Shortest length of time of a gun you owned

[ditchtiger]

Bought a Bond derringer 45acp. got home and was going to shoot it. The shell fell into the barrel half way. I had a 45 Long Colt. Went back to LGS that day. Was just a series of errors on everyone's part, mine included.

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[Greenbug]

Bought a MAK-90 at a Portland gun show back in the mid 90's. Made it halfway down the next aisle and somebody offered me $200 more than what I just paid for it.... Down the road it went in less than 5 minutes.

 

[Mark W.]

Pretty sure it was the POS Tech 9 pistol I got on trade at the Portland gun show for a couple handmade knives. I took it out to my dads where he proclaimed it a POS I fired 1 30rd mag couldn't hit a thing with it at 20 yards. Two days later we went to the Seaside Gun Show and I traded it for a Llama 380 (looks like a mine 1911) maybe had it two weeks at the most. Might have only been one week. It was like 25 years ago give me a break.

 

[OldTengu]

I had a model 60 Ladysmith that I traded a shield 9 for. About a month later I sold the LS and bought a Glock. Still wish I had that Ladysmith.

 

[2Wheels4Ever]

Similar experience Greenbug. Bought and sold an AR at a gun show for a decent profit.

Also had a S&W k22 that was only in my possession for a week. Double action was way too heavy for my liking.

 

[GWS]

Used Star Firestar in .40 S&W
Couldn't shoot 3 rounds without a malfunction
3 different magazines (1 was new in clamshell pack) So after 3 days,
I took it back the shop where the gunsmith couldn't sort it out either and the owner gave me a refund, which I promptly used on a G-22

 

[gmerkt]

In my early gun show years (late 60's-early 70's) I've flipped a few same day. Once in a while, the quick profit was too good to give up. But that wasn't the point, mainly I bought guns to try out and shoot. Normally, I'd have them awhile before making them go away. The ones I liked, I kept. Of course this was when we could freely pass them back and forth legally without much care.

In more recent years, I've bought three guns at Cabela's that turned out to be defective. Those went back quickly under their former return policy. All three had hidden defects that routine, in-store examination wouldn't reveal. That's one down side of Cabela's used guns, they don't have any way to test them before they buy them from sellers who walk in. Just as you couldn't at a gun show, visual examination was all you could go on. You couldn't know, for example, if the hammer wouldn't hold on the sear on actual recoil from a fired round.

So when you buy a gun, ask if you can at least field strip it (to the extent this is possible consistent with the design). Even then, a broken part isn't necessarily visible. Sometimes a seller will let you. If the gun looks like new in a box, it probably isn't too risky - but even this isn't a hide-bound rule. A new looking Smith & Wesson would rate more trust than a like new in box Brand X.

A good friend of mine has a theory. That gun shows are where everybody takes broken guns to get rid of. Some truth in it. Probably not so much anymore, paper trails being what they now are. A spurious seller no longer escapes through anonymity.

Apropos of nothing, one time I was at a gun show, saw a nice-looking 1903 Springfield sitting on a table, price looked good. I picked it up and was examining it. I don't know what made me do this, but I happened to flip up the magazine cut-off lever. In the little hollow that the lever normally sits it was a crack in the receiver.

 

[gmerkt]

I forgot the most recent one. A Umarex P.08 Luger BB pistol with working toggle. I got it on Christmas, my grandson used it for several hours a few days ago. It started shooting full automatic with one trigger pull. "Papa, I think something is wrong with this." I sent it back to Amazon and got a refund for it.

 

[Pandaz3]

I had a Ruger GP-100 five shot 44 Special about 8 months and then my son came for a visit, he's a serious double action revolver guy. The 44 probably feels at home in Texas anyway.

I probably had one of the new Chinese 982 Hawk shotguns less time til I traded them still NIB as part payment on my G-20.

I trade little and sell none, keep most.

 

[Flymph]

BATFE revoked my pop's FFL for not selling enough guns, and only collecting...
That said the last gun I bought was in may 2018, and that's my shortest time owning a gun.

That said, I'm going to buy another today!

 

[dcfranzen]

The shortest time I owned a gun was one month give or take a few days. I bought a Colt Junior 25 ACP that completely turned me off for semi-autos nearly 40 years and replaced it with a nickel Colt Detective Special that I carried off-duty for 30 years. I still have it guarding the interior of my gun safe.

 

[Core]

Father and I picked up a eurotrash made 1911 from LGS, we brought it to my uncles on the way home. Probably four hours? I fired a magazine and the frame was so sharp it nearly cut my hands, it was unusually snappy for .45 Auto probably weak spring and tight tolerances. It didn't want to cycle after a magazine and required an oil drenching, and quickly burned the oil off afterward. My dad fires a few rounds and gets nasty slide bite, and in a grumbling rage he trades it for a wheelgun. It had the original cardboard box and papers.

 

[41mag]

Years ago an old buddy shipped a pistol to my ffl dealer to repay a debt. I examined the piece as dealer was checking it in to his book.
It was a small clunky 9mm, ill-fitting to my hand & with wretched trigger.
Told my dealer I didn't like it. He said he had a customer looking for that exact model and made me a reasonable offer. Sold!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Funny how quick or the many turn arounds one can do with a single firearm.

Last year I won some money at a rifle shoot at a rendezvous...
I used some of the money to but a project rifle...
Fixed up the rifle....and shot it two different times...
At the next club shoot...I traded the rifle for a 1851 Navy replica....
Then about a month later ...traded the 1851 Navy replica for a 1860 Army replica...

I am guessing that I owned the original rifle for about a month or two...
Andy

 

[Teacher Todd]

I used to be an FFL dealer so buying, selling, and trading is in my blood. Had a couple recently come in and out of my possession in as little as 5 days. Make a few trades and then cash out.

 

[Xrperry]

I bought a rifle at a gun show, sold it for a profit 1/2 hour later

 

[Head Shot]

Erased

 

[tinkerbill]

I had a model 60 Ladysmith that I traded a shield 9 for. About a month later I sold the LS and bought a Glock. Still wish I had that Ladysmith.

I think we all have those kinds of memories. I used to own a Charter Arms undercover 38spl I got when visiting a friend who owned a pawn shop in Arizona. He sold it to me for just what he had in it, which was $50 and at that time no paperwork was mandatory. I ended up trading it for a laptop two years later which at the time might have been worth maybe $300+. The gun would have been worth soooooo much more to me if I still owned it.

 

[Lilhigbee]

I answered an ad wanting to trade a 41. Mag Blackhawk for a compact carry gun. I had an extra Firestar so I offered it up. Gentleman came to my house Saturday evening and we made the trade. The next morning I'm at the OAC gun show and there is a wanted sign on a table describing the Blackhawk exactly. Talk to the sign's owner and he came by the house just after noon and bought the Blackhawk. Owned it less than 18 hours. I hadn't intended to sell it, but his sign was so specific and my gun matched it perfectly, so down the road it went.

 

[SmitKoWitz]

I think it was about 4-5 months; a Bodyguard 380 with laser, that I bought on the first Black Friday they were available. It was on special for like $40 of original price. The laser never worked correctly. Wouldn't go on, wouldn't go off. Sent it back for repair twice, and was also sent parts to do myself once. The little rubber button didn't line up properly with the pressure sensitive switch in the frame. Contacted S&W and they bought it back from me.; sent me a check in the mail for the full price paid.