Do you clean a gun before selling it?

[Playboypenguin]

I have never understood people that trade-in or sell dirty guns. You will always have an easier time selling a clean and well maintained gun. When I sell a gun it looks like new. I clean it, tighten it up, buff out any blemishes, etc.

 

[Rich Miranda]

Err...no...what are you thinking???

The logical analogy would actually be washing the car before you sold it.

The only way your analogy works would be if the thread was about cleaning the gun you just sold for the person you sold it to, after money changed hands

Chris, your first mistake was assuming that I use logic.

Yeah, I guess my logic was off OTOH, I was not trying to make a true analogy, just make a point about it being a waste of time.

Of the three guns I have sold, they have been offered for sale as-is and I never had someone turn it down for being dirty. If the guns are selling and no one's complaining, I'm not inclined to clean the gun prior to sale.

I think what factors most into my thought-process (I'm trying to avoid using the word 'logic'....) is that I don't have a problem with buying/getting a dirty gun, so I don't have a problem selling a dirty gun.

Yes, it would be the NICE thing to do, I admit. But a gun is going to get dirty and need cleaning probably hundreds of times over its lifetime. What difference does it make if it's cleaned this once?

As I said, yes, it's the nice thing to do, and if I were a business, I'd do it, but I'm not and I don't.

Also, I highly doubt that very many people who, like me, don't clean the guns prior to sale, will respond to this thread. That'd be like asking "Do you wash your hands after you use the bathroom?" and then waiting for all the folks who don't to show up and admit it.

Darnit! Another analogy!

 

[ssilicon]

I would clean the gun up at least to the level that I would clean it for my own use. The main reason being the same as you would clean up a car you were trying to sell. You'll command a higher price. I do not believe in the notion that you somehow "owe" a potential buyer a cleaning. When you sell an item and they can inspect it or you do not misrepresent it, then they can agree or not agree to pay for it. Just my view.

 

[Shane Tuttle]

Am I too anal? Too eager to please? Too.......something?

You're asking an overly anal OCD sufferer if you're too anal?

I'm the same way as you. Must be an Iowa thing...

I do have to take it one step further, though. When I sold my P95 to my buddy, I had all the springs, pins, etc. replaced. I wanted to make sure he didn't have to do anything to it. That's just me...

 

[dabigguns357]

hey tuttle8 i did the same thing when i sold my 4046,it wasn't that much and now he'll have a nice gun for a long time.

 

[Shane Tuttle]

hey tuttle8 i did the same thing when i sold my 4046,it wasn't that much and now he'll have a nice gun for a long time.

Hope someday someone will return the favor for you. Kharma does have its way of coming around in good ways, too...

 

[Whiteboy67]

Why would someone NOT clean a gun before selling it? Imo, I wouldn't buy a dirty gun from someone as it just shows they don't care enough about a gun to take care of it. Who knows what could be wrong with it? It also could be an amazing gun but I still wouldn't buy it from the person.

 

[B.N.Real]

If I want a good buck for it-heck yea!

 

[WIN71]

Depends

On whether or not the throat is eroded. Old pawn shop trick......................and it happened to me. Once

 

[ksstargazer]

I like dirty guns as I can use this as an excuse to lower the price.

 

[googabeest]

I've never had to sell a gun (bought my first in 2004 and now have about 1/2 dozen), though I always give them a good cleaning after a shooting session, so they'd be pretty clean already if I were to sell one. I'd certainly at least give'em a good inspection and once-over with some patches if I were gonna sell. Unless the buyer has a test firing at the range or someplace and takes it home with him. Then the cleaning's on him.

I think it'd be foolish not to clean one up before a sale though. That would indicate to me that the seller didn't take particularly good care of it, and that would certainly effect what I was willing to pay.

 

[Russ5924]

A few years ago bought a Ruger Blackhawk SS. When I first looked at it I thought it was blued. If not for the price of $200 I would have walked away. Got it home took about two hours of cleaning,the crud was built up so thick under the top strap I had to use a razor blade to scrape the most off. After getting it clean there was a pretty nice gun under all that dirt I don't have to clean my guns before selling they are already clean and I rarely ever sell a gun anyway

 

[Hardtarget]

Grymster!...I would actually like to see one of those guns! I've NEVER heard of anything recieving that much abuse!

A cleaned gun before selling?....that's how I would do it...if I ever sold a gun. I've never let one get away. If it comes home with me, it stays.

Mark

 

[JKHolman]

Just like a previous poster, once I put a firearm up for sale it is not fired. One time I had an SPF, but could not recall the position of the gas adjuster since I last cleaned it. I fired a few rounds to confirm the proper operation of the gas operation, then I promptly cleaned it before mailing to the buyer.
/// Like many of you, I have taken home firearms that once dismantled, proved missing a last cleaning from the previous owner. Robert House of the Virginia Beach store has his firearms cleaned before they go up for sale. Same thing for Southern Gun Works in Suffolk. Since I am going to take the firearm apart when I get home, cleaning it is not that big a thing, but it does say something about a person.

- JKHolman

 

[john in jax]

Yes!

It's that whole do unto others . . . thing.

 

[scorpion_tyr]

I don't have any intentions on selling any of mine, but before I sold it I would clean it pretty good... maybe even better than any time I owned it.

 

[Don P]

Absolutely What goes around, comes around. Good karma is a great thing. It also shows you are a gun person and not some nit whit selling off a gun just because. Common courtesy to ones fellow man.

 

[smoakingun]

this discussion seems a bit senseless, if you clean your guns after you use them, there should be no reason to clean them before a sale, save for a quick wipe down should there be any dust on them. as for purchasing a dirty firearm, odds are that if it is dirty when you buy it, the previous owner cleans his guns like you do

 

[scorpion_tyr]

I kind of like buying dirty used guns. It's easier to talk them down on the price. Especially if it's a pawn shop or somewhere that doesn't make most of their money from gun sales. Tell them you'll buy it if they clean it up really good first, if not they'll have to take a few bucks off the asking price. Most of the time their too lazy to clean it up

 

[OhioAAA]

I enjoy cleaning my guns and I usually clean them after each range session regardless the number of the rounds fired.

All my guns get the same treatment and that includes the one I am selling. If you are buying a gun from me, it is very likely that they were cleaned and put away after their last range session. I won't clean them again prior the transaction, but I do make sure that they are in good shape mechanically.