Used Rifles: Why Bother?

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I'm with the OP on this one.. used prices are too high and finding a store who will haggle with you is rare. Pawns shops are the same way.. they won't budge.

"You don't like my price? Go buy somewhere else." or "If you can get it cheaper on the internet, go get it on the internet." I'm happy to oblige them and continue shopping somewhere else.

I find places that allow private sales listings.. armslist, etc. Facebook has a good group for people in our state that want to sell their firearms, so I'm a member of that. That's about the best way to find a decent price on used firearms. I prefer buying used if the price is low enough to justify not having a warranty with my purchase.
 
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Some Pawn shops around here practically advertise that haggling is welcome... Imagine a 1990s era Rem 770 with the original cheap scope sitting in the rack with a $399 price tag... I just had to ask about that one and was told it was a "starting point". New gun dealers... Not so much dealing.
 
I know the manager of a pawn shop and he told me they basically do 100% book value on used guns. I haggle with a lot of pawn shops who practice this and most of them will come down, sometimes a lot. Don't hesitate to offer way lower than what you feel you should, so you have some wiggle room on his counter offer. Gun shows are the same, hoping for a sucker to pay full price so, haggle away. All they can do is say no. I always ask for my price out the door (including the tax.)
 
^^thats how most of the pawn shops around here do it. Some people see the price tags and walk away. You just have to remember that the pawn shop payed pennies (or fractions of pennies) on the dollar for the items they have. Awhile back I was in a pawn shop and saw a craftsman air compressor with a $220 price tag; I offered $80 and they sold it to me.

My best recent find was my shooting stool, I wanted an easily height adjustable, solidly built stool, with nice big rubber feet. I walked into a pawnshop and saw exactly what I was looking for; a drummers throne! They sold me the seat from a drum set for $20 bucks!:D I'm the only one at the range with a shiny chromed-out seat, it always gets some looks.
 
Supply and Demand

Did the schools stop teaching this as the fundamental back bone of a free economy???
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There is no time for that, what with all the "Need for Sharing", "Gender Equality" and "Anti-Bullying" lessons ..... I swear that my kids spent more time in Elementary school learning "Social Skills" than on Spelling. You can see the results right here in this forum with the posts demonizing "Greed" .....

...and this country has not had a "free economy" since at least the 1930's- the Federal Government has been ever more vigorous in using various carrots and sticks to drive the economy wherever it deems the best place for it to go .....
 
It's a buyers market for firearms right now. Production has caught up with and in some cases exceeded demand and the used market is flooded with firearms that were bought during the panic. There's some goods deals out there right now new or used.
 
Capitalism driven by mindless blithering idiots who are still running out and buying every last cartridge and gun they can find for when "Obama uses an executive order to make guns illegal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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That statement is especially applicable to folks here in OK. Last year i attended several large estate auctions. One semi-auto handgun went for 2.5 times the price of a new gun of the same model and caliber. Quite often used guns sell at auction for considerably more than a new model.

A large number of Okies believe that any gun bought from an FFL is "registered" with the feds. Consequently, those folks are willing to pay premium prices for "unregistered" guns at auctions and other private sales.
 
I learned a long time ago to flash the cash!
The sight of cold cash has a way of telling the seller you are serious.
Many times I have counted out a stack of $20.00 bills and had the seller say "NO".
I grab my cash and start for the door to hear the seller shout from across the store to stop me.
As my dad said "there is the art of the dicker"
If both sides know the game then in most cases you will get what ya want at a fair price.
If the seller is clueless or just hard set on the price then walking away is the best option.
 
A large number of Okies believe that any gun bought from an FFL is "registered" with the feds.
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The only registration that I am aware of is the 4473 and the dealer's bound book (aquisition and disposition records .....kept on file with the dealer.

Now, what happens to the dealer's records, when the dealer goes out of business?

Here, I did the legwork for ya-

Sale of Business or Going Out of Business
You must give written notice to the Chief, FFLC, within 30 days after you sell or discontinue your firearms or ammunition business. If you sell or discontinue your firearms or ammunition business and are succeeded by a new licensee, your firearms dealer records should be marked to show this fact and must be delivered to the successor. If you do not have a successor, you must deliver all of your firearms records within 30 days of going completely out of the firearms business to:
ATF National Tracing Center
Out-of-Business Records Center
244 Needy Road
Martinsburg, WV 25405
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I'm personally waiting for when the screw turns and Dingus Dunderhead realizes that he's now close to broke AND sitting on 100,000 rounds of ammo and 30 guns he doesn't need and can't afford and starts selling them at a big loss.
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Not to mention 300 pounds of smokeless powder, and 20,000 bullets...

I really wonder when these guys will think they have "enough".

I'm convinced this is why we're STILL seeing shortages. While there may be a lucky few shooting more, most are shooting less- or the same at best.

It's Dingus still hoarding, or Joe "capitalist" that doesn't have a real job sitting by his computer hitting the "refresh" button every couple of minutes tracking down components that he can buy (all they'll allow) so he can re-sell them to his fellow (desperate) sportsmen.
 
Well yall can say what you want about hoarding, but try telling the people who hoarded hi cap mags before the magazine ban that they were stupid. The stupid ones were the ones that had to pay $100 each for mags we paid $12 each for. Tell the person who hoarded ar-lowers during the Bush years how stupid he was when he trippled his money a few years ago.
 
I'm a member of a couple different boards and it surprises me how much the anti capitalists who rant about hoarding and profiteering sound like OWS punks sometimes.
 
There are 2 basic rules if capitalism everyone seems to have forgotten:

1. An item is 'worth' whatever people are willing to pay for it.

2. The basis of capitalism is exploitation. If you can buy something for a song from someone who's just needs the money for food, then sell it for a profit- you've got it.

We won the Cold War and converted those godless communists into heartless capitalists; I guess it's a personal decision how heartless you choose to be in your profiteering.
 
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