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I traded in my AR15 for a $150 Walmart Gift Card at a Gun Buyback

8K views 67 replies 36 participants last post by  BobBalla 
#1 ·
It was a really nice rifle, a Sig Sauer RM400 with a Trijicon Red Dot.

Maybe I should have kept the Trijicon optics and sold that on Ebay? I paid more than $500 for that.

 
#15 ·
20yrs ago, to the day, the CEO of my then-employer sent a company-wide e-mail. It advised us that, due to market forces, we were all taking a big pay-cut. Having just moved my family far from extended family and friends, and now with a 3mo-old baby son, I was boiling with betrayal and rage. Only 7mos previously, the company's recruiters had spared no effort on convincing me to accept their offer and the move. The main factor: a raise that amounted to about 5/8 of the announced cut.
} -_;

A few responses down on the e-mail thread, my protege/under-study replied:

- Great! That means I can do only 5/8 of the work!

That! is when I caught on it was an April Fool's "joke". Then, 19days later the house we'd built and moved away from, finally sold. Later that morning my boss walked into a conference-room, saw me, looked away, and said:

- This is an awful day to be a manager here.

?!? Two days later that message was decrypted when 3/8 of our workforce was laid-off. It was not a pay cut; yet still a payroll cut.
 
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#22 ·
He will get over it IMO.
 
#7 ·
That was foolish of you. I sold my AR10 to a guy with an accent who called himself Juan Valdez. He didn't actually have any ID but he had a REALLY nice BMW and a lot of gold jewelry, so why would he lie? Anyway, he offered me 25,000 bitcoins and I couldn't pass it up. He did say he'd have to bring those to me later, because he doesn't just carry that much bit coin with him, which is understandable, 'cause even 25,000 dimes would be really heavy and need a lot of really strong bags. I'm really excited because people been telling me how bitcoins keep going up in value on a daily basis and with that many, if I hold onto them for a couple years, I could have enough to retire to Argentina or Guatemala or some other exotic tropical paradise with beaches and umbrella drinks.

I can't believe I got so LUCKY! I NEVER get lucky on things like this.
 
#12 ·
Thanks my heart stopped for a second. Here we are hanging on tooth and nail for rulings and you pop this one on us.

My brother died on April fools at 1am. We got the call and said April fools your kidding right? They weren’t kidding this was 20 years ago. The worst phone call we ever got.
 
#17 ·
If we don't keep fighting for our rights one day we will be forced to give up our ARs for a gift card, and it won't be an April Fool's joke.
 
#21 ·
Several years ago the local Police Commissioner thought a gun buy back would be a great idea and took a bunch of money out of the PD's operating budget to pay for it. Number wise they got a huge response. Not surprising, most of the "guns" turned in for the $100 gift card, for long guns, were old single shot shotguns covered with dust and rust. The majority of the $150 handguns were break-top .32s and .38s. Probably only three quarters of a dozen of the weapons turned in were actually in working condition. I believe the City paid out over $9,000. On the other hand, a lot of old ladies and widows picked up a gift card. It wasn't held on April 1, but it was a big joke.

Grumpy
 
#31 ·
I bet it made the haters proud on TV showing off all the evil guns that had been bought. I think folks are wising up to these scams and like many gun owners just buy trash all year so they can scam the city/county back; I like it...a little pay back is always nice and it's even sweeter when it's legal and constructed by the ones the pay back is aimed at.
 
#34 ·
I bet it made the haters proud on TV showing off all the evil guns that had been bought
The best part is that these idiots have no idea that more brand new weapons have been purchased in the last year than ten years worth of buy back lines combined could ever touch. It’s kinda like recycling. Now, let’s talk about the trillions of rounds scarfed up! They are clueless.
 
#33 ·
I have an old Argentine Mauser with a cracked receiver that I have been saving for a buy back. But they never have them around here.
 
