New Vs Used, Cars vs Guns

What equals "New" to you?

  • Some other definition entirely.

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I usually use the phrase "Like new" or "lightly used" when selling firearms that have less than...say...about 100 rounds through them. Some folks get rather bent about this, though, and even one round fired means it's used and thus valued anywhere from 20-50% less than purchase price. Or that it's false advertising to say it's "like new." Even had one guy tell me that factory test firing was a myth. Of course, there's folks who would complain if you were selling an MP5 for $200; there's just no pleasing some people.

Anyway, if you buy a new car....that car has been test driven. Even if it comes straight from the factory to you, it's not going to have zero miles. Lowest I've ever gotten was 6 miles. Depending how long it was on the lot, it can easily have 75, 100, or more miles on it. Might even go through several dealerships' hands. You might be the first registered private owner, but it's definitely been "used." Lots of people sat their butts in it, drove it around, whatever. Sells as "New."

Not really a rant, I'm just curious what parameters/wording other folks use when buying/selling barely used firearms. Like new? Used is used? "Gave it some pretty lewd looks, but never touched the trigger?"
 
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I would also call a dealer loaner/demo car new. Provided the price reflects the use. At my dealer. They sold those cars when they reached 1500 miles.
As for guns, no shots fired. New condition. Lightly used as you say is right with a few rounds out.
 
I sold an AR upper (M&P Sport II stock upper) I never used as I bought a BCM soon after. Kept the original well oiled as a habit. Met up with a buyer who felt the oil and didn't believe it was never fired as I told him so he took it apart to look at the bolt and wipe it with a napkin. Gave me a nasty untrusting look and paid me and left. I would call a gun with less than a hundred rounds through it 'new'. Do people not know guns are test fired at the factory before it hits the dealer glass case?
 
I would also call a dealer loaner/demo car new. Provided the price reflects the use. At my dealer. They sold those cars when they reached 1500 miles.
As for guns, no shots fired. New condition. Lightly used as you say is right with a few rounds out.
No criticism, but what makes the deciding factor between 1500 miles on a car being okay to still call it new, but any amount of rounds through a firearm isn't?

Or, if the factory had a test gun with 1500 rounds through it, could they sell it as new? Again, as long as price reflected use.
 
Round counts are usually unverifiable unless you were with the person shooting them or know the person selling a used gun to be forthright in their statement.

New is New= In the box from a dealer.
Used is Used = You are the second or more owner/buyer.

Nothing wrong with buying used guns or cars as long as they are properly advertised as such and condition meets your requirements.
 
No criticism, but what makes the deciding factor between 1500 miles on a car being okay to still call it new, but any amount of rounds through a firearm isn't?

Or, if the factory had a test gun with 1500 rounds through it, could they sell it as new? Again, as long as price reflected use.
Warranty mileage is adjusted. You get a couple thousand off the price. Also means if there had been any issues out of the gate. it was handled.
 
New, LNIB, unfired, etc are all turn offs to me. To me, that isn’t a feature.

Cars or guns, I want them to work. Looks don’t matter. I have acidic sweat too r something, it destroys finishes. So that new gun is going to look like it’s been dragged by a truck. It still works fine and that’s all I care about.

The only time I care is at the purchase. If I can get some money off by you not having the box (that I’m gonna toss anyway) I’ll take the deal.

I buy used because older things generally have features I like that aren’t around any more: hammer mounted firing pins, hand fitting, cassette players, non chipped keys, etc.
 
I can’t help asking myself why is there a car or truck with 7500 or 15,000 miles on it in a dealership being sold. I have bought used cars. My current ride had 27,000 on it when I bought it. So far so good.
 
If it’s listed as new, then it should be like it came from the factory.

if you put a box or a few boxes of ammo through it then list it that way.
 
I can’t help asking myself why is there a car or truck with 7500 or 15,000 miles on it in a dealership being sold. I have bought used cars. My current ride had 27,000 on it when I bought it. So far so good.
Leasetards and demos. Also dealers dump loaners like that all the time.
 
No criticism, but what makes the deciding factor between 1500 miles on a car being okay to still call it new, but any amount of rounds through a firearm isn't?

Or, if the factory had a test gun with 1500 rounds through it, could they sell it as new? Again, as long as price reflected use.
A car with 1500 miles on it is not new.
 
I had a big concern about this when i first started out as well.
My 1st gun was brand new, every gun after that was used/assembled/built by me.

