What's up with todays' gun shops?

[swashington]

Not sure why you would think that a detachable magazine would be better than a hinged floor plate on a bolt action hunting rifle. It certainly isn't any safer and I have heard the stories of loose magazines falling out and lost. I had one fall out, I saw it and picked it up, catastrophe avoided, but it could have been a problem.

Most of my hunting rifles are walnut and blued steel. They just look and feel better. After I moved to Western Washington I realized that constant wet was not doing my nice rifles any good. Even I had to buy a Remington Model 7 in 7-08 stainless and synthetic. It worked well one rainy day and a blacktail buck went down. I still carry it in rainy weather. I also take it to Eastern Washington as a back-up just in case. The only problem is "plastic" guns just don't have a soul. I might see it different if I had grown up in the "Great North Wet."

Hey Doug, never have had a problem with DBM and have them on all my guns except my new 300 win mag for the plains game which will be converted soon. Fast to reload, release the box and you only have one round left and not dropping rounds all over the place and not cycling them through the chamber.
I was in Western Washington (Kitsap Penn) for almost 30 years. The great North Wet is a great description. Getting up and down some of those ravines below the clear cuts looking for the Blacktail bucks was murder on me and my gun. That is when I stopped using wood stocks. Just too much that can happen to them when it is constantly raining or they are getting bumped around on logs as I climbed up and down those hills.

Good luck over there, I never did get a good Blacktail, only saw the good bucks during Elk season when they were closed. Ate some good elk though. Best meat on the planet.

 

[swashington]

Ask some of your friends what a CRF action is? If they’re like mine they won’t have a clue. LOL

So true, apparently the gun companies don't know much about now either as so few of them make them that way.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Even the guns you guys say aren't that expensive are expensive in my world....

+1.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Not sure why you quoted me about the detachable magazines, I don’t like them and don’t build around them.

Sorry. My mistake. I meant to reply to swashington. He said that a rifle without a detachable magazine wasn't worth carrying. Not sure how I replied to you.

 

[Cheesehead]

Ask some of your friends what a CRF action is? If they’re like mine they won’t have a clue. LOL

Yeah, their eyes just glaze over. It's like explaining calculus to a third grader.

 

[Uxas]

I’m 26, my two most expensive guns were pretty much the same price. One is an absolutely lovely 270 on pre war Model 70, the other is a pre ban HK-91.

How did you get your hands on a pre ban HK-91? nice for a 26 year old.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

How did you get your hands on a pre ban HK-91? nice for a 26 year old.

I try hard not to spend money on stupid stuff, I have a low living expense, and some saving led to a bid on gunbroker.
Also I watched them for the last seven years or so and watched their value climb steadily, so I figured the sooner the better.

 

[Uxas]

I try hard not to spend money on stupid stuff, I have a low living expense, and some saving led to a bid on gunbroker.
Also I watched them for the last seven years or so and watched their value climb steadily, so I figured the sooner the better.

I wish i did the same in the early 2000 when they were waaay cheaper, That one caught my eyes...nice grab.

 

[coreydb]

Where I live everything is 90% black guns and pistols when I go into the shops looking for USED hunting rifles. They all have new rifles for sale with 99% camo synthetic stocks and many seem to have a SMALL handful of bolt action rifles but half of those are WW2 military rifles. Try and find ANYTHING .338 and up is useless. What has happened? I ask this question to find out if this is a Nationwide trend here and/or in other countries? I guess I'm just fu***** old. LOL

I do the same as CoElkHunter. Buy smartly but online; there are a lot of on-line gun shops as well, just google. Also, seriously consider going to pawnshops in your area. The majority of the guns-excluding the very old and military surplus, are in good to very good shape, used only a few times. Also ask if they can order directly from the gun manufacturer. I did this once out of curiosity because I'm a southpaw an wanted to get a left-hand rifle. Darn if they didn't order one!

 

[HookMeUpII]

I do the same as CoElkHunter. Buy smartly but online; there are a lot of on-line gun shops as well, just google. Also, seriously consider going to pawnshops in your area.

