Police trade ins

My best WW2 German "police gun" (based on the serial number) is the Sauer 38H, which is in very good condition. These have concealed hammers.
The gun smith readjusted the decocker spring. Its operation is now perfect.

Compared to a gun which is over 69 years old, I would have faith in a much newer "police" handgun if it were manufactured by one of the best companies.

Are these modern guns being discussed of similar design and production quality as a WW2 German Sauer? That would be my only question.

agtman: some of the market softness you described concerning ARs etc is probably due to post-Christmas debts and complacency due to the change in the US Senate majority (less anti-gun)?
 
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agtman: some of the market softness you described concerning ARs etc is probably due to post-Christmas debts and complacency due to the change in the US Senate majority (less anti-gun)?
Click to expand...

No doubt both of those are contributing factors now, and having chatted just yesterday with the owner of the LGS near me I know he's not happy with the overall net sales. He even extended a Christmas ammo sale thru last week, but sales were still low.

My take was that the lull in the panic actually began in the weeks following the Senate's failure to pass any gun legislation after Sandy Hook. And that was when the Dems owned the Senate. It would never have passed in the House anyway, of course, not even the universal background check part. But now, with the change in the make-up of the Senate, just about anything Barry wants that even remotely affects firearms is DOA.

So, ... for those of us currently shopping for anything "guns-n-ammo"-related, it's absolutely a buyer's market. :cool:
 
several years ago i wanted a hi-cap auto for a car gun and at a large gun show there was a dealer who had a box full of police trade in glock 22,s in .40 S&W. as i had bought off of him in the past and told him i was interested in one, he said pick one out and i will give you a good deal along with two extra hi-cap mags. i got a pistol that looked new except for a little wear on the slide release and the two extra mags for 275.00 otd. i stripped it and cleaned it and then fired 200 rounds of remington hard ball thru it with out a bobble. its in my car right now, where it has been since i bought it. eastbank.
 
I don't buy police trade ins because I have never come across one that is a good deal. Regardless of round count, these are used guns. VERY USED! But, the price you have to pay for some are more than 75% of what they would cost new. For the condition that I've seen most police trade-ins, I would expect to pay more like 40% of average retail price of a new one.

So, if I can get a new Glock 17 for $460 (on average), I would expect to pay $184-$200 for a well used Glock 17 that shows obvious signs of lots of carrying and possibly a high round count as well. Obviously, the police trade-ins don't sell for that. But, I would bet that the folks who buy them from the police departments aren't paying even that for them. The bottom line: Every police trade in that I have ever seen was in my opinion an complete rip-off! Most of the police trade-ins that I have seen tend to be Sigs, Berettas, and some old Smith and Wessons. The few Glocks police trade-ins that I've seen look nothing like the ones pictured above for $350. The ones I have seen have significant slide-finish wear and the frame rails were visibly worn, but functional.
 
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Skans then you are looking in the wrong places IMHO.

This is the kind of deal you should be looking for: $350 with 2 mags and bright night sights. Also where are you still getting NIB GLock 17s for $460? Unless you are LEO/Military/First responder or GSSF I have not seen that kind of price for a while. I have seen lots of them right around $500 but not at $460.

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WVsig, those look like decent Glocks, and (if I were in the market for one) I might be willing to pay 70% of retail for those. How do frame inserts and other internals look? That condition is not usually what I come across. The last set of police trade ins I've seen were at an LGS I won't name here and also some at Gander Mountain (at least the counter guy said they were police trade-ins). They were Beat all to heck - I've seen rentals that look better than those.
 
Just got this one in from Buds today. It is a police trade-in. No box, three mags, and if there have been more than a few hundred rounds through it I'll be shocked. There is almost no wearing on it at all. The night sights still work, albeit a little dim. The bag it came in is from the North Carolina DPS. I called Smith and it was issued to a lady in the development department (managerial training dept if I read it correctly) in 2006. The barrel is a tiny bit dirty. Two of the three mags do not appear to have ever been inserted into the weapon and the other has just a tiny bit of wear. The other two are pristine. I know this is not always the case, but I thought I'd pass along my experience.

 
I have a police trade in.....

GERMAN police that is - a HK P7. It was the only way I could ever afford one....about 5 years ago there was a wave of them in gun shops - anywhere from $450 to 600. Mine has been fantastic running, but yes the finish was a little rough.

J
 
An excellent 'police trade in' was at last weekend's gun show in Germantown, and appeared to be in mint condition: a beautifully blued,
sleek PPK in .380 Auto. from West Germany.

