doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Weird sellers and their babies.

I was looking at a .410 high grade Winchester 42 pump gun that the seller "described" as new in the box. When I looked at it I could tell it had been fired. The barrel was still dirty and slight wear on the action bar and bolt face. Not much, but you could see the wear so I asked him if he or anyone had "test" fired the gun. After a bit he did say he had shot it, only a "couple" times. Sellers who claim NIB when they clearly are not can be annoying but they still want to pretend they are NIB un-fired but to me that is a money thing. So I think no big deal and make him an offer.

While we are working out the price he ask me if I am going to shoot the gun or keep it as a collectable. Not wanting to make him mad and point out it is not NIB because he had clearly shot it I tell him I might shoot it a little not just not put it into a safe to be kept as a closet collectable he gets weird and decides not to sell it or at least sell it to me. And we were about two hundred apart in price so I figured it was almost a done deal. In the end I figured he wasn't really ready or willing to sell the gun and used this as an excuse to not sell.

I've run into this type of seller several times before. They almost don't want anyone to buy their guns because then they loose control of what happens to them. This guy was just protecting his baby too much. Pity it would have made a nice quail gun for pen raised quail or dove. Not the end of the world as I have lead to two other of the same high grade 42-.410. They might be "rare" but there are more than a few out there for sale if you have the money you might even find a seller willing to let his baby go.

One can see similarities w/some sellers at gun shows, mostly wishing to show their possessions and not really particularly interested in selling them. I got tired of it and mostly stopped going to shows. May do one a year, if that and am very much selective about it these days.

I've developed a healthy respect for those individuals who are either displaying their collections w/zero pretention & nothing for sale as well as those who will go to shoots w/a few guns for sale &/or trade or all out displays to sell at places like the DSC show in January and then to Vegas afterwards. Tulsa can be fun; but its work trying to see all of it. Some folks I know go there to sell. Have not been in several years now.

More interested in collecting memories afield in the present than another gun, but sometimes buy another one anyway if it suits me.

42's have always been fun. You are correct; keep on truckin' and let as many folks as possible know you have more than a passing interest in buying old shotguns. Good hunting to ya!

Pre 64 and toggle link Winchester, Colt, Luger, LC Smith, and Parker people "be crazy". I'm not trying to start a fight, this is just a "tongue-in-cheek" opinion of "price" vs "real value".
Mike

Mike, if we were attempting to be rational we would sell our shotguns and stop by KFC for our fried chicken. Attempting to be "rational" is boring. There are many things in life it is better not to ask "why" but just do it and enjoy.

And me? I'm 75 and long ago gave up trying to be mature and reasonable. Seems all my acquaintances who tried that are now either dead or decrepid.

Joe,
My daddy taught me not to argue with my elders, I'm only 72.
Mike

Sometimes, crazy sellers and their "babies" can work in the buyers favour.

While not a gun, this fits the scenario. In the late 1970's my brother decided he wanted to buy a Jag E-Type. Found a low mileage 1972 V12 E-Type convertible. Went to look at it and discovered the guy selling was being forced to by circumstances, yet was still in love with the car and didn't need the money. Asking price was at the low end of the normal range, which at the time was around 10K.

My brother figured that more then anything the guy wanted to sell the car to someone who would love it like he did. So my brother began to play the role. Went and saw the guy/car 5 times before settling on a price. Worked it down to 7K. And when he went to pick up the car and turn over the cash, the guy dropped the price on his own to $6400 and threw in a brand new battery. All because it was going to the right home.

That's pretty funny, tw. Anyone who knows you ....................

James: Great story about the Jag. It is soooo true. You must read the seller in these situations.

KY Jon, Don't be discouraged by the loss of this one. If you watch the internet auctions, you'll see lots of 42's out there at good prices. They're an example of a gun that guys of a certain age like and that the younger buyers know nothing about.

That's kind of the same way I got my French 16ga. I got to talking with the owner, who was a middle-aged gent who didn't hunt. He was very attached to the gun as it was his dad's war trophy. His dad - an infantryman - had liberated it from a Norman barn shortly after returning to duty from being wounded, then shipped it home. It had been lightly hunted for a few years post-war, then lovingly cared for and in a place of honor for the next 60 years. Hadn't been fired in probably 50 years, by the seller's estimate. Along with the gun, he sent me copies of pages from his dad's regimental "yearbook", including one of his dad and his mortar crew.

When all was said and done, he wanted me to have it because he knew I'd give it a good home, to remember his dad's story, and he knew I'd do that.