Gun-Buying Tips For First-Time Gun-Buyers, Firearm Enthusiasts, and You

In Macon, gun store prices are usu­al­ly high­er than what you will pay at Howard’s Pawn and Jew­el­ry. Not hav­ing this infor­ma­tion, rather than shop at Howard’s to get the best deal, the first-time gun often buy­ers pay full price. But, pay­ing retail prices is not only for first-timers. In fact, the num­ber of weapons you have has noth­ing to do with how much you will pay for the next firearm you buy. Or does it? 

The answer is yes, and no. Allow me to explain. Among gun-buy­ers, as with any group, some pay less, and some pay more. Bar­gain hunters are look­ing for deals, retail shop­pers are pay­ing full price, and oth­ers like good deals, but do not look for them. So, does the way peo­ple shop have any­thing to do with the num­ber of guns they end up owning?

Hon­est­ly, I have no idea. But, what I do know is that gun own­ers share tips and rec­om­men­da­tions. From their favorite out­door shoot­ing range to gun safe­ty to their top picks for home defense, the tips and tricks flow freely in this com­mu­ni­ty. As a result, you hear more tips, the longer you spend there. Some of the best tips shared are gun-buy­ing tips. Here we are shar­ing the best advice on buy­ing guns. In Macon, gun buy­ing is an every­day top­ic of con­ver­sa­tion, so there is no short­age of great tips to share.

Tip 1: Buy Used Guns

Some­times buy­ing a used gun makes sense. In case you did not know, in Macon, guns are for sale, both new and used. With most firearms, the con­di­tion deter­mines val­ue. If you are search­ing for a gun val­ue grad­ing sys­tem, you will find plen­ty. Guns Digest and the Nation­al Rifle Asso­ci­a­tion have devel­oped con­di­tion guide­lines. Although each method has its nuances, our sec­ond tip for gun-buy­ers is to under­stand these terms.

Gun Condition Terms to Know

Fac­to­ry New, As New, Per­fect, and New In Box (NIB) all refer to new, nev­er-fired firearms with no wear and no mod­i­fi­ca­tions in the orig­i­nal box with the orig­i­nal man­u­fac­tur­er papers. Just slight of that is Excel­lent. Gun con­di­tion then slips from Fine to Very Good to Good and then falls Fair to Poor. From Excel­lent to Poor, the orig­i­nal fin­ish is increas­ing­ly worn; met­al cor­rodes, rusts, then pits; wood more marred scratched and bruised. Expect to find more replaced parts, appar­ent repairs, and refin­ish­ing approach­ing poor. Also, the grades range from 100% func­tion­al and safe to oper­ate to inop­er­a­ble and unsafe to shoot. The lat­ter being suit­able for spare parts or wall art.

There are some leg­endary poly­mer hand­guns from well-known man­u­fac­tur­ers that were incred­i­bly pop­u­lar orig­i­nal­ly. With mil­lions of mod­els sold, plen­ty are avail­able used. We are talk­ing about guns like the Spring­field Armory XD Mod. 2 and Smith & Wes­son Body­guard 380. 

Tip 2: Gun Shop at Pawnshops

When you are in the mar­ket for one of the mod­els we men­tioned or some­thing sim­i­lar, like a Walther PPQ M2, con­sid­er buy­ing a used one and head to a pawn shop. That is if you want to get the best deal. Of course, in Macon, gun shop­pers will get the best deal at Howard’s Pawn and Jewelry.

Tip 3: Find Hidden Treasures at Pawnshops

Do not be mis­tak­en, pawn­shops will have pop­u­lar hand­guns, but that is not all. Peo­ple pawn every type of gun you can imag­ine and oth­ers you can­not. Antique shot­guns, estate sale rifles, ser­vice weapons, and more you have to see to believe. You can find hid­den trea­sures when you gun shop at a pawnshop.

Howard’s for Firearms

Atten­tion Macon gun-buy­ers shop at Howard’s Pawn and Jew­el­ry for great deals on hand­guns, rifles, shot­guns, ammo, mag­a­zines, optics, knives, gear, and more. You will love the wide selec­tion and knowl­edgable staff. Check out our online store or come by 3171 Mer­cer Uni­ver­si­ty Dri­ve in down­town Macon.