Pawn shop carbines

Visiting my Mother in Law here in Central Alabama. Went into one of the area Pawn Shops and ran into 2 Carbines for sale. One of them was a Rockola 4.6 with a Blue Sky barrel and the other was a 1.9 Standard Products. Rockola barrel guaged a 3.0 and bolt wouldnt close on No-Go Guage. It was a clean gun but the Barrel was a turnoff. The guy said he would let it go for $595.00. The Standard Products had a SA replacement barrel that guaged 1.5., and also headspaced OK. It was clean also (Potbelly Stock). The Rockola had a very nice IO stock. The owner said let me show you what I have, and went into the back and came out with a Winchester! It looked very nice, had "EW" safety and he said he thought all the parts were there. I guess there are quite a few running through shops here in Alabama. He siad he gets them in pretty regularly. Just a little Info during my visit here. I think he wanted like $700.00 for the Standard Products. By the way, he said the Winchester was his and not for sale.

Rusty,
As you already know....... It's nice to know the gang from the Bhama area. Many carbines in the area and great guys to boot.
Was your heart pounding waiting on him to show you what he had in back?

Enjoy yourself and have a safe trip back home.

Charlie-painter777

What town? I visit Boaz, Huntsville, Gadsden etc a few times a year.

Downtown Jasper, AL

Most of the pawn shops in the ST Louis area (and Alton IL across the river have stupid high prices on firearms. One had a Blue Sky for $850, and a import Winchester for over $1,000! They sell used guns for more than new retail! People still buy them, because they figure it is a pawn shop, so it must be a good deal!!!

You have to really Haggle with them, if it is something you want. Yea if you look around at everything, some of the stuff they have is marked higher than new prices. Matter of fact when I go to Huntsville, Al tomorrow I plan on doing some Haggleing of my own. You hear that PBI - LOL.

For those that never get the joy of the experience of walking into a Pawn Shop and spying that "something special", that makes your heart race just a little bit, you need to try it! Not quiet as difficult as a needle in a hay stack, but close sometimes. It is the garage sale, flea market and junk shop rolled into a guys kinda store.

I have realized some GREAT buys at Pawn shops. BUT, I have just as many times seen things at ridiculous prices. Haggling is expected, so by all means, give it your best shot. But sometimes the shop just places too much value on a particular piece for SOME reason. I think they must have regular customers that they figure will pay their price because they have deeper pockets than most, so they set the price high.

I also believe the man setting the prices has his own prejudices and some things come in he either does not have a great interest in, or does not bother to research too deeply. It is the nuance's that can make hundreds of dollars worth of difference. Pawn Owners can't know everything about everything! Ever watch Pawn Stars? The guy calls in "experts" all the time. I would suspect many pawn shops never call in any experts.

My favorite buys have been 2 very nice AR-180s that came with a load of magazines each rifle. The rifles were already reasonably priced (especially when you added up the value of the mags), but I managed to convince the shops both times that I could only pay a somewhat lower amount and they bit both times! So many people walk in and have no idea about 180s. It is fun to treasure hunt!