[El_Perdido]

Got this one on sunday morning at the gunshow. A guy and his wife had brought it in to sell. They wanted 2 bills for it and had not been offered anything close to 2. They were tired of walking it around. I checked it out. It was a combo gun.Rifle had a 3X9X32 Tasco on it, spare 20 ga. barrel, and a zipper bag to hold it all when it was broken down. Guy said he had been offered a hundred for it, but could live with 180 just to get out of there. Wife was kinda pizzed cause she had seen one on a table nearby for 350. Told her that was just gunshow B.S. prices. Real price at Academy last time I checked was in the 250-3 bill range, but I wouldn't give the price of a new one. Threw a 125 figure at them.

Well the guy said that he had bought it new a few years back and could never get it to shoot in the same place twice. It had been put up 5 years before and the shotgun barrel was never fired. He might just take it home. I told the guy 150 then. He said 160 or nothing. Wife agreed. Sold to me.



Checked the gun this morning. Problem was obvious. I could turn the scope clamp scews with my fingers. Not great for accuracy. Also the elevation turret was on the left and being used as the windage, windage turret was on top and being used as the elevation. Got all the base screws tight, ring clamps tight and scope adjusted to my eye relief. It was a nice clean gun. Got some of my 55 gr. FMJ reloads that I use in my ARs and bore sighted it at 25 yds. Then I sent 4 rounds downrange at 25 yds to fine tune it. It was kinda rainy. Sunny on Wed. So, I might try it at 100 yds. Here is the 25 yard target. Gun is set @ 1" lbelow P.O.A. Should be near zero at 100.

 

[CreekFisher]

Nice Score!

 

[Fishinkeylargo]

Cool, my son wants one in .410/.22lr.

 

[El_Perdido]

Cool, my son wants one in .410/.22lr.

That combo flies off the rack at Wally World as soon as they get them.

 

[NativeTexan]

Good find! I hear Rossi is discontinuing their single shots, just rumor, not for sure, but glad you got it when you did!

 

[kruizer]

Congrats on your new to you Handi Rifle.

 

[gwpercle]

Sweet combo !
Some times it's not who you know, but what you know ! Knowing something about guns and scopes got you a deal on a gun that " wouldn't hit in the same place twice" Way to go! Post those 100 yard targets when you get them.
I've always wanted one of those combo's...they seem like such a good survival idea and I like single shots anyway.

Gary

 

[NativeTexan]

Yeah, there's no end to stupid people in the gun world. Case in point, my 3" Taurus 66. I was looking for a 3" 6 shot revolver in particular at a gun show, knew the Smith K frames were rare and expensive in the barrel length, found the Taurus used on a table of lots of revolvers. Looked at it, cylinder had lots of play and timing was WAY off. On opening, it would interfere with the forcing cone when I tried to close it, crane was loose. As I checked it, the owner watched. He wanted 200 bucks for it, low enough price, but I told him the maladies I saw in it and that I didn't know if I could save it. I know full well, though, that I could sent it back to Taurus if my suspicions proved false.

I offered the guy 160 bucks for it, we settled on 180. Got it home and pulled the side plate off. Noticed he had the LONG screw, which impinges on the crane to hold it in place, in the wrong hole! I cleaned up the innards and put it back together with the right screws in the right holds and it locked up tight and timing was perfect and the cylinder no longer hit the forcing cone when closing. THAT is all that was wrong with this revolver. The 3" barrel made the gun highly desirable otherwise.

Yep, if you know a little, don't have to be a gunsmith, just know SOMETHING about firearms, you can often fine gems at the gun shows.

 

[El_Perdido]

Yeah, there's no end to stupid people in the gun world. Case in point, my 3" Taurus 66. I was looking for a 3" 6 shot revolver in particular at a gun show, knew the Smith K frames were rare and expensive in the barrel length, found the Taurus used on a table of lots of revolvers. Looked at it, cylinder had lots of play and timing was WAY off. On opening, it would interfere with the forcing cone when I tried to close it, crane was loose. As I checked it, the owner watched. He wanted 200 bucks for it, low enough price, but I told him the maladies I saw in it and that I didn't know if I could save it. I know full well, though, that I could sent it back to Taurus if my suspicions proved false.

