So I Was Strolling Through A Local Gun Store

I've been on both sides of the counter in situations like this. Much depends upon how long the item has been sitting, what season of the year it is, and how full my racks are. If I need room and am unlikely to sell it soon, I might well be more receptive to offers, but consignment guns are another case. Normally I would not take consignments except from very good long-time customers. It just isn't worth the hassle.

The other thing is that with Gun Broker and other online sellers, I might not take a low-ball offer because I don't have to. On an average day, I can list anywhere from five to ten guns online and get what I am asking with no problem. I know what the item in question is worth, because I can check recent auctions to see what similar guns sold for.

Black powder guns are very easy to ship as I do not have to deal with other FFL holders or any other regulatory silliness.

All in all, it's simple open market capitalism that any business girl can grasp with no real effort: young perky (.Y.) fetch a better price than old saggy (.Y.), and if the market on one corner is not so good, there is always another corner.

Mulebrain said:

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

Click to expand...

The Lyman is a fairly close replica of a Hawken. They tend to shoot well, too.
$300 would be too darn much for a sewer pipe bore one. Lots of them on gun auction sites.

Mulebrain said:

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

Click to expand...

Sounds like the owner either forgot about the gun or died. When we do consignments at The Gun Room of Sunbury we have a contract drawn up. The consignment is for 60 days. After that, if the owner does not pick up their gun or renegotiate a new contract they have 15 days to pick up the gun. After that the gun becomes the property of the gun store.

Mulebrain said:

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.

Click to expand...

I would have been tempted too. I enjoy a good rescue project.

TDM said:

I would have been tempted too. I enjoy a good rescue project.

Click to expand...

Agree. I do enjoy bringing an old or beat up piece back to life. Just finished two single shot pistols that were like that.

stephenprops1 said:

Sounds like the owner either forgot about the gun or died. When we do consignments at The Gun Room of Sunbury we have a contract drawn up. The consignment is for 60 days. After that, if the owner does not pick up their gun or renegotiate a new contract they have 15 days to pick up the gun. After that the gun becomes the property of the gun store.

Click to expand...

You can bet that store had some sort of contract with the original owner and the rifle is now theirs. Most states have abandoned property laws also.

William Sublette said:

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

Click to expand...

I don't think that any gun shop would keep a gun on the books for ten years with out asking the owner to either lower the price or come and get it long before that time alone! jmho?

if as they say, no answer on the phone #, there is an address on the paper work on who the consignee is! DUH!!!

toot said:

I don't think that any gun shop would keep a gun on the books for ten years with out asking the owner to either lower the price or come and get it long before that time alone! jmho?

Click to expand...

Years ago I worked at a different gun store that had a consignment gun with no contract. They had it so long they just put it in a locker in the back room. It had been there for 10 years and that was 16 years ago.