the last 10 years on the 100 or so tables is about $150.

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SOS USA

So you're saying that the lady got what she deserved, because of something she had done earlier?

I'm sure he's dis'n the seller.

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SOS USA

ASHAMED in Kentucky

Yesterday at end of the gun show I was the ONLY ONE to help a handicapped man load out.

Steve is a REGULAR vendor. Yesterday he was on crutches with only one lower leg and foot. For years I did not know that Steve had an artificial limb. He was suffering with a painful infection at the joint and removed his prosthetic.

At load out his wife was helping repack the table into totes. Steve was carrying an ammo can while on his crutches.

My packing could wait! I loaded all of his tote boxes for him. He told me to let his wife load the long guns in their cases. When he thanked me for the help, I told him I was ashamed for the other nearby vendors who did nothing to help.

It took an obese ***** Yankee senior to demonstrate the reported Southern Hospitality!

Bekeart is ASHAMED in Kentucky and for Kentucky.

I think I’ve been off double secret probation for a short time now? I still owe Rags money but we've reached a amiable conclusion to that. But if I posted my opinion about the scum sucker, low life, piece of crud *******. who would do this to a trusting L.O.L Mr. lee would have his foot so far my posterior it would take him a week to get his shoe back, if he even wanted it back. And it would be another week before I could sit down again.

The little old lady did not deserve what she got. If the gun guy had any humanity at all he would have directed her to get some training and go to a gunshop that knew their business.

The guy is a disreputable dirt ball.....an antique for self defense....that could cost the poor woman her life.

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Even older, even crankier....

I believe the dirt bag vender has some bad JUJU coming, but one possibility is the lady couldn't legally go to a gun shop. We have all heard the stupid criminal stories. Ivan

I'm sure as well. I'm just pointing out that the concept of "karma" can be construed to mean that if someone is treated badly, they probably deserved it. The knife cuts both ways....

Working part time at a gun shop on my days off (in an attempt to keep the wolf from the door) the local shade tree "gun dealers" was always coming in to the shop to brag about how they conned an old person out of a firearm for a fraction of what the firearm was worth.

Looking at this from a different perspective: could this liar have been trying to impress everyone with his purchase of a gun he paid too much for? Buying a HP for a hundred is something I personally would raise BOTH eye brows about.

Just a thought. The man's an *** anyway you look at him.

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Quando omni flunkus moritati.

Years ago, I went to an estate sale where there were some guns. The widow had the receipts (1908-1910) from where her late husband had purchased them. I told her going prices for the two SAAs her husband had carried as a deputy sheriff in West Texas (great shape, sequential serial numbered, nickel-plated, factory engraved, and factory ivory!). She also had a Black Diamond Winchester Model 1897 with a 30 inch modified choke that some grateful citizens had given to her late husband. I suggested she get it appraised at a gun shop before selling it. (Don't go in and ask, "What will you give me for it?") I couldn't afford to buy any of the guns for what they were worth, so I left. On my way out I passed a pawn broker of my acquaintance, and he was some upset to see me. I told him he could probably get a great deal on the 1878 Colt Sheriff's model that didn't have any finish left on it and had a free-spinning cylinder.

I was told by a friend later that the widow made out like a bandit on the guns after having them appraised by a reputable dealer.

ECS

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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

Caveat emptor.

No, he was trying to impress us with how he took advantage of the seller. The owner of the HP was elderly, and clearly unaware of the true worth of his Browning. Like the lady the OP wrote about in starting this thread, he got taken advantage of. The thing that really made my blood boil was the buyer actually boasting that he had taken advantage of an old man. It's probably been 20 years since that happened, and it still rankles me to think about it.

Hog dookey......

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Even older, even crankier....

The woman in the OP was ruthlessly shafted. "Caveat emptor" is all very well for people with some rudimentary knowledge of the market. This lady ran afoul of a lying, duplicitous reptile who probably bragged to someone later about how he took advantage of her innocence of the realities.

Sure, the smart thing for her to do would have been to research the market and the pros and cons of various weapons. If she had a computer, and if she weren't naïve enough to think that someone who sold guns would advise her correctly.

The vendor is two rungs below filamentous algae in my book.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Can you translate that into English? Oh, never mind, I think I get it...

the guy should not have taken advantage.
the lady spent a thousand bucks on what amounts to an impulse buy, with no research or second opinion?
they both deserve a smack.

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the rules? there are no rules

Actually, in November I managed to scarf two boxes of 50 of Remington 9mm for under $20 total incl tax. They might become the new best place in town for ammo.

Not answering for that poster but, I really doubt he meant it that way. IMO, he was making said comment about said dealer taking way too much advantage on some Lady.

I like you post but disagree with it. That is because he saw the lady knew zip about guns figuring to make all of his gun show money back on a poor trusting unsuspecting lady. I hope his greed comes around to bite him in the behind--hard and take about 20 pounds off it in the process.

No, the seller...will probably be the one paying in the end...

Maybe you didn't say anything because you were working there, but I would have jumped right in the middle of that and told her not to buy it. Yes, that would make me "that guy", but I'd be ok with it considering.

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Freedom isn't free.

I believe the saying goes something like "Let the buyer beware.", not the seller. Too bad the lady overpaid but she should have known what she was buying. If she had overpaid for a sweater or pair of jeans everyone would be saying that she was crazy.

Gentlemen, it boils down to, you are either an honest decent person or you are not. You are the one who lives with your actions. People who take advantage of others are not people I care to be around and personally I avoid them like the plaque.

If this had been a piece of clothing I would agree with you and just grinned at the whole situation. This wasn't. This deception goes much further. Actually the price has nothing to do with why this bothers me.

If a person is willing to fork over a certain amount for a product then that's their business. In this case she wasn't looking for a bargain in a gun, she was looking to protect herself. She was told that this would be a good toll for that and was blatantly deceived.

As a self-defense instructor my biggest fear is that I'll have a student leave thinking they can defend themselves when they cannot. This lady was done a great disservice. Fortunately, Sip stepped in after the fact and gave her some real advice.

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Freedom isn't free.

What goes...comes.

[/I]

I'm sure you're correct, I was just looking from a different angle. Most of these fools do exactly what you say. I've come across a couple guns I could have had for way less than what they were worth but I learned from a friend to be honest about the price and you'll get more in the end.

Now ain't that a strange thought?

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Quando omni flunkus moritati.

A slightly different take,
Lets say the lady was a convicted felon, just released after a long stretch at the ladies house of dentition, she purchased the 32 with the money she saved up from work release knowing she would be turned down and arrested if she attempted to purchase one legally,not to mention the paper trail. In this way she could argue she wasn't in possession of a firearm and won't have to worry about the bodies on a street gun.

She then unbeknown to Sipowicz followed the dealer home pistol whipped him, tied him up and stole all his untaxed and unreported money he stashes in house from the flea market and stole his $15,000.00 Colt SAA with the nice mother of pearl grips.

One never knows, Karma a female dog!

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Thank you
Penmon AKA Jim