Scene: Gun Shop
Me: “Hey, you didn’t tell me you got a 686 in.”
Him: “You don’t want it.”
Me: “Why? Whats wrong with it?”
Him: “It’s got bad juju.”
Me: “Really? How bad?”
Him: “Guy killed himself with it.”
And THAT right there is how you bring a conversation to a screeching halt. I’m not majorly superstitious…but it did give me pause. I’ve owned Mauser 98’s that, no doubt, killed someone way back during the war, Mosin Nagants that probably also perforated people, and other military guns that almost certainly had been blooded. So why would this one be any different? But….still…….
So I made a lowball offer. Maybe a good price makes up for the bad juju. I dunno.
So what say you? If someone offered you a decent price on such a gun, and you knew that a year or two ago someone used it to spackle the ceiling with their cerebellum would you buy it? Would you have the least bit of trepidation about it?
I would buy it to sell minus the story. It’s the story that is troubling. There is no such thing as a cursed gun.
Wouldn’t bother me any, at least I know it works.
I’ve had a gun I got that way. We knew it worked at least once. I also did not pass on the story when I sold it.
The way I see it is the gun didn’t kill the person, the person used the gun on themselves. So, I don’t buy into any “bad juju”. Yeah, if the price is right and the want/need is there then the piece would be mine.
I’d probably bite if the price was right. Maybe – I like 686s. I purchased a S&W 9mm auto from a lawyer that was used in a case of a ‘good shoot’. The person successfully defended himself in court for killing a burglar in his business. After being exonerated, the gun owner told the lawyer to keep the gun – he didn’t want it back. I’ve shot it and have not experienced any bad vibes from the experience.
Suicide though – that is a bit out of the ordinary. I’d rather not know about that detail, and certainly would not tell others of its history if I owned it.
If the price were right, the PERSON killed themselves the firearm didn’t. Not blaming the firearm is what we gun people say….Right??
But it low, sell high, Capitalism.
I have an old pistol that the previous owner offed himself with (for sure, not just a story). It shoots fine and seems happy in my house. That works for me.
Matt
Seems ok to me if the price is right, just sprinkle some holy water on it and call it a day.
“I need a young priest and an old priest…”
So the person suck started it, a good deal is a good deal.
Buddy of mine worked at a large FunShop for a while.
They regularly bought “police confiscations” here and there, and once they took in a Walther PPK. Seems the former owner decorated the ceiling with his last thought and the widow didn’t want it. They sold it twice as “used” but both times it got brought back…”not reliable” and “didn’t cycle”. Last time it got sold it stayed gone, so either it got fixed, or the new owner never shot it, or who knows.
But my favorite story is this. I was gifted a life membership to a local gun shop and range that is now closed. After I had a kid, I didn’t go the twice a month I had up to that point. One day I stopped over even knowing the range was down for maintenance, just to see the people and look around. One of the newer guys had a pistol stripped to components in a Tupperware tub and was scrubbing pieces. I made the smart remark “finally cleaning one of the rental guns eh” and got A Look. “No, this is the pistol that guy used to commit suicide a few months ago and we just got it back. It’s been in a Ziploc evidence bag since that day.” So in other words, guy had shot himself, fallen on the floor, it sat in a pool of fluids for a while, got “cleared” then stuffed in a bag.
To put it in technical terms…”ew”.
But it was put back on the rental fleet at some point, when I went in the range was down for “maintenance”. And while sad it closed, I don’t miss how filthy the place was. Their “ventilation” was a box fan, or two, and in the summer there was as door that got propped open. No “climate control” so you either sweated in summer or got practice wearing gloves and shooting in winter, but at least you were out of the weather and behind walls, right?
I have a couple old guns, and have owned some old guns that for all I know, may have been “used” either way. I’ve pawed piles of guns that were “PD Trades” from both sides of the badge, some of which I owned and some I even do still. One of my first Hi Powers was an actual Belgium Browning. It had pitting on one side of the gun, as well as damage to the magazine floor plate, butt, and muzzle on the slide. I used to joke “the former owner was either told to drop it, or he did”. I do wish I’d kept that one, among others, because it was a total beater…but it worked just fine, just looked old. Was half “patina and pitting” due to, my guess, of “waistband carry” or “being left in a yard at some point” but turn it over and it looked…well, not perfect, but the other half was still relatively blued.
While I agree with everyone else that it was the person, not the gun, that was the problem here, I’d still take a pass. There are plenty of other guns out there.
So we shoulda sold our rental building after there was a murder in it?
Had to go to a small town local PD to pick up the Colt Commander my Dad killed himself with. Picking it up made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Traded it for a Glock.
Wasn’t there an old joke about “I better believe in God just in case”? You better believe in bad juju, just in case.
Life is too short. Sad when people choose to make their own even shorter.
I don’t know if I believe in “cursed” guns, but I wouldn’t buy the suicide pistol. Even if no bad luck came from it, I know my mind would always go there everytime I looked at it. I don’t need to buy that kind of darkness of thought into my life.
Looked at a really low priced p38 once. Popped the magazine out and there was an evidence sticker on the mate with handwritten notes that included the word suicide. Gave it a pass.
Had a nice shiny two inch S&W m64 ny-1 that looked great and had oversized pachmyars on it. Took off the paths and the inside looked like it was filled with old reddish brown jelly that I knew was caked blood. I have pictures around here someplace of it.
It’s the person, not the gun.
Still, maybe the juju isn’t so bad. Maybe the guy was a real scumbag who did the world a favor by checking out. Maybe he was in stage 4 lung cancer and decided he was done.
If I was linked to the person who offed their self I wouldn’t keep the gun. If some random dude offed himself I don’t particularly care.
Sell the pistol for slightly more than what you paid for it, and consider the modest profit a handling fee. Don’t tell the new owner about the fund’s history. Let the firearm and its new owner enjoy a fresh start.
I got a 20ft length of rope for sale. Only one guy used it to hang himself.
No?
There’s just too much other rope for sale in the world.