Getting a Loan to Buy a Firearm?

Status
Not open for further replies.
If you are determined, and you look down the road and see nothing sneaking up on you, then go ahead. Don't touch your emergency funds.

Pay it off as soon as you can.

Don't buy ammo with the loan proceeds, use your payroll for that. Reloading dies would be better, they run $400 a pop.

You can reload rounds for well under two dollars. A single-stage press is just fine. The Fifty is not tough to reload for. Bolt action, not Semi.

I want one, too. Yeah, two.
 
Don't use loan money to buy ammo, roger. DO use it for dies. I think I may have a lead on a free turret press to reload it so that hopefully won't be an issue, I don't think my current press can handle the case length.
 
I know this is a done deal for you but I'm going to parrot what many others have said... a 10k loan for a gun is not really a good idea even if you are young, have few responsibilities, and want it before you get saddled with wife and kids.

Were my son to come up and ask my opinion, I would tell him he's lost his darn mind. He would get mad and not speak to me the rest of the day. We would be fine after a few hours or the next day. Sometimes he would never mention it again, he would just go out and do it because he wants to. Sometimes he realizes I'm right and skips it. Sometimes, when it's important to him, he would ask again the next day. What I would tell him at that point goes something like this....

If it means SO MUCH, then consider saving aggressively for the first half, and then take a loan on the second half? When you commit to saving half, you may find that 6 months to a year down the road owning a .50 for long range shooting wasn't as important as you thought it was. Maybe it's more about the long range shooting, and you will realize that you can get set up with an accurate rifle in .338 Lapua, reloading components, and good glass for WAY less. You may look at the cost reward analysis and decide that a 5k rifle with basically the same capabilities (the .338 has the record for longest kill in combat, BTW) as the 10k rifle makes more sense to you. OR... you'll find that you want that Barret just as bad as when you started saving so you can be more confident in your decision to take out a loan. That plan takes the "impulse" out of it. Also, you can save money on interest and you will only make payments for 1 or 2 years instead of 3 or 4. If you save aggressively, say 500 bucks a month, you can have 1/3rd of your price in 6 months. That's not a terrible wait time for big ticket purchase such as this, but it's just long enough to make sure it isn't "impulse." Be smart about how you conduct business and you're not likely to be saddled with the prospect of house, wife, and kids in that time frame either.
 
Last edited:
If you want it that bad, save, don't borrow. Never could understand why people want to feed all the banker's kids.
 
While I still don't think this is a good idea, generally speaking, I do have to concur on the dies. If you absolutely MUST take out this loan, spend part of it on dies rather than ammo.
 
Its not a great idea....( but if it does increase in value over time ...)...maybe its a decent investment...but hard to predict....

Fully funding your IRA to the max allowed each year ....( not the minimum ) would be smart...( or 401K or whatever )....before you invest in toys...

At the same time, you do have to enjoy the "journey"..../ and as long as no other person is really depending on you...( like kids especially -- or a spouse )...then do what you want !
--------
No I've never done it....

I'm in my 60's now.../ so easy for me to say....but if I can't pay cash for it ...I can't afford it ! Most expensive gun in my safe is about $ 6K for a custom 1911....was it smart, I don't know ....but I enjoy it every time I shoot it....
 
Do I need a second press for .50 BMG or will a Dillon XL650 do it? I was going to start with a single stage spread and learn from there but then I found a deal too good to pass up on a used xl650 from a buddy, $500 for everything I needed to start minus a few caliber specific parts, would've cost me around $1200 brand new.
 
I can definitely afford it. No wife, no kids, no car payment. Just car insurance, rent, and utilities (which I have saved $400 on) and cell phone.
Click to expand...

If that's true, it won't take you any time at all to save up for the gun.
 
The Dillon 650 press will work up to 45-70 or so, for 50BMG Dillon makes the Big Fifty press which will set you back about 1500 bucks w/o dies. It's a progressive press, does 250 rounds per hour, which is overkill for a rifle shooter.

But, having said that, I would kill for a Dillon 650 at $500, that's less than half price, and probably comes with extra stuff for lagniappes.
 
I retired 11 years ago at 55 debt free with enough money saved to pay my bills and buy the toys I wanted with a simple philosophy.

You can charge necessities but never luxuries. A house and a car are necessities and you can charge them. However, a good car is a luxury and you don't charge luxuries.
 
I have a relative that started shooting on my bullseye team. Myself and another team member where letting him borrow our comp guns. He felt he needed his own so bad he maxed out his credit card buying a 686, mount, and red dot. Paying minimum payments he ought to have it paid off by the end of NEXT season.
 
I have a relative that started shooting on my bullseye team. Myself and another team member where letting him borrow our comp guns. He felt he needed his own so bad he maxed out his credit card buying a 686, mount, and red dot. Paying minimum payments he ought to have it paid off by the end of NEXT season.
Click to expand...

But at least he has his own gun NOW, which he obviously felt was a necessity
 
Ok I'm looking into the Lee .50 BMG reloading kit, I don't figure I'll be needing to crank out massive amounts of .50

The payment on the rifle isn't going to be the hard part, the hard part will be keeping it fed. I think I can keep a pretty good stock on hand reloading for it though.
 
You'll get a lot more ammo with reloading, no doubt about it. 50BMG powder has been consistently available even during the panic.
 
Bud's use to have 0% in house via GE Money. Pay it off on time and you are golden. I did it twice over the years. Happy that I did.
 
I'm considering doing this to get a Barrett M82A1.
Click to expand...
If you were a law enforcement officer and you had to purchase your own weapon; taking out a loan to buy it might make sense.

Taking out a loan to buy what amounts to a recreational item is not a good idea at all in my opinion.
 
This reminds me of the Portlandia episode where the couple goes to the bank and gets a Birthday Party Loan, 30 year note.....so that they can attend a friend's elaborate all-day party, with numerous events that all require that each attendee chip in to pay for something. It's not complicated...if it's a luxury, no way. That's a luxury. It's that simple.
 
The best piece of economic advice ever given to me was by a college professor who stated: "If it appreciates, buy it. If it depreciates, lease it."

I appreciate that everyone's finances are different. For me, I always waited until I had the moola put aside before purchasing a firearm. I make the purchase with a credit card (getting the points for hotel and/or air fare) and pay it off when the statement arrives.

It makes good sense to set one's own financial policies so that he/she doesn't get buried in debt making emotional or spur of the moment purchases (impulse buying).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top