I don't buy cheap hand guns. I just buy them cheap

[Spock]

I hate cheap crappy hand guns. Lorcins, hipoints, etc. I freequently see threads where some poor slob only has a few hundred bucks to buy a hand gun with and he starts asking about these low quality guns because they are in his price range.

Now I've spent so low $$ on a some quality guns but this time...I have out down myself...behold:



yes that is a glock 17 gen 2.

so how much did I pay you ask?

$300?

no

$250?

no

$200

no!

wait you spent less than $200 on a glock 17? and its not stolen?

no its not stolen and yes i spent less.

Currently I have.......twenty dollars in it.

WHAT?!?!??!?

Yes $20. You know a twenty dollar bill. or 2 10s. or 4 fives. or alot of ones.

Got a text a month ago from a friend looking to sell a couple of hand guns day after the election. I bought the glock and star 9mm for $340.

ah ha you say i spent more than $20! well...i sold the star on auction arms for wait for it...$250.

which brought me to 90 into the glock. I sold the two u notch pre ban mags it came with for $70.

yeap. its a $20 glock. in an hour its going to have $50 slightly used night sights installed. with a new mag and night sights I'll be up to almost a hundred bucks.

You can spend $200 on a handgun.....but it doesn't mean it has to be a $200 handgun.

[Grand58742]

Good call. Lots of times you can find police trade in pistols (Glocks, Berettas, Sigs, etc) for great prices and relatively low round counts for age. And most police departments keep up with the maintenance and replacement parts so you are getting a reliable pistol overall.

Police and military surplus tend to be pretty decent shooters overall and something you can't really go wrong with.

[610Alpha]

So would you have a person wait for one of these deals and not have anything?

How many of these $20 deals do you see or even $200 deals? I would be surprised if police depts can afford to role out new weapons every year, more like 3-4 years depending on funding it might be quicker or slower.

Not everyone works at a gun store, granted you can ask them to call you if one of these deals comes in...but lets be honest they might forget or you might not be on the top of their list.

Is the "crappy" gun their end state, we hope not, could it be an intermediary step on to a better gun. We hope so. So maybe a little grace for that poor slob.

Was working at burger king while going to college my goal, no, was it a stepping stone while I was on my way to something better yes! Its all in perspective I guess.

I see all the time on this forum that being a survivalist is not some end state but a journey yet the gun guys don't allow for someone to be on a journey in the acquiring of quality guns.

Just something to consider.

[jimmycthemd]

So would you have a person wait for one of these deals and not have anything?

How many of these $20 deals do you see or even $200 deals? I would be surprised if police depts can afford to role out new weapons every year, more like 3-4 years depending on funding it might be quicker or slower.

Not everyone works at a gun store, granted you can ask them to call you if one of these deals comes in...but lets be honest they might forget or you might not be on the top of their list.

Is the "crappy" gun their end state, we hope not, could it be an intermediary step on to a better gun. We hope so. So maybe a little grace for that poor slob.

Was working at burger king while going to college my goal, no, was it a stepping stone while I was on my way to something better yes! Its all in perspective I guess.

I see all the time on this forum that being a survivalist is not some end state but a journey yet the gun guys don't allow for someone to be on a journey in the acquiring of quality guns.

Just something to consider.

I agree with this whole-heartedly!! I think the moral of the story though is, while you're looking for your first 'crappy' gun, keep your eye out for deals. Think outside of the box. When I was in Colorado (25 years ago), I was looking for an inexpensive .357 mag. to carry in the mountains. I happened to mention it to a co-worker and he ended up selling me a Dan Wesson .44 mag., a six inch standard barrel, a six inch ported barrel, a holster and reloading dies for $150. I still have it today.

Keep your eyes open and shop 'out of the box'. Do research. If you find a deal, great. If not, then buy the cheap gun to start with.

[Spock]

i've bought a small pile of quality handguns over the years for $200. paid $200 new for a makarov in .380 acp. paid $225 for a used smith and wesson 915. paid $180 for a used smith and wesson model 27. paid $200 ish for a stainless rossi 971? .357 mag.

the glock of course is the most extreme example. My point is a $200 hand gun doesn't have to be $200 quality.

