Heros surplus...

[kalnaren]

Ok, so myself, Karma, Shifty51, Enigma17, and one of my other buddies (not on ASC, he shall henceforth be known as 'Alec') went into Oshawa to Hero's Army Surplus. Shifty and Enigma wanted to pick up a set of camos, and we thought we would see what else they have there.

Long story short, after looking around and my friends finding the camo they wanted, we were checking out and the guy behind the counter asked us if we were paintballing. We of course responded with "Nope, we play airsoft." He proceeded to tell us about a couple of airsoft guns he'd had for a while that he wanted to move out of the store and mentioned he'd "Give us a good deal on one." We were considering this because Alec doesn't have a gun yet and would consider picking one up if the price was right.
Karma proceeded to ask "How much would a good deal be?" and the guy kindof flustered around a bit with a little more "..I want to move them out.." with a very much 'you tell me what a good deal would be' attitude. We asked him what the guns were, he told us they were Tokyo Marui MP5s, upgraded and in good condition. He told us the one had never been out to a game the guy he bought it from just used it to tinker with. A moment later he said "Here, I'll come back with you to take a look."

(I should mention at this point this was after him giving us a long speal about how nobody can get airsoft guns anymore and the prices would go way up and nobody could import them blablabla... we call shinanigans.)

So ok, interested by the prospect of a good deal on a gun, we went to the back display cases where two MP5s resided amoung a ton of paintball guns. One was an MP5A4, the other an A5.
(At this point I'll mention he never actually did come back, we waited for 10 minutes for one of the other store attendants to open the case for us, and proceded to check out the guns for another 15 min waiting for the guy).

First we pulled out the A4 to take a look. The gun had a metel upper reciever and plastic lower, but the reciever was in good condition. It had a magazine in it that also looked to be in good condition. The rear sight rotated with a bit of reluctance but overall the gun didn't seem too bad. However, Karma who is much more experianced in arisoft than the rest of us had doubts the gun was actually a Marui. It had no trades on it nor any manufacturers trades (no "made in Japan"). We're not sure but we had our doubts.

Now, the A5. We picked it up.. and holy crap it looked used. It was obvious the gun had been taken apart and put back together either many times or very poorly. The gun also had a magazine in it. We flipped off the safty to see the motion (which felt VERY worn) and pulled the trigger to check for motion -we were rewarded with the sound of a grinding gearbox and a BB hitting metel...the damn thing was loaded with a battery in it! Shifty pulled the mag out and sure enough some BBs fell out of the reciever and the mag was loaded. Funny thing is that some of the BBs actually had flattened edges on them. The guy mentioned he'd had them for nearly a year and that's the way they came. He never bothered to check to see if they were loaded. We checked the other gun, and it wasn't loaded but sure enough it had a battery connected. It had been sitting on the shelf for at least a year with a large worn looking Ni-Cad battery in it. Also it was aparent that the gun had been taken apart and had gearbox work done MANY times.
We pretty much put the A5 down -after a couple of more shots and a horrible grinding noise from the gearbox. Also the collapsable would not lock open or closed. I should also mention that the tickets on the guns had them listed at $700. Yea, right.

We were still midely interested in the A4 for our friend Alec. We were thinking maybe $300 for the gun (of which we had no idea how much it had actually been used), battery (since it'd been sitting in the gun for a LONG time) and a couple of mags. If some internals had to be replaced it wouldn't be too bad with a few metel mags (not the one in the other gun.. obviously after being loaded that long the mag was shot).
So we went back to the front to talk to the guy, and he was still all "Make me an offer." So ok, 300 for the above. The guy almost laughed at us. Some bantering back and forth ensued, and he proceeded to give us a long speal about throwing in a good charger (which was actually a multiadapter with an end for a SMALL battery, when we pointed it out he said we could simply get a new end for the adapter... uh hu). After some more bantering back and forth, he asked another employee about the price, and they said they would sell the gun alone for no less than $400. $400?? WTF A&A has a Marui A4 for $459!. The guy also said "I still have the plastic body I'll throw it in for nothing!" like he was giving us a good deal... I loved Alec's comment "Well, I only need one body on a gun...".

We said $400 wasn't a deal, that there was no chance he would sell it for that. He proceeded to tell us we didn't know what things were worth. Karma said he'd been airsofting for 5 years, had taken apart gearboxes before and knew what it was worth. The guy immedietly told us he'd been airsofting for 15 (a nice multiple of 5...) and that we were wrong. At this point we abandoned the idea and left. On the way out Shifty mentioned about the design of the TM Fa-mas not even being that old.... so 15 years our ass there bud, especially for someone that even one of the other store associates had told us didn't know anything at all about airsoft, or even paintball for that matter.

