Bought new...got used.

[Northener]

Purchased a Bodyguard 380 Weds. 4 hour drive I got home, didn’t feel good, felt flu setting in. Set the firearm in its box on the countertop and went to bed. Well....two days later feeling somewhat better i opened the box, no seal, do not remember if they all have a seal of some sort or not. Firearm is in the stitched case supplied with BG, along with the two mags. Huh strange.... do they not put firearm in either the blue vinyl bag or paper? Anyway ....take the firearm out, this thing looks like its been used. Breach is dirty, feed ramp is dirty, muzzle has residue. Pop the magazine out.....orange follower is really black, ok...whats going on. Look at the other magazine, same thing orange follower is black as well. Field strip the firearm, definitely been fired more than test round Or two at factory. Paid new price, no mention of gun being used. Feeling very pissed off.

What should I do, contact Smith and Wesson? Dealer? Both?

 

[bigggbbruce]

Every gun I have bought through an FFL has taken the gun out of the box to verify serial number and allow me to inspect.

Suggest you should do the same.

 

[growr]

What happened to your inspecting of the gun before accepting it?

If I inspected it and accepted it then I am part of the process, not the dealer or S&W. ME.....not the others are responsible.

Randy

 

[Northener]

Guess its my fault then.

 

[Wavygravy]

I recently had a gun delivered to my FFL from Bud's Gun Shop -- the email shipping confirmation from Bud's said in big letters that I was responsible for inspecting/examining the condition of the gun before accepting it from the FFL. If I accepted it from the FFL, I was accepting the condition. If there was a problem the FFL would send it back to them....

 

[Dave686]

I searched all over for a 617 once. I have a highly respected local dealer call me that he got one in that day. I told him I would take it. When I inspected it, I told him I wanted new; it was filthy. He said it was new; and it came in that way. He said he occasionally gets them in like that. I believe him. And if he was going to try to pull a fast one, I think he would have at least wiped down the outside.

They are all fired. So, unless something is wrong with it: I wouldn’t worry about it. You can call S&W and they can tell you if it went to your dealer’s supplier, or if it was registered any other time.

BTW…My local FFL does me a service by accepting transfers for very little money. If there is a problem with a gun, its between be and whoever I bought it from or the manufacturer. It’s not my FFL’s problem to return it, unless of course I am going to pay him to do that. I don’t care what Buds policy is. I don’t fully check mine out, standing there wasting their time, so I would have missed it also.

EDIT:

UPON RECEIVING A FIREARM AT YOUR CHOSEN FFL DEALER, BE SURE TO THOROUGHLY INSPECT YOUR FIREARM FOR ANY DEFECTS BEFORE ACCEPTING THE TRANSFER. WE CAN ONLY ISSUE A FULL REFUND OR NEW REPLACEMENT IF THE FIREARM HAS NOT BEEN TRANSFERED. FULL REFUNDS DO INCLUDE RETURN SHIPPING COST. HOWEVER, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WE REIMBURSE A CUSTOMER FOR FFL TRANSFER FEES ON RETURNED ITEMS.

Buds does in fact have the above disclaimer in their email. Grab a Gun and Palmetto State Armory; does not. I have been ordering from both of those places more than Buds because they have both been beating Buds price by a significant amount. I guess that’s something for me to keep in mind when deciding who to order from. Although truthfully they are all selling the exact same thing, so I buy from who has the lowest price.

 

[pakettle]

Pay a little more and buy from your local dealer!

 

[Northener]

FWIW This was a display gun he handed me, as usual, with all the firearms I have purchased there., I did not expect that this was the gun I was purchasing. I said I would take one and he handed me the paperwork to fill out. Usually then they go into the back and grab one from stock. They had 17 on hand. From there he takes it to a different area for clerk to run background check etc. tells me it will be over there for checkout. So i go browse around while i wait on background check. I did not check the box as it was already in a vinyl store bag. Paid the clerk and left. 4 hour drive later and two days with the flu. I find out. Live and learn I guess.

 

[mikerjf]

I bought a “new” airweight that seemed a little dirty to me, from a small dealer at a show. No scratches or chips or other wear on it... I wondered but since it shot well and I liked it I decided not to worry.

 

[gwpercle]

Contact the "dealer" you purchased it from . At this point it would be the first place to start .
If he values your business he will take care of it .
Happy customers are repeat customers...jerk people around and they will buy elsewhere .
Gary

 

[ColbyBruce]

I have purchased several S&W Shields and one M&Pc since 2013. All of the magazine followers have been dirty when I unboxed the guns.

 

[ken158]

S&W sells to distributors - not dealers. Ask the dealer where he got it and if he is truthful, don’t be surprised if it was a trade in... It is your responsibility to examine the gun and deem it acceptable before you sign the paperwork.

 

[chev37s]

If the dealer sold it as new, it should be new condition, not used. If it is used the dealer should take it back and exchange for a factory new condition one. That is what he paid for.