#35 ·
I bought a Jimenez JA380 for $126 about a decade ago at a gun show. It was actually quite accurate but unreliable. The safety has this cheap metal clinging sound when disengaged. I'm not even sure if I reassembled it correctly back last time I cleaned it. I will probably trade that one in some day when they offer $150 for handguns... then I can boast that I made $24 profit on the lousiest gun ever made. :giggle:
 
#37 · (Edited)
I think you seriously underestimate HiPoints. I'm not going to argue they are state of the art because they are far from it. They are just as ugly as a gluck. They need work right out of the box too. But the price point is at a place that allows anyone needing protection a gun that goes bang every time the trigger is pulled, is accurate, is +P certified, and if all else fails can be used as a club.

But I can guarantee that after any mag problems are sorted out (and 98% of all HiPoint problems are mag related) it is one of my most reliable guns out of many of the so-called "better" name brand plastic pistols I have.

I use it for sorting out experimental reloads because it's indestructible. It's NOT a carry gun by any means! But it is a cheap bedside gun or over the front door gun, or in the glove box or tackle box gun that can be counted on as much as any other gun to go bang.

Would it be my first choice in guns...No. I would choose one of them over Jimenez every time however. Plus many others in the same price range. It's only my experienced opinion but HiPoints work, however, they need work out of the box, but for less than $200 there aren't many that can claim the same reliability.

They have two basic function killers --- the mags are total junk! But they are nearly proprietary so ya get what get. There may be new options I don't know, I've moved into more expensive guns because mine plain works every time now. I have the C9 (9mm). But all calibers are are similar in reliability after the mags have been reworked. I still have it loaded in the house in a readily accessible location.

The second function killer is they need plenty of breaking in. They don't work right out of the box, this is mostly the mags fault --- again, that may have changed in the last couple of years. The feedramp has been called the culprit, some say it needs a good polish because it has paint on it. I never had any issues and never polished the feed ramp nor even removed the paint. So, that point is arguable too. The mag and every mag I got for it needs reworked.

With that said -- if the opportunity to flip a HiPoint comes along you might just be surprised if you have the acumen to work on magazines to get them tuned to the pistol. Because they are inexpensive, not worthy of needing to be to careful with them (scratches, scuffs, etc.).

A quick rinse in the sink to clean them up and blow dry, some oil, and it's good for another 800 rounds. There's other things that can be done to smooth the action and reduce the trigger pull (which will never be less than terrible), and re-sculpting the outside of the gun to match your hand works too. That's what I did. But I digress...again
 
#39 ·
I was gonna post a reply saying I did the same thing, and include a picture of the Mattel M-16 Marauder toy, but then I learned that even the TOY is worth more than $150!

 
#41 · (Edited)
There is no comparison to a more expensive gun other than if they are both pointed at a bad guy and the trigger is pulled they will both do the exact same job just as reliably. The win is after the fact when the law comes and blames you for protecting (insert protected here). Then they take away the $130-$180 gun or they take away the $3,000 gun. If and when you ever them back, and depending on condition when you get it back, is it still just bragging rights? Is it still one is 'better' than the other if they are both just reliable? The logic stands. Once a Hipoint is made reliable they are reliable, torture tests notwithstanding. I'll never say there is comparison by price point. Not a reality.

Most Hipoint haters have never given them the time of day to come to their own conclusions however at least not without bias going into the deal. It's a fact, what's known about them is mostly internet folly. It's parroting what so and so said and he reviews guns type of thing.

I view a lot of those gun reviews myself. For example : Hickock45 and Demolition Ranch reviews. Good reviews or bad they go into reviews with at least some bias; they always expect a gun to work right out of the box. No harm in that, they should. But many high quality guns don't work right out of the box either without a 1000 round break-in period. Why is Hipoint never given the same respect? (In all honesty I prefer Hickock45 reviews because he uses more rational thinking).

The idea of disliking a firearm because it has the unwarranted reputation of being the gun of choice of criminals...well, that's likely flawed too. Hipoints have been used in a few bad situations but the overwhelming weapon of choice is the Glock from what I understand, another ugly yet reliable weapon. I'd like to see a reliable study that shows with proof that Hipoints are involved in more crimes.

Basically what I'm saying is that everyone is free to like or dislike whatever they want. But to do so on the hearsay of others and not having first hand knowledge is just being a parrot.
 
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