doublegunshop.com - home Forums Gun Buying - Rip Off Stories

Hi all, just another of those posts to pass the time. So...have any good tales about buying a gun and getting ripped offed by the seller?

I've got one that just happened, didn't cost me all that much, but still it pi$$ed me off.

I was looking for one certain gun (aren't we all) and looked high and low, even post want ads, then low and behold, one shows up on Armslist. Contacted the seller, everything on the up and up, made the deal and asked for the total price. The guy charged me $75 for shipping & insurance. I thought that seemed a bit high, questioned him on it and he said that the cost of shipping & insurance was $50 and his FFL was charging him $25 for the transfer. I e-mailed back saying he didn't have to go thru a FFL. No response, thought, oh boy. E-mailed him saying I was sorry about questioning him and if everything was okay. He got back saying he was out of town, no offense taken. He gave me a Tracking Number (USPS) got the gun, which was in excellent condition, but minus 3 of the choke tubes. E-mailed about them, he said,it only came with 2 when he got it (after he told me it had 5 tubes). Now I'm pi$$ed. Here the gun came, not from a FFL, but from him. His address and no FFL in the box. Previous I asked for the FFL's name to give to my FFL, all he said was it was coming from his home town, no FFL name. The cost to ship the gun with insurance was $27.00. So he lied and got away with an extra $48.00. I e-mailed him my thoughts on the matter, have not heard squat from him. Didn't get ripped off bad, but he must have thought I was stupid.

So....yours?

Best!

Greg

Greg; I recently bought a 20b Holland #2. The seller told me (& advertised) the gun weighed 5 1/2 lbs. Turned out it is a heavy proof 20 with 3rd bite and weighs 6 lb 13 oz. it almost appears it is built on a 12b frame. I got a good deal on the gun IMO and it is mechanically sound. It has a pigeon rib too which I was unaware of. It really is a nice gun, just not what I thought when I bought it, so I didn't even call the guy to [censored] and kept it. It's too heavy to hunt, but still a beautiful old gun. So, I'm glad I kept it in the end. Will probably just shoot clay pigeons and maybe some doves with it.

Greg I the grand scheme of Firearms Screw Jobs, you got out light, that guy was just a petty thief compared to some of the Madoff's I have encountered.

Have had gun(s) that were not the ga. or caliber sold as, guns with cracked stocks where pictures were artfully taken to hide the cracks, dents in barrels not listed or shown in pictures. Barrels cut and not shown in the pictures or description, if no picture of the barrel ends are shown out of a dozen plus pictures you should hear an alarm bell. Cracked stocks, repaired stocks, wood screw on the off side, not pictured, that was holding the head of the stock together. Pits in the bores described as dirt in the bores. Loose ribs, one repaired with JB Weld. Parts gun described as mint original which was returned with more than a nasty note. You drop several grand you do not expect a 55-56-57-58 Chevy type pile of spare parts from a major dealer.

One seller on Gunbroker right now has a Fox "20" with 28" barrels, that is in fact a 16. Pointed this out to him via email he did admit it is in fact 16 but refuses to correct his listing to show that fact. Face it, he can more easily sell a 20 Fox than a 16 Fox and will feint surprise over the mistake and tell the buyer it is still a steal and some dumb buyer will keep it rather than return it and fight for all his money back. Been there and done that.

To date I have bought over a thousand long guns. I figure the rate of hidden flaws at 5-10%, mistakes in details about the same and outright lies and attempts to commit fraud of one nature or another about 2-3%. A few sellers are selling stuff they have no clue to what it is and a few who pretend to be informed. It is the real con artist who will try anything to sell a gun and hide or lie about details whenever they can. Not rare but still a risk so check out the buyer whenever possible and stay alert.

It took me three years to get money back from a bad deal on Gunbroker and they were no help at all. The dealer is not on Gunbroker anymore but for reasons other than what I was fighting. So buyer beware still applies.

many years ago talked with a well known dealer at a GunShow in Nashville TN. Asked if he had any Lefevers, he said he had one at his business, but not at the show with him. He said it was a 20 ga Syracuse built Lefever boxlock. I questioned him to be certain it was not an Ithaca built Lefever & he assured me "NO" it was built in Syracuse. That could have only been a D M Lefever, Right. Sent him a copy of an FFL & payment, dealer was supposed to call me when it arrived. After waiting what I thought was sufficient time I called him & he said Yes, its been here a few days. When I got there to pick it up it was not a Lefever of any kind but was a 20ga Syracuse Arms Co Grade A ejector. It was in fact worth what I had paid for it, but not what I bought. I called to return it & he said my trial period was PAST. He told me how long he had been dealing guns & He Knew a Lefever When he Saw one even if it didn't say Lefever anywhere on it. I kept it for awhile, eventually traded it off but lost absolutely all respect for that dealer.

maybe you girls oughta go whine down in misfires?

any how, remines me of the time I walked into a gun show in the gran ball room of the holiday inn in scranton, pa... very dark in there...picked up a long gun and asked "what is it". guy said "oh, just an old parker shotgun"...so, I sez "how much", an he sez "300 bucks". I sez "deal"...walked out with it into the day light and discovered I had just bought a 12 gauge Remington 1100...now, a deal is a deal, so I put it in the car and drove away...next time though, when I went to that gun show, I brought a flash lite wid me!

Dang Ed. Ya really don't need a flash light to feel the cocking lever on the side of the action of an 1100. I don't think a Parker has one of those things. See, you really didn't even need a flashlight. But $300 isn't that bad for an 1100 anyway. Plus, no need to worry about technique and/or quality of case color like on a Parker.

cocking lever? watts dat?

Hey post, I agree 100%. No doubt I could not have gotten the gun at all or it could have been a dog. But for the life of me, why guys like this think that other people are fools is beyond me.

Best!

Greg

"a sucker is born every minute"...p.t. barnum