Yes, they do a lot of times have more traditional firearms. Problem now, there are no deals. It used to be that pawn shops didn't know what they had. Now? I walked into a random pawn shop in PA a couple years ago. I think it was a Marlin 45-70 they had and I happened to be interested in. They were like $20-$30 within the prices I had seen on GB. This wasn't a gun-oriented pawn shop either. They had maybe 15-20 guns and the rest was an assortment of electronics, video games, jewelry etc. All these places need to do now is go on GB and look at the ended auctions to see what the average price of the sale was.

The Ruger No 1 in 485WM I scored a nice deal on at a local FFL was only because I leveled with the guy and said: "Here's my offer, you're never going to sell this gun." Which was likely true because he had basically no real website, no prices listed on what he had online, and he is located in NJ.

 

[cajunchefray]

I do the same as CoElkHunter. Buy smartly but online; there are a lot of on-line gun shops as well, just google. Also, seriously consider going to pawnshops in your area. The majority of the guns-excluding the very old and military surplus, are in good to very good shape, used only a few times. Also ask if they can order directly from the gun manufacturer. I did this once out of curiosity because I'm a southpaw an wanted to get a left-hand rifle. Darn if they didn't order one!

Pawn shops in my area have changed over that last 15 years, moving toward black rifles and polymer pistols. Bigger, new shops have opened, always focused on black guns, and a lot of shooting accessories and ammo. I shop these local places for accessories, and some ammo, to support the local business, and product availability.

But every now and then you see some interesting, good old school guns.

I recently stopped in a Gun and Pawn shop I've dealt with for years, on FFL transfers and some buying and selling. I had stayed away for a while, as under new management, long guns were AR-15. AK's etc, and a lot of Glocks.

Now yesterday, I stopped by, and almost lost my wallet.

They had a collection of several Winchester 94, 92, 73 and others, in nice shape. I was surprised, but then I saw they had a Dakota 76 African with quarter rib, and larger magazine, in .375 H&H with a nice Leupold scope for $5K.

I will keep checking with this shop, as they do still buy some old collections.

 

[Captain Munro]

Ugh! If it was a 416 I would have lost mine too!

 

[CoElkHunter]

Yes, they do a lot of times have more traditional firearms. Problem now, there are no deals. It used to be that pawn shops didn't know what they had. Now? I walked into a random pawn shop in PA a couple years ago. I think it was a Marlin 45-70 they had and I happened to be interested in. They were like $20-$30 within the prices I had seen on GB. This wasn't a gun-oriented pawn shop either. They had maybe 15-20 guns and the rest was an assortment of electronics, video games, jewelry etc. All these places need to do now is go on GB and look at the ended auctions to see what the average price of the sale was.

The Ruger No 1 in 485WM I scored a nice deal on at a local FFL was only because I leveled with the guy and said: "Here's my offer, you're never going to sell this gun." Which was likely true because he had basically no real website, no prices listed on what he had online, and he is located in NJ.

Yep, long gone are the hard copy gun value publications like the Shooters Bible and Gun Digest. You could still find deals in pawn and other small gun stores when those were the only sources for gun values. Now, everybody is on the web and for the most part the "deals" are gone. Although, occasionally some small stores still have prices way below the internet prices because they don't want to deal with the hassle. Especially some of the black gun stores. BUT, you need to have the TIME to drive to them and check them out because MOST don't have their inventory of used guns online. Here, only one has there's online. Cabela's Gun Library can be good for deals at times.

 

[mdwest]

The internet changed everything. It’s easy for a pawn shop or even an individual owner to figure out the value of even a fairly rare or obscure firearm…

I’ve found the best deals at gun shows lately… not because they are a high volume market… but because I intentionally look for stuff that is hard to sell…

Find a guy with a 300h&h on the rack in North Texas… chances are he’s been sitting on it a while and is ready to offload it….