If my wife's almost unlimited patience for my recent ammo and gun acquisitions had not finally worn thin, that PPK would be here with my other police guns: the Sauer 38H and WW2 Mauser Hsc.
 
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"Carried a lot" very true, "Shot a little" maybe not so true. It is true that a lot of Police Officers do not train very much. Every time we upgraded, I exercised the option to buy mine.

Revolvers, and semi-autos. They have all had Thousandsof rounds through them. The Sig P220 has over 10,000. Still runs like an old singer sewing machine. It is a fine tool for what it is designed to do.

What I have now, I probably will turn in next time we switch, or when I retire.
Whichever comes first.
 
Most police guns are probably shot lots and carried less.

HOWEVER there are a few things to consider -- is it a department owned/department issued gun, or a personally owned gun?

It's hard to tell what the round count might be on any used gun.

If it's an alloy framed gun, like a Beretta 92 series or Sig 226 or some variety of Smith & Wesson, consider that alloy framed guns often crack the slide rails after about 30,000 rnds. I have shot one Beretta 92F and two Sig 226s to frame failure in my life. The local city police department authorized auto pistols in 1988 and lots of the cops bought the S&W 6906 which was quickly known as the "gun from hell" because they were cracking frames at about 12,000 rnds. The local Sheriff's Dept had lots of deputies that bought Sig 226s in the middle 80s that had frame rails crack after heavy use.

I used to teach in the local regional police academy. We had a S&W 3906 and also a 3913 that we used as loaner guns, and both of them cracked frames after about 10 years and 30,000 rnds +

I would worry much less about a Glock or a S&W M&P. Freshen the gun, replace the extractor and ejector and recoil spring and magazine springs and press on.
 
I have a trade in 229. You could have sold it to me as a new gun. Didn't even have barrel rub. I now have a countless amount of rounds through it and absolutely no problems. I got for a great price and don't regret it for a second. FWIW I would be willing to bet I shoot more a month then most cops so it wasn't really a concern to me.
 
I bought a retired H&K USP Compact 45 from a police supply store. It was a Charlotesville, Va sherifs dept retiree. Three mags included for $500. I had pick of the liter of 4 guns. Salesman field stripped each for me. Awesome deal. No signs of wear at all.
 
There are all sorts of places. J&G, Gun Broker, AIM etc... A lot depends on what you are looking for. Some places specialize in particular guns or particular types.

I have several places I look at regularly. You have to have cash and be ready to buy when they pop up!
 
Just my 2 cents:

A good friend of mine is getting ready to retire from the County Sheriff's office. In his years there, he's had 4 guns issued - 3 G23s and 1 G19. I would buy his old trade-in any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Why?

He's the Kitchen Manager at the County Jail. He's a sworn Deputy though, and he's got a department-issued gun. He told me he'd be surprised if all 4 of the guns he carried had more than 500 rounds through them when they were turned in.

Of course an extreme example, but really, I can't imagine that 90% of Police turn-ins aren't mostly surface wear and very little internal.

My experience was with a Beretta 92FS about 20 years ago. The biggest LGS around here dealt a lot in police trade-ins and had probably 9 of them in the case. Being a poor college student, one that was priced at $269 caught my eye. It was rough on the outside to be sure, but seemed tight enough to my inexperienced hands and eyes, so I bought it. I ditched the scratched-to-hell plastic panels and installed Hogue. I never did anything with the finish, which was VERY worn from apparent holster carry. I put at least 15,000 rounds through it in the next few years with nary a hiccup, and only infrequent cleanings. It didn't get shot much for a few years as my collection began to grow, but one day I decided to take it to a gunsmith I was having do some action-slicking on another gun, and asked him to give the old girl the once-over. He called me a week later and told me the gun needed nothing, just a good, deep clean. He mic'ed the barrel and everything, found no faults whatsoever. Now, whether that meant my gun had an extremely low round-count prior to my purchase or that Berettas of that era were exceptionally well made, I don't know. One thing I can say, however, is that I look upon police buy-backs with a very favorable eye. Be careful, handle it if you can, but I definitely wouldn't shy away.
 
Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore usually gets some good ones in. That's where I got my Smith Mod 64 round butt... very clean, very tight, NOT DAO. Very nice K frame. I think it was about $249 or something like that.
 
I have a Beretta 92 FS, for many years, bought it new, and they are very good. I saw videos when they didn't clean them for thousand of rounds, but they just kept working.
 
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