I always wondered where a lot of these police trade in come from.  For example, why would an entire department dump their entire armory of 3rd gen Glock 22's?  Or dump all their Sig 220rails?
Yet it seems like these guns that are on the market.   Are they swithing to HK's?  These are the only ones that I don't see a very big trade-in market for.  I could understand dumping 9mm Sigs but it all just seems like a terrible waste of money to me.

JMN69

You don't see a big trade-in market for HK's because not many agencies use them.

That being said, CDNN was selling a ton of HK trade ins last year.

They have a policy of cycling out weapons, whether they are old and unuseable or still practically brand new(typical governments). The dept I work at does not, nor do they issue side arms, they just have a list of approved weapons that you can carry. That does mean purchasing yourself, but I do not necessarily see that as a problem myself, nor do any of the officers that I talk guns with. The guys entering the academy have to buy their own weapon anyway, which has to be a Glock 17,19,or 22. Which is, not shockingly, on the approved list so it works out o.k.

Quoted: I always wondered where a lot of these police trade in come from.  For example, why would an entire department dump their entire armory of 3rd gen Glock 22's?  Or dump all their Sig 220rails? Yet it seems like these guns that are on the market.   Are they swithing to HK's?  These are the only ones that I don't see a very big trade-in market for.  I could understand dumping 9mm Sigs but it all just seems like a terrible waste of money to me. JMN69

Any cop will tell you as a rule of thumb if it was "Police Issue" or used by PD do not buy it.

Quoted: They have a policy of cycling out weapons, whether they are old and unuseable or still practically brand new(typical governments). The dept I work at does not, nor do they issue side arms, they just have a list of approved weapons that you can carry. That does mean purchasing yourself, but I do not necessarily see that as a problem myself, nor do any of the officers that I talk guns with. The guys entering the academy have to buy their own weapon anyway, which has to be a Glock 17,19,or 22. Which is, not shockingly, on the approved list so it works out o.k.

Funny my buddy on SPD has had his 4 years and it was a retired officers gun before him.  What is the typical service life of PD weapon?

Pay close attention.

Government entities EXIST to spend YOUR Tax Dollars.

The more they spend - the more they GET.

Only makes sense to upgrade/trade equipment.

Trust me , I am a Gubbmint worker.

Police trade-ins come from two major trade-in systems.

First is when a department is changing weapons.  
Often a department is dissatisfied with a particular brand, model, or caliber gun.
After the big changeover to the 9mm auto from the revolver, many departments decided the .40 caliber was better and traded in their 9mm's for the same brand and type, only in .40 caliber.

The big wave of used police guns was in the late 80's early 90's when American law enforcement made the big switch from the revolver to the auto.
You could buy virtually new revolvers cheap, and some of the best gun deals ever were on S&W Model 66 and 686 revolvers.

The second big source is from departments that have a system of replacing guns that are considered to be getting near the end of their service life.
A department figures out how long a pistol will last on the average.
When their guns reach that point, they trade them all in.

Under this system, you'll find a mix of guns ranging from clapped-out near-junk to guns that are in virtually new condition.

Most police guns are "carried much, fired little".

They can be excellent buys.
A new police gun is shipped to the department, where in most cases, a department armorer checks the new guns out to insure there are no factory defects.
Any that have problems are either returned for correction, or are corrected by the armorer.

The gun is issued to an officer who is responsible for it maintenance.
Periodically, his gun is inspected to insure it's in good working order, and if a problem is detected, the gun is either repaired by the armorer, or returned to the factory.

The officer shoots the gun in qualification, which is usually just enough to break a gun in over it's period of use.

What all this means is, if the gun has any problems, they would have turned up either in inspections or in qualification shooting and been corrected.

The gun will have been fired enough to have been broken in, but probably not enough to cause any real wear.

True, some officers treat the gun abusively and these can be badly finish worn, with possible corrosion, damaged sights, and a battered exterior.

However, most of the ex-police guns are in excellent shooting shape with the wear you'd expect for a gun that was carried daily for a few years.

Bottom line is, if you can find one that's not too battered looking, chances are you're getting a properly broken in gun with all possible problems eliminated, cheap.

In this, buying a used police-issue pistol is no different than buying any used gun, with the added advantage that it's very unlikely anyone has disassembled the gun and tried a "Billy Bob" trigger job or other alterations.

Most departments make disassembling a service pistol a firing offense, so you see very few guns that aren't in factory-spec condition.

Quoted: Any cop will tell you as a rule of thumb if it was "Police Issue" or used by PD do not buy it.

Anyone who takes a cop's word on gun advice is a fool shouldn't do so, IMO. I have bought several PD trade-ins & have had great success with them. They are shot very little & carried a lot. I have reaped huge savings by buying a PD trade-in & always look for them first in the used gun sections.

My .o2

Quoted: Quoted: They have a policy of cycling out weapons, whether they are old and unuseable or still practically brand new(typical governments). The dept I work at does not, nor do they issue side arms, they just have a list of approved weapons that you can carry. That does mean purchasing yourself, but I do not necessarily see that as a problem myself, nor do any of the officers that I talk guns with. The guys entering the academy have to buy their own weapon anyway, which has to be a Glock 17,19,or 22. Which is, not shockingly, on the approved list so it works out o.k. Funny my buddy on SPD has had his 4 years and it was a retired officers gun before him.  What is the typical service life of PD weapon?

I bought a 1911 from a retiring detective that bought it back in the late 60s and carried until I bought it. Some of the guys I know still have the Glock they have had since they were rookies 10 yrs ago. But they have to buy their own, the weapons last their(officers I mean) service life it seems as long as their taken care of. There are some guys that will switch service pistols 3 times a year, they are just like us and into guns. As long as its on the approved list and you can qualify with it, you can carry it.

Quoted: Quoted: Any cop will tell you as a rule of thumb if it was "Police Issue" or used by PD do not buy it. Antone who takes a cop's word on gun advice is a fool shouldn't do so, IMO. I have bought several PD trade-ins & have had great success with them. They are shot very little & carried a lot. I have reaped huge savings by buying a PD trade-in & always look for them first in the used gun sections. My .o2

You're right about that part, most officers not into guns and only have them because they use them as part of their job. Very few that I know are actually into guns as a hobby, thus most know jack shit about them.

Police trade-ins are usually a good deal, much better when you can eyeball them first. Probably ninety percent of the LEO's I work with qualify twice a year with their weapons, and beyond that, their guns rarely leave the holster.

I saw it's good to look the weapon over thouugh, because the other ten percent can be comprised of those like the ones I shoot with. I know one LEO that shoots probably a minimum of 200 rounds a week with his duty weapon, and even more with his personally owned weapons. He shoots a LOT, and I certainly wouldn't want to pay good money for a weapon that he's worn out.

If you can't see it first, another good rule of thumb is when CDNN says VG to excellent they mean it.  Best place to buy police trade ins IMHO

While I don't shoot as much as a lot of you guys, I tend to shoot more than most of the other guys I've worked with, so yeah there is a good chance that if you get a police trade-in, it probably won't have a lot of rounds through it even though it may be old.  The other benefit of a trade-in is that the guns that departments usually choose (especially larger depts that only offer one or a few options for a duty weapon) tend to weapons that are very durable and easy to maintain, as they are also aware that many cops are not really "into" guns