Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Your Best or Worst Deal ....Ever

A friend and I were discussing the above and it brought back many memories . I once bought a Lefever 410 for $135 . It went down the road long ago and the buyer is still happy and so am I . Please , no stories about your third wife !

Bought an old shotgun “found in the attic”. Turned out to be a Burgess folding shotgun. Very rare. Turned a tidy sum on that one.

Went to look at a dirt bike. Fired it up. Ran like a watch. Took it home. An hour later my friend says “ hey there is pink stuff coming out of the motor”. Blew the case seals. Sold it for parts.

Had an old cotton top pay me $800 when I was 17 yrs old to make 3 55gal drums of machine shop hot-tank engine block wash disappear.

And the Cumberland River has been polluted ever since.........lol.

Bought a Wesley-Richards Cape Gun and took it to a gunsmith known for his work on such.

He charged me $500 to put it back on the face, then told me the firing pin springs were weak and might not work. Decided to try it anyway as I had already bought expensive brass and dies for the odd caliber. Ended up that it wouldn’t fire.

Other projects got in the way and about 3 years later I finally took it back to the same gunsmith to fix the firing pin springs. He had it for a month and I called him to ask about it.

He said, “Well, it’s off the face (even though it hadn’t been fired since I paid him to put it on face) and the safety’s buggered and the firing pin springs, well...I don’t think it’s worth your money to fix it.” Odd that he didn’t have that opinion the first time I took it to him.

I sold the gun for $100 less than I paid for it to a dealer. Now it’s someone else’s problem.

Sounds like a typical "gunsmith"

In 1975 I bought a well used 22 lr Win 190 at a pawn shop to keep in my college dorm room closet.

A week later I found a brand new Win 190 at the local drug store for 15% less than I paid for the used one.

But then there was an old Win 670 30-06 that I bought from a guy at work for $200. It was covered in a red dust of oxidation. After a couple hours of hand rubbing a light machine oil into the surface, pretty decent bluing appeared.

That old '06 shot everything from 125 TNT, to 165 bt, to 180 Barnes X or Black Talons, to the 190 Hornady btsp, into tight little groups. It shot as well as any rifle I ever owned, including several which cost four or five times as much.

When I was a kid of about 11 years old I had a Chicago city cop hire me to sand down a bicycle frame to be repainted. I worked my little butt off for the better part of a week and had it sanded down to the bare metal all over believing I would be paid more for doing such a good job. I was wrong. When I took it to him he handed me .50 ¢ and walked away grinning. I told his wife who was a real nice woman and she made him cough up a few bucks more which thoroughly pissed him off and he practically threw the money at me. I also got a great deal of personal pleasure about a year later when he along with several other Chicago cops got busted for running a payoff and bribes ring.

Best deal I was ever offered but turned down was a snub nose .38 Colt Cobra for $25. I turned it down because I figured it had to be stolen. I was right, too. The kid who was trying to sell it had taken it from a family his sister babysat for.

I was able to buy a remington 700 ss BDL, in .270 at gander Mt for less than their cost.

I bought it, and traded it back to them for something else at a later date. Making money on the deal.

Bought an all correct H&R Garand for 600.00 a couple of years ago

First wife...worst deal in history of mankind.

Slumlord ....you are funny ! Idaho ...... your Post reminds me of a Garage Sale I went to a few years ago . I asked if they had any Hunting or Fishing stuff for Sale . Guy takes me into his old Barn and shows me a Target Scope up on an old stone wall . Had red stuff all over it . Seller thought it was Rust and wanted $40 for it . I bought it , cleaned it off with some Solvents and all that red stuff came off . It was like new with perfect Glass . Can't remember exactly , but I think it was a Lyman 20X . Sold it to a friend who Collected old Single Shot US Made Rifles . We were both happy .

And you referenced third wives, not first!!!

Oh, and there were a couple of walnut Wea Vanguards in 243 for $349 and Leupold VX 2 3-9x40 scopes for $74 a couple years ago at Walmart.

Bought 68 acres for36k.
Sold 66k worth of timber off it.
Flipped the tract for 84k.

Wife and I went to a flee market that had lots of guns and I sold a gun. We were walking back to the truck and here is a Ruger 77 tanger in 250/3000 international in VERY good shape with a Leupold 4 power on it. I looked at the tag and showed it to the wife. I asked if that was the right price and the guy said yes. I promptly gave him the $400 he asked for it and was walking off. HE said "SHIFT" and was looking un happy about it. I asked if we were OK and he said ya it was his fault that he forgot to take the scope off. We walked 30 feet to the next vender and this guy had 4 international in the rack. Had them all marked $800 or higher. He saw ours and asked to look at. He about peed his self when he saw what it was and my wife says we just bought it. He asked WHERE did we get it and we pointed to his neighbor.. 30 feet away. He asked how much I wanted for it and I said well if yours are worth $800 with no scope, mine must be worth a thousand. He paused for a bit and said that would be his price, too. We kept walking back toward the truck and found 4 boxes of NEW reloads for it using new brass and 100 gr. Nosler BTs for $8.00 a box. Got home, cleaned the gun and shot a 3 shot 5/8 " group. That has been 30 years ago. Still got it Any body have an idea what it is really worth now ? Ray

My brother sent me an old Colt Single Action Peacemaker in 38-40. He said he had it about 40 year and someone had given it to him.I was in Scheels the other day and they had three of them priced at $2995.

Last summer I had sent my nephew a few firearms that were my fathers. He sent me an early (1906) Winchester 94,Octagon barrel , 38-55 in pretty good shape The LGS priced it as $2200

Years ago I bought an unfired 6.5 Sewed Mauser for $39 thru the mail and sportarized it. Can't touch then now fro $500

I've got 2 maybe three Coleman 5 day coolers.

Best thing goin' for keeping ice 50+ days in fall hunting weather.

Get 'em on sale at the BiMart when you can.

Don't tell jimy, he don't like 'em


Geno

Picked up a Python about 30 years back for 150. My how it has grown. Haven’t fired it in a decade or so. Should. Bedside / camper gun