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Opinions on buying surplus firearms

skicatskicat Member Posts: 14,431 ✭
edited March 2015 in General Discussion
When they offer to hand select best of 10 for a price of $20 do you take the option?
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Comments

  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    YES!
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  • Ditch-RunnerDitch-Runner Member Posts: 25,378 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    a good friend of mine who is A FFL tells me no. as he use to visit a company that did such , he said what ever was next on the top of the crate was what you got ,
    My personal thoughts I would like to think they pick out one . but is the best of the three in front of them or the best out of the several hundred they have ?
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  • DocDoc Member Posts: 13,898 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I never have. I don't think there's any way to know if it ever helps.
    ....................................................................................................
    Too old to live...too young to die...
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  • DocDoc Member Posts: 13,898 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I never have. I don't think there's any way to know if it ever helps.
    ....................................................................................................
    Too old to live...too young to die...
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  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
    edited November -1
    With SOG it was the best of the next five.

    They would take the next five guns out of the crate or off the rack, and send you the best of that lot. It was, I think, $10 extra.

    I never took advantage of it.

    I would simply order five or more of the same thing, and get a discount for a volume purchase, and then, if one of those caught my eye, I might keep it and sell the other four.
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  • swearengineswearengine Member Posts: 1,308 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    No! Just what exactly does hand selected mean? A pallet with 100 rifles and they grabbed one (hand selected) and shipped it to you. Or does it mean they actually spent time (seems unlikely) to pick out the finest for you because you are so special to send them 20 more dollars.
    I buy the 10 or 20 gate run (first off the pallet) special and take my chance of getting something special. Sell the rest as hand selected!

    Where do you wish for your surplus rifle to be special? Do you want nice looking stock or do you want a bright shiny bore? I have seen nice wood with sewer pipe for a barrel and what appears to be a stock fit only for a fire but yet the barrel was almost pristine.

    In my experience, by buying 10 at a time, I could check the headspace on every rifle and make them acceptable as shooters. Most all were mismatched numbers anyway.
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  • mark christianmark christian Member Posts: 24,443 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Never.

    What do you actually get for the premium?

    Chances are the order picker doesn't know a good gun from a bad one. If he/she yanks one that looks "pretty", it may have a bad barrel while the average looking one that was next in the line of five has a pristine bore.
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  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    When I had my C&R the nice lady at SOG brought several to the counter for me to pick and choose the best two. If I did not like them she was kind enough to go get some more for me to eyeball.

    I liked that lady, she was very helpful and wanted me to be a happy customer.
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  • mark christianmark christian Member Posts: 24,443 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bpost
    If I did not like them she was kind enough to go get some more for me to eyeball.



    You paid the $10 for the privilege of handing back guns you didn't like?

    It might just me, and it usually is, but if it were a face to face transaction and I was handed a gun and didn't like it, I sure as hell wouldn't buy it. I'd just hand it back and ask for another one. If the gal behind the sales counter insisted on getting ten bucks before going back to get a replacement, I'd walk out the door and never go back.

    "I'm sorry sir, but this is what I selected for you".

    "The thing looks awful, bring me another one."

    "I'm sorry sir, but our policy requires a $10 hand select fee. If you don't like the gun I chose for you and want me to select another one, I'll need to collect $10 before I can bring out another."

    "Close my account."
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  • chiefrchiefr Member Posts: 14,115 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have seen the difference and yes the extra $10 is well spent.
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  • armilitearmilite Member Posts: 35,490 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't buy them sight unseen.
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  • shilowarshilowar Member Posts: 38,811 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by nunn
    With SOG it was the best of the next five.

    They would take the next five guns out of the crate or off the rack, and send you the best of that lot. It was, I think, $10 extra.

    I never took advantage of it.

    I would simply order five or more of the same thing, and get a discount for a volume purchase, and then, if one of those caught my eye, I might keep it and sell the other four.




    Interesting, I wondered how that worked.
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  • reload999reload999 Member Posts: 3,080 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've paid it and received nice rifles, but I agree there is no way of knowing whether it really made any difference.
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  • RocklobsterRocklobster Member Posts: 7,060 ✭
    edited November -1
    I've never paid it and have never received a gun that I didn't like. They're inexpensive to begin with and only rarely "collector grade."

    Tinkering is my favorite part of the hobby, anyway.
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  • jonkjonk Member Posts: 10,121
    edited November -1
    For me, no.

    If I order a surplus gun online, I suspect that it will be filled with cosmoline. Sometimes they are, sometimes the are not. Given that:

    1. If I want a gun that will be a good shooter, I really doubt anyone will clean all the grease out of the bore and inspect muzzle erosion.
    2. Any visual inspection of the piece will be limited to choosing the one with the best bluing/least dings externally. Which, while nice, isn't really what I want when I order a gun, I want one that will shoot.

    So I wouldn't bother unless you can specify something like, "I want a gun with the best external finish so it looks good over my fireplace."
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  • skicatskicat Member Posts: 14,431 ✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks gentlemen. I have decided to decline the hand select option.
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  • machine gun moranmachine gun moran Member Posts: 5,198
    edited November -1
    I lived near a major surplus firearms distributor for a couple of decades, and I was frequently in their place, buying 5-10 at a time. They used to let me go into the warehouse and pick my own, they were always friendly. Once, I was in the back going through Mausers, and I happened to ask an employee what 'hand select' meant. He replied, "The next one off the pile". But I have to say, that if anything came off the skid that was a real dog, they would sideline it and sell it locally at a deep discount.
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