How much is cost a primary focus when purchasing a new handgun?

S

SqueezeCocker

New member
How big a factor does cost play in the purchase decision of a new handgun?
I get emails from many of the big online retailers that list their monthly sales leaders and the vast majority of the guns listed are ones that I'd consider lower tier.
 
For me it’s not a major factor, but I can acknowledge that’s a luxury not everyone can enjoy. There are people with limited incomes that still want to defend themselves, go hunting, enjoy the shooting sports, etc. There are price points I won’t go below and some firearms I would advise people avoid and try to save for longer. I do think there are a number of reliable pistols across a range of prices these days.
 
I’m fortunate enough at this point in my career that’ it’s not really a concern.

Problem is I spoil myself and then I don’t like shooting “ordinary” guns.
 
SqueezeCocker said:
I agree with you, but judging from the list of top sellers from Buds Gun Shop and other large retailers, low cost is the only thing buyers are focusing on and the majority of their top selling guns are absolute junk.
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So I just looked at Bud’s top sellers and other than the Heritage Bar Keep and the Diamondback AR, I don’t really see a lot of junk there. S&W, Beretta, Sig, Henry, Taurus G3, what’s wrong with those? There are lots of good firearms being made that are economical too.
 
How big a factor does cost play in the purchase decision of a new handgun?
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How much does cost play a factor in the purchase of ANYTHING you buy??

judging from the list of top sellers from Buds Gun Shop and other large retailers, low cost is the only thing buyers are focusing on and the majority of their top selling guns are absolute junk.
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How is this different from the majority of the rest of things people buy?

Almost universally, by the numbers, people are going to buy cheap more often, even if it is junk, if its junk that works, its going to sell, and keep selling.

Everyone has a different point at which they feel they are getting acceptable value for their money.
 
jar said:
Quality is why I bought the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth hand gun from Tisas.
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Tisas also in Bud’s top sellers. I don’t own one yet but wouldn’t hesitate if there was a model I was after. I have two RIA 1911’s. Both are great pistols, accurate and no malfunctions of any kind. One of them only cost $350.
 
For me, the price of the ammunition is a greater encouragement or deterrent than the cost of the gun.

In the first week that I had it, I shot my Ruger Blackhawk three separate times. If I was shooting Factory ammunition I would have exceeded the cost of the gun just on ammunition cost.

In my case reloading causes me to buy guns because the cost of the ammunition is already amortized. Doesn't have to make sense :-)
 
For self defense handguns/firearms and tires on family cars, cost is not a primary consideration.

That said it does not mean I am looking only at higher end firearms as there are plenty of reasonably, IMHO, priced quality firearms such as Glocks, HKs, SIG P series hammer fired pistols, HK, CZ, Beretta, Smith and Wesson, and Walther ULM manufactured.
 
Commercial quality is the measure of perceived ablility of a product to exceed a customers expectations. Well, this is usually achieved by appealing to a broad group of customers, lowering their expectations of your product, delivering a product better than these lowered expectations.

Manufacturing Quality is the measure of a process’s ability to deliver the same product over and over. This can be tied to meeting a specification or drawing set, but that adds tuning to the equation….which actually hurts quality.

Frankly, Quality is not what sells Tisas. What sell Tisas is the ability to deliver a generally functional device with the cheapest compilation of materials and processes.

A company like Dan Wesson has done an excellent job at meeting both definitions of Quality. In a time when most companies sold their sole to the MIM gods, DW doubled down and developed their drawing set to require zero fitting after assembly and still fit as tight as a custom gun. This was done by developing machining, drawings , etc to make usable parts as machined. Good on them!
 
Like him or not, and i personally do...Bac in this very thread wrote the literal internet book on 1911s. Well worth reading.

Best resourse from someone who will write you back who isnt named wilson, tripp, ben, etc.

Too, there just arent flawed design platforms. Db9, discontinued kimber Solo...but other than those, they all function okay with variation. You just cant really buy a non starter at any level right now.
 
For me, the price of the ammunition is a greater encouragement or deterrent than the cost of the gun.
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This applies to higher-end shotguns as well. The cost of ammo and targets will FAR surpass the price of even the most expensive shotguns. One of my Brownings ( a nice entry/mid-level gun) has almost 350K rounds through it. I started shooting shotguns at targets 40 years ago and have fired closer to 800K through all of them over that time. Even using old pricing, targets and ammo would be rough;y 50 cents, that would mean $400K all in; even with new Berettas, total cost is under $25K for the guns. So, the price of the gun is negligible over time if you like to shoot
 
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