1. know the value of stuff. I once bought a guy out of all his reloading stuff. $500 cash. I only wanted the dillon 550 he had. after i sold off the stuff i didn't want I only had like $100 in the dillion.
2. don't turn your nose up at something just because its not what you want. I made this mistake for a long long time. I learned that lesson the hard way. I could have bought an 11.5 inch bushmaster AR in oct 2008 for $600. I turned the guy down because it was an 11.5 (had pinned FS to bring it out to 16). dumbass me could have doubled my money 30 days later.
second example. I was just going to buy the glock for $200. then i asked about buying the other gun too. quick check on auction arms revealed they sell for double what the guy was asking. So i bought the second gun to and then sold it. otherwise I'd be bragging about the $200 glock I bought.

someone who is very very good at buying and selling stuff taught me this "you make your money when you buy it, not when you sell it"

the problem of the poor slob from burger king is this: do you buy a cheap quality hand gun now and then get something else later?

well thats a good question but it depends on how you buy it.

example 1: BK guy walks into pawn shop with a weeks worth of pay and buys hipoint c9 because thats all he can afford spends $179 plus $20 on a box of ammo. pawn shop had better guns like a used ruger 94dc for $275 but at $100 more was out of his price range.

so you say great good deal then. no wrong BAD DEAL.

the whole sale value of that pistol is $80. the gun shop made a nice $100 in 10 minutes taking BK guys hard earned cash. 3 months later BK guy wants to upgrade. he goes back to the store and they give him $50 for his trade in. he looses $130. his $275 ruger just cost him $405.

now lets rewind this: BK guy is walking around the gun show sees guy walking around with a hipoint c9. guy wiht the hipoint looks depressed "dealers only wanna give me $50 for it even though i paid $169 at the last gun show I need money man I got bills to pay!" BK guys "i'll give you $75" they dicker for a few and BK guy buys it for $90. $10 over whole sale but he got it $25 less than its retail value. now he saves his money, goes back to the show in 3 months, walks around with the hipoint till some guy says what do you want for that? "$135" they dicker down to 90 or maybe 80 of 100 and BK guy breaks even maybe looses a few bucks or even make a few a bucks. now his $275 ruger just costs $275.

the problem is most people, and I have been one of them, fall into that 1st trap.

[hidden_waldo]

Well, it boils down to: do you want “X” or do you want “a deal”. I see this all the time; people get hung up on one thing and can’t see the total picture that will save them money.

Case in point – I shoot sporting clays and I reload shotgun shells. I do both a lot.

I cruse Craigslist and I see people selling: 2 - 4 lbs kegs of powder, 2- 25 lbs bags of shot and 500 AA hulls for $150 (in the current market at my location, this is a deal about a $70 savings). I could buy it all, save some money and call it a day. But, I will call my group that I shoot with and ask who wants to split this with me. I will get various replies to the effect of: I don’t need any part of that “now”; I don’t need the hulls; I only need to buy wads; I will buy all the shot for $40; etc….

They can’t see the long term picture, don’t have the money for the long term picture or is to lazy to look for the deals and understand how they work.

So what ends up happening, I will end up buying it on my own and parking it in my basement.

A month later, someone at the club will need “shot” and they find out the current market is charging $50 for 25 lbs of shot. I will pipe up and state I will sell them 25 lbs of shot for $40 and it is sold (yes I carry it with me because I can’t sell it if I don’t have it). No sooner I make this deal; someone else will pipe up and state they need powder. I state I have 2 – 4 pounders of “powder X”; $55 per 4 pounds. He buys all of it and is happy.

So my cost for 25 lbs of shot and 500 hulls is “free”. Now was it given to me? No. But feeding my hobby and looking for deals makes it cheaper to do my hobby.

Anyone can go out and pay retail for anything to get it now. The people that get the “screaming deals” on items are constantly shopping for them and knows how to turn a “good” deal into a “great” deal.

[WiseOwl]

Hey I will give you $200 for that :)

[protus]

i turned a recurve bow,,into a like new enfield jungle carbine in 762, then that turned into 1200++ rounds of x51.
not one dime spent on my end.

ive bought stuff before ,,,and re bought later. i think we all do that at one time or another,

[rockriver]

just a reminder..
i've sold for cheap and given stuff to folks..
i've received some great deals/gifts too.

we just need to be careful not to refer to the person on the other side of the deal
as a poor slob or D.A. or idiot. the guy may hear about it, and realize his gift didn't go
to a friend, but to a "less than friend"

just a thought.

[wtr100]

There are nice deals to be had on S&W old school 9mm pistols. I got a 915, value version of a 59, for $230 as I recall and there are full house 59's to be had at $325.

[Spock]

There are nice deals to be had on S&W old school 9mm pistols. I got a 915, value version of a 59, for $230 as I recall and there are full house 59's to be had at $325.

thats a good deal on a good gun.

as to what RR said I've been that poor slob a time or to :) and it sucks.