Opinion on Uberti/Stoeger 1873

[Dead Eye Raith]

I found a 73 Compitition at the pawn shop in amazing condition for $950 out the door. Should I jump on it?

[Doc Tombstone, SASS #49630]

If you are competent to tell the condition is amazing then yes.

I found a 73 at a gun show once for 500 bucks, thought well heck even if it has a few things wrong its still a good deal.

Well it cost more than 700 bucks to get that horrible thing race ready, including mailing it off to a SASS smart gunsmith.

It turned out OK but not great, so buyer beware

[J-BAR #18287]

Load up 10 dummy rounds that are the same OAL as your match ammo and make sure a full magazine will cycle ok through chambering and ejection. I had a NIB rifle from the distributor that would not chamber rounds completely, got it exchanged.

[Dead Eye Raith]

Thanks for the input pards! Will do as instructed.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Yep, lots of guns sold in pawn shops have problems that cause a normal gun shop with a gunsmith on hand to refuse to even buy, let alone sell to a customer. Pawn shops have much lower standards - all the checking will have to be on your own! If that gun has been hanging on the wall at the pawn shop for more than a week or so, several customers have probably already checked it over and passed it over.

 

Good luck, GJ

[Three Foot Johnson]

Pawn shops are a source of quick money or a quick loan, and a lot of the guns pawned are perfectly fine. Maybe the customer had no intention of selling it and had every intention of coming back for it, but life happened.

 

Seven years ago, I bought a JM Marlin 1894C .357 carbine from a pawn shop for $249. It had some cosmetic issues on one side of the receiver from laying on a towel or something and rust developing, but a perfect bore and functions fine. A year later, I found another identical JM, in essentially new condition for $374.25. Odd price, but that's what I paid. Less than 3 1/2 years ago, I found a lightly engraved .38-40 1866 SRC in a pawn shop that looked pretty decent for $625. Turns out it already had piano wire lifter/lever springs, a 3rd gen short stroke kit and a coil main spring conversion kit from Pioneer Gun Works.

 

A pawn shop rifle doesn't necessarily equate to "bad".

[Dead Eye Raith]

I ended up paying $500 and traded a mossberg 500 for it. I ran it pretty hard at the last match and the only malfunction was one I enduced. I think that I scored big on it. I absolutely love it. One of the nicest rifles I own (Prewar Winchester model 71 is the only nicer one I own.)