What to look for when buying 2nd hand rifles?

[MG5150]

Hello Everyone

I'm looking to buy a 2nd hand 22LR (preferably either Lithgow or Browning)

There are a few online on various online sales pages.

How do you evaluate the quality of the gun and what types of questions should you be asking when it comes to buying 2nd hand?

At what point does the volume of rounds fired start to effect the barrel?

Anything else I should be looking for?

[allan]

Mate, I buy and sell a lot of rifles on line. It helps immensely if the seller has a "reputation" or is known on local forums.
You MUST speak to the seller - It's usually obvious whether they are "straight" and know what they are talking about.
Ask for clear images of the rifle and any targets that may indicate how the thing shoots.
A well maintained 22LR barrel will last the average shooter a life time. A new bore that has been abused with a cleaning rod or has a damaged crown will be toast immediately.
Good luck with your search.
I've been selling off my rim fire collection recently due to health issues - Even have a nice LA101!!!!

https://imgur.com/VyQumem

[bladeracer]

Hello Everyone

I'm looking to buy a 2nd hand 22LR (preferably either Lithgow or Browning)

There are a few online on various online sales pages.

How do you evaluate the quality of the gun and what types of questions should you be asking when it comes to buying 2nd hand?

At what point does the volume of rounds fired start to effect the barrel?

Anything else I should be looking for?

The very best way to determine if a secondhand rifle is any good is to try it out. If you're buying directly from a seller it's likely they know somewhere you can go to try it out, if from a dealer though that's less likely. And the owner probably already knows, and has, the ammo that the rifle shoots best with. If you can put a few mags through it you'll soon see if it's accurate and whether it has any issues feeding ammo.

I don't think it's possible for volume to affect a .22LR barrel significantly, I know there was a guy shooting competition in the US that surpassed one million rounds in his 10/22. Somebody that cleans the rifle every time they take it out is probably more likely to cause damage to the bore, crown or chamber than somebody that only cleans it once every blue moon.

As with cars and motorcycles, high mileage is a good indicator that it's a good go-to rifle that gets taken out at every opportunity, low mileage might indicate a pig that either shoots poorly or just is no fun to shoot, so it's spent years sitting in the safe.

[bigrich]

Hello Everyone

I'm looking to buy a 2nd hand 22LR (preferably either Lithgow or Browning)

There are a few online on various online sales pages.

How do you evaluate the quality of the gun and what types of questions should you be asking when it comes to buying 2nd hand?

At what point does the volume of rounds fired start to effect the barrel?

Anything else I should be looking for?

allan had a lot of good advice, buying online can be risky depending on the seller . my best advice is to go to gunshops and inspect rifles "in the flesh" if you can .

[MG5150]

Mate, I buy and sell a lot of rifles on line. It helps immensely if the seller has a "reputation" or is known on local forums.
You MUST speak to the seller - It's usually obvious whether they are "straight" and know what they are talking about.
Ask for clear images of the rifle and any targets that may indicate how the thing shoots.
A well maintained 22LR barrel will last the average shooter a life time. A new bore that has been abused with a cleaning rod or has a damaged crown will be toast immediately.
Good luck with your search.
I've been selling off my rim fire collection recently due to health issues - Even have a nice LA101!!!!

https://imgur.com/VyQumem

Can you send me some more info about the LA101 you have for sale?

[fnq22]

Just also keep in mind the costs associated with buying online particularly if from interstate where there will be postage and brokerage on both ends involved...

'm currently waiting for a PTA for a rimfire which I purchased online from SA and will be posted from dealer to dealer to QLD..

Cost that end is $130 and then my local guy here said it would be $75 here to receive and have the PTA in his name and then transfer to me..they charged me $30 when i had them fill out the PTA (cost for them is $11 to transfer into their name and another $11 then to put into my name) ....so still not sure if thats part of the $75 or on top of it..

Unless you are getting a higher end rifle, rarer collectors gun or an absolute bargain then this extra $200 plus dollars may not be worth it...

The one good part of this is you can get the dealer that end to inspect the rifle before payment to check that it is indeed as advertised...