Norm,
Most of us have heard who is selling some of this junk and who is making it. We can't come out and print their names do to lawsuits and such. We have to say, "in my opinion" on every comment, and we are hesitant to even say something isn't correct. The "bad guys" sell some good guns too, so one person might buy a nice gun from them and his buddy might buy a piece of junk. This is the way it works and it has been going on for many, many years. How these guys treat someone they know or have heard of and how they treat "fresh meat" is totally different. Like you mentioned above about playing poker, they can size a person's knowledge and level of expertise in just a few minutes. Just look at the Rock Island Auction for example. Someone sells the junk to a collector and then it is resold to another collector and so on and so on. No one but a collector is going to pay $5000 and up for items, and they were originally sold to them from someone they trusted or believed in. I've heard of certain guns being returned up to 8 times before someone finally kept it.
I respectfully disagree with you on your comment about making it easier for the "bad guys" as they have access to the real stuff in the first place. I feel this forum is a great place with a lot of useful information, but not posting pictures to explain something when one brings it up in a thread because they are afraid the "bad guys" might find out about it, is just plain silly in my opinion. If we know about it, I'm sure they know about it also, and especially how numbers and letters should be. For instance, take K-Date Navy Lugers. You can look in any book and see correct examples of the numbers and the eagle. The problem isn't posting correct pictures, it's taking the time to look at the pictures and determine if it is correct. If the "bad guys" want to make an exact copy of a piece, they can, but the cost is too great and they don't have to when they are able to sell a decent copy. -- Bill
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