The best deal you have ever gotten on a firearm?

[greenwellg]

Bought an M48 Mauser at a garage sale for $15. Lock time was measured in seconds due to the cosmoline still in the bolt assembly. Disassembled bolt and cleaned the goop out and sold it for $200 at a gun show.
Bought a ammo box of old gun parts at another garage sale for $20. Lots of flintlock parts. Saw a lock assembly for an flintlock musket market Richmond 1803 complete with the mounting plate for the other side of the stock. Took the box to a Richmond Va show (fairgrounds) and sold it to a collector friend for $370 and bought a new set of tires for my van. I know not a gun but a complete Musket was $50k in any condition if it was functional. 20k made from 1803 to 1822. Jefferson brought back the patterns for the French Charleyville muskets and most of them did not survive the civil war.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

A good deal I got was for Colt Officers Model Match Mark III. Less than 500 were built and all but 150 were exported. There was this one on Gunbroker last year being sold by a vendor I knew to be trustworthy and above board. I made what I thought to be a lowball bid (about $2k below market) and won! If the other bidder has bid $1 higher than me he would have won it as I was at my max bid.

When I received the revolver it was either still NIB or nearly so…complete box, paperwork, test target. While I thought it wouldn’t show anything unusual I ordered an archives letter to see where it went…I figured some distributor. When I received the letter it showed it was shipped to a US Navy nuclear ballistic missile submarine in care of the sub’s medical officer. That was totally unexpected!

I did a little research and found the doctor it was sent to had passed about ten years ago. I’ve thought about tracking down his survivors to maybe get more history to the revolver but haven’t acted on it yet.

Overall I got a great deal on a revolver worth at least twice my investment in today’s market with a really unusual original shipping destination.

 

[gmiller0737]

A Few Remington Nylon 66 Apache Black Free (Broken Stock sent to Remington in the 80's for Warranty Stock)
4" Stainless Colt Python $500 Out the Door
S&W Shorty 45 MK2 with 5 Magazines $599
S&W Model 60-7 $239

 

[ggibson511960]

Most of the firearms I have that some might think were bargains when I purchased them years ago are simply values of their non-inflated age. Prices in the 60's and 70's were astonishingly low by today's prices, not inflation adjusted. But one does stand out. In the days immediately following the Brady Bill when background checks kicked in for pawn shop redemptions, there were a lot of really valuable firearms marooned from their scurrilous owners. I managed to pick up several, but a couple stand out. A 4 in. Python for $425 and a Browning Citori Superlite for $600, complete with case. The Python was cashed in a decade later when the panic was in full bloom. The Citori became the centerpiece of an expanded collection of Superlites before Browning foolishly quit making the variant. That little 20 gauge and its sub-gauge brothers has been all over and seen much powdere and shot down its tubes. So in that sense it was a great and memorable value.

 

[Dave_n]

The purchase of an Inglis Mk2 Hi Power from a shop that had no idea as to what it was, even though the book on Inglis Hi Powers was in front of the counter and had a serial number 5 different from the one I purchased and ran...having a C&R made it easy. Dave_n

 

[K Frame Keith]

How about a Model 15 in like new condition purchased in 2010 for $125.00.

 

[greenwellg]

Two really unusual guns for me. A WW1 era Springfield drill rifle for less than $200. Intriguing threaded holes down the left side of the receiver. Some research proved it to be an original Warner Swazey (sp) sniper. I found a scope at the Chantilly show in northern Va. and a replacement period barrel and restored to original configuration a long time ago. Don't remember but got just under $3k for it.
Another was a pre WW2 Winchester Model 70 super grade in 22 hornet with a Karl Zeiss, Zeilvier scope, all original. My cousin bought it for $125 from some very desperate person in legal trouble in Key West Florida.
That went for about the same money as the sniper mentioned above.

 

[Papa32129]

Gun shop had a CZ527 in 223 on consignment.
I offered $400 otd.
I took it home.

Papa

 

[raljr1]

I bought this 2nd model 44 HE with a lovely set of cokes on it for $750

Robert

 

[30-30remchester]

Plowed an elderly women's driveway and she paid me in a S&W 357.

 

[1Celticfozzie]

About 7 years ago walked into the LGS and a LNIB norinco Ak was on the shelf for $300. Bought on the spot. I am not a AK guy so it was sold online for 2600. Razz thing is 2 weeks later the same shop had another one but no box for $500. Bought that one too and flipped it for 2100.

As for S&W, got a 686 4” in the box for $400 from that same shop. Also have 2 model 10’s 4” HB for $100 each from some coworkers.

 

[Gunhacker]

Hands down for me, it's a 1980 Marlin 444S.

In 2014, I went to my LGS to buy powder. After I paid for the powder and was heading for the front door, I passed the used/consignment rifle rack and got a glimpse of a Marlin with an unbelievable price tag hanging from it. The LGS owner said it had been in the rack for a month with no nibbles, so he dropped the price to get rid of it.

Barely fired, the original owner bought 1 box of Remington .444 Marlin ammo, shot 6 rounds out of the box, went home and put the rifle in his gun safe. 34 years later, he sold it to the LGS where I found it.

I had to wonder, if the LGS put that price on it, how much did they pay the original owner for it?

The rifle included the partially fired Remington .444 Marlin ammo, still in it's green/yellow box and a nice leather rifle scabbard. I had to replace the original "crumbling" recoil pad, and I changed the lever to a medium loop lever from Ranger Point Precision.

 

[Muley Gil]

I got a Winchester 1906 22 pump from a deal like that. Fellow I knew had bought an old house and was ripping out the ancient furnace and some of the duct work. Found the rifle on top of the ducting. Pump handle was broke and had crumbling old yellow tape around it. He didn't want to mess with it so brought it to me, wanted $50 for it. Which I gladly paid him! Exterior finish was fair but the bore was perfect! Pinned and epoxied the pump handle back together and still have it today!

My great aunt rented her house for a couple of years. After she moved back in, she remembered that she had stuck my late great uncle's .22 pump rifle behind the furnace. She was going to give it to me but when she looked for it, of course it was gone.

 

[Mostly Good]

Bought a Stainless Walther PPK in the gray Interarms vinyl box from a dealer. Don't remember what I paid. Got it home and found $700 under the foam insert. Tell myself that if I bought it from an individual I would have returned the cash. Have not come across an opportunity to test that position.

 

[S&WshooterFIN]

A few years ago a young man inherited a S&W mod 625-3 4". He wanted to give up the gun and offered it to the state for destruction.
Luckily I heard and got the contact information. We agreed that I would buy the revolver for EUR 200.
I accidentally paid EUR 240 and did not bother to get the extra money back

The unfired mod 28-2 4" was also affordable, EUR 240

In Finland these are cheap, mod 16-2 EUR 150.

I could probably get a good price on the other side of the Atlantic, but no one would give up their family members for money.

 

[heeter3]

My E prefix nickel Python for about $250.00 when I went on the job in 1974.My son has it now and it will be his sons in a couple of years.