I offered the guy 160 bucks for it, we settled on 180. Got it home and pulled the side plate off. Noticed he had the LONG screw, which impinges on the crane to hold it in place, in the wrong hole! I cleaned up the innards and put it back together with the right screws in the right holds and it locked up tight and timing was perfect and the cylinder no longer hit the forcing cone when closing. THAT is all that was wrong with this revolver. The 3" barrel made the gun highly desirable otherwise.

Yep, if you know a little, don't have to be a gunsmith, just know SOMETHING about firearms, you can often fine gems at the gun shows.

Reminds me of 3 S&W revolvers I fixed quick. At least I managed to snag 2 of them cheap cause I knew the conditionthey had was just an adjustment problem usually caused by lazy, so called, gunsmiths. 2 of the guns were beater 6 shot K frames in .38 cal. One of the old "tricks" used by gunsmiths to quickly lighten a trigger on these guns is to loosen the screw on the front side of the grip frame that puts tension on the hammer spring. Problem with that is that sometimes they go too far and the screw backs out more, to the point of throwing the gun kinda out of time and also causing misfires from light hammer strikes. Got both of those guns cheap cause the owners had taken then to get the triggers lightened and eventually started having problems. Gave 40 bucks for one and got the other thrown in as boot on a 2 for one gun swap. Once I had made the deal, I would just pull out a screw driver and tighten the screw and the guns would start working. Then the ex-owners would get kinda pizzed. But a deal was a deal. Got what those 2 guns were really worth.

The 3rd one was the one I wanted the most. I had stopped an old couple to check a gun bag they had. It contained an original .22 caliber "Lady Smith" from back in the 20s. It had most of the finish. As soon as I cocked the gun, I knew what was wrong with it and asked if they wanted to sell it, cheap of course. They said the lady's grandfather had left it to her and they would not sell it. They explained the old man had taken it to a "real" gunsmith to have the trigger lightened sometime before WWII and the gun started misfiring a few years later. He had assumed it was just worn out and put it away.Old guyhad no other grandkids so he left it to grand daughter. She had it as a keepsake since the 70s and knda wanted to get it fixed, but no one would work on it. But, everyone wanted to BUY it. Of course, so did I. She did not even know what it was worth. I offered her enough to buy a new Taurus .38 snub and she refused. She said she would just keep it as a keepsake from her grandad. Told her I could fix it if she wanted. I hated to see the gun like that. Many of the small frame original Lady Smiths did not survive cause of years of use and the small frail parts in ithem.

So, she asked if she had to leave the gun at my shop. Told her I had no shop. I was just a gun hack. i could fix her gun right now for nothing. She was kinda reluctant to believe me. Told her what I had to do. They both did not believe me. So, I took the screwdriver out and tightened the mainspring ension screw. Gun snapped right up and started working right. They were kinda shocked cause no one would even work on it. I told them that most gun hacks know that trick and they would rather buy the old broken gun and fix it, keep it or sell it for alot of $. They were so [email protected] happy grandpa's old gun worked they offered to buy me lunch. Told them I could not leave the show cause I had more naive people to scam. I just had to do it. I could not let that rare little gun go like that. I pulled out 5 C notes and stuck it in their faces. Told them I would take it home and stick it in my safe till my dying day. She still refused. and told the husband to give me a 20 for lunch. Well, told my son to take it for his help getting the screw driver. I kept waving the 5 bills at them and ws fixing to kneel and beg, but decided I would attract too much attention and look a bit foolish. I kinda wanted to weep as they left, but held back. My son said, "Dad ya can't get them all. At least you make them happyand you sold them KNOWLEDGE!. That made me feel good cause I always thought my wife and kids thought of me as a heartless gun grabbing, scamming, jerk. But, I still wanted that [email protected] little gun!

