If I don't like a sellers attitude I don't buy his item whatever it is. There is a local shop that I don't even visit because of the current owners attitude. However there is another shop that is the opposite. I enjoy doing business with them. If he does a transfer for me he always expresses appreciation. Just my two cents worth.

I'm a little confused here. Is this an internet purchase or a gun in-hand purchase? In the original post it's stated that the lady friend mounted the gun & said it felt good. In my experiences an in-hand transaction normally doesn't have an inspection period attached to it being has you are inspecting the gun personally & not buying it sight un-seen.


If the seller or you don't have the tools to inspect wall thickness, choke constrictions etc. and you are uncomfortable with the gun or seller in anyway, it's time to walk away from the deal and continue on with the hunt for the right gun.

Thats a high price for a worn but good condition 16 trojan with a cut stock, before the subject of no inspection even comes up.

I have seen a few VH 16s that sound in similar condition sell for less than that this year.

It would have to be either a really nice hard to find gun I wanted(which it doesn't sound like this is) or a really attractive price(which this certainly is not) for me to forego an inspection.

Every time I've bought a gun on the Internet that said, "no returns", I got a lemon that required further expense to get it up to snuff, and sometimes I haven't even been able to get it "right". Just walk away. There will be another.

Thanks to all, named or un-named, who have responded.

Todd:
1) The lady shooter is not THE significant other. She is a family friend, who once was a competitive skeet shooter, and probably would shoot guns again if one fit. There have been changes with aging, but is still a very active outdoors-lady.
2) Not low risk as I see it. My inexpert visual check of the gun came up with no problems, but definitely a higher condition Trojan than I have been seeing offered. However, my looking only goes so-far. What lurks below? If usability and monetary value rests primarily on barrel soundness, why risk injury with over-honed bores; or with excessive or misaligned chamber or forcing cone lengthening?
3) The owner did not object to a professional on-site inspection, just to my taking it away for a couple days for my smith to look at, with payment in full up-front.
4) AMFYOYO? Need acronym decoder. Is it risqué?

Brian: I’m not sure that the stock was cut, plastic butt plate looked original. Maybe originally ordered for a smaller person, if that was possible with a Trojan.

Russ: Very bad treatment of you and your money.

Paul: Gun was in hand. I am not qualified to perform a professional-level inspection. Are you saying that it is not customary to have a two or three-day return policy, after paying in full, taking the gun to a professional for examination, and then determining that it is not fundamentally sound or as described? If so, I have learned something vital.

All the opinions on value as I have described the gun are appreciated, especially since I neglected to ask someone with a phone or camera take pictures and email them to me.

just and aside- someone i shoot with bought a gun for his son, all LOOKED good.

later he had a gauge out measuring another gun and thought while he had it out he would check the one he got for his son

turned out to be very thin walls- looked good, but was not

you just cannot beat actually measurements and if you don't have the gear, having the opportunity to have it done as an inspection

Move on, there are more out there.

Unless the gun has appreciable case color left, it is priced high. I recently bought a nice 16 bore un-messed with Trojan for $1300 and a PH in original condition, fluid steel barrels, with about 25% case colors for $1,800. If it was me, I would pass on this gun, but it's not my decision to make. There are guns out there with decent prices, you just have to have patience. The best place to find a gun at decent prices is on this board. I have bought one recently and have seen others that were priced fairly with some on the low side.

Wait a minute. If your lady friend mounted it and liked it, you obviously had the opportunity to inspect it. Have I missed something??

Tom: Case color on top and sides had pretty good coverage – that vast un-engraved "Art-Deco" (or is it Classical!) Trojan canvass – and looked authentic with that oil-in-water look, i.e., no garish “tiger-striping”.

It was the under-side of the receiver that was so very lacking in case color, and probably lead me to underestimate case color overall as being only 25%.

Bill: I neither have the knowledge nor equipment to evaluate and measure such as barrel wall thickness, but probably should. So, my examination was not thorough enough for me to have confidence in settling the purchase without the gun being examined by a professional.

The seller would have all the cash for the transaction while I had the gun for a couple of days “on approval”. Is that just not done, since the gun was “in-hand”?