Gun Show Impulse Buy - Show Yours Off

conor_90

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TLDR I bought a gun, with the forums help (read hoytcanon) we determined the gun was unsafe. I returned it.

Share your cool gun show finds from this season.
 
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That appears to be a barrel stubbed to an existing SB2 frame... much depends on what it began life as. I actually made two Handi rifle SB2 9.3X74R rifles over the years, one was a Standard model .35 Rem that I rebored and chambered and the other was a Buffalo Classic that started as a .45/70 and I stubbed to 9.3X74... in both cases the extractor functioned, the first as an original extractor/channel, the second had to be cut into the newly stubbed barrel. Your extractor woes are not a tough fix for most machinist/smiths... but you may have another issue, which your difficulty opening the rifle is a tip off to... namely a possible bent hinge pin... ask me how I know that a stiff load from the 9.3 is too much for the SB2 frame/hinge pin... (lol). My first 9.3X74R (the former .35 Rem), blew out two hinge pins before I figured out the loading, necessitating sleeving the receiver and building a new pin, which is a tricky operation to get the rifle to close and latch properly at the end of the job, usually requiring some finesse in both grinding/sanding and/or shimming. If your hinge pin is bent and the rifle is difficult to open, the release button will be tight with no play or wiggle and will usually resist being depressed, whereas there is normally a little play in the button... if this is the case, visually inspect the hinge pin and the hinge pin holes in the receiver to see if the pin is concentric and the holes are tight with no gaps and there is no play in the hinge due to a blown out receiver... then you can smoke the latch and shelf to check for proper (but not excessive) engagement. Lets start there and we can delve further once you check it over.
 
The release button goes down easily, and actually wiggles quite a bit. It even seems to be staying depressed. The strange thing is I had no issues opening it at the show.

Gun appears to be built on a topper 20 gauge.

I'm tempted to make the drive tomorrow but there is no guarantee the guy will let me return it, though he did give me a receipt.
 
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The strange thing is that the release button goes down easily, and actually wiggles quite a bit. It even seems to be staying depressed. The strange thing is I had no issues opening it at the show.

Gun appears to be built on a topper 20 gauge.

I'm tempted to make the drive tomorrow but there is no guarantee the guy will let me return it, though he did give me a receipt.

The reverse can be true, a hinge pin bent outward, cause too little play in the release button for the latch to disengage from the shelf. Hold the gun up to a bright light from the side and see if you can see light shining through between the barrel and breech face, is the light even, or showing at the top, or showing at the bottom?
 
There is a 1 cm gap at the top that is about 1mm that the light shines through.

What do you mean a 1 cm gap???

A 1 mm gap at the top would likely indicate a poorly milled barrel to breech face and/or a bent hinge pin... and the release button is probably bottoming out before you get complete latch disengagement.
 
Sorry I mean to say it is 1 cm long and 1mm wide, from the top of where the barrel meets receiver.

This doesn't seem like a great prognosis. I am going to have to gamble the gas money and entry fee on the guy who sold it not being a ####.

Thanks.
 
Sorry I mean to say it is 1 cm long and 1mm wide, from the top of where the barrel meets receiver.

This doesn't seem like a great prognosis. I am going to have to gamble the gas money and entry fee on the guy who sold it not being a ####.

Thanks.

No prob... good luck.
 
Thats a crappy deal. I have been hearing of a few bad deals at gun shows lately... Hopefully you get your money back. Was that the Penticton show? Havnt been in a few years as I never see much of interest there..
 
I guess only you and the seller know the conversation that existed before the buying/selling of the unit.
Hopefully the seller refunds your funds paid.
Find out his table number and see if you can find his full name.
Take it from there.

Good luck.

Edit to note: the entry fee I would ask for a free pass and explain you purchased a faulty rifle and wish to return it
to the seller.
Watch the sellers face when you walk up to them.
This should tell you whether they knew or not the firearm had problems.
Most can't hold a poker face.
 
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Looky I would venture this gentleman knew, a friend of mine heard him talking to another guy who had bought a rifle that had issues and he was trying to give him another rifle in better shape for it.

We talked about the gun, he certainly suggested it functioned lol. I opened it and it was a bit stiff and i looked and saw the extractor cut etc. Obviously I didn't load it being at a gun show, or the problems would have been evident.

The real piss off is the expensive box of european ammo and the return to the gunshow.

7mag DC gunshow, I thought it was actually a pretty good show. Cool to see some stores from down south there including some of favs from Calgary and Red Deer. A lot more cool big bores than down south and some actually reasonable deals. Of course the usual old scope on a new gun, marked up budget gun, super expensive short shotguns stuff.

If all goes well tomorrow this thread may be about another gunshow find that I somehow missed on my first lap.

Since it is gunshow season maybe others could share some more successful gunshow finds, I know the Calgary show is coming up here.
 
Reminder......all "gunsmiths" aren't equal, some are wizards and some are butchers. Anyone in this country can call themselves a gunsmith, there is no required certification or standard of proficiency. Add to this hundreds, probably thousands of amateurs building, modifying and working on guns, you are always taking a gamble on anonymous work.
 
Honestly in the gunshow fugue it seemed solid, I was aware of this method of putting pre-existing barrels into the handi-reciever. The other work on the rifle seemed pretty good, it wasn't a beauty queen but the additional machining on stuff like the sights and barrel band seemed solid.
 
Well best case scenario happened and I got the refund and even a refund on the ammo I bought from another vendor. Classy move from the second guy, first guy was insistent that the gun worked, I am sure that it did at some point.

I somehow ended up with another single shot conversion job but this one is based on a baikal single shot 16 gauge. It looks like the barrel has been sleeved inside the shotgun barrel for its full length giving it a heavy barrel effect which will come in handy because the gun is light enough already.

Much more professional job, it has a rail welded onto it but very well done. An old fixed 4x bushnell banner with a crosshair and post reticule on it.
 
Glad to hear you got your money back. I didn't get the whole story, you have edited your original post. I am also a fan of singles, I have 4 H&R's. Hopefully your new one works out for you. You did not mention what this one was chambered in. As to your original question, last show I was at, I was mainly looking for reloading components and came home with an Ithaca 72 lever action 22 instead.

Jim
 
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.348 win

I overpaid a bit.

I'm a sucker for oddball cartridges and and it came with dies, brass and ammo.

I think I will use it as it is currently set up. I like the takedown feature.

I'm sure some other users are finding things at these gunshows they can share with us.
 
Sounds like a good show where the vendors actually will stand behind what they sell.
I am sure you used some sugar water instead of vinegar to help smooth this transaction in your favor.
Hope the new single works out better.
Look forward to the eventual targets on load development.
Where was this show btw??
Rob
 
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