Does round count really matter these days?

[meaty-btz]

Round count isn't a big deal breaker. I look for wear and tear from holsters and nicks. That turns me off unless the price is low.

For 1911s it does matter. A 1911 with 5,000 rounds might have a frame crack (Colt). A Glock with 5,000 rounds really doesn't matter much considering a new recoil spring is only 8 bucks and usually a good cleaning is all it needs.

But wear and general appearance is important to me. I once bought a 2 year old GLOCK that looked nice. At the first cleaning the black ink (Gun Black Marker) came off and showed the slide had some serious holster wear.

Buyer beware.

As for the HK I recently sold. It was an HK USP .40 that I bought in 94ish. I shot a few boxes thru it, cleaned it and put it back in the box. Didn't shoot it ever again; sold it for $650. Looked brand new. (bought it a SOUTHLAND GUNS...a gun store that the ATF shut down here in Orange County..LOL)

Same for my Beretta 92SF INOX that I bought in 93. Very low round count, looked new, shot it once, back in the box. For instance I have a brand new GLOCK 23 GEN 2...NIB..never shot it. I had others I shot for fun however.

Some guns I own are 20 years old and have never been shot. NIB.

Be well, Bob

If your gun was low round count, it would be pretty obvious if your pictures were good. Esp USPs.

I am not dashing all low round count guns but it is pretty clear when they are not and people insist that they are. Even 500 rounds will not introduce polishing on certain surfaces of a USP. A thousand should result in brightness and smoothness of a fashion in certain areas, 4-5K rounds and you start to see what many people advertise as a low round count USP with wide bright marks that are mirror bright representing long and repeated metal on metal rubbing that does not MAR but instead polishes. A sign of use.

In revolvers I would demand to have a well lighted shot looking just above the force-cone. Looking for flame discoloration and then, later, divoting, and flame cutting. You can't hide that w/o bad pictures or intentionally hiding those features. They represent wear as a result of use. It isn't bad, but I would rather someone was honest with me, especially when dealing with a critical item that my life may depend on. It needs to be AS ADVERTISED or its total BS.

You an always spot the NIB safe-queens. For one, they are usually gorgeous and just amazing looking and usually backed up with quality photography and prices to match.

[Tank 57]

I don't think it matters.Condition is what matters.If you are buying a used gun,you should know what to look for.If you don't know what to look for,you should probably buy new.

[orangeusa]

I don't think it matters.Condition is what matters.If you are buying a used gun,you should know what to look for.If you don't know what to look for,you should probably buy new.

^^^ Yup. I have bought and sold many Berettas (it's just what I like, but substitute any brand name). I know what to look for, and can tell a gun with 100 rounds vs. a gun with 1k rounds and one with 5k rounds.

But as OP has mentioned, it really is not that big of a deal. I get a LOT more worried if a gun has rust than if it has holster wear...

.

[Fishslayer]

My personal favorite "low round count" guns are the USP's that are a decade or more old sold as 500 rounds or less. A quick gander at the pictures shows heavy wearing on the contact surfaces. If it was 500 rounds that wearing would not be there. Nope.. looks like a well used gun.. so again, what problem is making you want to sell it.

Most cop guns & some civvies get "carried much, shot little." They'll show holster wear but be good & tight mechanically. I could see a gun being carried for 10 years & have 500 - 1000 rounds through it.

[Blackhawk556]

I still don't think you can compare a gun to a car. Yrs they're bought mechanical but the car goes through rain, mud, snow, heat, and other harsh conditions. The damage can be hard to spot. Rust under the car can be hard to see. With a gun, you can open it and inspect it closely. I guess where round count does matter is when it comes to replacing springs but those are usually cheap.

[CSACANNONEER]

Many used guns have a lot of wear due to being carried and/or heavy field use. This does not equate to a high round count just a lot of wear. I'd compare a gun to a motorhome. Some get driven a lot and others get parked but worn out by someone living in them. Some have a combination of wear. Guns can have similar wear patterns. Round count can mean a lot to a rifle chambered in an overbored catridge. But, the worst that will happen is that one will need to spend $300-$1000 on a new barrel. Anyone buying a gun like that will know what to look for in the first place and decide if the asking price is within the price the buyer thinks the gun is worth to him/her.

