So, a dude's out playing around with his metal detector, and it goes berserk.
He starts digging and pulls something that looks to be a rusted, dirt-encrusted revolver from the ground.
After a bunch of cleaning and scrubbing, however, it turns out to be an FIE Tiger, which is not actually a gun, but rather a gun-like object.
Assuming it was in 100% condition, the Tiger would be worth somewhat less than a hundred bucks. As it is, I wouldn't let him put it back in the hole unless he gave me a twenty.
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16 comments:
Gaaah. That's like winning a thousand Greek treasury notes in the lottery.
The worse part is all the "ZOMG GIVE IT TO TEH POLICE" comments over there. How some people manage to velcro their own shoes without help from an adult, let alone stumble on to the internet, is utterly amazing sometimes.
wv: diaca - die in a California? I'd prefer fire.
We once rented a home with a large side lot from my in-laws [spit]. My father-in-law always went with the lowest bidder, so that's what we got when he decided to fill in some of the lot. I'm out there raking the bits of broken brick, glass, and - probably - bone, when I find a ".38". Knowing where the fill came from, I figure I have to call the Newark [NJ] police, as well as the locals. Then I slam the rake against the "gun" and it splits down the middle. Not an LCR, just a well-crafted kid's toy.
Why'd he go to all that trouble to clean it up?
I figure his labor so far is worth about negative thirty-seven cents per hour.
Guess now he knows why it was buried to start with.
Still, the products of the former Firearms Import and Export of Hialeah (Miami) Fla. are still very much in demand in the state; they are ideal for tradin' at the dealers', thereby avoiding the three-day wait to take home a *real* handgun purchase...especially handy when buying from a licensee at an out-of-town fun show.
They have also proven quite profitable for me as *buy-back* fodder; there were at least two, possibly three FIE-stamped hunks among the eleven *guns* that I cashed in for $100 WallyWorld vouchers at the Lakeland, FL PD a few years back. This was before they learned to limit the number of payouts to each person, and needless to say, the vouchers were all gone before lunchtime that day. I'm not a big Wally fan, but wifey and I had some fun there with that eleven hun...my shopping bag included a stainless 10/22 and a snake charmer, just to be sure I was putting a few operable firearms "on the street" to replace the former or never-were ones that I let the grabbers think they were taking off of it. Fun times.
Anyway, back on topic, as I recall that five-pound Tiger was actually an Arminus? I think FIE's other offerings included the fine products of RG and Llama and H&R among others; anybody know for sure? Anyway, some fine and um, exciting weapons carried that logo back in the day...so I know our treasure hunter is disappointed that he didn't find Wyatt Earp's personal favorite sidearm, but his Tiger is not totally, completely, and utterly valueless...as long as he doesn't expect it to be a, you know, gun.
AT
Tam,
Is that figure before or after tax?
Man. That's like being a kid and getting socks and underwear for Christmas.
Hey now, socks and underwear are at least useful.
Jim
Keep the gun! Turn it in when the next gun buy back comes for $50 or $100 bucks!
Paul wins the intarwebz. Especially if you use the money to buy ammo.
Paul has found Step 2.
1) Find discarded guns, clean them.
2) Use them for gun buybacks.
3) PROFIT!
dixie, og, paul: as mentioned in my earlier comment, these beaters are arguably more valuable as trade-ins in states with a screwy law like FL wherein trading one handgun towards another exempts the purchaser from the three day wait.
But as I also pointed out, when you do cash them in, turning the proceeds into new funs should be the goal. And don't call it PROFIT; call it RECYCLING! That'll make the greenies happy, and you'll be happy too...and hysterical at the ironic hilarity of it all.
AT
"which is not actually a gun, but rather a gun-like object"
Gems like that are why the FIRST blog I read each day is VFTP :)
FIE also imported a batch of Beretta 70 series clones that were made by Tanfoglio. I inherited one chambered in .22LR, for an $89 (came with the box which still bears a pricetag.) pistol it's surprisingly well made. It's not the equal of a Beretta, but it's not Raven/Jennings garbage either.
I know the approximate whereabouts of another RG .38; it's about 100 feet from where my brother was standing when he threw it in the Sabine River. It locked up on the third shot and the crane broke while trying to clear the hang by hand.
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