Our LEO trade in firearms are a hot item. Working in the showroom people would ask almost daily if we had any trade-ins, mid pandemic it was hard to get them. There is also a crowd that is against LEO trade-in or used guns, thinking “Oh I don’t know, the previous owners could have beat the gun to death and never maintained it.” Sure that could be the case but it’s doubtful, these are from police departments, they want their guys to make it home so firearms and maintenance are pretty important.
I will make this statement and sure some will get mad: Cops do not shoot their guns. Most cops train when it’s time to qualify and then that’s it. I wish more of them did, your life is on the line as well as your brothers, why wouldn’t you want to be as proficient as possible. We are lucky to train with some local PD who have become friends, pushing us to get better, pushing them to get better, all of us putting in the work to become better shooters. This being said, you see a police trade-in at a great price, chances are it’s barely been fired, a barrel may look untouched or internals are not even scuffed up. Most batches of trade-ins, slides have some scuffs from seat belts, sometimes down on the grip, you will see wear and then mostly its faded night sights and scratches from its former life.
This is probably your average-looking trade-in we get. This is a Detroit PD marked M&P. A couple scratches on the slide and trigger guard, but nothing outrageous. I randomly picked this one out of the group it was in.
Glock. Sig. M&P. FN. All the best of the best for our LEO, traded in because of budget increase or departments switching to 9 from .40, could be any number of reasons. Occasionally we will get unissued firearms, less common but it happens. The only major downside to picking up a trade-in would be no warranty but more common worries would be maybe you don’t have a box to go with it or only one mag. These guns were either unissued or a duty weapon that was fired a couple times a year so you get a broken-in gun that works like it’s brand new and just is not as pretty as it was when it was brand new. It’s a tool, not a showpiece. Save a couple hundred bucks on that Glock 19 you wanted to get, chances are it has been shot less than 200 times. That’s nothing, most of us shoot more than that in an hour at the range.
Let’s say you get one that isn’t the best shape, usually, they are cheaper anyway. let’s say you didn’t get it from us so they never went through it to make sure it worked properly. Gen 3 Glock 19. new parts kit and you are shooting a brand new Glock aside from the barrel and still cheaper than buying a brand new firearm. replace the barrel with one of our AimSurplus barrels and you are all brand new for a fraction of the cost.
Don’t let the words trade-in scare you off. If it’s a good deal get one, especially if you can see it first.
-Cano