Anyways, that was our little adventure with these guys. We don't have much desire to go there again. Good selection of surplus stuff and ok prices, however...What really pissed us off was how he was trying to lay so much bullshit on people who obviously knew what they were talking about, and the fact that the guns had been stored loaded with batteries in them for god knows how long. Yea, we were annoyed.

[Jughead]

Nice story...

I usually see long posts and ignore them, but this one was entertaining...

[SINN]

sounds like the usual "GTA" surplus guys...

but hey, dont buy airsoft from a non airsoft store and it's all good!

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by SINN

sounds like the usual "GTA" surplus guys...

but hey, dont buy airsoft from a non airsoft store and it's all good!

Yea, pretty much. This guy obviously had no idea whatsoever how much those guns were actually worth. We're figuring whoever sold them to him ripped him off good and he's trying to cover his loss :P.

[Armyissue]

Originally Posted by SINN

sounds like the usual "GTA" surplus guys...

urh hum

Originally Posted by kalnaren

Yea, pretty much. This guy obviously had no idea whatsoever how much those guns were actually worth. We're figuring whoever sold them to him ripped him off good and he's trying to cover his loss :P.

uh not quiet, you should use the search button and see the other threads relating stories of Hero's.

[Mapcinq]

Originally Posted by kalnaren

Yea, pretty much. This guy obviously had no idea whatsoever how much those guns were actually worth. We're figuring whoever sold them to him ripped him off good and he's trying to cover his loss :P.

Either that or he stole them.. But I guess if they were stolen he would have sold them for anything. hmmmmmmmmm

[kalnaren]

uh not quiet, you should use the search button and see the other threads relating stories of Hero's.

Yea. One of the guys who works there was telling us some stories...

EDIT:
Ah yes, after re-reading some of these posts, I remember these guys now, I knew the store sounded familiar but I didn't clue into it yesterday.

[Moz]

Originally Posted by SINN

sounds like the usual "GTA" surplus guys...

but hey, dont buy airsoft from a non airsoft store and it's all good!

beavers is a great surplus. (north york really)

[Lisa]

I've only found one surplus store owner I'd trust not to try to sell me my own pants with my eyes open, and you can probably guess who he is. That's not saying the rest of surplus stores are crooks, but there are a few shady characters in the business and a search of Heros on this site will show you to not blink while in the store.

[SINN]

Originally Posted by Lisa

I've only found one surplus store owner I'd trust not to try to sell me my own pants with my eyes open, and you can probably guess who he is. That's not saying the rest of surplus stores are crooks, but there are a few shady characters in the business and a search of Heros on this site will show you to not blink while in the store.

That's what I meant jeroon...you have been downtown haha..

plus..you only sell pants dude!

[Armyissue]

^^^^^^^^^^^

and I may be a little bias here but beavers used to be the best shop in town. No I have to go find my horn.
Cheers

[Ace of Spades©]

Originally Posted by Armyissue

^^^^^^^^^^^

and I may be a little bias here but beavers used to be the best shop in town. No I have to go find my horn.
Cheers

Seconded. I only trust and go to Army Issue when I need/want more gear. Jeroon store beats hands down any other surplus store in Toronto, period.

[kalnaren]

I've done a lot of my dealings with Angie's Outdoors in Barrie, no complaints about them.

[Brian McIlmoyle]

404 and Leslie.. East beaver Creek Drive..

Often have stuff not found elsewhere, Russian Camo and vests, Wide selection of UK DPM.. full suite of US camo and some interesting odds and sods such as various surplus helmets...
Lots of goretex in various flavours... and a good selection of sizes.. Picked up a brit wool jumper and a pre soldier 95 DPM smock just last week.

Says he will have Crye Multicam in by mid april.... Says authentic Crye Percision fabric but in a 4 pocket BDU cut..

But I make it a point to get up there every so often to see whats new

Then of course there is Army Outfitters, on Avenue just north of Lawrence.. nice selection... and in human sizes..lots of gortex.. current issue ACU and USMC Marpat TW if you are into that sort of thing.

Beaver... meh... nothing special.. an never much different

[Mapcinq]

Originally Posted by kalnaren

I've done a lot of my dealings with Angie's Outdoors in Barrie, no complaints about them.

Is that right on Dunlop St?