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

If I can afford a gun, price is not very important - if I can’t afford a gun I don’t buy it. :-)

No one will never be impressed with the guns I own - and that’s just fine with me.

I own two pistols, and both of them shoot better than I can shoot them. If I get to the point where one of the firearms limits on my accuracy and other shooting skills, I will feel the need to move to a more expensive weapon. I am pretty sure that’s not going to happen in this lifetime.

One of my weapons is an Armalite AR-24C, a Sarsilmaz CZ 75 clone that Armalite imported in the early 2000s. I paid $399 for it brand new, if I recall. Price was definitely a factor - I had one kid in college, and my goal - achieved - was to put my two kids through the college of their choice with no debt for them or for me.

When I retired, I bought an FN FiveSeven as sort of a retirement gift to myself. I like the firearm, though I have thought of selling it because 5.7x25 ammo is expensive.

I have thought of picking up another 9mm - either CZ 75 from CZ, or a Baretta PX4 because I find the rotary action interesting.
 
Old guy here, just can't work up any concern about what NEW pistols cost. Haven't seen anything new in the last couple decades that I wanted, or thought was worth the asking price. Particularly in the duty class pistol market.

If your bills are paid, lights kept on, roof over your head, kids have enough to eat and shoes when needed, what you spend your money on is your business.

The first pistol I bought was a Browning BDA .45, at retail, $369 and the store threw in two boxes of ammo. I've still got it, and it still works great. At the time it was not a bargain gun, but I've had it for 44 years and its in perfect condition (with a bit of finish wear) so I consider it money well spent.

Don't know what that equals in today's dollars but gas was about $1 a gallon at the time.

From my point of view, even a couple hundred dollars difference in the price today doesn't amount to much several decades later....
 
I'm in that boat, too.
I can't afford everything that Bac has, but I could afford any one thing that Bac has. I just no longer have the itchy trigger finger and don't think a new gun would improve my shooting.
 
Price was always less important than the perceived competitive advantage that I had hoped for. Since I used to shoot thousands of centerfire rounds each month for years, the purchasing price was the smallest part in the cost of a gun.

Even the same with rimfire. I had bought a pre-owned S&W 22A to use as an understudy to a Glock when my sons were in their early teens. The gun was $125 about 24 years ago and we put over 110,000 rounds through it when the .22 l.r. 550 round bulk pack was $7.97 and WWB 9mm were also $7.97/100.
 
The original question: "How much is cost a primary focus when purchasing a new handgun?"

I have a budget, and have had for a very long time. I just don't have a few extra grand to spend on a top-tier pistol. So cost is a factor for me. I'm not saying that I'm looking for a reason to buy a bottom-tier CC pistol, but I'm a big fan of getting value for my money. But whether cost is a primary consideration depends on what kind of pistol I'm buying, why I'm buying it, etc. If I'm buying myself a birthday present range gun, I'm not too concerned with it. If I'm buying a pistol because I need something (i.e. "I don't have a pocket gun & I need one."), I'm more concerned about getting as much bang for my buck (pun intended) as I can. So I guess "value" is more of a primary concern for me than is "cost."
 
You can also spend $3000 for a gun that doesn’t work or shoot well.
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Yes, and it is amazing to see the litany of excuses posted for a Ballistic Lemon.
"Oh, every once in a while a bad example slips through anybody's QA."
"It didn't work but they had Real Good Customer Service and fixed it right up."
 
Recycled bullet said:
For me, the price of the ammunition is a greater encouragement or deterrent than the cost of the gun.
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I think this is huge - I am a little surprised at how many friends of mine how concealed carry say, “I haven’t been to the range in months. I really need to get back there and send a few down range.”

And six or eight months later, they are still saying the same thing.

I wonder how many people who carry actually shoot enough to be pretty certain of where there rounds are going to go if they ever need to fire their weapon.

One of the instructors where I shoot likes to talk about “little Timmy” - if someone misses a target, he says something like, “Poor Timmy. He’s never going to grow up to be a doctor now.”

He’s being funny - but also making a point.

I don’t carry at this point, in part because I don’t think that my accuracy/gun handling skill are up to snuff.

To improve those skills, I go the range and shoot for about an hour - probably 150-200 rounds on average.

I would think that to me a reasonable minimum for improving or maintaining if yo are carrying.

Call that 7500 rounds/year.

Right now, I mostly shoot 5.7x28 - I know, ouch. At about 50 cents a round, that’s $3750/year in ammo.

I also have a 9mm, and I get that ammo for about 18 cents a round, or about $1350.
 
I would say for me it’s a consideration, but certainly not THE consideration.

There are a lot of very good pistols a tier above the bottom layers of the price market. I would much rather save a little longer and get a new or used CZ, HK, Glock, S&W, Beretta or Walther than a Highpoint or even something a step above that. I prefer to make a decision based on the gun itself. Even within brands there are pistols I (and i expect others) would and wouldn’t buy. For instance, I love the HK P30, but got rid of a VP9.

I find there are still some good values in the very competitive new market and have happened across some great bargains in the “used” (but especially maybe unfired) market. Some of those I passed on and returned an hour later to have missed or even had purchased out from under me while I “was deciding” on the other side of the shop. I don’t get upset with others as it was my own indecision that caused me to miss the deal, but I know there will be other opportunities.
 
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