Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Garage Sale Find

Unfortunately the good old days of buying a gun at a garage sale is history in Cuomo’s NYS. Still do find smalls treasures now and then, but they are far and fewer these days.

A guys uncle died and was selling some of his stuff and had a little yard sale, he had already sold some nicer guns by the time we arrived...

all he had left was a 700 bdl in 17rem, a marlin 17mach2, mak90 clone or whatever, m77 in 6mm rem, and a m77 stainless 22/250. He said hed take 550 for all, crazy deal. He was needing some money fast evidently, maybe funeral expenses...I dont know. Sold about a 13grand john deer tractor with less than 100hours on it for 5500, a brand new bubba grill on trailer/mag wheels, etc for 800, artic cat 550 for 1600. Whatever....his aunt wanted/needed everything gone. As much as I probably paid up for stuff over the years, nice to have a deal come your way every once and a while. He told us all prices, and we paid it and his aunt was cool with it.

At a barn sale I bought 20 milk crates full of reloading dies, brass and factory ammo......$200.....the guy cleaned out houses back in 07-08 from foreclosures.....

Bought a Sako L-61 at a garage sale in the early 80’s. It was a 270, still have it, paid 250.00 for it.

Not a garage find but a number years ago a friend of mine had Springfield Armory m1 Garand. We went to the range and he let me shoot it. I was going to try to work a cash / trade for it but it never worked out. We attended the same congregation and one Sunday morning he asked me if I wanted a M1 Garand I told him I could not afford it., He said wrong answer and he asked me again I gave him the same answer . He asked again and this time he added say you want an M1 Garand and I did . He told me he would bring it to me that night which he did. I asked why me ( he was divorced did not remarry no kids) he said he gave his other one to a nephew and I knew I liked WWIII history and would appreciate it. He had bought the gun from the CMP,barrel dated May 1955.

358win.

That is quite a tale. Wish something like that would happen to me.

Well, almost. Back in like 2004, my real estate guy (we had been looking for houses at the time) told me of a house he was selling for a widow and that she had "a bunch of guns" she was selling. Turns out one of them was a S&W Model 627-0 "Model of 1989", which was 1 of 5000 so made. It had an un-fluted cylinder and a 5 inch full lug barrel. I picked up for $350 ?!

As my shooting of S&W revolvers grew over the years and my preference for DAO shooting evolved, so did my love of L & K frame .357s as opposed to N frames (which I believe are better for 41 and up). About two years ago, I ended up trading it to a guy on the smith-wessonforum.com for a minty Model 16, which had been one of my Holy Grail guns for years. Since the price of Model 16s in that shape at that time were upwards of $1500, I think I did ok!!

But nothing at a real yard sale. I think those kind of finds went the way of the dodo bird after the internet hit big.

One thing from that gun that has stuck with me however, 5 inch N frames are now my favorite "big" S&Ws for all around hunting and field work. They are the perfect size for all around duty.

When I first moved to town the wife and I were out driving around hitting garage sales looking for odds and ends and at one sale saw some gun cleaning items. I asked the guy if he had any guns for sale he he said yes. I took me into the house and produced a nice Marlin 39A Mountie. Then he produced a S&W model 37. I left with both and paid what I thought was very little for the privilege. The owner was happy as he wasn't sure how to dispose of them, and I was happy because I'd been wanting one of each and I couldn't beat the price.

A friend who frequents swap meets/ flea markets, told me years ago a man had some type of an air rifle or part gun on a table. Didn’t know what it was and wanted to get rid of it. He offered him $20 and he accepted. Three years ago he asked if I can look at it and tell him what it is. Well, he brought it in what appeared to be a factory zippered soft case. I opened it and low and behold a mint Marlin 39 22lr take down in mint condition. He made a few hundred bucks on that deal. He never shot it afterwards and most likely never will. Wants to keep it.

I have three garage/yard sale memories that still haunt me.

One was in the early 1970's just outside of Warsaw , Missouri . As I drove up a man was walking out with an IRON framed Henry that he said he had just paid $50 for !! He wasn't interested in selling .

Another was at a farm near Mahomet , Illinois in the mid 1960's and they had a cased set of engraved 1851 Colt Navy pistols for $150. Which I didn't have and by the time I had driven home to get the money and back they were gone .

And the last was in Sedona , Arizona in the late 1970's and as I was walking in a man was leaving with an H&H .303 double rifle he had paid $300 for !

It isn't a firearm, but it's one of my best friends to date. I collect old ultralight fishing reels. My Holy Grail reel had always been The Hardy altex No 1. I saw them go for or big money online for years period then one day I stop at a flea market period one vendor has a box of fishing reels marked as $5 each period low and behold amongst the zip codes and Johnson centuries there is a complete and functional Hardy altex No 1. I couldn't pay the man fast enough!

