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To: Dog Gone
Does Florida allow gun shows? There is no better place to see what's out there and actually hold it.

The prices can't be beat, either. New or used.

As an avid gun show follower, I agree totally with you. However, I would like to raise a note of caution. And that is the buyer of used firearms needs to beware and understand what he or she is buying.

At the shows I go to I have seen more 38 S&W pistols offered for sale at great prices to people who have no idea how hard it is to get ammo for that anemic cartridge. At the gun range last weekend, a guy bought some 38 Special ammo and then came back saying it wouldn't fit in his revolver. The Rangemaster gave him his money back on the ammo.

I consider myself knowledgable about firearms, but I have actually purchased a used handgun with a safety that didn't totally work right, only to discover much later that I needed to buy some expensive and hard to find parts to make it work as it should. When I examined it at the show and tried the safety everything seemed to work OK.

Some firearms I would have no hesitation in buying used, after I have sat down and carefully examined them looking at all the moving pieces and carefully working the action, safety, etc. Somethings, it is hard to tell until you actually get a handgun to the range, like if the magazine tends to do a bad job of feeding bullets in a semi-automatic and needs to have the feedramp or "lips" adjusted. The gun shows I go to forbid live ammo from being worked in an action and I don't have a handfull of inert rounds.

That is why once you make that purchase you need to really practice with your firearm of choice. At the range I am a member at, the Rangemaster said last weekend that one should fire at least 200 rounds of the same kind of ammo one would use for defence purposes in a semi-automatic to get an "idea" of if there are any reliability problems. Part of why I go to gun shows is so that I can buy my ammo at a discount to allow me to practice at the range.

31 posted on 11/27/2001 9:46:11 AM PST by Robert357
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To: Robert357
Good advice. Not having the best technical knowledge of handguns, I personally would not buy a used semi-auto pistol, unless I knew the person selling it. I have bought used revolvers because there just isn't as much that can be wrong with them. You dont have to worry about mag feed problems or faulty pins.
53 posted on 11/27/2001 10:34:14 AM PST by FreeTally
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