Did your Dad buy used?

[1371JarHead]

My dad owned a chain of gun shops and made his fortune buying used pre-`64 Model 70s.

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Nice

 

[1371JarHead]

My Dad loved gong to pawn shoppes..he said it was the best place to find great shotguns/bolt action rifles, that must be why I love going to them as well..my latest find, a near mint 7mm rem mag

 

[K-22]

My dad never owned firearms.

I joined the PD with little to no experience with firearms. Anyway, I bought a used S&W M60 for my first firearm. My first new firearm was a S&W M18.

Aloha, Mark

My first new gun that I bought was also a S&W mod 18. I still have it.
The first new gun I ever had, was a mod 37 Winchester 12 ga. My mom got me that gun with S&H Green Stamps.
Best,
Gary

 

[orygun]

My Dad only bought used guns. Those? No4MKIT. 03-A3 Remington. 870 20 gauge. His dad bought a few new, which I still have . Spencer 12ga hammer double, Marlin 81DL, Ruger Standard (not a MKI, not matter what many think), plus he picked up a few used ones along the way. ( I have them all!)
Me? Most of the new ones have been given as gifts to people like Dad, Mom, the wife. Except for the wife's, I own the others now.

I used to buy and sell a lot of used guns as it was easy to make private party sales.

These days, not much happening cuz it's more of a pain and not worth my time.

 

[gmerkt]

My own dad wasn't a gun guy. He was into cars. Which in a way can be compared to the new vs. used question. He was in dealer service management for 35 years but he rarely bought a new car. He was more into buying used and the enjoyment he got out of each one. Even as some were clearly projects. Cumulatively, he owned 250 or 300 down through the years. He often bought service department customer's cars which came about through his work. Sometimes they were retirees who'd decided to give up driving.

In my earlier years of buying guns, I very rarely bought new. Because I am a half-assed collector, new guns weren't where it's at. Over time, I've become more of a shooter so the percentage of new vs. used increased. The other thing is people's perception of the worth of a used gun seems to me to have changed some over the decades of my involvement. In general, people of yore didn't expect to get as much money out of a used gun. When it was time to let it go, they'd just do it without trying to pry the last crying dime out of it. So there was more incentive to look at used guns as a price alternative.

Why buy used if you still have to pay close to new.

This.

It seemed that 30-40 years ago, used guns were more like used cars. The working guy who had more money bought a late model used car only a few years old with low miles, whereas the average guy bought one 10+ years old with higher mileage. Only "wealthy" people ever bought new cars. I'm still that way; I really scratch my head when I see people driving around in $70k trucks. They live in a very different world than I do.

This. I think the "throw-away" society has had some influence on this, too. As we know, it's rare to literally throw a gun away, but the mentality is there. Many people just automatically think "new."

In the case of cars, they have gotten way more complex technically. Owners are less and less capable of doing their own repairs and having shops do it has gone through the roof as to cost as labor has for everything else. Lots of cars 10 or fewer years old go the junk yard now because the cost of replacing or repairing a major component is cost prohibitive. So the owner throws the car away, buys a replacement and has the remaining financing folded into the new loan.

Pay to store your extra garbage and then at some point you've paid more in storage fees than the value of what is in those units.

Amen. And after throwing all that good money after bad, some just walk away and the storage place winds up auctioning their stuff off or throwing it in a dumpster.

My dad reuses ziplocks

Doesn't everyone? Mrs. Merkt does distinguish between "food grade" and not.

These days it only saves the sales tax so unless it's a smoking deal it's almost just about easier to buy new

This. Price differential between used a new has narrowed greatly.

 

[CLT65]

Now that I think about it, I remember many times seeing newer model guns often at gun shops and gun shows, priced used as high or higher than you can find them elsewhere brand new. Under those conditions, I'd definitely look around and buy new.

For some guns though, I think the older ones were better quality- like S&W revolvers and Remington 700 rifles. I've picked up good condition examples of those over the years for very reasonable prices, far cheaper than new ones.

It looks like I'm in good company here. I just generally prefer the older stuff.

 

[CLT65]

The other side of this discussion is interesting too. Is it more common nowadays for people to accumulate lots of guns? I remember when I was growing up ('70s and '80s), that most people saved up for purchases like that. It does seem that nowadays people often buy new toys a lot quicker. Are guns cheaper in general (after inflation)? Do people have more money, or just more debt?

