Buy in person when you can... But what if you can't?

[jlochey]

I'm thinking of making the long trek to Pilkguns from Michigan (10hrs) to see the guns and buy one.

My question is: Has/does anyone buy a gun before touching it? Obviously not if you don't have to right?

10 hrs is the closest!

Thoughts please?


John

[kiwi47]

...are that the cost and effort of travelling to Pilkguns will be more than worth it. By talking to Warren in person, you'll get sound and honest advice. You'll be able to handle (and maybe even test-fire) a number of pistols, and this is a vital part of making the best selection. You'll also be establishing a personal relationship with Pilkguns, which will stand you in good stead in years to come. I can understand your reluctance to go that far - I had to fly to Australia from NZ (which is a "match pistol desert") to buy my Anschutz!!

And once you've made your choice, have a safe journey home, and
tell us what you bought!!

kiwi47

[utemarksman]

I bought an IZH-35m sight unseen based on the reviews from NRA bullseye shooters. I later regretted it due to the inevitable inconsistancies of russian quality control. I understood why everyone praised it; it was a great shooter. My only problem is that I got one with the infamous doubling problem.

As I was in the process of saving the money to ship the gun to someone knowledgable to fix it I borrowed a Hi-Standard and Unique DES-69. I liked both pistols and was able to find an excellent example of the Unique. I bought it online (except for the minimal pics, sight unseen) and have been extremely happy with it.

So . . . what's my point? Try before you buy, even if it's borrowed.

But honestly, as long as you are buying quality equipment I don't think you can go too far wrong.


For the curious: I had a friend who was desperate to own another IZH who eventually talked me out of mine. He fixed it up and then turned around and sold it. Do I regret selling it . . . perhaps a little. But I really love my Unique. *touches wood hoping it never breaks down :P*

[Russ]

@

[Benonymous]

I bought my Hammerli 480 sight unseen and had a few very fraught months with it. It arrived in a briefcase with the original foam that it would have been shipped in. For a compressed air gun, it was cheap and I had steeled myself not to imagine that it would be in sparkling condition. Overall I suppose it wasn't in bad condition but the grip had been heavily modified. The real horror was the fact that it was shooting so slow. The pellets were tumbling. So I went on the quest for information and found it very thin on the ground but I had a lucky strike on this board with Tom Suswal and Mr Pilkington who really helped me out. In the end, a combination of a replacement seal and some adjustments got the gun shooting quite well. If I was going to buy sight unseen again I would get an assurance from the shop that the gun is in good working order and establish that I would have the right to return the gun if this turned out not to be the case. Obviously if you're buying new, you have only to choose based on your own information.

[cdf]

If Canada Customs weren't such P#$%ks I would make the trip in a heartbeat . You could probably cut a lot of your learning curve and see some pretty country on the way .

Chris

[william]

Kudos to Larry Carter www.larrysguns.com! With Don Nygord's passing Larry is probably the most successful shooter who is also a dealer: his practical knowledge is beyond reproach as are his business practices. My good luck - he's only 2 hours away.

[Steve Swartz]

Can't go wrong with either Larry or Scott . . . I have had nothing but 100% customer satisfaction from both gentlemen under a variety of my dithering, indecision, and ultimate crisis (Ship me a CM32 tommorrow!).

I am not the best customer in the world (demanding, forgetful, indecisive, you name it) but both businesses have been fantastic!

And ther are certainly a number of vendors who do not at all measure up to their standards . . .

Steve Swartz

[Gwhite]

Although trying out and examining the exact pistol you want to purchase is ideal, at a minimum you really want to see and handle a pistol of the same model. Most dealers aren't going to let you try out a new pistol by shooting it anyway. If you can find someone in your area who has the type of pistol you are interested in, I'd certainly try to examine it and if possible take a few shots with it. This gets tricky with fitted grips, because you have the added complication of trying to find someone who's hand is a similar size.

Most modern target guns are capable of superb accuracy off a rest. The trick is whether the egonomics will allow YOU to achieve that sort of accuracy. That means the grips, balance, trigger & sights have to suit YOU. Just because the top shooter uses a model X pistol doesn't mean it will shoot well for you. This is where buying a high quality target gun helps, because they will have a lot more grip sizes & adjustments available than a .22 "plinker" like a Ruger or Buckmark. The odds of finding a combination of adjustments that shoots well in your hands is greatly increased.

[Nicole Hamilton]

I've bought quite a number of guns, including both my Pardinis, my custom-built AR-15, both my Steyr airguns, my Anschutz and several others through the mail and it's worked out just fine. The market for truly fine-quality guns is really small compared to the market for 9mm Glocks, so you either rack up a lot of frequent-flyer miles or buy through the mail.

The trick is to know what you're buying before you buy it, meaning it's useful if you can find someone at your club who has one of whatever it is you're considering that you can try out (at least to dry-fire) before you decide. With a used gun, there's always some chance that the seller's idea of 99% isn't your idea of 99% but the usual solution is to ask for lots of high resolution pictures (1K x 1K or better) plus a 3-day return policy. I suppose it must happen, but I've never personally seen a case where a gun looks perfect but turns out to be junk: If someone's mistreating a gun, the first evidence is in the finish, including scratches and wear marks.

Biggest concern for most people is outright fraud: You send your money and you get a box of rocks -- or maybe nothing. To protect yourself best you can, first rule is to remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it is. (Everyone knows what guns are worth and they're easy to sell.) Never agree to pay by Western Union, no matter what the excuse. Insist on getting a phone number and then matching that number to the address you're mailing payment; you can do this at http://www.reversephonedirectory.com. (That doesn't work with cellphone numbers, but I wouldn't buy from someone that only has a cell number because of the problem of disposable phones.) If the seller claims to be an FFL, you can verify that and their address, given their FFL number, at https://www.atfonline.gov/fflezcheck.

Finally, there's just no substitute for dealing with someone who enjoys a good reputation; they're hard enough to get, that anyone who's got one isn't likely to want to jeopardize it. Unquestionably, Pilkguns falls in that category. (That's who sold me my Steyr LP-10.)

Hope this helps.

[jlochey]

Thank you Nicole for your advice.


John