Went Pawn Shopping

[mccleese]

Got a wild hair to get yet another shotgun today so I went looking at pawn shops in the area.  Most were sold out.  Saw a 20 Gauge at one used for $140.  Saw some new ones for $170.  Last few NEF and H&R Shotguns I bought I paid WELL under that.  Finally found a lightly used 12 Gauge at a pawn shop for $79.  I asked if they'd take $69 and they said sure.  It is a 28" Which I needed since I traded my last one to my brother.  They actually had another for $69 asking price but this looked nicer.
 

[cowboyup453]

I see that way too much these days. I can get a new one at WalMart for $119 here. There was a beat up 410 tamer at the last gun show I went to with no price tag. I asked how much? Lady said $189.   I told her I could get a new one for $159 and walked away. Im gald you found a decent deal. Hope it shoots good.

[tsalam]

MCleese, one of my favorite things is to go pawn shopping. Yesterday I picked up an NEF Survivor with a 3x9 scope for $125. About a month ago I bought a really nice NEF scoped 22 magnum for $135. I love to find rough ones and clean them up and dress them up. Lots of fun. Got my eye on an H&R youth 20 gauge for $69 but should be able to get it for about $50 because I give them so much business:) Lots of good stuff out there in these hard times.

[atitagain]

I would think that shortly after gun seasons are over, we might be able to fing a lot of them out there.

[kaveman]

$70.00 for clean used one is about as good as I can do in my area , I think you made a good purchase plus I like the looks of the Gardner guns better have fun with her!!

[Forestclimber]

I got a nice youth model 20 gauge for $60 out the door.  They are always tempting me!

[Lon371]

 I went to one of the local Pawns about a month ago. He had a used .44 new style plastic. Chopped to 18" not recrowned. He was asking $299. I asked him if he priced the new ones. He said he had to recoup his money.
 What is really funny. I talked to the same guy Nov 2010. He just opened the shop. We were talking about his competitor a block away and their overpriced guns   At that time he also told me pawn shops as a rule will only pay 30% of retail price. So now when I shop the pawns, I take cash and offer 60% of new. Only works on slow days though.
 
Lonny

[rio grande]

I just picked up an old Topper today at a Pawn Shop.  Model 158, pre-68 as no serial number.  20 ga, full choke and H and R rubber pad.  Snap on fore end. It was $50 plus $4 tax. 
Condition is "OK", not mint by any means.
Got it for a project. I'll cut the barrel to about 20", and I'm modifying a 7" 1911 barrel to use as an adapter.
A new life for the old gun.
Pawn Shops can be good places. Depends on the shop staff and whether you hit on a good deal. On infrequent occasions I've made some fantastic deals. The best Pawn Shops are run by ignorant folks - mostly they price way too high - sometimes they price way too low.
What makes them interesting is you never know what you'll run across. I've seen Parker-Hale Enfelds, original Russian Tokarevs, James Lile handmade knives ($30 for two!), $200 mint .303 Jungle Carbines, Johnson semi-auto rifles, mint 30's German Mausers,  a 9.3 caliber pre-war commercial Mauser,  a friend bought a minty Luger for under $300 and. yes, I saw the receipt.

Sometimes too high. Today I saw a very nice 1903 Springfield. Hoping for a good catch I asked to see it. Price tag said $4000.
One time my friend saw a P38 9mm...Nickel and gold ghetto plated. The pawn shop guy swore it was a special presentation pistol made for an SS officer

[spooked]

Look onna receiver where it says patent # the patent # is the serial # the prefix determines year of manufacture If it's a 158 it'll have A(? second letter) up in fac's theres a  guide that'll tell you what year , sounds like my 1970 model..

Pay no attention to the part about the patent #being serial # the prefix part still holds true though..I got that wild idea about the patent #'s because I've never owned 2 yet with the same patent #, But that don't make it so..A big thank you to MSP Retired for making me rethink this..

[MSP Ret]

Look onna receiver where it says patent # the patent # is the serial # the prefix determines year of manufacture If it's a 158 it'll have A(? second letter) up in fac's theres a  guide that'll tell you what year , sounds like my 1970 model..

Very interesting, the patent number doubling as the serial number, I have not heard of that before, could you expound on that a bit? If that were so wouldn't there be many guns (multiple thousands perhaps) with the same patent number/serial number out there?....<><....

[bikerbeans]

The only pawn shop near me (NW Ohio) never lists a H&R/NEF scattergun for under $150, regardless of condition.  I figure with that kind of asking price he is just trying to rip someone off who doesn't know what a gun is worth.  If you go to the local gun show they will want even more for a used H&R/NEF shotgun.  I either buy new at Buds or better yet from another GBO member on the classifieds.
 
BB

[spooked]

 
Very interesting, the patent number doubling as the serial number, I have not heard of that before, could you expound on that a bit? If that were so wouldn't there be many guns (multiple thousands perhaps) with the same patent number/serial number out there?....<><....

  Might have ASSumed an made one outa meself  MSP! I have several old 158's with the prefix letters for differant years and on none of them does the "patent" # match, I'm gonna have to research this some more..

[quickdtoo]

If you read posts by our H&R historian/collectors in the H&R Misc forum, 32 Magnum has posted that many pre-68 H&R firearms had no serial number, but they did include the 2-letter year of mfr code as spooked mentioned. 

Tim

[rio grande]

The one I just bought was a 'Z', before patent number.  1965.
No serial number.
The stock is shaped a little different from my NEF...more pronounced longer, pistol grip, also a little more 'square' cross section there...higher comb.
The blueing is a little darker and prettier than the new NEF.
Snap on fore end (I like the screw-in one better).
Doesn't say what shell length, but I'm sure it's a 2 3/4".

[mdwest]

got a decent pawn shop deal this past weekend..
 
picked up a 1999 12GA that is in excellent condition (Im betting this one never left the closet, was never taken to the woods, etc..) for $70.. not a bit of rust on it.. no scratches or dents in the stock.. its surprisingly very clean.. 
 
It will end up being the platform for another .44 mag or .357 mag conversion down the road..
 
They had a .45-70 BC in very good condition sitting right next to it for $359.. I probably should have tried to haggle with them a little while and tried to do a "2 gun" deal.. (Im betting I could have gotten them down to $325 or less without a whole lot of effort).. but I didnt do it..
 
Oh well.. maybe next time...

[STUMPJMPR]

For my last 2 H&R shotguns I paid around $70 out the door.  I'm about to go pawn shopping again to find me a 20ga.  Those seem hard to come by.  I mostly see them in 12ga.