Buying Guns at a Public Auction?

[ASP785]

I have to echo others' sentiment. I had an employee pick up a Mossberg Ar15 this year for $1500 from an estate sale. Yikes!

 

[willystruck]

I've gotten a few good gun deals at auctions but most guns that I'm interested in bidding on start at more than my already decided on max bid.
When they start low enough for me to bid, I always shut down within a buck or 5 of my max.

 

[Peace_Maker]

I have only been to an auction that had guns for sale one time. The seller was a cowboy and selling off most of his estate after a divorce. I bought a Ruger Blackhawk for $200. The next gun was a Winchester 94 (keep in mind this was back when Winchester was still in business and you could buy 94's in Walmart). For some reason the Winchester went for over $500. The only other gun was a Taurus .38 that sold for $120. The biggest seller at that auction was some furniture he made out of old metal spoke farm equipment wheels and seats those chairs went for big money. He also sold a "trailer" that was a van with the cab cut off turned into a trailer. Really a weird auction, one guy got paid $20 to take a piano no one would bid on.

 

[AKguy1985]

usually guns at auction sell for big money.

 

[jrguns]

I have been to many auctions with guns. Even Sherriff auctions. I have gotten some great deals and have some real bargains. However these days as well as in the past I have seen guns sell for way too much. But that is the way it goes with anything at auctions. you have to go because if you do not you may miss out on that "bargain".

 

[Perplexed]

The last estate auction I attended was at a ranch near Tulsa; they had probably 60-70 firearms up for bid, laid out on a flatbed trailer. Most of the firearms were SA revolvers, lever action rifles, and hunting bolt actions and shotguns, but there was an International Harvester M1 Garand; eyeing the crowd, I figured I might have a real chance on getting it for a good price, as no one seemed to pay much attention to it. When the M1 came up for bids, someone popped up in the crowd that I recognized as a M1 nut from the gun show circuit, and he led the bidding. When it got to $1400, I dropped out, and IIRC, the final bid was $1800. For a plain-jane postage stamp IHC that you can find online for well under $1500. I've wondered what the rifle would've sold for if that fellow hadn't showed up.

 

[mugsy]

The last auction I attended was in lawton and had many guns - all in great condition - for sale. There were a few that went at reasonable prices, many that went above market price, including a bunch of 10/22's that went for around $400.00 each which astounded me since the bidders could have purchased them new at $250.00-$300.00 from gunbroker or Walmart. There were also a fair number that went for crazy high prices - well beyond anything that market pricing would suggest they are worth. The auctioneers kept playing up that "Obama doesn't have to know about these guns" and other such silly nonsense because these are, after all, just private sales the same as any other private sale - "Obama" doesn't have to know about any of them.