Missmarked by seller

[TIMETRIPPER]

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

 

[rufgr]

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.

 

[turp_dog]

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.

 

[waffles]

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.

 

[Nick B]

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

 

[Waxster60]

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.

 

[Echo40]

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.

 

[GypsmJim]

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.

 

[Muley Gil]

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?

 

[GypsmJim]

What type of gun was it?

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.

 

[kobsw]

View attachment 468699

Two years ago I stopped in a pawn shop in my hometown about 15 minutes from where I currently live. I see a "S&W" tag. At first glance I thought it was marked $899 and thought what I nice honest 19 snubby. I look closer and see that it is actually marked $399. I look it over, it has honest wear, and the moving parts feel like they are on ball bearings they are so smooth. I decide in my head that I'm buying it. I ask the clerk how much. He said, "We can do $339 plus tax and check. We sell the new ones for $399." He points to a new j frame in the counter for $399. I left with a 1977 Model 19 and they got my $360 dollars.

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

Kobsw

 

[Steve912]

A few years ago I was looking for a Mod 39. As I roamed through an on-line gun business, I saw several Mod 39's. Not knowing if I would like one as much as I thought I would, I elected to looking at the lower priced ones. This store was pretty proud of most of it's guns, but this one didn't have a box but looked to be in really nice condition so I went for it, and it was old enough it was C&R eligible so it could ship to my door. It came looking even nicer than I thought and listed in to Roy for a shipping date. He responded with the date and a "This one is interesting, you should letter it", comment. I did, and it was by S/N in the area of the steel frames, but was an alloy frame and a single gun purchase by the Swedish Air Force as a test gun. As I was inspecting it it had no indication of ever having been fired. It had no re-import marks anywhere. It was so nice I decided not to shoot it, and a couple years later sold it for about double what I had paid for it, and still gave the buyer a good price on it.

This pistol is up on GB, now.

 

[TheHobbyist]

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.

 

[sousana]

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.

 

[.357magger]

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.

 

[Muley Gil]

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.

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

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

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)

 

[Murdock]

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.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

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.