USED WEAPONS:
: These are not the times when you spend money with a light heart even if the passion for hunting and shooting tickle our ambitions: the second-hand market can prove to be a practical solution.
di Emmanuel Tabasso
A quick tour of the horizon among the gunsmith friends to which to add the chats with the hunters and shooters friends revealed some realities of the world of long guns set with discreet clarity in a Manichean way. We obviously refer to what is most under our eye, therefore to the north center of the peninsula and the response indicates this situation as existing: smoothbore very distressed, lively and vital rifled barrel. The distinctions are a must also because otherwise it would not be in Italy ...
On the new market the reality is the one just described, but if we turn the corner of the price lists of the Houses and the discounts offered by the gunsmith we find a world that if it is not in sparkling effervescence like that French hypergased water, nevertheless it is making its bubbles, and even with a certain intensity. Let us mitigate the ardor of conspicuous earnings on the part of anyone and let us settle on regular movements of money that allow what is called the normal round, today a goal that many look to and which not all reach.
That's what the used market, today a very interesting solution for everyone: we are in times of varied mentality and not everyone likes to collect shotguns, finding satisfaction in trying them, using them for their own purposes and, after a certain period, putting them back on the market to acquire a different piece. The salt on the tail is placed wisely by the shrewd gunsmiths who, knowing their customers, acquire the weapons already knowing who to offer them to with that persuasiveness and clarity that distinguishes the good trader from those who casually occupy a place behind the counter. In this way, a relationship of mutual trust is established which is the basis of every serious negotiation: it is difficult to penetrate all the ideal angles of a rifle to fully understand its condition, so much is due to the seriousness of the seller who of the piece placed for sale he knows the origin well, especially if it is something special and with a great signature.
USED WEAPONS: So let's get to the specifics: which guns are on the crest of the wave today and which ones are, as surfers, in the curve drawn by the water before breaking. The smooth barrels in the traditional 12 gauge are parked: a little everyone has it, perhaps much more than one divided between side-by-side, over-and-under and semi-auto so today it is difficult to find buyers even for second-hand machines unless it is a question of particular signatures, and prices in proportion. This situation has a certain advantage: in calamitous times the prices become a little more interesting and collectors hardly suffer from the unfavorable economic situation. The medium and especially small caliber front opened a few years ago, where the 20 first and then the 28 and .410 Mg. for many they represent the novelty, a different game to be played with a different spirit, decidedly more sporty and therefore more satisfying. The many proposals for the new are hand in hand with the second-hand ones and the small caliber market is an island with a fair amount of interest. Returning to semiautomatics, we know that some spirit a little out of the ordinary picks up, it is the appropriate verb, old specimens: not that we have to pull bolts into the house, there are pieces with many years on the tags, but very few fired cartridges, which they come off at ridiculous numbers, not all of them of course, but it's fun to have at hand and examine the different rearmament systems applied over time. A Belladonna will not be given as a gift, nor will a Bernardelli, but it is satisfying to have them, as well as the first inertial Benelli mechanics with strut, or to browse through the many particular models of the FN Browning, or the first Franchi and Breda, or the first Beretta Mod. 60.
Different speech for the over-and-under, where the models from the platform are added to the fighter models on which to carry out long-range patrol flights: friends dedicated to the specific cult support their more technical feats with updated models caught on the second-hand market, or have fun in sporting with competitions between friends embracing the glories of the past. Getting to the shooting range in a sports car of the same age as the rifle represents a refinement worthy of commendation.
We now come to the rifled canes, the only ones that, at least in our area, still enjoy widespread interest and a certain buying and selling movement. Having established that the new market also offers prices of particular interest, it is on used vehicles that we find a range of rifles at all prices able to satisfy a wide range of enthusiasts: we pass from the so-called Black Rifles, which we quickly liquidate as variegated clones of assault rifles and which represent an important slice of the current market, to sliding revolving bolt rifles, the majority for hunting destinations, where they range from prices of a few hundred euros upwards with a range of products and of gauges to make your head spin. Kipplaufs are arousing a lot of interest, especially those based on Jäger mechanics, which combine lightness and precision: a low price is not always found because being in great demand and with a rather limited offer in used cars, they are able to maintain price levels that are still high. .
Then there are the mixed shotguns that are not in demand today on the new, but conversely still with excellent appearances on the used one where important pieces of Central European production come up with decidedly affordable figures for the intrinsic value of these specialized weapons and the charm that never sets.
In the purchases of the rifled, the different qualifying points of the closures, the bolt head, the rifling and the muzzle must be checked, to mention only those that can be checked more easily; the chambered caliber should not be forgotten because an obsolete cartridge will drop the money for the normal customer, while it will prove to be a captivating prerogative for the collector. We remember how a good reloader can often draw from other cases what will be missing on the market, even if some specialized companies now have a bit of everything on their list. Precisely for the joy of those he loves, he makes the voice of pieces and cartridges resound which have become very rare.