So I Was Strolling Through A Local Gun Store

[Mulebrain]

There in the corner I spied an Older Lyman Great Plains rifle. I asked to look at it, and they handed it over. The barrel was rough and rusty on the outside, and the bore looked like a sewer! The price on it was 600.00, and was on consignment. So I told them I would offer 450.00 as I might be able to save the barrel. So they tried to call the owner whose phone number no longer worked, so no way to get a hold of him. He said it had been on consignment for a while. I said, what's awhile? He showed me a number they put on the ticket, which came out to over ten years! So they said they cant lower the price, because they cannot get a hold of the owner. They said they could
sell it to me for the 600.00 however. So I walked for now

Crazy

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Not worth it @ $450 IMHO.

There’s a few near me for < $600, but these shops don’t post online. I’ll get pictures in a few days …

 

[Rifleman1776]

Keep walking. At least that store is honest, even if foolish with their policies.

 

[William Sublette]

There in the corner I spied an Older Lyman Great Plains rifle. I asked to look at it, and they handed it over. The barrel was rough and rusty on the outside, and the bore looked like a sewer! The price on it was 600.00, and was on consignment. So I told them I would offer 450.00 as I might be able to save the barrel. So they tried to call the owner whose phone number no longer worked, so no way to get a hold of him. He said it had been on consignment for a while. I said, what's awhile? He showed me a number they put on the ticket, which came out to over ten years! So they said they cant lower the price, because they cannot get a hold of the owner. They said they could
sell it to me for the 600.00 however. So I walked for now

Crazy

I doubt the owner was asking $600 for it 10yrs ago.

 

[deerstalkert]

it has long since become the shops with that long of a consignment and no interaction with the consignee. but really i smell something like bovine feces coming your way from the shop. wear hip waders next time you go in.

 

[ORBushman]

but really i smell something like bovine feces coming your way from the shop.

Yeah, after 10yrs and no way to contact original owner, they'd be keeping that $600! I'd think twice about doing any business with that particular shop.

 

[TDM]

Yep, walking away was definitely the right thing to do on that deal.

 

[Urban Coyote]

The shop probably saved you a lot of regret by not lowering the price.

Used muzzleloader prices have gone crazy, I can't believe what some suff is selling for on Gunbroker as one example.

I guess a really good Lyman GPR might sell for $600 but I'd like to think that for such a price it would be near pristine and might have a few extras thrown in. Condition is almost everything, especially when it comes to muzzleloaders as a whole lot of owners don't know how to manage them. I'd venture to say there are more junk used muzzleloaders out there than good ones.

On consignment for 10 years? I smell a rat.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

They've got mechanic's lien on the gun by now, even with charging a dollar a day storage fees. Somebody was trying to bamboozle you I think. If the gun is as you describe it and I perceive it, it isn't worth but maybe a couple hundred for parts. It may clean up nicely to be a shooter, but the only way to get pits out of a barrel is to bore it out... which adds to your cost.

Check your jacket and make sure that somebody didn't put a "fool" sign on your back.

Some years ago.... well, nobody wants to read that story anyway.

 

[ORBushman]

Some years ago.... well, nobody wants to read that story anyway.

Oh come on now! I got a fresh cup of coffee.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Oh come on now! I got a fresh cup of coffee.

Well, OK...

A man came into the store some years ago with a Winchester Model '94 in 30-30. He was a member of the diplomatic corps if I remember correctly and was headed for the Middle East. He wanted us to store his gun for a while and wipe it down once a year or so to keep it from getting rusty.

After trying my Arabic on him and getting correct responses... in Arabic, I figured he was legit. (No, I no longer speak Arabic... you don't use it, you lose it.) A price was named and a deal struck.

The guy stayed in the desert for several years, and we got checks regularly like clockwork from different places in the MidEast. One year we didn't get a check. We had a phone number, which was disconnected, and letters to his Abu Dhabi address came back as undeliverable. The store eventually went out of business, but went back into business under a different name using the same phone number at a different location. We still had the gun up on a high shelf and had been wiping it down once a year as agreed to.

One day about ten years from the original drop-off date, the man showed up looking for his gun. He paid for a few years he owed for and took his gun home. We probably could have sold that gun after a couple of years, but that is a sure way to irritate one's customers, so we kept it. Looking back, it was a good decision.

 

[user 48679]

Good decision to pass.....

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

There in the corner I spied an Older Lyman Great Plains rifle. I asked to look at it, and they handed it over. The barrel was rough and rusty on the outside, and the bore looked like a sewer! The price on it was 600.00, and was on consignment. So I told them I would offer 450.00 as I might be able to save the barrel. So they tried to call the owner whose phone number no longer worked, so no way to get a hold of him. He said it had been on consignment for a while. I said, what's awhile? He showed me a number they put on the ticket, which came out to over ten years! So they said they cant lower the price, because they cannot get a hold of the owner. They said they could
sell it to me for the 600.00 however. So I walked for now

Crazy

I'd walk past that at $100

 

[pacanis]

Something fishy there.
$600 used ten years ago? I don't think so. Heck, it might have even had a clean bore back then. But $600???

I ran into a bunch of GPR's recently in very nice shape and they were all around 600. Had one been a flinter it might have come home with me.

 

[Mulebrain]

My plan was salvage the bore which I have done many times. I would then brown the entire barrel, and clean up the rest of the gun.
Then I would have a close to 600.00 dollar rifle, that I would use as a loaner.

 

[kyron4]

Do they also sell bridges ?

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

My plan was salvage the bore which I have done many times. I would then brown the entire barrel, and clean up the rest of the gun.
Then I would have a close to 600.00 dollar rifle, that I would use as a loaner.

Dude, no insult intended, but that gun is way overpriced. Not saying it couldn't be put back into working order again, but really, you should be able to buy a much better gun for less money than what they are trying to soak you for. I have some pretty nice T/C guns that I would sell if someone offered me that kind of money. I know of a T/C Hawken in .54 that is missing the rear sight selling for less than that. All you'd have to do is find a sight and you'd have a working gun in excellent shape.

Some friendly, if unsolicited advice? Keep your money in your pocket and look for a better deal.

Now, if you are in need of a project for the rest of the winter and are willing to pay that much just to keep yourself busy... more power to yuh!

 

[toot]

There in the corner I spied an Older Lyman Great Plains rifle. I asked to look at it, and they handed it over. The barrel was rough and rusty on the outside, and the bore looked like a sewer! The price on it was 600.00, and was on consignment. So I told them I would offer 450.00 as I might be able to save the barrel. So they tried to call the owner whose phone number no longer worked, so no way to get a hold of him. He said it had been on consignment for a while. I said, what's awhile? He showed me a number they put on the ticket, which came out to over ten years! So they said they cant lower the price, because they cannot get a hold of the owner. They said they could
sell it to me for the 600.00 however. So I walked for now

Crazy

smart move!!

 

[sturmkatze]

I doubt the owner was asking $600 for it 10yrs ago.

Most likely he's dead. How will they get ahold of him. Phone disconnected... 10 years...

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

Something like that happened to me. I found a nice gun I liked but it was on consignment. The price was high so I made an offer and the guy said no so I asked for the manager, reminded him it had been there a long time, could he contact the consignor and make the offer. He said absolutely not. I told him thanks for the help and turned around and walked out. They could have gotten something for a rack-sitter but instead he chose to be stubborn about it and never got a dime from me.