Whats the best lie you had a gun seller tell you

laser grips are like used tires; why don't you just install them on the gun for us and it'll sweeten the deal for everyone.

-dealer told me to sell my sig for $400 and to throw in the crimson trace grips b/c they weren't worth anything. I'll show him if I can sell the suckers.....

Scary...

As a newb looking for a first gun purchase, this thread is really scary. I've spent alot of time trying to research guns and what I want to buy. It can be quite confusing when you are starting from the beginning. To hear that there is this much misinformation at gun shops amkes me even MORE tentative about going in! Combined with the thread on gin store clerks being jerks, and the general insecurity about being less knowledgeable, it makes it very difficult to get new shooters into the fold!

I hope to become knowledgeable enough to recognize when I'm being lied to, and I hope all of you who are knowledgeable use that knowledge to correct the misinformation you hear at your gun store.

bababooey32: "To hear that there is this much misinformation at gun shops amkes me even MORE tentative about going in!"

It's no worse than the clothing saleswoman telling you how great you look in that suede jacket with the pink and white liner, or the car salesman crowing about how John Voight used to own that particular K car.

bababooey32 the folks at McBrides seem to be pretty good. They could help you. It is like buying any other item, where you deal with a salesperson.

As a newb looking for a first gun purchase, this thread is really scary. I've spent alot of time trying to research guns and what I want to buy.

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This is a good place to do your research...there are lots of guys here that will steer ya right. Stick with it, and best of luck. Mav.

Why does everyone think i'm an idiot?

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I asked myself this same question.....

Then I looked in the mirror! Shouldn't have done that.... :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Poper

I had a guy at a gun show tell me a 1942 model Mosin Nagant M38 (or something like that) was unissued.

I told him he needed to read a little history.

Best load of BS I've ever heard was at a gun show. I was looking at a CZ-52 and the seller told me that his father personally brought it back from Europe after fighting in WWII. I asked him at that point if his father had stayed in Europe until 1952 and he said that his dad had come home in '45 or '45 or whatever, definetly not in the 50's. So I explained to him that the CZ-52 wasn't even made until 1952 and he got rather angry and told me to keep walking.

2 weeks ago..."You better buy this M1 Garand if you want one, by this June you won't be able too."

I walked away.

That his nickle S&W model 28 was factory finish.

I was once told an Inglis Hi Power was "pre-war, Belgian made." Though I believe that was out of ignorance rather than a lie.

As it has been mentioned here, I've also seen some unsafe gun handling on the part of some pawn shop clerks, but never in a real gun store.

WWII Garand end of war purchase ???

Just yesterday, I received a phone call from a friend who lives in Boise, ID. He told me that he had found a M1 Garand that was in mint condition. The store employee told him the gun belonged to a WWII serviceman and that it was his issued rifle that he brought home with him after the war. I advised my friend that it was highly unlikely that the vet was allowed to purchase his rifle back then.

After calling the gun shop at my friends request I learned the following about the Garand. The receiver (5.4 mil) and barrel 1-55 both matched. The TE amd ME were both at 2. The gun itself was a mixmaster and it had recently been reparkerized and was wearing Boyd's furniture. To think they only wanted $1500.00 for this one of a kind rifle. Toward the end of the conversation with the gun store employee, I got the, "There was a guy in here a little bit ago who was going home to get $1500.00. If you're interested in it I wouldn't wait.". Gee thanks for the tip.

I was trading an old sword that I had for a mossberg 590 once, and the deal was that I would put some cash on top of the sword to even out the trade.

We shook hands, and I got a receipt from the shop manager.

A couple of days later the store owner calls me and says that a "sword expert" looked over my sword and told him that it wasn't good blablablabal and that I'd need to come in to renegotiate the trade.

Well, I go in and have a chat with the guy, and after listening to him ramble on for a few minutes it was clear that no one had come in to look at the sword.

In fact, most of what he was saying was old wive's tales and misconceptions.
He couldn't keep his story straight and mentioned that his source was the Ebay "how to grade a sword" web page.


I was pretty P.O.'d but I just kept quiet for about 20 minutes while this guy went on and on.

