Law Enforcement Trade Ins

[Delkal]

I agree that most police trade-ins have some surface wear but are generally very good to excellent internally.

The only outlier I saw was a batch of 38 revolvers from the California dept of corrections. They were totally beat with obvious mechanical rear, loose lockup, and deep grooves on the cylinder from being shot so much. How they got that way was a mystery. I cant see that many shootouts taking place in a prison!

Maybe they had a pistol range downstairs and a big grant of ammo to burn?

[Gunsnwater]

Did you park that?

[bittr]

You will mostly see finish wear. The Department Armorer should have been inspecting regularly and replacing any worn parts.

[BDK]

I buy them all the time, it's a good way to get older firearms for a great value. Since beginning of the year I've picked up OF trade in 92D, 5906 and a sig 226 for less than a grand total, other than having some finish wear all are in great shape

[CARRY ON]

AGREE ! My G27 lived its life in Tennessee Law Enforcement (on Glock case label) since the mid'ish 90's and came with a NY1 trigger(also on label but I replaced, but still in case) except for slight holster wear on the slide by muzzle, its perfect. Packs quite a punch..

Carry On

[ShooterInPA1]

When buying a LE trade in, do most of you do a takedown before purchase? I would imagine that these guns were carried in heat (sweat) and all kinds of weather (rain, snow), and were probably NOT cleaned every time after they got wet or sweaty. That would be my main concern before buying a LE trade in.

[Carson]

When buying a LE trade in, do most of you do a takedown before purchase? I would imagine that these guns were carried in heat (sweat) and all kinds of weather (rain, snow), and were probably NOT cleaned every time after they got wet or sweaty. That would be my main concern before buying a LE trade in.

If it helps any, I blow the lint out of my Glock every two weeks or so.

[ar15jules]

It is going to depend on many variables. The individual officer, the firearm policy of the department, how old the firearm is and what type of armorer and/or armorer program they have in place. I know of a place that detail strips their Glock pistols annually and replaces parts like the recoil spring assembly, trigger spring and slide stop lever and spring at regular intervals. IF the pistol in question is a Glock and the frame and barrel are in good condition, I would buy. Replacing all of the internals is cheap. The half life of tritium is 12 years maximum. So night sights probably will need replacing immediately or rather soon.

[CARRY ON]

Bought online so didn't have a chance to tear down till after FFL pickup. I always replace the recoil spring as a rule, on a used piece. With a little YouTube research one can make a Glock like new in no time. It’s fun too
Carry Only

[wanneroo]

I have a small collection of European cop gun trade ins going. A Nordrhein Westfalia Sig P6 from 1982, a France police surplus Manurhin MR73 and now a Beretta 81 out of Italy.

It's like anything, condition is going to vary on these depending on how much they have been shot, how they have been taken care of and carried. My "new" Beretta 81 in 7.65 ACP was built in 1980 and when I got it two days ago it was in nice condition but had dust in all the little grooves and had what looked to be rust spots that were actually dried oil. The gun was dry as a bone but got some MPro7 and Ballistol out and cleaned it up. All the springs are tight, including the magazine spring and I suspect with almost no wear on it, it just sat on a rack in the armory for decades.

So the way I look at it, is take the Beretta for instance, I wouldn't want to pay $700 for a new one but for $229 plus fees and taxes for a gun that was hardly ever used is a good deal. So some of these old cop guns give you a way of getting into a gun that might be more of a curio for you for less money than new.