 

[vipermd]

Purchased a Bodyguard 380 Weds. 4 hour drive I got home, didn’t feel good, felt flu setting in...two days later feeling somewhat better i opened the box, no seal, do not remember if they all have a seal of some sort or not.
What should I do, contact Smith and Wesson? Dealer? Both?

You bought this gun from the store not online, Correct? You said it was a display gun. There will not be a seal on box, because when something comes into the sho, you need to verify: the SN, make, model, caliber, condition- regardless of what it says in the box.
Odd that both mags are dirty, they should all be factory fired. Check the gun closely, "light and magnifying glass", if it functions fine, your good to go. I would prefer to buy a bodyguard with 250 rds through it if I was buying it for myself. I would call the dealer since you said this was supposed to be a new gun, display or not. If you are paying new price, you should be getting new gun. Yes I have seen guns come dirty from the factory or distributor, though usually just light dust. Be Safe,

 

[growr]

Purchased a Bodyguard 380 Weds. 4 hour drive I got home, didn’t feel good, felt flu setting in. Set the firearm in its box on the countertop and went to bed. Well....two days later feeling somewhat better i opened the box, no seal, do not remember if they all have a seal of some sort or not. Firearm is in the stitched case supplied with BG, along with the two mags. Huh strange.... do they not put firearm in either the blue vinyl bag or paper? Anyway ....take the firearm out, this thing looks like its been used. Breach is dirty, feed ramp is dirty, muzzle has residue. Pop the magazine out.....orange follower is really black, ok...whats going on. Look at the other magazine, same thing orange follower is black as well. Field strip the firearm, definitely been fired more than test round Or two at factory. Paid new price, no mention of gun being used. Feeling very pissed off.

What should I do, contact Smith and Wesson? Dealer? Both?

So....what is it that you want S&W or the Dealer to do for you? What is your ultimate objective here?

If it were me, I would load it up and shoot the heck out of it.

Randy

 

[Execpro]

Got my NEW BG from dealer about 3 weeks ago.They took it out of the box to verify the Serial Number. There is no seal. When he opened the box the gun was in the zipped black pouch with the 2 mags. NO blue or clear vinyl bag or paper rapper.
Got it home and disassembled for cleaning. Gun was filthy and the followers and inside the mags were also Dirty. There were no wear marks on the bbl or slide rails. Took it to the range a few days later and ran 36 rounds through it. On The front top of the bbl you could see marks were the gun had been shot. When disassembled you could see the rails were shinny.
I think that S&W uses the cheapest/ dirtiest powder they can get. JMO

Got a New S&W 9mm Ez about 6 weeks ago and the condition of the gun was about the same. I don’t know the protocol used at the factory, but I could definitely tell the difference between the new dirty gun and the gun after just a few rounds.

Be SAFE and Shoot Often!

 

[mckenney99]

Having run a gun shop for over 9 years, I can tell you that ALL incoming guns were removed from the boxes so that the guns serial number could be confirmed with the box and the shipping invoice, before the gun was entered into our bound book. As a result, the seals on the boxes were never intact after we went thru them. All of our 380 Bodyguards just came in a pouch with the spare mag. I don't believe they were even in a plastic wrap. It didn't happen often but we did have a couple instances, were the actual gun in the box did not match the box or invoice. Distributor reps were immediately contacted and the firearms were returned, because that meant the distributors records were likely messed up also.
As to the OP's issue. We did see some guns direct from our distributors that appeared to have been test fired more than others. As to how dirty one gun is over another, the brand/type of ammo used for test firing can make a huge difference.

 

[RBS_@63]

I purchased my Shield 45 2 yrs ago and I was so mad at my local dealer for ordering me a used gun. I got to looking into this and it seems that every so often a firearm is pulled off the line and several magazines are ran through it. I had over 24 cleaning patches that were so dirty i thought I was cleaning my muzzleloader. I now also believe that they use dirty ammo during the test firing of each weapon, so I would not worry about it if the dealer says it came directly from a distributor.

 

[Boogs]

I have never purchased a firearm that arrived in a seal.

Though, when dealing with a local FFL several years ago, I field-stripped a pistol before accepting the transfer and the FFL said, "no one has ever inspected a pistol like that". Seemed odd to me she did not find it to be a common practice-- you wouldn't drive off the lot in your new car without at least kicking the tires, right?

Regardless, all S&W mags that shipped with pistols have what appears to be black crayon that someone marked across the top of the follower.

Upon cleaning a new pistol of S&W tier, you will discover most all components are dirty-- pistols of this class are factory fired. I recall hearing this was a law(?). If a yellow-like substance shows up on patches during your initial cleaning, that is a factory protectant. Also, the ammo they use is probably bottom of the rung, filthy dirty stuff.

I would agree with the notion of contacting the seller and being upfront about your concerns, see what comes of that conversation.

Otherwise load it up and put some lead through it, assuming there are no functionality issues, rest easy-- it is ultimately a tool and function is key, people buy new pistols that fail to function, and that.. that sucks.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Now that you have it, it is used. Maybe a return that was not properly cleaned? My new guns were never "sealed" in anything.