Pawn Shop Circuit: Spotted Dog
I was driving out to see an old friend this afternoon when I found myself passing by The Spotted Dog sporting goods and pawn emporium. 
I decided to take a peek inside.
Along the South wall, I found a 30 foot counter of new handguns, three tier shelves under glass brimming with fine ordnance. The sales staff seemed to be rather young and inexperienced, with a grizzled gunsmith busily mounting a scope in the rear. I was asked twice if I needed any help as I scanned the racks. I found everything from a Kimber Warrior to a Bond derringer. Of interest was a Colt Defender.
The Colt Defender, alas, was a new pistol, priced at $849. That is an OK price, although I've seen better at gunshows here. It was one of the older Defenders with the swept back Novak style rear sight. I've thought about acquiring one, but have always held off. It's a sweet pistol, but anything it can do, my Colt Compact can do better. Never the less, the lightweight Defender is attractive......At the right price.
Interspersed among the new handguns, categorized by types, was my meat, the used guns. A used Colt XSE Government was present among the used stock. It was in good shape, and came with an extra magazine. It too, was priced at $849, and I knew I could find it for a hundred dollars less at the next gunshow as well.
Finally, among the revolvers, mostly Taurus, I spied old iron.
The finish was AWOL on an old Smith & Wesson Regulation Police revolver. It did have the original grips though. Based on the I frame, the Regulation Police was a .38S&W with five holes in the cylinder. The old gal was more out of time than Tookie Williams. The finish was so poor that even a junk collector would carry it concealed. I had a young salesman ask me if I was interested in one of the Taurus revolvers.
"Not really. What's the price on that old girl?" I inquired.
He flipped the tag. $299. Unbelievable. I suppose the owner and staff expected every gun customer to haggle, and was hedging his bet with the first bid. Unfortunately, I could not even ante up in his game of gun counter poker.
I put my hands back in my pockets and went to see if they had a decent dog collar for Ilsa. They didn't. I left to go visit my friend.
I decided to take a peek inside. Along the South wall, I found a 30 foot counter of new handguns, three tier shelves under glass brimming with fine ordnance. The sales staff seemed to be rather young and inexperienced, with a grizzled gunsmith busily mounting a scope in the rear. I was asked twice if I needed any help as I scanned the racks. I found everything from a Kimber Warrior to a Bond derringer. Of interest was a Colt Defender.
The Colt Defender, alas, was a new pistol, priced at $849. That is an OK price, although I've seen better at gunshows here. It was one of the older Defenders with the swept back Novak style rear sight. I've thought about acquiring one, but have always held off. It's a sweet pistol, but anything it can do, my Colt Compact can do better. Never the less, the lightweight Defender is attractive......At the right price.
Interspersed among the new handguns, categorized by types, was my meat, the used guns. A used Colt XSE Government was present among the used stock. It was in good shape, and came with an extra magazine. It too, was priced at $849, and I knew I could find it for a hundred dollars less at the next gunshow as well.
Finally, among the revolvers, mostly Taurus, I spied old iron.
The finish was AWOL on an old Smith & Wesson Regulation Police revolver. It did have the original grips though. Based on the I frame, the Regulation Police was a .38S&W with five holes in the cylinder. The old gal was more out of time than Tookie Williams. The finish was so poor that even a junk collector would carry it concealed. I had a young salesman ask me if I was interested in one of the Taurus revolvers."Not really. What's the price on that old girl?" I inquired.
He flipped the tag. $299. Unbelievable. I suppose the owner and staff expected every gun customer to haggle, and was hedging his bet with the first bid. Unfortunately, I could not even ante up in his game of gun counter poker.
I put my hands back in my pockets and went to see if they had a decent dog collar for Ilsa. They didn't. I left to go visit my friend.
Labels: Pawn Shop Circuit
posted by Xavier at 4:13 PM
6 Comments:
Oh, you found a new museum, huh?
At least the browsing was modestly interesting.
Regards,
Rabbit.
I wish we had your selection of pawn shops around here. The one shop I have in town just has ragged out overpriced power tools in it. I checked out the Colt Defender when it was new. The owner of the gun shop let me look at it and priced it at $650. I thought then that it was one of the nicer CCW 45s.
Xavier,
I really enjoy your posts, and learn a lot. Recently I encountered a gentleman trying to break into my home. Fortunately nothing happened to me. I was in a t-shirt, shorts, bare foot, and no cell phone on me when I walk outside and interrupted his entry into my home with a half-log-splitter-half-mallet.
As a 48 year old with limited gun use, what gun would you recommend as a good entry level gun?
Thank you, and I look forward to your reply.
T.
T,
I have always considered a .22 pistol to be the best entry level handgun. The reason is simple. It helps in building marksmanship. without marksmanship, a handgun is useless.
For home protection, I recommend a 12 gauge shotgun with a 18.5 inch barrel. The effects are devastating and quick, although there are a lot of myths about the shotgun for home defense. Just do a search here to find my thoughts on that issue.
For a first time home defense HANDGun, assuming marksmanship is not an issue, it's hard to beat the venerable S&W Model 10. It's reliable, and with +P rounds, quite effective. They can be found used almost anywhere for around $200.
Of course, a log splitter/mallet is quite effective as well. It's the willingness to use the tool that makes the difference, not the tool itself.
XB
$299?!?
No fool is that greater.
I have a soft heart when it comes to half-dead prewar I-frames, having more than once paid more than they were worth to rescue one, but wow.
hi, xavier: thought this ebay auction would be of interest to you; 120181667113 if I were still in the pawn/gun business, I would buy it...better hurry before the pathetic panderers pull it from the site! jtc
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