Only fools fall in love...

8

8MM Mauser

New member
With more handguns than they can afford...

Many of you probably know that I am a college student who works full time and has a toddler at home. Money is very tight, and I have had to pass on several amazing handgun deals in the past. This year, I fell in love 3 times and had my heart broken three times... With handguns I couldn't afford.

The first was a magnificent FN made Hi-Power from the 1950's for about $500. That gun fits my hand like it was made for me, I instantly fell i love, but $500 were not entirely forthcoming so... I had to pass. I'll probably never see this beauty or one quite like her again.

I also fell in love with the SIG P226 and Ruger Redhawk platforms. I had never fired a 226 until this year, but once I did I just got it... Once again, the price tag drove me away and even more forcefully this time. :(

Then there was a Redhawk. For a 7 1/2 inch barreled, all steel .44 MAG I cannot beleive how well this gun balances for me; and I found the same was true of a 6 inch GP100 too; but the Redhawks' caliber and classic lines really made in the gun for me... Except the whole money thing... Again.

So what guns have you had to pass on? And what guns/platforms have you fallen in love with in the last year that you never knew about/used before?
 
.44 special snubbie

Hard to find in general and even harder in california. I'm still looking for something on the 2nd hand market like the Rossi 720
 
you will like the 720! mine sits idle for now until I can make arraignments to get to the range again...
 
I've had to force myself to fall out of love with more than half of my collection so I could sell it, so, falling in love with something at this point for me is out of the question.
 
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I would comment that decades ago I was like you, passing on great deals and selling guns to get by.

Today though as I approach retirement, the opposite is true. I have guns that decades ago, I would not even have ventured to think about. Like my 44 Automag, the Sig 210's a Registered Magnum. All of these were impossible dreams years, decades ago and yet today I have them all and more.

Bide your time, save your money and start a bucket list of guns you really want. I know I have gone through two safe clearings getting rid of guns I thought I wanted only to realize I was being manipulated by dogma and advertising. Now I get what I want, collect what makes me happy (even if it is mostly stuff from before WWII) and I love it.
 
Bide your time, save your money and start a bucket list of guns you really want.
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This is what I did. When in my early twenties, while still in the service and before college and marriage, I drew up a check list of firearms I really wanted to have but knew I couldn't afford to buy in the foreseeable future. As time went on, the check marks began to land next to the coveted gun and my collection grew. What I didn't anticipate is that the "bucket list" grew too...:)
 
I would comment that decades ago I was like you, passing on great deals and selling guns to get by.

Today though as I approach retirement, the opposite is true. I have guns that decades ago, I would not even have ventured to think about. Like my 44 Automag, the Sig 210's a Registered Magnum. All of these were impossible dreams years, decades ago and yet today I have them all and more.

Bide your time, save your money and start a bucket list of guns you really want. I know I have gone through two safe clearings getting rid of guns I thought I wanted only to realize I was being manipulated by dogma and advertising. Now I get what I want, collect what makes me happy (even if it is mostly stuff from before WWII) and I love it.
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Sound advice friend. I look forward to the days I will be able to afford to expand my collection, which is pretty bare bones right now, not quite filling all my desires, let alone my wild dreams of owning a Wilson Combat 1911 for example. It's a mixed bag of course, I feel like I will look fondly on the days that my little girl was only two and my collection just barely fulfilled the roles I needed it to. It stretches your thought process to cover more needs on a limited budget.

That said. I really want that Hi-Power. I suspect it was forged with my hands in mind...

But hey, assuming our salespeople get off their butts and sell about $1,000,000 worth of copiers this month, I will be getting a bonus this Winter which should tick off at least one more box. :)

If you are at all curious, I do have a list of what I want in the future, I have split it into "function" and "fun sections:

Function:
Have:
Rifle: Sport Mauser
Defense shotgun: Mossberg 500
.22 Pistol: Ruger MKII

Need:
Carbine: Colt le6920
Pistol: Glock 19/ SIG P226/ Walther PPQ/ or HK USP (depends on cash available and a head-to-head-to-head-to-head shooting of all four at the same time.
Magnum Revolver: Ruger Redhawk, also probably a GP100 later
.22 Rifle: Henry H001 OR Ruger 10/22 (Or both)
CC Gun: Ruger SP101 or S&W 642 OR maybe a Glock 19 (G19 might fill two spots in the "function" category)


Fun guns that I would like and WANT to buy, but are secondary ideas:
Springfield 03
Krag-Jorgenson
Garand
Springfield trapdoor
Original Mauser in good condition
.357 chambered lever gun
.44 Chambered levergun
.45-70 chambered levergun
A Luger
A S&W 29 classic
A Ruger Vaquero
an HK45 w/ silencer
Browning Citori
Browning BLR in .30-06
Browning Hi-Power
Ruger SR1911
Wilson 1911
CZ-75B/SP-01
A Side-by-side shotgun
A Ruger NO.1 with a Mannlicher style stock
A 9MM carbine - likely AR style
A Kentucky rifle in .50
A blackpower revolver- Probably a Remington 1858
A Sako rifle

More???

Basically, these are guns which appeal to me either from having handled them, shot them and/or just knowing about them. I have never fired a blackpowder revolver, for example, but I love history and would love to get my hands on one.

