shady pawn shops

[73z28454]

i bought me a 1972 colt ar15 sp1 from a fellow in Iowa and had it shipped to a local pawn shop cause i do not hold a ffl and we have no gun shops close. anyway, he chalk marked the bolt and carrier in several places so that i would know that it was original to the weapon. he sent me pictures as well. when i picked it up from the pawn shop, there was no evidence of any chalk anywhere. i showed the guys at the shop the pics and asked why they would have taken the rifle apart and wipe it clean. there answer was they didn't mess with nothing. i think they may have swapped out the whole upper as there wasn't even any chalk in the barrel. my question is am i screwed or is there anything i can do about this?? and has anyone else had bad experiences dealing with pawn shops.
thanks

[netentity]

I agree there should be some evidence of chalk in the upper after you take it apart.

About all you can do is take them to small claims court unless the firearm is worth more than that in which case you'd need an attorney. Since you have evidence that the seller marked the upper and the firearm you received does not have that upper, I think you have a good case. I'd sue them for the fair market value or what you paid for the AR-15, shipping and transfer fees as well, since it has affected the collector's value of the firearm. The seller did you a favor by chalking the upper. I suspect the seller may have encountered this issue before which is why he chalks the interchangeable parts on AR-15s.

I would also let them know that unless they produce the chalked upper you're also going to give BATFE and your county sheriff or local PD a call as well and file a criminal complaint. I suspect between those things, your chalked upper will probably show up pretty quickly unless they already sold it. Next time, I would also look for an ethical FFL.

I have only dealt with two pawn shops. Both were ethical. The only issue I had with one is that they wouldn't do a local pickup on an online auction, I had to pick up the firearm from another FFL in the same town which cost me a transfer fee.