In most cases the only problem with a slightly canted barrel is only cosmetic.
You are correct, sir; but for quite a number of us here cosmetic issues are important.
Even when ordering a gun online, one does not have to accept it. Doesn't matter if it's rough machining marks or a canted barrel. Don't like it, don't buy it. If you're that desperate you can't wait, a cosmetic issue ain't gonna matter.
Sir,
It's not nearly that simple, and I'm guessing that you're probably aware of that. If only it WERE that simple. For the sake of those who have never bought a gun online, here are complicating factors of not accepting it(due to a canted barrel or whatever else may be the problem) when it arrives:
1)Actually, you've already bought it. You sent payment to the seller, who then sent the gun to your FFL. He has your money and has probably deposited it in his account. Getting that money back is not guaranteed. If he has stipulated in his ad or auction that he will accept returns and is a man of integrity, you will get it back. Sometimes integrity is wanting and the seller refuses to honor his commitment. Though that hasn't happened to me, it has to a fair number of members here, whose threads remain on the site as a testimony of the risk of buying online. Fortunately those situations are the exception and not the rule, but the possibility exists nonetheless. If you review some of those threads, you'll see what a hassle(sometimes even a nightmare) this situation can be.
2)If the seller has specified in his ad or auction "As is; no returns", the gun is yours. For this reason many of us avoid buying online under that stipulation, but occasionally experience tells you that a certain desired gun may not be had otherwise, at least with any degree of certainty in an acceptable time frame. If you go ahead and buy the gun with this stipulation, your risk of having to accept an unacceptable gun increases.
3)If the seller is a dealer who accepts credit card purchases, you can avoid number "1)" above by using your card and then stopping payment when you find that the gun isn't acceptable. However, with rare exceptions(in my experience), using the card will cost you an extra 3% of your winning bid.
4)If the seller is a private party, or a dealer who doesn't accept card purchases, the risk found in number "1)" increases.
5)You've already paid the shipping charge from the seller to your FFL. This is almost always unrecoverable. If the seller is a dealer he likely sent it USPS. The charge in this case is generally, roughly $25 or so. If the seller is a private party and ships it himself, he will have to use UPS or FedEx, and the charge goes up significantly, usually $40-50 or even higher. If you don't accept the gun, you eat that charge.
6)Not only that, but if you don't accept the gun you eat the shipping charge to return it also, so double the amount under number "5)" above that you will be throwing down the rat hole, so to speak.
7)Very likely you also will have to pay your FFL for whatever his services are, even if you don't accept the transfer. I don't know what that charge would be.
8)If the seller turns out to be disagreeable or vindictive and you bought the gun on an auction site, he will leave negative feedback for you, which could adversely affect your online transactions in the future.
Generally if a buyer is wise and does his homework, problems with returning a gun are minimized or avoided. But the extra charges outlined above are not. It's conceivable that the buyer could be out $100 or more to return a gun. Consequently he has a difficult choice: reject the gun and be out the money for the extra fees, or keep a gun he's unhappy with, along with the money.
As usual I've gotten too long-winded, and there may be an inaccuracy or two in the above remarks. However there are inexperienced folks here who read about these matters, and I wanted them to understand that returning a gun purchased online with a canted barrel or other problem is not nearly as simple as examining one in a store or at a private party's home, discovering the problem, and handing it back to the clerk or owner and saying, "No, thanks." The latter situations are the only cases in which there is a zero percent chance of getting a canted barrel.
Otherwise you have to deal with the risk that those of us face who live where seeing a Smith revolver in a classified ad or in a dealer's display case is a very, very rare occurrence.
Regards,
Andy
