had a very smmoth and pleasant transaction with Shawn today. Good guy to deal with, will do more business with him.
I had an FTF with Skruball over the weekend. There was some good and some bad.
The good: He was very communicative throughout the process which I love when dealing with a sale/purchase. Responsive to messages via text. I made quite a drive to get the item I bought from him.
The bad: The sale ad stated "Only shot 1 box of shells, looking to clear out some space in the safe and never shoot it." Which would lead one to believe that A. The gun has only ever had 25 rounds through it, and B. It remained in a safe pretty much the rest of it's life. Upon initial inspection in a dark parking lot it seemed to be in good condition, and it is in decent condition. There is nothing "wrong" with the item per se. However when I took it home and detail stripped it I find it VERY hard to believe that there was only one box of shells through this gun and then it just sat in a safe the rest of it's life. Pics or it didn't happen right?
Here is what the carrier looked like on the wear surfaces.
I supposed the carrier finish in the contact areas could have worn from lots of racking the action manually. It's not like the surfaces are full on polished and clearly the round count on this gun isn't high, but I have a really hard time believing its 25, which is one box of shells by common standards.
The carrier wear isn't what drives me to arrive at this conclusion in and of itself though. What more drives me to the conclusion is the sand I found in the stock between the recoil system and the buttpad, the surface rust on the barrel band that connects it to the magtube, and the amount of filth in the action.
Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to document this until after I had already cleaned it because the more I tore into it the more disappointed I became. This paper towel was the first one of about 12+ I used to wipe down the internals. If you look at the upper right quadrant in the lower right (of that quadrant) you can maybe tell where I used it to wipe the barrel band that held the mag tube. You can see the brown(as opposed to the black that is typical gun grime everywhere else) that was the surface rust. After finding this on basic disassembly I detail stripped everything but the trigger group, only because I didn't feel like getting into it all but it needs a good cleaning too. I'm not sure there is any way you could convince me this gun only had one box of shells through it and sat in a safe the rest of it's life.
Maybe it might be more accurate to say "Hey guys, I bought this gun used and I've only shot 25 rounds through it, actual round count unknown but appears to be in good condition internally." Maybe it was shot very little and spent the rest of it's life as a back up gun that still got toted into the blinds on every trip. Maybe serving as the backup gun it also did a tour of duty as a boat oar, I dont know. But it certainly did more than go bang one afternoon on the range and then get put away which is kind of what the sale post would lead you to believe.
So basically, he's a nice guy and was pleasant to deal with but I feel his product was mis-represented depending on what the actual history of the gun is. So if you plan to buy from him just inspect whatever it is you are buying very carefully.
The good: He was very communicative throughout the process which I love when dealing with a sale/purchase. Responsive to messages via text. I made quite a drive to get the item I bought from him.
The bad: The sale ad stated "Only shot 1 box of shells, looking to clear out some space in the safe and never shoot it." Which would lead one to believe that A. The gun has only ever had 25 rounds through it, and B. It remained in a safe pretty much the rest of it's life. Upon initial inspection in a dark parking lot it seemed to be in good condition, and it is in decent condition. There is nothing "wrong" with the item per se. However when I took it home and detail stripped it I find it VERY hard to believe that there was only one box of shells through this gun and then it just sat in a safe the rest of it's life. Pics or it didn't happen right?
Here is what the carrier looked like on the wear surfaces.
I supposed the carrier finish in the contact areas could have worn from lots of racking the action manually. It's not like the surfaces are full on polished and clearly the round count on this gun isn't high, but I have a really hard time believing its 25, which is one box of shells by common standards.
The carrier wear isn't what drives me to arrive at this conclusion in and of itself though. What more drives me to the conclusion is the sand I found in the stock between the recoil system and the buttpad, the surface rust on the barrel band that connects it to the magtube, and the amount of filth in the action.
Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to document this until after I had already cleaned it because the more I tore into it the more disappointed I became. This paper towel was the first one of about 12+ I used to wipe down the internals. If you look at the upper right quadrant in the lower right (of that quadrant) you can maybe tell where I used it to wipe the barrel band that held the mag tube. You can see the brown(as opposed to the black that is typical gun grime everywhere else) that was the surface rust. After finding this on basic disassembly I detail stripped everything but the trigger group, only because I didn't feel like getting into it all but it needs a good cleaning too. I'm not sure there is any way you could convince me this gun only had one box of shells through it and sat in a safe the rest of it's life.
Maybe it might be more accurate to say "Hey guys, I bought this gun used and I've only shot 25 rounds through it, actual round count unknown but appears to be in good condition internally." Maybe it was shot very little and spent the rest of it's life as a back up gun that still got toted into the blinds on every trip. Maybe serving as the backup gun it also did a tour of duty as a boat oar, I dont know. But it certainly did more than go bang one afternoon on the range and then get put away which is kind of what the sale post would lead you to believe.
So basically, he's a nice guy and was pleasant to deal with but I feel his product was mis-represented depending on what the actual history of the gun is. So if you plan to buy from him just inspect whatever it is you are buying very carefully.
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