I requested a Taurus 845, which was marketed on Budsgunshop.com as "factory-new." The gun was delivered quickly in its original Taurus container with the correct documents and components.
Upon getting it to my FFL, I noticed the gun was very dirty, with dust and residue. The FFL dealer said right away that he believed it was a used gun. I also noticed it had a faulty magazine release. I took it home to look it over more closely, and found far more grime and residue than there should be on a "factory-new" gun that allegedly had only been test-fired 12 times. Based on my experience, this gun had several hundred rounds through it. I also noticed scratches on the slide and dings in the metal on the slide rails.
I went ahead and cleaned it, went to the range, and fired several boxes of quality ammunition through it. It had continuous feeding problems.
I called Taurus, and the rep was helpful - he told me the gun had been sold by them to the distributor back in 3/09. That suggests this gun had been sitting around, possibly used as a range gun or demo unit, for 8 weeks before I bought it. Taurus has been great about taking the gun back, and are currently deciding whether to repair it or send me a new replacement.
I can't prove it, since there's no way to, but I firmly believe this gun was used as a range or demo gun for 8 weeks, then quickly cleaned up and sold to me as "factory-new." Based on this, I'd warn anyone buying a gun from Budsgunshop.com to inspect it carefully before accepting it. Unlike Davidsons, Buds doesn't offer a replacement guarantee — you have to use the manufacturer's warranty. That means I'll be without my "factory-new" gun until Taurus takes care of it. In my experience, Budsgunshop.com is very suspect for selling used guns as new.
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