I'd had enough after he showed me a "damascus" steel knife to point out how the laminated steel on my sword looked nothing like it. This was proof to him that my sword was of low quality. Ugh.:banghead:


I then, in about 3 minutes, responded to his 1/2 hour spiel and corrected him on the more ridiculous points he'd made.
As a punctuation mark I told him, "and I've got a receipt, so frankly, I don't know what the point of this conversation is."
He said "ok, that's binding I guess" and shook my hand without looking at me before storming to the back room.

Honestly, I was willing to renegotiate since I was coming out on top with this trade (the sword needed restoration), but when the guy lied to my face and tried to stick it to me like that I lost my willingness to make it more favorable for him.

That triggers less than 3 lbs are illegal for carry. (Impact in Ogden a few years ago, the guy doesn't work there anymore.)

the folks at McBrides seem to be pretty good.

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Thanks Acera...I actually went to McBride's on Friday and bought my first handgun: A Springfield XDm 9mm. Spent about an hour talking with a couple different salesman there. They are very helpful.

Encountered a guy at a gun show who had a 10mm pistol for sale, private FTF. The gun was about as dirty as he was, but everything was in the box and it showed little use.

He was asking $400 and told me that he had paid $650 for it. We made the deal for $375 and I took it home to clean it up.

While looking through the box, I found a paid receipt for about $450.

I got a good laugh, because his lie about what he paid is about what the pistol is worth to the 10mm freaks.

bababooey32, great news. I am glad you were treated well. Good choice with the XD.

A Ruger GP-100 in .357 magnum is not a good choice for self defense. You should look at this 9mm...

I had a local dealer try to tell me that a colt WWII commemorative 1911 (made in about 1999 I found out from my research) was a 1950s manufacture and was unfired. when I looked up the serial number not only did I learn the real manufacture date but the gun was priced about $300 above what it was really worth.

Had a guy tell me a basic $350-400springfield milspec was a "national match" because the letters in the serial number were NM. This also made the "value" of his $400 beater about $1600

a salesman at a big box picked up a glock quickly cocked it brought it up to his eye while aiming at something at the far end of the counter...when he recovered i was gone

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every time i see someone cock a glock i leave also

"I don't pretend to be an expert on these things, you know. I just sell 'em."

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Well, at least he was honest! I'd rather have a guy admit he really didn't know that much about the particular firearm he was selling then try to BS me.

For me, it's usually the old salesman stuff that you find anywhere. I don't know nearly as much about firearms as I do guitars (and haven't been in the market as long), but the pitches are the same. "There's no wiggle room here." "You can't beat this price." "I'm not really making any money on this deal." They're all common lies.

Although, this one old timer (who I let rip me off on a wheel gun before) tried to sell me a used Kel-Tec PF9 for $450.

A long time ago:

I looked at a gun in a store and happened to notice the last four digits of the serial number corresponded to a number that was personally relevant to me. The price was OK, and I almost bought it, but decided to think it over.

No commitments were made either way and I had not mentioned that the serial number was meaningful to me.

I finally decided I really wanted that model and caliber. I went back in about a week and he said the gun had been sold and he had gotten another one in from the distributor, but the prices had gone up in the meantime. The new price was 10% over the old price. "OK, so let me see it," I said.

He pulled a gun of the same model from the showcase, checked that it was unloaded, and handed it to me.

It had the same four last digits as the one I had looked at the week before.

"That's the same gun I looked at last week," I said.

"Huh? No it's not. I sold that one. I just got this one in yesterday."

I pointed out that I remembered the last part of the serial number and he demurred, saying that I must be mistaken.

To put it simply, there was no way I could have mistaken that number. And what are the odds that he happened to get one numbered exactly 10000 above the one I had looked at the week before?

I walked out smarter than when I walked in. No muss, no fuss, I just walked out.

Without the gun.

That shop went out of business a year or so later.

Terry, 230RN

I walked out smarter than when I walked in. No muss, no fuss, I just walked out.

Without the gun.

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Good for you...

That shop went out of business a year or so later.

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Good for them.