Going to a large pawn Shop tomorrow ,mostly just to look. Have heard horror stories about PAWN SHOP purchases.I am not looking for anything just looking.
Fun place to browse and every now and then you find a deal. Ive only bought one gun from a pawn shop and it had trigger issues. Fortunately I didn't pay much and a .204 ruger isn't going to take the place of my .22-250 so it wasn't much of a loss to me and definitely not worth the work it needed. Still fun to look though.
I've only purchased one gun from a pawn shop. It wasn't a good purchase, but I have to blame myself more than the shop as I didn't look over the rifle thoroughly. If you find a deal you can't pass up, just do a thorough investigation to avoid future headaches.
I worked at a pawn shop my senior year of high school. Talk about an eye opening job for a teanager. Every gun that came in was logged as we were an FFL. Additionally, everything we bought or loaned money on was entered on a triplicate form with description, model, and serial number. One of the copies went to the Austin Police Dept. where they kept a computer database. They would come in every couple months or so and take a VCR or piece of jewelry that was stolen. Don't remember ever having a firearm come up as stolen. We were all gun guys so we were pretty particular about what we took in.
Don't know about guns, but I found my favorite chainsaw at one 17 years ago. $400 for a one-year old 046 Magnum. It's Stihl my best and most powerful/reliable chainsaw.
I also sold (to a pawn shop) a crappy .22 caliber revolver that had mis-firing issues.
The best gun store in our town up to about 10 years ago was a pawn shop but, like so many other businesses these days, they had no viable succession plan. The Defoor brothers were straight talking knowledgeable businessmen. They were also dealers for quality firearm manufacturers. You weren't gonna get a bargain but you would get a fair deal. Where you would want to employ a healthy dose of caveat emptor was when they cleared out the back room for gun shows.
I bought a very nice previously owned #1 from an AZ pawn off Gunbroker recently. Exactly as advertised.
Pawn shop near me has some amazing deals. Being new to guns I wouldn't know if the one I wanted was good or not. Which I why I'm leaning towards buying new, even though the local classifieds have great deals on used rifles and scopes.
I think pawn shops are great paces to find those older, classic guns. I know ones around here also carry some almost new rifles and pistols since they are ffl's and order some once in awhile. I would not buy one from there unless I get a 100% return policy. I would go straight to gun smith and have it looked over, bore, throat, chamber, bolt, crown, etc. If it checks out, good if not, back to the pawn shop.
The best place to buy a gun in my hometown is a pawn shop. They keep a good stock of new and used guns and the guys there know their guns. I've bought and sold a lot of guns there and have only been burned once. I didn't pay much for that rifle and was able to make some money back, as well as kill a couple deer with it, so it wasn't a total loss.
I found a Remington 600 .243 at a pawn shop some years back. I love it. My wife and I have killed a pile of deer with it. I intend to make it my daughter's first hunting rifle when she's old enough. If you take some time you might find some real gems in pawn shops.
My old left hand savage 270 came from a pawn shop. Parents bought it for me when I was 14. 21 years later I am still killing big game with it. I have also bought a lever action 30-30 at a pawn shop that shot well but I didn't shoot it enough and sold it to my brother last year when I did a gun cabinet clean out.
I have seen guns in pawn shops that are pretty obvious they will never leave the store shelf unless its to get melted down.