Oh well, can't snag'em all. I tried. I had never offered that much for anything. I broke my "don't pay more than 3 bills for anything good rule." But, I did get the other 2 last year and they afre gone now. More of them out there anyway.

 

[El_Perdido]

O.K. i'll admit it. I will even go as far as disabling a wweapon in a pawn shop so it won't work and they can't sell it. When the price goes down, I can get it cheap. Alot of bolt rifles are easy. If ya know how to lower the stiker while the bolt is pulled back, the bolt will not close and lock in the action untill the striker is manually cocked again. Doing that isn't real easy.

Biggest problem is the big chain pawn shops won't sell a broke one due to liability problems. Most of them have gunsmiths too. So, I hit smaller places that let ya browse the rack without someone watching ya.

Too bad, fugged up gun. Lower the price cause no one will buy it, except me. What a jerk!! Right?

 

[NativeTexan]

Well, I would never sabotage a gun at a pawn shop to get a good deal. But, if there's something wrong with it that I think I can figure out, i'll buy it. I bought a Beretta Minx off a buddy that was a jammomatic. I thought I could fix it, he didn't want it. I gave him a C note. Been anyone else, I'd not gone over 50 bucks. LOL Well, I never did get that POS to feed proper OR to fire reliably. So, I took it to a gun show and a gun dealer offered me 130 bucks straight out, no haggle. I'd have taken a loss.

So, I've not messed with that design, which includes the Taurus PT22/25, since. The tip up idea is great, but not at the loss of the extractor. I've been tempted to try a Taurus PT22, though, as they go for under 200 at Academy, but I just really don't need one and I'm still wary of the design.

 

[TheOldRedneck]

The forend screw needs to be tightened the same when you change barrels to keep zero. They are usually accurate. The 3 barrel set with shotgun, 243 and 22 rim fire barrels have been popular with some friends. They make good first guns for grandkids and cover the full range of game in this area.

 

[YOT]

Got this one on sunday morning at the gunshow. A guy and his wife had brought it in to sell. They wanted 2 bills for it and had not been offered anything close to 2. They were tired of walking it around. I checked it out. It was a combo gun.Rifle had a 3X9X32 Tasco on it, spare 20 ga. barrel, and a zipper bag to hold it all when it was broken down. Guy said he had been offered a hundred for it, but could live with 180 just to get out of there. Wife was kinda pizzed cause she had seen one on a table nearby for 350. Told her that was just gunshow B.S. prices. Real price at Academy last time I checked was in the 250-3 bill range, but I wouldn't give the price of a new one. Threw a 125 figure at them.

Well the guy said that he had bought it new a few years back and could never get it to shoot in the same place twice. It had been put up 5 years before and the shotgun barrel was never fired. He might just take it home. I told the guy 150 then. He said 160 or nothing. Wife agreed. Sold to me.



Checked the gun this morning. Problem was obvious. I could turn the scope clamp scews with my fingers. Not great for accuracy. Also the elevation turret was on the left and being used as the windage, windage turret was on top and being used as the elevation. Got all the base screws tight, ring clamps tight and scope adjusted to my eye relief. It was a nice clean gun. Got some of my 55 gr. FMJ reloads that I use in my ARs and bore sighted it at 25 yds. Then I sent 4 rounds downrange at 25 yds to fine tune it. It was kinda rainy. Sunny on Wed. So, I might try it at 100 yds. Here is the 25 yard target. Gun is set @ 1" lbelow P.O.A. Should be near zero at 100.

Nice score. That's a nice little game getter.

Sighting in.... If you group 1.6" high of POA at 100 yards it will be a 200 yard zero, and just about 7.5" low at 300. That's for a 55gr. bullet at 3150 FPS, not considering other variables.

 

[El_Perdido]

Nice score. That's a nice little game getter.

Sighting in.... If you group 1.6" high of POA at 100 yards it will be a 200 yard zero, and just about 7.5" low at 300. That's for a 55gr. bullet at 3150 FPS, not considering other variables.

That's @ where I expect to set it. Doesn't make alot of difference anyway. I am too blind to see anything small passed 50 yds or anything large passed 100.