Interesting proposition late night on a Sunday.
All right so just a few days ago I switch off guns with an amigo for a long term loan, each of us keeping the other's gun for collateral. I figure why the heck not, get to try something new, save us both some money in research, plus I did it as a little bit of a favor because I'm not always a complete jackhole just most of the time.
Anyway the tradeoff was a very beat up Sig 220 I got a great deal on for a SS SA WW2 GI Milspec 1911 or whatever the heck they call it. The Sig is mine, the 1911 is his. I was interested in a 1911 later in the year, he was interested in getting a Sig, so it seemed like a natural exchange.
I've been tied up painting and doing other crap here lately, I got out to kill some paper the other day but that's been about it. I've field stripped the 1911 and cleaned the dickens out of it, that's about it. This gun has been poorly maintained but has fired "8 cases" (read 400 rounds) without incident, all of it WWB I would bet. That impresses me, because 1911s are supposed to be fussy.
But I digress. I get this late night phone call and he sounds like we're 18 again. "Dude, this gun is frikkin' AWESOME."
Well yeah it's pretty good, it's a Sig 220, doesn't really get any better.
Anyway he's sold, and he offered to buy it. I was honest with him, I told him I originally put it on layaway when I was 100% convinced the .45 ACP XD would never come to exist and I hadn't really done much with it other than plink, but I did like it and wasn't sure if I was ready to part with it.
His offer is a sort of trade + money: He'll send me his four extra magazines (I asked, they're Wilson 47Ds), $200, and I keep his gun, which still has the original accessories/papers.
I told him I thought he was actually losing too much money on the deal, and he reminded me he still owes me 20 bucks from about 6 years ago, plus he's right that even though those magazines cost about $26 new, used they're worth maybe $10-$15 at best on Ebay or something. I also tried to tell him he could probably get $300-$350 for his 1911 + the mags for it, these things sell for about $500 new.
I flipped through the CDNN catalog and pointed out he can get a 226 in all sorts of finishes and two or three different calibers and conditions for what would probably be under $450 in a lot of cases, but he's adamant about wanting a .45 ACP. He's a border patrol agent, so I can respect that he'd want to hedge his bets as much as possible.
I made him a deal I'd go research the approximate value of a beat up Sig 220, and I'd go shoot his gun after work sometime this week to see what I think about it, and if I was keen on his piece I'd come up with a fair deal.
Now to be fair to him, where he's at guns cost $50 more than what you'd typically expect to pay in a Free State so from his POV his offer probably is fair, but I don't want to rip the guy off. And honestly if this weren't an old friend who happens to be in law enforcement, I wouldn't even consider it I'd just keep my gun and give him his back.
It's really no skin off my nose, my business .45 is the XD, the Sig I never would have bought if I'd known ahead of time the .45 ACP XD was coming down the pipes. I like the Sig but I'm not attached to it or heavily vested beyond four very intensive cleanings that seemed to have corrected a "problem" with the trigger pull. For him though it'd be a weapon for personal protection, and I hate the thought of someone I give two craps about not having what they need for personal protection especially when they're willing to make a more than fair offer.
So I may become a 1911 owner here pretty soon, but what do you all think about this?
