Do you consider a "good buy" from an uninformed dealer in this category, Mr. Cash? I don't trade-- every shotgun, rifle or handguns I have purchased over past 30 years of collecting and shooting older and used firearms has been for outright cash money.
I haven't yet won the "Irish Sweepstakes" and if that BS Prize Patrol came to my door, it would be because they are looking for a neighbor- But twice in my past 30 years I have "hit it OK' both times because the seller was ignorant and I wasn't.
20 gauge grouse guns- a dealer had 4 LeFever Nitro Specials advertised- he was closing out- went to take a look, they were all in the $150-$200 range, two of the Nitro Specials even had the single non-selective triggers. And then there was the LeFever Durston Special 20- 28" Nitro proof barrels, DT, Extractors-fit me like an Armani suit- have no idea how it was choked, but it dropped grouse and woodcock and game preserve quails and chukars like GANGBUSTERS'- WITH NO. 6, NO. 7&1/2 AND NO. 8 SHOT-
I bought it for $175.00 OTD in 1981, used it for about 9 years- flawless-and like a dummy, I sold it to a hunting pal who had lost his older Belgian Browning 20 O/U with solid rib, DT, straight grip stock and ejectors- Pre WW11 gun- as a result of a burglary. Went bak to the Model 12's I grew up on, but that LeFever DS- a 'finger of doom" for Sir Ruffs back "in the day"--
About 22 years ago, when I took up Bluegrass guitar, I bought a 1956 Martin HD-28 ( a Bluegrass Std. ) with case for the price of the cheaper Japanese assembled Martin Sigma series- from a pawn shop with some of my Xmas bonus check-the kid working there had been cleaning the acoustic guitars that were hung from the peg-heads, and the tags were slid under the strings and trapped by the frets- as luck (for me) would have had it, all the tags had apparently dropped, and he put a tag for a $150 Sigma on the HD-28 by mistake- and the $700 tag for the HD-28 on another Sigma- probably his thought process was- Martin-Martin-Fartin-?? what's the big deal..
I got a paid in full cash receipt with the serial number (you have to look through the sound hole- it is stamped into the neck where it meets the body (upper and lower bout)- so they would have no recourse- and cash talks at pawn shops and garage sales-
Do I feel badly about getting this "Steinway" for my first (now of 3) Vintage Martin D body guitars- Hell No. All pawn brokers are crooks by nature- they deserve to be hit hard where it hurts- they and auction houses and funeral homes are the only 3 elements of the economic fabric of America that will always prosper in bad economic times-
Last edited by Run With The Fox; 02/03/12 11:04 PM.
