" . . . rumors ShotGun news guns are junk??"
Shotgun News is a periodical whose reason for being is to sell ads, both classified and commercial. Practically anyone with anything even vaguely related to shooting may buy advertising space. The publishers have practically no responsibility to back up anything offered for sale in their pages. They do, or at least used to, publish uniform grading standards for used firearms, based on the NRA standards.
Any time you order anything sight unseen, there is an element of risk. There is some protection aginst fraudulent offers, true, but mainly, it's a matter of "Buyer Beware." When dealing with commercial firms, the buyer's main protection, though, is the seller's reputation. There have been some misleading and untrue offers made in
Shotgun News, but overall, most dealings are pretty fair. We must realize, though, that no seller advertises except for the purpose of making at least some money.
Many advertisers have bought
SGN ads for many years, and presumably stay around because people buy their goods and are content with the results. JG has been in business for decades, largely selling agency trade-in firearms. They have advertised in
SGN for most of that time. It is in their interest to keep their customers satisfied, and this generally means good merchandise for reasonable prices. They have a good reputation for "making good" when the inevitable minor misunderstandings occur. JG's ads for used merchandise usually contain accurate descriptions of the goods. It is inefficient and poor business practice to offer, say, S&W Model 10s in "Very Good to Excellent condition" if they are only "Fair" to "Good." One, it costs time and shipping to make exchanges or refunds, and two, word gets around if they overstate condition. If anything, they frequently underrate condition.
Look at the JG Sales the ad at - -
http://www.jgsales.com/index.php/handguns/s-w-revolvers/cPath/16_17
The item,
"S&W Model 10, 38spl caliber, 4" heavy bbl, round butt. G-VG" will always be in good working condition with a lot of factory finish on it. It will likely show significant exterior wear from being carried in a holster - - It's a trade-in, after all -- some were in service for several years and carried LOT. SOME may have been in the final group issued before the type was phased out, or were issued to cops who carried a personal weapon, leaving the issue piece home, and these might actually be VG to Excellent. But any one JG ships will meet minimun standards -- or else they'll have to make it good. Their display ads in SGN and on the 'Net show the current offers, but their BEST advertising is from satisfied buyers. (See post #2 above.)
Best of luck to you-
Johnny