Firearms wise, about a three years ago I bought a matching non-refurbished Soviet SKS for $235 from a pawnshop who's owner thought the star on top meant it was a lowly Chinese rifle.

I also picked up a Husqvarna 1640 in 9.3x62 for $300 because there was a crack in the wrist of the stock.

Early to mid '80's, Friend and I were at a garage sale in Thousand Oaks, Ca. Dave was looking at some Coleman lanterns and stoves. He got to talking with the home owner and walked out with three Marlin 39A's! All in pretty damn good condition. All for $200! He gave one to me, in fact, it's standing in my shop corner as I type. Don't find deals like that every day.

When I worked in the gun shop a guy came in with a custom 1886 Win stamped JKR for Johnson’s Kenai Rifles of 450 and 50 Alaskan fame.
When I asked where he acquired it he told me the story. An old man who lived in Anchorage and had been in Alaska for a long time died. His only relative was a daughter who lived in Seattle. The daughter didn’t even come up instead having the funeral home cremate her father and mail his ashes to her. She called a realtor and told them she wanted to list the house and all it’s contents as one lot. The guy telling the story went and looked at the house and ended up buying it but not realizing it came with all it’s contents. He was expecting someone to come clear everything out and was initially upset that he now had all this old junk to deal with. Upset until he found the guns and went to the garage to find a mint 1960s Cadillac that was also included!
I don’t know if it’s all true but I saw and handled the rifle and thought it was a neat story.

Back in the 70s my uncle bought an Arisaka 7.7MM and a Savage 340 in 22 Hornet for $40 total at a local yard sale. He showed the guns to my dad and dad told him if he ever wanted to sell the Hornet he would give him $100 for it. Months went by and one day me and dad went to visit him and both guns were gone from the rack in his living room. Dad asked him where the guns were at and he told him he had a yard sale and sold both of them. My dad was curious how much he sold them for and my uncle responded with "I sold them for what I paid for them $40. My dad was furious at him for a long time after that.

Found a new in box 16ga wingmaster at a yardsale. Very good wood and remchokes. Think I paid $175. Sold it a couple years later, Still new in box for $600.

A friend of mine gave me a call one evening.He asked me to come to his house and look at a rifle he had bought at a garage sale for $25.00.It was stuck in the rafters in a garage and had belonged to a man who had passed away.His wife thought it was a toy.When i got there he handed me a M1 Carbine.It had a knock out walnut stock and was marked Rockola Proto#1 on the receiver.He said another guy had offered him $300.00 and was that a good offer.I told him hell no,take it to a Rock Island auction.I don`t know if he sold it or kept it,but WOW!!!!!

Years back when I was still living in Nevada z friend who'd been in an accident gav me his elk rifle. He told me it hurt his now damaged shoulder to much so asked me if I wanted it. It was a J.C. Higgins M50 that he'd custom restocked with a nice piece of wood that was probably from Fajen or Bishop. Had an El Paso Weaver K4 with Weaver mounts, and a Timney trigger. Long story short I fell during a hunt and that pretty stock broke in two at the pistol grip. I ran it for a while in an old stock I had but that was not satisfactory so it now sits in a Ramline stock. Shoots quite well with the Ramline but between a stock I just really cannot love and the fact that the bluing was pretty well worn when I got the rifle that maybe I'll have it restocked and a nice blue job. I think old Jerry would be looking down and smile with approval.
Paul B.

..........Sure do miss those days....... My 10/22 came from a yard sale in 1997. It was way underpriced and couldn't be told from new. I even wondered if it had ever been fired. The serial number places it as 1987 production. Back around 1980 I tried to snag a mint Mod. 70 in .270 from a garage sale. Had to be a pre-64 if the woman was correct saying her father in law got it new 25 or 30 years ago. I didn't know that much about guns back then but I wanted it. Forgot the price but it seemed cheap. It was a Saturday afternoon, banks were closed, no ATM's in those days and I couldn't scrape up that much that fast. She sold it about an hour later.

Parker Trojan 12 ga. at the Broadacres Swap Meet in Las Vegas for $100.
Savage 24J in .22WMR over 20 ga., AND a Savage 99F in .308Win at a Tucson yard sale for $300 total. Both mint.
Used to score a lot of good deals in the Las Vegas pawn shops, where I lived from 1990-1996 but nothing as good as those two.
Sometimes even a blind squirrel...
Rex

I bought a Colt Lightning in very nice shape at a yard sale for 100.00, sold it a year later for 1200.00 The old negro woman I bought it from said her husband died and she didn't even know he had it till she was cleaning out his closet. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.