Should I make this trade????????

Hello all. I'm new to the forum. I like Rugers. Recently, I have been thinking about getting a 357. A friend of mine offered to trade me even up. My 8 year old New Model Single Six Convertible in SS for his 10 year old 4" blue GP100 with adjustable sights and wood inserts in the rubber grips. Neither gun has been fired very much. Both are like new. Neither of us knows much about the "value" of our guns. Are these guns of approximately equal value? Would this be a fair trade?

I would prefer a SS GP100. So would I be better off trading in my 22 for a SS GP100? Approximately how much would I have to kick in?

What say you all.

Don <><

Looking at the price of both guns new (to get an idea of where new-gun prices are for these two models right now), the GP-100 is worth a bit more ($50-$60), but it has different grips (Hogue fingergroove) than the current model; the model with the older grips would probably be worth a bit less in the same condition.

When two private/non-dealer parties are trading, then if both parties are happy, then the actual values don't matter that much. If you try to trade with a store/gunshop to get the stainless GP-100 later on, they are almost certainly going to low-ball you on your trade-in, and make you trade against the new gun's full retail price. Under those conditions, yeah, you're going to end up kicking in a LOT of cash; don't be too surprised if your Single Six trade-in doesn't get you to the halfway mark on a new stainless GP-100. It's almost always a better deal to trade with the end-user vs. a middle-man store/shop who will need to mark-up the used gun he takes in on trade for resale.

If it was me, I'd probably do the trade with your friend, and if it turned out that I liked the GP-100, then I'd save my pennies and send it off to a custom re-finisher to get a stainless-looking after-market finish added; something like Robar's NP3 or NP3+ would be a good choice.

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Originally Posted by DJ Niner

Looking at the price of both guns new (to get an idea of where new-gun prices are for these two models right now), the GP-100 is worth a bit more ($50-$60), but it has different grips (Hogue fingergroove) than the current model; the model with the older grips would probably be worth a bit less in the same condition. When two private/non-dealer parties are trading, then if both parties are happy, then the actual values don't matter that much. If you try to trade with a store/gunshop to get the stainless GP-100 later on, they are almost certainly going to low-ball you on your trade-in, and make you trade against the new gun's full retail price. Under those conditions, yeah, you're going to end up kicking in a LOT of cash; don't be too surprised if your Single Six trade-in doesn't get you to the halfway mark on a new stainless GP-100. It's almost always a better deal to trade with the end-user vs. a middle-man store/shop who will need to mark-up the used gun he takes in on trade for resale. If it was me, I'd probably do the trade with your friend, and if it turned out that I liked the GP-100, then I'd save my pennies and send it off to a custom re-finisher to get a stainless-looking after-market finish added; something like Robar's NP3 or NP3+ would be a good choice.

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Thanks DJ. We did the trade and we're both happy campers. I kinda figured I'd take a beating if I traded it in at a gun shop. I can get use to blue again.