Beretta 92SF Police Trade-in at JG... worth it?

[sc00by]

JG Sales has trade-in Beretta 92SF with 1 magazine for $329, in good to VG condition. I guess the question on value is more "was it worth it", since I went ahead and ordered one .
Just curious if this is considered a good deal, or if I could have done better. I already have a CZ 75 pre B that I got at about the same price (elsewhere, from Robertson's Trading Post), and the Beretta was on the bucket list (as well as the Sig 226). I haven't hunted around a lot recently, but I don't recall seeing anything for less; maybe a couple years ago from CDNN for $299, but I think those were DAO, which I don't want. My guess is that I won't see a significantly better price on this pistol, only about the same, so I went ahead and got one.

I've seen some online bashing of JG, but they've been solid with me. I purchased some CZ 82's awhile back, and they handled everything great (one had a problem, and they did a swap for no additional cost).

I would have posted this to the Hot Deals thread, but I see several links to the Glocks at JG for the same price range, so I figure it's already known. Here's the link
http://www.jgsales.com/beretta-92fs-semi-auto-pistol,-9mm,-4.9-barrel,-black-finish,-g-vg,-used.-p-6973.html

As an aside, I still regret missing Widener's insane blowout priced P226's for $300. I don't mind trade-ins, as long as the gun is functional.

 

[JBP55]

You did good.

 

[Rahllin]

I have been tempted to pick one of those up myself. I don't think you will see a better deal on a 92FS anytime soon, if ever. The biggest issues I have heard from JGsales is spotty to horrible customer service and sometimes pretty high shipping on certain things. I don't have any experience with them personally, but after I saw some of their pricing recently, I don't think it will be long before I order something from them.

 

[JBP55]

I have purchased a few things from J&G in the last 35 years.

 

[sc00by]

I have been tempted to pick one of those up myself. I don't think you will see a better deal on a 92FS anytime soon, if ever. The biggest issues I have heard from JGsales is spotty to horrible customer service and sometimes pretty high shipping on certain things. I don't have any experience with them personally, but after I saw some of their pricing recently, I don't think it will be long before I order something from them.

Shipping was $27, so maybe a bit on the high side. As I commented, the prior time I bought from them, I did a purchase of several surplus CZ 82s. The price was good, and we did have one gun that had a problem detected AFTER test-firing, and they swapped that pistol for free.

 

[edman87k5]

I placed an order with jg sales the other day (for a handgun, online with credit card). After putting in the order, I realized that the cc I used was not valid (got a new one in a few days before and activated it but forgot to swap them out). Called the next morning and spoke with a very nice lady. They were not even open yet as I forgot about the time zone difference. She changed the order for me and was very nice. On the same order, they were sold out very quickly and the ffl I was shipping to was not on file (I and the ffl thought it was). Got it faxed in, order processed and it is on a fed ex truck right now scheduled to be delivered today. When I put hands on it I will determine if their idea of very good condition and mine are similar.
2 hiccups (on my part) with the order for a very well priced gun that was sold out quickly and the order still went thru? I cant complain so far.

 

[Tapperlee]

Great buy! Probably won't find a better deal!!

 

[gunz4me]

I have a G19 that I picked up from J&G sales in 2006 or 2007 that was a police trade-in. That gun was NEVER issued and still had the Glock factory grease on it. IIRC it was in the $300 range and it came with factory night sights. I would purchase from J&G again if they had something I was in the market for. I think my last order from them was for magazines.

 

[Magdump]

Well I hope you got a good deal...cuz my order was processed yesterday. Number 4 for me.
The Glock 22 I got for $299+shipping was flawless

 

[323MAR]

That is a good deal these days. It is pretty close to the police price back in the early 90s. If you can buy a good handgun for under $400, then you are doing well.

 

[CavalryJim]

Price just jumped to $400.

 

[Magdump]

Price just jumped to $400.

No way...
Whoot!

 

[sc00by]

Price just jumped to $400.

yay- mine's in the mail (FedEx actually, in Memphis). Per the invoice, it's "good" condition. I guess they grabbed a more worn looking gun from the batch (said G to VG condition when I ordered). No complaints, I wasn't expecting it to be LNIB. As long as it's in good working condition and not pitted up, I'm ok.

 

[the dubshow]

Yeah. Saw the price at 329 this morning then bam. 399 by noon.

was a nice deal. Kinda of wanted one for a while. Maybe a m9 will be in my future.

 

[Magdump]

The first two 92FS pistols I bought were just under $400 new, and were both made in Italy. That's been quite a few years back. I think with the current price being in the $600 range, $399 is still a decent deal. One thing about police trade ins is they've likely been serviced by the department armorer or someone comparable to that (especially trooper guns) as in the case of one of my Glocks, an early 22 that came from Missouri State Highway Patrol. It came with a fresh set of trijicon sights, and a few performance parts. Real soft trigger, slide plug installed, etc. If you think about it, this being a primary arm that a LEO would have to trust 24/7 to be the best it could be, they all are probably in very good working condition.
Back when the AMT 380 backup was popular with some departments, I scored a great deal on a trade in. I stripped it down to do an inspection and was very impressed with my purchase for just over half the new gun price. The gun was about 99%.
I've never wound up with a problem gun when buying a police trade in.

 

[sc00by]

Mine made it to my FFL on the 30th, and I was able to go pick it up today. Was in need of some serious cleaning up, which I did. Internals looks good, sharp rifling. There's moderate wearing of the frame finish along the edges, including one fairly large scuff. The slide looks good, maybe some scratches that you really have to look for. There is a small Hogue grips (I would have preferred the original Beretta grips), and one magazine with a hideous orange coating.

All in all, seems solid enough. Everything seems to function smoothly. I'm happy with it.

 

[Magdump]

Hey sc00b, I'm sure I have a couple sets of new take offs if you would prefer. Small trade or cash whatever. Lemme know.
Picked mine up this morning. Took it home, tore it down and did a comparison with on of my others that has had about 2k rounds through it. Slide, barrel lug, hammer face, etc. all showed significantly less wear than my previous. Barrel was good. Aside from the obvious holster wear and a ding on the lanyard ring(all of mine have one now) and the same sticky nasty hogue grips, it was a very good trade in.
Ran 2 mags through it without a burp. Smooth like butter. Or like a beretta.

 

[sc00by]

Updated- I ran the serial through Beretta's site, and my pistol was made in '95 and issued to LAPD. I made a couple inquiries and got the following information- the LAPD requires a 30 rd qualification every 2 months. So, if the pistol was in "active duty", that means a minimum of 180 rounds fired annually, along with any further shooting- like extra trips to the range, actual discharge while on duty, etc.

I hope this is useful info to anyone looking at police trade-ins; it's always nice to get a baseline usage on any used firearm.

 

[Magdump]

Updated- I ran the serial through Beretta's site, and my pistol was made in '95 and issued to LAPD. I made a couple inquiries and got the following information- the LAPD requires a 30 rd qualification every 2 months. So, if the pistol was in "active duty", that means a minimum of 180 rounds fired annually, along with any further shooting- like extra trips to the range, actual discharge while on duty, etc.

I hope this is useful info to anyone looking at police trade-ins; it's always nice to get a baseline usage on any used firearm.

Thanks a bunch sc00by! I figured mine at less than 1k rounds and a couple years of carry. Judging from your info I might be correct.