I took it out of my book of concerns, because i generally do a full tear down and replace all springs and do oem like trigger jobs over.
(i.e. hk match trigger parts and langdon tactical/mcarbo/wolff parts)

So essentially everything is newish
 
New or used both can be good. Most of my guns are used because they were not readily available in Massachusetts, they were purchased from people I know. Most of my vehicle's were purchased new, did buy 3 used cars and made out good with them. Buyer beware on used anything.
 
"Like new" does not equal "new".

Anyone that thinks that is pretty stupid and you should increase the price by 50% over retail. Call it the "moron tax".

When I see a gun on sale that says "Like New", I assume it is fired, so it is not "NEW". I also assume the seller is lying and has no idea how many rounds he/she fired, but the gun is in good condition.

I am sure some people looking in the classifieds care about these things, but most just want the gun to work and have a good price. If new it costs $1200 and you want $1,100 because it is "LNIB", unless the gun is a damn unicorn, I will buy new.

Just post the gun with a realistic price and post good pictures, some adds are sad the pics they post. If they can't be bothered to upload more than 2 pics, have they really bothered to keep a round count? ... I dont think so.
 
I absolutely concede that mentioning round count is a lot like cars that get listed with "Driven gently." Or the classic "Three owners, all of them elderly who only drove to church and back." Unless we've done business before and I've proven to be honest, or you know me personally, there's no reason to take my word for anything that you can't empirically observe. Even if I kept a logbook, maybe I forgot about the 4th of July weekend, where I threw a mag or two through it? Hmm. Might as well drop that from my posts going forward.

I get that "Used" has the dual definition of "having been used" or "secondhand." But, if someone bought me a gift, I would consider it new, not "used," even though it's certainly secondhand. From a retail perspective, this gets more muddy: If I return that unopened gift to the store, they'll put it back on the shelf and sell it as new again. Some stores will mark it down, if it's clearly been opened, etc, but otherwise - full price. Even thought it's changed hands several times.

Most gun shops won't do this, as they largely have a no return policy. But I have met a few outliers, where they'll allow a very brief grace period, assuming you return the firearm exactly as they sold it. Goes back in the case as "new." A lot of manufacturers state that firearms are considered used when accepted from your FFL, and charge a re-stocking fee if you return it...but how many of them turn around and sell it as new to someone else?

Not anything I lose sleep over, but was curious what other folks thought.

Of course, then you always get that one kid who is selling his "NIB" pistol, that is caked in carbon.... "NeVeR FiReD." Sure, chief. It just fell into a coal bin.
 
Never bought a new car in my life, never will. Trying to remember if I ever bought a brand new gun. .......
Actually, yes. I bought a brand spanking new Ruger Mark something, NRA endowment, Bill Ruger commerative blah blah....world's longest gun name. It was the first gun I ever bought with my C&R. Other than that I think I've pretty much always bought used.
 
With regard to automobiles or firearms, "new" to me means I bought it (or received it in the case of a return) from the company that manufactured the product or directly from an authorized dealer.
 
On a car, new means never titled. It still has the Certificate Of Origin, regardless of miles on the clock. (this is the law, AFAIK)

On a gun, I'd have to say that it's new if it came from a dealer, and was never out of a dealer's bound book - if three dealers transferred it between each other, it's new; if one non-FFL took possession, then not anymore.

Many "new" guns have been fired at the factory, as a proof/function test, so the de-virginized metric is tough to meet, IMO
 
"New" cars can actually have a lot of miles on them that were NOT clocked on the odometer.
They're driven from the assembly line to a holding lot, then from there onto a transporter truck.
The truck may bring it to a rail yard where it's driven onto a train.
Then it's driven off the train to another storage yard, where it'll again be driven onto a transporter truck and brought to a dealership.
I've seen new cars delivered, the odometers are disconnected (via an uninstalled fuse from the factory) until they're initialized at the dealership or rental car yard.
Once initialized, you can't go back or the ECM will store fault code.
So it's entirely possible for a "new" car to have way more than expected mileage on it.
 
New is unfired and in the box like it's new. These have been great private sales for me.

Like new means I can't tell it isn't new, but it isn't. People stretch on this for sure. 100 rounds isn't like new. That's half the round count of most guns in the classifieds.

Excellent condition are used guns which have "less than 200 rounds then stored in the safe" that didn't make 20 10-round trips to the range banging around in the bottom of a range bag.
 
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