What a gun shop actually pays for your gun
The real arithmetic behind a trade-in offer, why cash and trade are different numbers, and when you should sell it privately instead.
It is the most common question at our counter and the one with the worst answers online. Someone brings in a rifle, hears a number, and is not sure whether it was fair. So here is the arithmetic, honestly, including the parts that are not flattering to us.
Why the usual answer is not an answer
Search this question and the most-cited advice is "about half of used retail." That is not a method, it is a rule of thumb standing in for math nobody shows you. The other pages answering it are a point-of-sale software company writing for shop owners, a business whose entire model is buying guns from the public, and a stack of forum threads from a decade ago.
Nobody walks through the money. So we will.
Start at the end, not the beginning
Every offer works backward from one number: what the gun will realistically sell for. Not what someone is asking for one online. What comparable examples, in comparable condition, with comparable accessories, have actually sold for recently. Asking prices are a wish. Completed sales are data.
That realistic resale number is the ceiling. Everything after this is subtraction.
What comes out between there and your offer
- It has to be made right. Most used guns need something. A recoil spring, a set of sights, a magazine that should have been in the box, at minimum a proper strip and clean. Some need a gunsmith.
- It sits. A gun on the rack is money not doing anything. One that moves in a week and one that sits for five months are not the same asset, and the offer reflects which one we think it is.
- The transaction itself costs money. Card processing, the bound book entry, the background check, and staff time on both ends of it.
- Some of them go wrong. A percentage of used guns develop a problem after we own them. That is our problem to eat, and it is priced across everything we buy.
- And there has to be margin left. If there is not, the shop is not here next year to buy your next one.
Cash and trade are two different numbers, and trade is usually better
Trade credit is almost always worth more to you than cash, because the shop recovers some margin on whatever you buy next. If you were going to buy something here anyway, taking trade instead of cash is the single easiest way to improve your own outcome. People leave money on the table by not asking.
What moves the number up
- Complete. Box, papers, every magazine, the original accessories, the extra backstraps still in the bag.
- Currently wanted. Common chamberings and current-production models have a buyer pool. That is what we are really buying.
- Honest condition. Not safe-queen condition necessarily, just no surprises.
- Locally relevant. What sells on Long Island is not what sells in Wyoming, and we price for the customers who actually walk in here.
What moves it down
- Rare in the wrong direction. Unusual is only valuable if someone collects it. Otherwise it means no parts, no buyer and a long sit.
- Modified. This is the one that stings. Aftermarket parts almost never come back at a counter, and a heavily customized gun is often worth less than a stock one because it now fits one person's taste.
- Missing magazines. Sounds minor. It is not, especially on anything where factory magazines are expensive or hard to find.
- Rust, pitting, a tired bore. Finish wear is cosmetic and cheap. Corrosion is structural and is not.
When you should sell it privately instead
We will say the quiet part. If the gun is genuinely desirable, you are patient, and you are willing to handle the sale yourself, a private sale will usually net you more than any dealer offer. That is not a trade secret, it is just true.
What a dealer offer actually buys you is speed, certainty and none of the hassle: one stop, a number today, the paperwork handled, and no strangers meeting you in a parking lot. Plenty of people value that, and plenty of people do not. Both are fine.
The thing worth avoiding is comparing our cash offer to an asking price you saw on a listing site and concluding you are being taken. Those are not the same kind of number.
What to bring
Everything that came with it, especially magazines and the original box. Bring it unloaded and in a case. Bring the paperwork if you have it. If there is a story on the gun, tell us, because we would rather hear it from you than find it ourselves.
Come get a number
There is no obligation and no pressure. We will look at it, tell you what we can do in cash and in trade, and explain how we got there. If a private sale is clearly the better move for you, we will say so.
Stop in at the shop on Route 112 in Medford.