Perhaps I am ambitious, and I suspect my list will change and evolve over time, but these are what I want.
 
I often say that the only gun purchases I regret are the ones I didn't go through with.

About 30 years ago I made up a short list of guns I really wanted. On that list was a full-auto Thompson. A few years later when further registration of full-autos was banned - within the week - I went out and bought my first machine-gun which was a MAC-10 because I couldn't find a Thompson for sale at just that time.

A few years after that I did see a registered 1928 Thompson SMG in the original case with all the extras going for (IIRC) $2,500 at a gun show. Even though I did have more than that in savings and could have bought it without any impact to my lifestyle that seemed like just too much money to spend.

Today a Thompson like the one I saw would be worth more than $30,000 - probably much more. While I can afford it that amount could impact my future plans so it is not in the cards. If I had bought the TSMG I saw at that gun show not only would I have one of the guns from my list but I would have made a very good investment.

As a consolation I have picked up an Auto-Ordnance M1927 semi-auto with drum magazines and have plans to register that as a SBR so I will have a similar gun.

These days I always have a mental list of guns I am looking for and when I find one, if the price is close to reasonable, I buy it without a second thought. I have bought many more guns than the ones which were on my original list - some that I didn't expect I would ever be able to afford when I made that list. (Back then AK's were un-heard of and a FAL would have cost me three month's pay.)

So my advice would be to make up a fixed list of a few specific guns which are core to your interests. Keep your eye on the market and know prices and values. You might not be able to afford much now but that will not always be the case.
 
I have never used or been the owner of any credit card. I stick to debit. The only debt I have is from cars and school. It really impacts buying power to only spend what you actually have the cash for; but it is worth it because while I don't make a whole lot I never really worry about money as long as I don't mKe large purchases; such as a $1000 handgun.

I really would like to get into a defensive handgun within the year though. I'm sure I can find a way. Violent crime has gone up recently in my city and I've had people shot just a few blocks from my house. I don't exactly sit around thinking about it, but something more accessible than my mossy 500 locked in the safe would be nice. I think my next priorities are the defensive handgun and then a .22 rifle. After that things open up quite a bit, but I'll never forget the way that SIG or that Hi-Power felt in my hand when firing. A Hi-Power would make a nice self-given graduation present I suppose...
 
The local Gander Mountain had a S&W 1955 Target model, 45 ACP revolver that was ABSOLUTELY beautiful. It was in near mint condition and is one of those guns that I simply must have some day.

Being a fan of most old Smiths, I fell instantly, completely, head over heels for that gun and determined to make her mine.

UNTIL the clerk at Gander took her out of the display case and turned over the price tag.

Just like a bad marriage, I couldn't get away from her fast enough.

They wanted $2200.00 for that beautiful old gun. For that price I could buy probably 2 "shooter" grade examples of the same gun if I look hard enough.

My heart was broke, lol.

I'll have one some day, just not THAT one.

Papershotshells
 
papershotshells said:
The local Gander Mountain had a S&W 1955 Target model, 45 ACP revolver that was ABSOLUTELY beautiful. It was in near mint condition and is one of those guns that I simply must have some day.

Being a fan of most old Smiths, I fell instantly, completely, head over heels for that gun and determined to make her mine.

UNTIL the clerk at Gander took her out of the display case and turned over the price tag.

Just like a bad marriage, I couldn't get away from her fast enough.

They wanted $2200.00 for that beautiful old gun. For that price I could buy probably 2 "shooter" grade examples of the same gun if I look hard enough.

My heart was broke, lol.

I'll have one some day, just not THAT one.

Papershotshells
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Our Gander Mtn is like that too, way over priced on used guns. I asked the guy at the counter one day how much room they had to negotiate on a Makarov because they were about $50-75 too high on it and he told me "none, it's not a used gun so we can't deal". I explained to the guy that it's a surplus gun and based on the finish wear it was used he still said no so I walked away. I still look at the used case when I go in but I've never seen anything in there priced reasonably.

Stu
 
Funny, I suddenly realize how much discretionary money I don't have since giving up the credit cards!

I have found the exact opposite to be true I know have more to spend on what I want and it just took a couple of years to get over the hump of feeling " I have to have it now"
 
Kevin:

Is it somewhere that will still have them available after the Christmas season is over?

In any case, please PM it to me! Thanks!
 
I never look at Gander Mountain for guns. I was shopping for a Glock 17 a few years back and I found them to be $80 over everybody else who sold handguns in the area... One day I looked in the store and found that was not true of just Glocks, but true of almost all there guns. Why anyone would buy from them remains a mystery to me. Especially when I can drive 10 minutes down the road to Cabelas and get a better price and a better, more helpful shopping experiance.
 
I have credit cards, but I use them like debit cards sort of in that I never carry a balance into the next month. Credit cards are a bit safer, but you do need the discipline to keep in your limit. I think that over the 45 or so years that I have had credit cards I have carried a balance into the next month maybe 5 or 6 times at most. I have carried a balance into the third month once.

For all that, I do my drool buying in cash to avoid the temptation. I did get a WWI Model of 1917 S&W .45 revolver, but some idiot had reblued it so I only paid $950. It's still something deserving respect, so it stays in a wooden presentation case that I picked up. I also bought a Model 25-2 with 6 in. barrel - one of the true joys to shoot, cost me $750 (used).
 
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