I shop at Pawn Shops more than I shop at LGS. I keep my eye out for a unique , low mfg numbers , oddball guns. I stopped in a local pawn shop on Tues, they always have a bunch of guns. I spotted a little H&R revolver 32 S&WL, that I knew of, but not a lot about it. Its same as brand new, beautiful , asking $299. The guy there knows me really well, so he brings this knife over , says "bet you never seen one of these", I said oh yes I have , that's a Buck 110U, yep, but has a special feature , the little push button on the side , opens like a flash. holy crap, never seen a Buck 110U like that, fastest switchblade operation I ever seen, Asking $80. Then he says let me show you (he knows how I think) this little 22 lr semi auto that's same as NIB. Its an Ithaca X-15 Lightning. I have to admit , I never seen or hard of it. It sure is gorgeous, and it is LNIB, not a scratch or mark on it, with a nice Simmons 3x9x40 scope (LNIB also), and a beautiful mil type leather sling. Asking $189. Did my homework that night, went back and haggled for an hour. Brought all 3 home... The H&R is VERY,VERY rare with 4" barrel, almost unheard of, mfg in 1978. $188 + tx. Gotta get some ammo. The Ithaca rifle even more rare, Mfg in 1964-1967 only, $113 + tx. The Buck knife was a special conversion done to very few , $35 + tx. heres a couple pics. I may be going to work for him, for a few hrs a week, 12 hrs a week. The fringe bennies may be worth it. I might do it just for the fun of it.. Jim
Usually guns I have seen at pawn shops were pretty well beat and put up that way. Then they want top dollar for them. Your guns look in really good condition. If I knew as much about guns as you do I would jump on the part time job. Only problem is you might buy way more guns than you already do.
That might be the only job you get where your paycheck ends up in the negative every month! Seriously though, I shop for ammo at pawn shops sometimes. Guys sell the stuff they have left over after they pawn the gun. I got a bunch of .22 mag that way in 2013 when there wasn't any on the shelf anywhere else.
I stop by pawnshops and out of the way gun stores when I have time. Hard to find something special. Insiders get most of the good stuff. Oops, prolly shouldn't have said that.
If I become his employee, that means Ill be an insider...that means I will get the good stuff. He owns 7 Pawn Shops in west Ky., its a big operation, and they rotate the guns from store to store on a regular basis... Jim
I can tell you for a fact, the Pawn Shop WILL make double to 1/3 on everything they sell, but 25% on guns if they need to move them. You seen what I haggled down to, from their asking price. They will come way down if you ask. I been buying guns from tis guy for 15 years. He treats me right. NOW. Jim
I have only been in a couple of Pawn shops here in Mesa and the things they sell, I would sell for scrap metal. Plus their pricing is sky high. I would rather go to Bass Pro (which I won't) as the prices are about the same, but at least at Bass Pro you could buy something new and not a boat anchor. Tommy
I got one pawn shop around here that's like that, They sell garbage....more like a yard sale/flea market, Needless to say , I don't visit that one. But I have bought many guns at Pawn Shops, good ones , and never ,ever, pay what they ask. They got LOTS of wiggle room. Just don't act too excited about it, when you see an item you like, I do love me some serious hagglin/negotiatin.. Jim
No pawn shops in my area...they are found mostly in bad neighborhoods and downtown Philly ( go figure ).
Ya the only pawn shops I've been into that have guns are pretty run down stores n the guns aren't anything special. If I found a nice place I would though. I'd rather do business with local stores or privately. Or gun shows.
