ROB: I'm back. RICK HARRISON: You're back.
Brought you another gun.
RICHARD HARRISON: Another one.
RICK HARRISON: Rob's a regular.
And he's a major gun collector.
So he always brings in something cool when he pops by.
He drives a hard bargain.
And we don't always make a deal.
I have got a Smith Civil War Carbine for you.
My wife decided it's time for a new couch,
so it's time to sell a gun.
[laughter]
[clicking]
I come back here, because they bought some of my guns.
So, hey, I'll keep coming back until they throw me out.
I've had this for a number of years.
I think they should be able to pay me about $2,500
and still make a little bit of money on it.
I've had this for quite a while.
You can tell it's in really close to excellent condition.
RICK HARRISON: These things were issued during the Civil War.
Yes, you just open the breach, pull it out,
shove another cartridge in.
You could fire pretty quickly.
But there were some problems with this gun
that made it less popular.
The powder would get in between there.
And then you couldn't close the breach quite.
And so until you clean the gun, you couldn't fire it.
And that's why it's in such excellent condition.
Because there were better guns in the field.
And this stayed in the arsenal during the entire war.
It's one of those designs that sounded really good on paper.
[laughter]
So the gun's really cool.
I like it.
It's nice.
It's short.
The only thing that concerns me is this pitting on the barrel.
Do you know if the barrel has been reblued?
I mean, it does have some pitting there.
But the blue's still there.
So it's just a little weird to me.
And this looks like it was sanded down.
ROB: It's original.
That possibly could have been cleaned a little bit.
I don't know what to tell you there.
OK.
Bluing is the finish on a gun that protects
the metal from the environment.
And if it's in bad shape, it can seriously lower the value.
For an unissued gun, this thing has a lot of pitting.
And that raises red flags for me.
You've been in here enough times.
You want to sell this, right?
That's correct.
RICK HARRISON: And how much do you want for it?
$2,500.
Hmm.
Hey, I can see you're really in love with this gun.
Not $2,500 worth.
Do you mind if I have my buddy come
in just to make sure there's no rebluing on any of this stuff?
Yeah, I know your guy.
Just tell him not to be such a hard ass this time,
and we won't have any problems.
I can tell that.
I don't know if that'll happen or not, though.
But I'm going to go give him a call.
OK, thanks.
I don't have a problem with them bringing somebody
in for a second opinion.
I know what I've got.
And I'm perfectly comfortable with having
somebody look at the gun.
I know you.
ROB: That's right.
I can't afford this.
Whatever it is, I can't afford it.
[laughter]
RICK HARRISON: Well, what we got is an old Smith Carbine.
It wasn't a real popular gun, right?
It was moderately popular.
The big problem was when you break it down for reloading,
you have to push up on this release lever.
And you'd load it, and you'd fire it.
And the more you fired it, because it's black powder,
the more fouled the gun would become.
And sometimes, in the heat of battle,
they'd push it back to the closed position, fire it.
And the gun would blow up.
Any time it blows up can be a problem.
[laughter]
During the Civil War, if you could build
a gun that would fire a bullet, you could
sell it to the government.
Because they needed every gun they could get.
So it was a great time for innovation.
But a lot of the new ideas really
didn't make it past the war.
And this was one of them.
There's a little bit of pitting on it in a few places.
And I just want to make sure it's not reblued.
Because if it's reblued, it's worth a lot less money.
Yeah, gun collectors don't like
anything that's been reblued.
They'd rather have something that's got a pit on it.
Once it begins being restored, half the population
of collectors loses interest.
RICHARD HARRISON: Do your magic, Craig.
OK.
Let's look at the front of the barrel.
That's where your concerns are. RICK HARRISON: Yeah.
I'm going to get my flashlight out, because that always helps.
Did you oil this recently?
I mean, there's a lot of oil on it, which--
Do I plead the fifth on that?
Yeah.
Sometimes that can hide a reblued finish on a gun.
[suspenseful music]
It's a tough call.
But I'm going to say, no, the gun has not been reblued.
Touchdown.
[laughs]
So how much is the damn thing worth?
A mint one would cost you about $4,500.
It's not mint.
I would say, in the condition that this gun is in,
it's probably worth between $2,500 and $2,750.
All right. CRAIG GOTTLIEB: Rick.
- See you, bud. - Thanks, Craig.
CRAIG GOTTLIEB: Richard.
The appraisal came in.
I thought it was a little bit low.
But I'm kind of used to this song and dance.
You know, I hear it all of the time.
Buyers always want to pay less.
Sellers always want more.
RICHARD HARRISON: OK, Rick, we ain't going to pay $2,500.
RICK HARRISON: OK, I like the idea of $2,000.
$2,000, huh?
So this is where the dance kind of starts, huh?
No, it's not a dance.
$2,000 is top of the mark.
Remember, I got to retail it.
You don't have to retail it. ROB: Right, right.
OK.
I got to make something off it.
I know what I paid for it several years ago.
And I paid more than that for it.
$2,300.
[sighs] I'll go $2,100.
I mean, that-- that's the best I'm going to go.
$2,250.
RICK HARRISON: $2,100. $2,100 is a fair price for this gun.
It really is.
Looks like we got a deal.
OK.
All right.
You know where to go.
You bet.
$2,100, it was a little bit low.
But it worked out.
It'll probably make my wife happy.