Thought from the other side of the pawn counter

[FlSwampRat]

If you ever have to pawn a firearm to get some quick cash, clean it first. If a pawn shop figures it has to spend an hour cleaning your firearm if it should come out for sale, that will be factored into the value. This is the detritus from cleaning one AR bolt carrier group. Not the gun itself, just the bolt.

 

[Big_Al]

I've never seen a pawn shop that cleaned firearms before selling them.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Most of the shops, both pawn and gun, around here will. The problem is some of the collector grade guns end up getting the original finish buffed off and the low-end crud gets marked up beyond NIB price because it is now shinier......

It all depends on the establishment. We have a couple of Mom and Pop shops which know what they are doing, what they are looking at, what it is worth, and how to care for it properly. These are the ones I usually do business with.

On the other hand, there are sometimes deals to be had at the clueless jewelry-but-we-also-sell-guns shops when they dont know what they have. IF you can snag them before the good stuff gets handled, dropped, and dinged by a hundred looky-loos first......

 

[DerMerchant]

Never had a weapon purchased from a pawn shop that had been cleaned.

 

[alfsauve]

...... This is the detritus from cleaning one AR bolt carrier group. Not the gun itself, just the bolt.

There is a line towards the end of Pirates of the Caribbean that refers to someone who takes care of their weapons also takes good care of the other areas of their lives. Areas like finance.

 

[Slamfire]

I remember one Pawn Shop in Florida had a K11 on the shelf. The young men behind the counter were all goofy enthusiastic about that Swiss service rifle. They had taken out, shot it, and had not cleaned it. Due to the salt air environment, the rifle was more or less a rust bucket. I did not buy it. I bought this one, years later, no rust:







I found, go to a Pawn Shop, and if you find something you are interested in, push a brush down the barrel, push a patch after that, and have a light so you can see down the tube. You might save yourself from buying a weapon with a pitted chamber and barrel. I don't think I have ever encountered a Pawn Shop that ever cleaned its weapons.

 

[DerMerchant]

I remember one Pawn Shop in Florida had a K11 on the shelf. The young men behind the counter were all goofy enthusiastic about that Swiss service rifle. They had taken out, shot it, and had not cleaned it. Due to the salt air environment, the rifle was more or less a rust bucket. I did not buy it. I bought this one, years later, no rust:

View attachment 846926

View attachment 846927

View attachment 846928

I found, go to a Pawn Shop, and if you find something you are interested in, push a brush down the barrel, push a patch after that, and have a light so you can see down the tube. You might save yourself from buying a weapon with a pitted chamber and barrel. I don't think I have ever encountered a Pawn Shop that ever cleaned its weapons.

Very nice rifle.

 

[Eddietruett]

I love to find a dirty gun in a Pawn Shop or a Gun Shop as well. Usually it tells me the owner bought it cheap with intentions of cleaning and never got around to it and purchased it cheap which means a great deal for me. One of my best buddies owns 3 Pawn Shops and sometimes he will get something nasty and one of his workers will attempt to clean it. Problem is most either don't know how to properly clean a gun or really don't care how it looks as long as it looks better. One of my best sources for S&W Revolvers is a Gun Shop and he does not clean anything. He buys it based on condition it comes in and sells it based on same condition. I've picked up several nice guns cheap that I've had to spend some time cleaning properly but payoff when selling or trading were well worth it.

 

[Bfh_auto]

There is a line towards the end of Pirates of the Caribbean that refers to someone who takes care of their weapons also takes good care of the other areas of their lives. Areas like finance.

Something good came from pirates of the Caribbean. I'm shocked.

One vote for quote of the day.
On the other hand, if the gun wasn't cleaned. It gives me an idea on how much it was fired.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I never factored that in to any guns I took in on pawn......but I am not surprised that some places do.

 

[herrwalther]

I have seen pawn shops not even bother to UNLOAD a firearm before slapping a price tag on it. I don't expect something safe let alone clean.

 

[shiftyer1]

Speaking from that same side of the counter..........if it's dirty chances are it don't matter to you and I can shoot you a lower price. That shotgun that has surface rust from being in the case for three years leaning in a corner will be forgotten in 2 months and now I have to sell it.

That was the training basically anyway.

I didn't mind cleaning them and being a gun guy I tended to loan pretty fair on guns.

 

[Steve S.]

I am 64 years old and I have never been in a pawn shop - I wonder what that says about me and my firearms hobby - I am afraid to ask.

 

[MikeInOr]

A pawn shop that cleans a firearm before putting it out for sale... uh, that is just good business!

 

[hemiram]

I am 64 years old and I have never been in a pawn shop - I wonder what that says about me and my firearms hobby - I am afraid to ask.

You no doubt missed out on some great stuff. A fair percentage of my guns early on came from Vegas pawn shops and later on, shops in Toledo and Columbus Oh. A couple of those guns were incredible bargains that I later resold for a nice profit after shooting them for a year or two.

 

[OARNGESI]

In my experience all pawn shops around sticker every used beat gun over new msrp if the gun needs to come down more than 20 percent I won’t even check it out or make a offer. I never pick up a gun unless there is a chance I will buy it

 

[Demi-human]

Michigan does not pawn firearms.

!

I feel like I'm missing out.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I concur that Pawnbrokers are one of the very best places to gun shop.

Having worked at one before can give you an edge in negotiating......which you must do. Marked MSRP prices don’t even bother me. It’s all a game up have to know how to play.

If you do not have an above average knowledge about guns then Pawn shopping for them may be a disadvantage.

 

[Bama59]

Gun and Pawn here employs a gunsmith , I assume they clean up higher end firearms but the ones I can afford were never spotless. I always buy from elderly employee that helped me out chosing my first pistol few years ago.

 

[jmace57]

I have bought almost 150 guns from online auctions. I have been amazed that the vast majority 80+% are uncleaned, probably 40% bordering on filthy.

 

[bassjam]

Michigan does not pawn firearms.

!

I feel like I'm missing out.

What? I've visited this very pawn shop in Coldwater MI.

 

[Tommygunn]

I am 64 years old and I have never been in a pawn shop - I wonder what that says about me and my firearms hobby - I am afraid to ask.

I recently bought 3 very nice rifles from a pawn shop. Granted they were brand new: a Springfield Saint Victor in .308, a Uberti Winchester 1873 short rifle in .45 Colt, and a Ruger AR-556MOE. But the particular pawn shop has glass cases with some very nice historic guns, and is building a museum room in back.
You can bet I will be back there!!!!!
Some of their guns I've only ever seen photos of in books ... but they have the real thing!!!!

 

[tarosean]

You no doubt missed out on some great stuff

Don't know about that. Every single pawn shop I've ever walked into wanted darn near full retail for everything in there.. Never bought a single thing from a pawn shop and likely never will.

 

[SCMikeyP]

I'm in the same boat as tarosean, I don't frequent pawn shops because anytime I have browsed them, the prices were close enough to retail that I might as well buy new. Maybe the trick is the patience to keep going and looking for the deal but I usually set aside money for something specific so I impulse buying a deal isn't in my budget.

 

[bassjam]

It's been hit or miss for me. I've been to some that ask full retail and seem to think their $%*# don't stink. But I have found one that prices their guns fairly, and are still willing to negotiate even lower. It's made me a loyal customer.

But none of them seem to clean the guns up.