Shooter's Outpost

several weeks ago I went into shooters outpost to see if they had an acceptable price on a Taurus judge. they had one in the show case and the price was reasonable so I said I would buy it. I filled out the necessary paperwork, including the serial number, and was told there was about a 20 minute wait on the background check. about 15 minutes later the salesman asked if I would mind redoing the paperwork. I asked why, and he said I was getting a different pistol than the one I originally looked at. I asked to look at it and quickly determined that it was a used pistol. I said that I wouldn't take it because it was clearly used. heavy powder staining on the front of the cylinders. one of the other sales associates asked what the problem was , looked at the revolver, and agreed it was used and probably came from the range they are affiliated with. they showed me another that didn't have the staining and I accepted that one. it didn't occur to me until I got home that I should have insisted on the original one in the display. the paperwork was already filled out for it. clearly they didn't want to sell that one and instead switched me to a used pistol. even though it appeared clean. when I got it home I took a close look at the box it came in and noticed that the cardboard was ripped in a number of spots and powder stains were on the bottom as if the pistol had been taken out and put back in repeatedly. (like at a range rental). I then ran a swab through each of the cylinders and barrel. of course it came out black. all gun sales are final so there was no point in trying to return it. So in conclusion, buyers beware, this was obviously a deliberate plan to sell used merchandise as new. hardly what could be called a reputable business practice. in talking to a number of friends affiliated with the industry I discovered that there has been an ongoing suspicion that this dealer has been selling rental equipment as new for some time. in my case they most certainly did.