[mr00jimbo]

I think it matters because the more rounds, the more chance that they have been neglecting preventative maintenance.

I have purchased pre-owned guns with low round counts, my Sig P220 unknown (although it seems low) my 1911 Colt 300, my Sig P226 Stainless 300, both from very reputable people and in immaculate condition.

But I will say this; it matters to me most on aluminum alloy framed guns. Steel and polymer, whatever, but alloy seems to have a comparatively shorter life span, especially if there has been neglect.

When I bought my P220 9mm, I didn't know much about guns. But thankfully, it seems to be of a low round count. If I could do it again, I'd be more hesitant unless I knew how many were in the gun. If somebody has shot 10-15 thousand rounds, especially +P ammo, that's going to affect the gun's life span.
I like to own firearms that I could shoot them my whole life and not wear them out, even though I'm a very low mileage shooter.

Take the Beretta 92FS. Say the frame has a life span of 50,000 rounds (Yes, this is a lot of rounds and a lot of MONEY, I know.) Somebody shoots 10,000 through it. That's 20% of the gun's life.

This is a non issue for most people, but just how I am.

[Blackhawk556]

Anyone know how long barrels are spouse to last?

Sent from Los Alamos Nuclear Facility

[Peter W Bush]

Most of the time I don't really care. However, I have been shopping for a nice precision rifle lately and with some cartridges 200 rounds means 25%+ of the barrel life is gone.

It's actually kind of funny. I put a gun up for sale here for the first time in a very very long time. It actually had 40 rounds fired out of it, but as I was typing it I thought "oh crap nobody is going to believe me" lol.

[bruss01]

With all the advancements manufactures have done in the last 10-20 years does it really matter? The reason I ask is because every time someone doesn't post a rounds count on a for sale gun, 10 people ask the same question.

How many rounds down the pipe?



Sent from Los Alamos Nuclear Facility

When they invent a "round-count-ometer" on guns that can't be fudged, then round count matters. Until then, "round count" is whatever the seller says it is. Which can be dead-nutz on the money, or off by two or three orders of magnitude. The buyer will never know which. Consequently, such a statement by a seller will only be taken at face value by a gullible buyer. A non-gullible buyer will have to disregard the round count figure offered by the seller entirely and judge the piece based on it's own current intrinsic merits. Which is as it should be. If it looks like a new gun, and shoots like a new gun, then who's to say it's not essentially a new gun? But if it looks like a worn-down workhorse ready for the glue factory, and shoots likewise, then it's obviously not new and thus is worth less than a new gun. It would take a fairly sophisticated gun aficionado to determine where in the spectrum between those two states the average "for sale" gun falls.

It's nice to be offered a round count for a gun by a seller, but if you take it seriously then please don't ever shop for a used car without adult supervision unless you are the Dahli Lama or some other similarly charitable individual..

Speaking personally, I own 30+ guns. Do you think I kept records on how much I shot each one every range trip? did I shoot 100 rounds through this one, and 200 through that one? Or was it the other way around? Have I shot this one a half dozen times? Or was it that one over there that's very similar? You can see that simple human error figures into this as much as honesty or wishful-thinking. A round count based on a verbal account fetched from fallible human memory is about as valuable as trying to write down next week's winning lottery numbers. Neither one is likely to be right.

[tbc]

OK. I confess. I am not being truthful on my round counts. I actually rounded the number UP when put them up for sale. Folks, when owning multiple firearms (ten or so), it is not easy to put thousands of rounds through each one.

[Freq18Hz]

Round count doesn't matter today, and it never ever did. Round count is for people that don't know how to inspect what they are buying.

-Freq

[GM4spd]

Round count is a term almost exclusive to this board. It's like the "post" count
which is for people who don't have a life,wife, or a job.

Pete

[sirgiles]

if and when we stop embellishing, round count matters.
till then, buyer beware.

[shooterdude]

Personally, if I'm the buyer, yes it is important to me. May or may not be a deal breaker, but I certainly want to know.

How does knowing this impact your perception?