Man today has been great, I let my wife talk me into going garage saling with her today... I picked up an FP-45 for $5. For those who don't know, this is the stamped pistol that was dropped in France and Poland for resistance fighters during WWII. Do I feel bad about getting this so cheap, nope. The couple was in their 30s and should know to look stuff up on the internet. Not my problem if they are lazy, and no I didn't tell them either, they thought it was an old toy gun..
Clearly... they didn't understand the value of something that lacked the word "artisanal" stamped on it...
Back in the mid-nineties I was out on a Saturday with a little cash burning a hole in my pocket, normally my girlfriend and I would go out cruising the garage sales, but this particular Saturday she had to work, so I was by myself. I stopped by a sale and noticed what looked like a toy rifle on the table, I picked it up and realized it was real, a Colt AR-15, it had a mag inserted, so I pointed it at the ground dropped the mag and checked the chamber which was loaded. Cleared the chamber placed the mag on the table and asked the lady with a few children running around "how much?" Her reply was 'would you give me three hundred for it, it's my ex-husband's and I want it out of the house," I began giving it a more critical look and I assumed she thought I really wasn't interested and offered to sell it for two hundred. I only had a hundred of so in my pocket, so I handed her what I had and advised her to put the gun in the house and I will go to the bank and be back soon, to my surprise she asked me walk into the house with her, while another older, maybe her mom watched the table and children. I was suspicious, but complied, she set the AR on the living room table, went into the bedroom and I could hear things being moved around, a short time later she came out (with her clothes still on) and literally asked me to look at "what she had." On the bed was a scoped Remington 700, in pristine condition, two very small Beretta's with flip up barrels, one a .25 ACP, one a .22 rim fire, a Mossberg, which if I remember properly was a Persuader and two very nice S&W .38 revolvers, one a five shot and another a 4" six shooter. All of them loaded. She then stated she "needed twelve hundred dollars right away, could I help her out?" I asked her for a box, she dumped a pair of shoes out of a shoebox and one by one I unloaded the ammo of each firearm into the shoebox, then checked each firearm for serial numbers and all looked good, as did she. Then came the problem, my bank would only allow me to withdraw four hundred dollars per day, meaning I could only come up with five hundred thirty right away, I explained that to her and she was ecstatic and had no problem waiting until Monday, if needed. Suddenly it hit me, don't blow this deal up, do a consignment, I told her I would do my best to get the money today, but I need an hour or so, she fully agreed. Called a friend who ran long well established gun shop, literally three or so miles away, explained the inventory I had assessed and what I wanted out of it, her answer was get over here now, I have cash for the deal. But I had to close the deal, so after lunch I went back to the garage sale and made my pitch. I politely explained to the lady, she didn't know me from Jack, I could be felon looking to buy her guns to go an kill someone and once the police found out where I got them from, they would come looking for her, so to protect her and I, we needed to go to a local gun shop, where I would be required to fill out federally required forms and she would be provided with a copy of my ID and a traceable transfer receipt, indicating she transferred all of those firearms to me. She looked at me like, really, you want to do this legally and I get paid cash, lets go, I helped her load her car with the firearms, she also had me load 70 pounds of ammo her ex had stored in the closet as a bonus. She wanted it all out of her home and far, far away. I got BATF dinged for a multiple purchase, but nothing came out of it.
I will say that I didn't even own this for a full day. A friend of mine who is also a collector, he dpecialspzes in military weapons and accoutriment, traded me for a Winchester Mdl 71 deluxe takedown, now my Winchester lever action is complete. We're both happy, and I got a $1200 Winchester for $5.