You won’t get the same deal on a 6.5 creedmore or an AR… the price will be the price…

Find a 416 Taylor as opposed to a 416 REM Mag…

Etc etc…

It’s really not about the value anymore… everyone knows the value… the deals (in my experience) are now about cash flow…

Many of the Walmarts in TX have Savage Axis rifles at 50% off right now… my guess is they over stocked and are trying to move stuff and restock before hunting season…

A few years ago when a local field and stream closed down I snapped up a couple of guns when they discounted all firearms 20%…

With black rifles the market flexes a lot… ARs are the cheapest I’ve seen them right now… 3 years ago the entry point on a cheap ar10 was about $1200… a cheap ar15 would have cost you $750…

I bought 2x ar10’s a few months ago for about $525 each… and you can pick up entry level ar15s right now in the $375 range if you wait for a “sale”…

 

[John Wasmuth]

…

 

[CoElkHunter]

The internet changed everything. It’s easy for a pawn shop or even an individual owner to figure out the value of even a fairly rare or obscure firearm…

I’ve found the best deals at gun shows lately… not because they are a high volume market… but because I intentionally look for stuff that is hard to sell…

Find a guy with a 300h&h on the rack in North Texas… chances are he’s been sitting on it a while and is ready to offload it….

You won’t get the same deal on a 6.5 creedmore or an AR… the price will be the price…

Find a 416 Taylor as opposed to a 416 REM Mag…

Etc etc…

It’s really not about the value anymore… everyone knows the value… the deals (in my experience) are now about cash flow…

Many of the Walmarts in TX have Savage Axis rifles at 50% off right now… my guess is they over stocked and are trying to move stuff and restock before hunting season…

A few years ago when a local field and stream closed down I snapped up a couple of guns when they discounted all firearms 20%…

With black rifles the market flexes a lot… ARs are the cheapest I’ve seen them right now… 3 years ago the entry point on a cheap ar10 was about $1200… a cheap ar15 would have cost you $750…

I bought 2x ar10’s a few months ago for about $525 each… and you can pick up entry level ar15s right now in the $375 range if you wait for a “sale”…

I’d buy a Savage Axis at 50 percent off just to mess around with. They’re probably the scope package ones too. I bought my daughter in law their Muddy Girl model in .243 about four years ago at Wal Mart for $200. Made Townsend @Bob Nelson 35Whelen jealous. LOL

 

[RR 314]

How did you get your hands on a pre ban HK-91? nice for a 26 year old.

I bought my first HK 91 when I was 18. Back in the era where we would get newspapers and look in the classified advertisements around the state. Drove from Austin, Texas to Houston to a tattoo shop on Montrose. Transaction was flawless, but I remember being nervous as Hades with that money in my pocket on Montrose/Westheimer.

 

[WyoBull]

I bought my first HK 91 when I was 18. Back in the era where we would get newspapers and look in the classified advertisements around the state. Drove from Austin, Texas to Houston to a tattoo shop on Montrose. Transaction was flawless, but I remember being nervous as Hades with that money in my pocket on Montrose/Westheimer.

I bought a HK300 which is the 22 WMR semiautomatic rifle back in about 1979, just prior to the import ban. I bought it and the claw scope mount for $300 dollars.
Highly accurate rifle and a pure joy to shoot.

 

[RR 314]

I bought a HK300 which is the 22 WMR semiautomatic rifle back in about 1979, just prior to the import ban. I bought it and the claw scope mount for $300 dollars.
Highly accurate rifle and a pure joy to shoot.

And great round! From memory, I paid $1150 for the HK 91. It came with a Leopold 3 x 9, HK claw mount, and about 40 20round magazines, all about one of which were still wrapped. About five years later, I traded 20 something magazines for a Weatherby Fibermark—brand new—with a vari-xiii 3.5x 10 (scope was used and for sale at the shop).

 

[Don458]

I bought my first HK 91 when I was 18. Back in the era where we would get newspapers and look in the classified advertisements around the state. Drove from Austin, Texas to Houston to a tattoo shop on Montrose. Transaction was flawless, but I remember being nervous as Hades with that money in my pocket on Montrose/Westheimer.

I bought one of my HK91’s in 1987. When Bush stopped all imports. It was the last one and I didn’t want it because it was Desert Camo. But I bought it figuring it was the last one paid- just under 1k . Turned out it was very collectible being desert camo hk only imported about 400. Sold it 2 yrs ago for just under 10 K. Yep