new vs. used vinyl, pops and clicks.

After 8 or so years of audiophilia I am finally getting my first decent turntable. I of course had one when I was younger and bought a lot of records then that I still have and want to play. I ended up getting the Whest Phono stage and a Nottingham Horizon with RB 250 arm and Dynavector 10x5 cart. I am also getting a VPI 16.5. If I really like it I'll probably move into a better table and cart.

I was over at a friends who has a table (VPI 19something mk 3?) and plenty of records and was intrigued and sometimes disturbed at the surface noise on some of the records. Question is, how common is it to buy used vinyl and be able to make it pretty much clean and pop free sounding? He didn't have a wet machine and uses a carbon fibre brush, as well as meticulous care of his records. I brought along a new record I purchased for my impending delivery of my setup and it was pretty darn quiet, but found most of the records he played to have quite a lot of pops and clicks. I am really hoping to find a lot of used vinyl to build up my collection, but a little concerned after hearing how noisy some of my friends records sounded. I know my collection has got to be filthy compared to his. Any advise or comments are appreciated.