Goodbye Old Friend

Episode 22 of Shooting The Breeze received some fantastic comments and opened my eyes to a subject that I’ve been thinking about off and on for a while. I decided that while my Beretta 70S was my first pistol and has brought me some fond memories (taking an NRA Basic Pistol Class with my wife, as an example), holding onto it would mean more time spent collecting dust.

If I had spare cash to throw around, I think I would have smiled, stuck my Beretta in a box, and shipped it off to be plated. The photos included in the podcast were beautiful and I would have loved to own a gun like that. Even if I would have had the gun plated and polished, it would have just been a pretty gun collecting dust.

With this new realization set firmly in my mind, I took a ride over to a local gun shop to see what they would be willing to offer me. The situation was a bit strange as the owner wasn’t in and person running the store had to make a phone call to determine what they were willing to pay for my Beretta.

The offer wasn’t horrible but it was lower than I had hoped for. Between the offer and the cost of the gun, in the case, that I had my eye on, things just didn’t work out. I thanked the man for his time and told him that I would have to give the offer some thought. I sat down in my car, put the key in the ignition, and for a brief moment thought about walking back in the store and just accepting the offer. I decided against it and drove home a little disappointed.

After talking with my wife, I decided that another trip was in order that night. I climbed into my car and took a ride out to the gun store where I purchased both my Smith & Wesson M&P and Smith & Wesson Bodyguard. The shop seems to deal less in used guns but it was worth a shot.

When I arrived, I greeted the man behind the counter and explained that I was considering selling my old Beretta. He thunked a massively thick Blue Book of Gun Values onto the counter and looked up my Beretta. The offer was a few dollars less than the previous offer I received.

I thought long and hard about accepting. I looked at my Beretta, down into the gun case, back to my Beretta, then back to the gun case. I felt that the difference between the offer and what I was hoping to get, versus the cost of the gun in the case at this store rather than the previous store, was more in my favor. I accepted and began filling out paperwork.

I’ll miss the old Beretta 70S. I hope it finds a new home where it will be appreciated and put to good use.