Buying police trade-ins yea or nea

police trade in?

One of my best shooting buddies has bought about a dozen police trade-ins in the last three or four years, Smith & Wesson revolvers and a couple of early Glock 17s.

Most of them were in pretty good shape. One of the Glocks looked like a large animal had chewed up the bottom of the grip frame. Not actually sure what happened, but the gun worked. He sent it off someplace and had the grip shortened to the same length as a G19 and he now uses it as a CCW gun.

Some agencies provide weapons. Some places have the officers buy their own (that's what's most common around here).

Of the agencies that issue weapons, some do so with a 7 or 10 year replacement cycle planned, and others just replace them because . . . because.

An alloy frame gun with heavy use (in my experience, about 30,000+ rounds) may eventually suffer cracking in the frame rails, rendering the gun unserviceable. I have personal experience with breaking a Beretta 92F and two Sig 226s this way, shooting them until the frame rail cracked. In all cases, the manufacturer replaced them with new guns.

If you buy a used gun, it might be a good idea to have an armorer or gunsmith freshen the gun -- replace all the springs and give the gun a good once over, so you know what you have.
 
Last week I handled 3 examples of what were said to be police trade in Glock 19's. There was quite a bit of slide wear and frame wear. The rear site on one of the guns was shifted far over to one side and hanging on by a thread. I think they were priced around $100. I was helping a friend pick out his first gun and I couldn't in good conscience recommend any of them. For $100 more I encouraged him to buy a new Glock 17 for about $80 more.

On the other hand, I bought a Sig P229 Certified Pre-Owned which was refinished by Sig. I was told that it was 'probably' a police trade in. It's in amazing shape and the price was much lower than a 'new' Sig. Mine came with 2 mags and was indistinguishable from brand new.

My last purchase in December was a 'Lower Saxony' HK P7 police trade in. That gun was also in excellent shape for being a 29 year old police office carry gun.
 
I bought a S&W 5906 police trade in. The outside looked a little rough, but the inside look nearly new.

A $15 pair of replacement grips and a couple hours watching TV and cleaning the outside and polishing it up with Mother's Mag and it looks nearly new on the outside now.

Shoots like a champ. Very accurate and has eaten everything thrown at it.

Police trades are a yea for me!
 
I have had excellent luck with trade ins. Generally the pistols are rarely used except for qualifying etc. Most show good carry wear, but havent had too many down the pipe.
 
Trade ins

Bought a S&W 2" RB Model 64 with CDC markings and a rack number (California Department of Corrections). Dealer had two at the time, wish I'd bought the other one too. Great revolver. A long time ago, I bought a S&W 4" Model 10 SB with a round lanyard ring marked "RHKP" Took me back to my Shore Patrol Duty days at Fenwick Pier in Hong Kong. We were billeted at a hotel in the Wanchi District straight out of the "World of Susie Wong" movie. Went into LE after the Navy, and met a Hong Kong Police Captain at the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Va. Wrote him a letter with a Dept patch enclosed and he sent me the authentic black lanyard for the pistol.
 
sure

I bought one (a Smith 5906) and have been really happy with it. Got it for a good price, it was in very good condition (could use new grips but otherwise looks great), and it has been a flawless performer. I'd buy another LEO trade in no problem.
 
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