 

[Boboclown]

Due to my interests, most guns I buy are used. Just nature of the beast when it comes to AKs and FALs these days.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

I bought 2 new AKs. (Vepr and NAK9) I regret nothing

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

mandatory bgc and transfer fees ruined buying used for me.

 

[03A3Sporter]

The other side of this discussion is interesting too. Is it more common nowadays for people to accumulate lots of guns? I remember when I was growing up ('70s and '80s), that most people saved up for purchases like that. It does seem that nowadays people often buy new toys a lot quicker. Are guns cheaper in general (after inflation)? Do people have more money, or just more debt?

Yes guns like many other things are much cheaper than they used to be. Everytime I hear someone talk about how they purchased a colt sporter for $179 back in the early 70's I have to tell people that kind of money was a pretty tidy sum to spend on a rifle . That is over $1200 today and keep in mind that before all the panic nonsense you could buy an AR for well under $600 . A Colt was running around $700 or so.

My grandfather owned a Model 12 Winchester which I inherited. He told us about not taking lunches to work for 4 months to help pay for that Model 12 which cost $75 in 1950 dollars .. That is over $800 today , I do not know of any Pump guns outside of Vintage Model 12's that will run you over $800 , factually you can probably buy 2 new Pump guns and some ammo for that kind of money.

 

[HaveGun]

The other side of this discussion is interesting too. Is it more common nowadays for people to accumulate lots of guns?

I considered my grandfather to be the consummate sportsman. He grew up in the 30's in Wisconsin running a trap line and building boats. Then he moved to Idaho in `46 and retired as a carpenter in `79. He always got a deer and an elk each year, got plenty of ducks and pheasants, and was always fishing.

My dad has passed down two of the three firearms that my grandfather owned to me. All three were purchased new, all three are Remingtons, and all three are semi-auto. I have the .22 Speedmaster rifle and the 12ga shotgun. My dad still has the .30-06 rifle.

That's all he needed to hunt pretty much every game animal in Idaho. A .22, a 12ga, and a .30-06. But yet his son became a gun dealer and has owned thousands of firearms over the years, and his grandson is a firearms enthusiast and has owned dozens.

 

[Mark W.]

Hmmm I think I can tell you exactly what my dad bought

Winchester Model 1895 in 30-40Krag Used at the Albany gun show in 1968 for $125.00 (equal to $935.00 today) The rifle is currently worth about $2800.00
Winchester Model 71 in .348 Used
Winchester Model 94 carbine in 30-30 New
Winchester Model 1894 Rifle 66 Centennial in 30-30 New in 1966 at Chucks Sporting Goods in Silverton
Winchester Model 1890 in .22 long Used
Winchester Model 55 single shot semi auto in .22 rimfire New
Ithica Model 37 in 16ga New
Savage Model 110L in 30-06 Bought as a barreled action then finished with a beautiful straight grain Fajen stock blank
Savage Model 110L in 22-250 Bought as a barreled action then finished with a beautiful straight grain Fajen stock blank Sold off before shot.
Remington model 700LH in 7mm Mag Bought used from a Friend I believe he shot it about 3 times then the blood from where the scope hit him ended the shooting session it was gone very soon after that.
Universal M1 Carbine in .30 carbine This one I believe was a used purchase but could have been new
Inland M1 carbine in .30 carbine used of course

S&W Model 19 Police special in .38spl New
Rugar Bearcat .22 New

I know he had a shorter barrel Luger for a while after high school he sold it to a friend who later shot his wife with it that really messed Dad up for a while. It was gone before I was maybe 6

He also had a model 1895 in High school or very soon after it would have been bought used of course.

He bought a couple of later pistols in the late 1990's both new not even sure what they were they went to my brothers or his F'ing second wife.

Dad was a Bricklayer with his own tiny local co soon after high school then in 1962 he sold his worthless share in the business and went to work as a sheet metal man at a Union heating and AC place retired as the shop foreman and job estimator. He made good Blue Collar money his whole life we he had a New car right after graduation bought with his own money in 54 and was half owner on a 48 Chevy 3100 somewhere in here he bought a 49 Willys jeep, then a new Chevrolet Biscayne in 60 and in 62 another Willys Jeep (which I have now) a new Wagoneer in 65 a new Gladiator Pickup in 1970 in 1976 he bought mom a Datsun 210 Later he bought a 70 Monte used. He was also in the Nat Gaurd for 9 years.

There I might have missed one or two. But pretty sure thats what Dad bought.