Finding project guns

K

KCRaider21

New member
I enjoy fixing up used firearms. I’m not a gunsmith but I like to do refinishing and minor repairs. It’s been a few years since I had a firearm to fix up. Anyone have ideas where to find project guns for a reasonable price?
 
You could try some of the cheaper pawn shops. I have found a few shot guns that shot fine but were a little rough in the looks dept. I sanded them down until all the rust was gone then did some buffing & reblued the metal. They look good now & shoot just as good as a new one.
 
Pawn shops are your go-to for finding project guns, then ask around, go to garage sales, swap meets, flea markets, etc.
 
Gun shows, a pawn shop(never seen a 'cheap' one. No firearms in 'em, up here, for years though. Government interference.) after deer season. Maybe your local gun shop, also after deer season. Lotta guys will miss their shot on a deer, blame the rifle and decide to sell it. You can sometimes get a higher end, scoped, rifle for less. You might find ads in the local newspaper too.
Mind you, "a reasonable price" is a relative thing.
 
At pawn shops ask to see what is not in the front case. Often not everything is on display.

If you have a local auction house that does not do internet bidding (a dieing breed) you might check there auctions.
 
I'v scored some good deals at everygunpart.com . Usually if you find a receiver that's good some where and need the rest of the gun, bingo, buy all those parts direct. They are pricy but if you put your Email in with them, they will notify you of their sales which usually is 20% off and free shipping on most holidays day.
 
Most of my better deals on beaters and donors have been from friends/family, forums or discussion groups, or local auctions.

My 'network', so to speak, has done a lot more for me than wandering around and checking every gun shop and pawn shop.


I have tried the old "what have you got in the back" approach. Diddly, there, except for a really cheap AR barrel.
I'll work with some really ratty, broken, rotten, Bubba'd guns. But the stuff "in the back" was all so far gone that it wasn't even good for parts.
 
I've found a few good deals in the "back room". A Ruger 77 someone had chopped the barrel on (no problem, I have a barrel vise), a Remington 580 without a trigger (I can still find a few things on the internet), a couple of Remington 581s that lived in Boy Scout camp, a Winchester model 12 that had been too close to a water heater fire. So yea, a few good ones. Of course, you gotta look at a lot of junk for every good deal you find. I am always amazed at people looking for project guns that are willing to pay as much for it as a gun in good condition.
 
Found a couple through just word of mouth. The brother of my wife's hairdresser had a Stevens 200 that a fork lift had ran over for $75. Criterion barrel, Boyds stock and a Rifle Basix trigger and I had a half MOA shooter for less than the cost of a new Savage 10
 
I have a different approach. Look up your FFL listings and check out their actual operation if you can. Truth is (at least in my area) many of FFL transfer agents are mostly in it for their own personal access to reduced cost guns/ammo and often don't carry much purchased inventory. That might sound like a bad thing, but the small outfits often do a lot of resale of things like estate consignments which often have killer deals on used firearms. The bigger LGS's that do resales I've found generally charge way too much relative to the condition of the used gun, much like a used car salesman might. Hint: small FFL's generally charge much less in transfer fees than the big stores do.
 
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