Another bite at the apple?

[Phaedrus/69]

I'm just curious how many of you have sold a firearm only to buy back the same model later? If so, how often have you done so? Obviously this could happen because you were experiencing a financial crunch and needed the cash at the time (which happened to me once in my early 20s) or because you were late to appreciate what you had. To start things off, back in the day I had at least six Taurus 85s! I always really liked the gun and never got a lemon, but I'd buy one, take it to the range a few times but always go back to my BHP for CCW. Eventually I'd get the itch to buy a different gun and needing to raise funds I'd sell the Taurus. But I'd eventually miss it and get another. The next is the HK USP Compact. I'm a huge HK fanboy but for some weird reason I could never make the USPc work for me. In my hands I can't get acceptable accuracy. It's never been the gun, and over sandbags they all shot superbly. But some weird aspect of the ergos just didn't work for me. The gun is "perfect" in so many respects that I think I returned to the well three times with different samples in 9mm and .40 but it just didn't work for me. My main CCW is now a P2000, nearly the same exact size but somehow it works better although I wish the USPc would!

A few years years ago I sold my Beretta CX-4 Storm carbine (set up to use 92 mags). I really liked the rifle/PCC and despite the atrocious trigger I could hit pretty well. The design though seemed to have been deliberately "neutered" and probably was, with 922r being an issue for an Italian gun. The sights sucked and I wish it would have been a total flatop rail, and various solutions for adding rail space at the front were all pretty klugdey. I had it along time but as I started to add more "real rifles" to my collection the Storm seemed surplus to needs. But as ammo prices rise I find myself contemplating getting another Storm! It's still probably inferior to my PSW and CZ carbines for home defense and general CQB stuff, but it's just fun! In the past I've always felt the need to "justify" the role of a firearm in my collection or replace it with something that fills the role better, but as I get older I understand that fun is role, too! Cheap fun is even better.

What guns have you folks sold but eventually repurchased?

 

[Old Dog]

We're talkin' basically the exact same model, right?

I've sold a (commercial) Beretta M9 only to buy another one a few years later.

I've sold at least 7 1911s (4 Springfields, 2 Kimbers, 1 Colts) that I can remember and replaced each one within a couple years with the exact same models.

Sold a cherry 4" S&W Model 19-4 and picked up another 19-4 and then a 19-3 within a year.

Sold a perfect W. German SIG P-228 in 9mm only to pick up another (only a few numbers off on the serial #) within three months.

Sold a perfect W. German SIG P-226 in 9mm only to pick up another within a year or so.

Yeah, I've done this way to much in the past 30 years or so. No explanation for this.

Long guns, different story. Haven't sold any except a couple entry level AR-15s (a Bushmaster and a S&W) that I already had better versions of, and one beater Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 that I already had a couple duplicates of...

 

[Phaedrus/69]

Yeah, forgot the 1911 if we're speaking in generalities. I've had so many of them over the years! They never "stick" in my collection but every so often I try one again. For me great range guns but not really useful for the stuff I do with guns aside from plinking.

 

[LoonWulf]

Remington 597, Ive bought 3, given away 2, and sold 1 to people who wanted them more than I.....Ill be buying another one before too long tho. To keep this time since they are out of production.

 

[rust collector]

I bought a ratty S&W Model 19 4" at a pawn shop, discovered that I enjoyed shooting it, but the compulsion to refinish it (and spend much more than I spent for the gun in the process) led me to sell at a consignment auction for a small profit. When I encountered a pristine 6" model some years later, it came home with me to stay.

I made the Walther P22 mistake a couple times too, giving one away and selling the other. Both were used guns that were designed, like flashy fishing lures, to catch fishermen rather than fish. The P22 was never designed for longevity. One leaded so badly lead extended from the muzzle.

 

[Piranha451]

I once sold a Ruger No. 1 for needed money to pay bills and bought it back a year later for $50 more. I still have it.

 

[badkarmamib]

First firearm I ever bought (2002) was a Beretta 92FS. Sold it in 2005 because it was too big to comfortably carry. That might have had something to do with the fact that I was young and stupid, carrying it sans holster ala Martin Riggs. Last year, I bought an M9, since I wanted the original straight dust cover. It is my usual carry, and I love shooting it. Also, twice, I have told myself that I had no reason to have an AR-15, only to replace it.

 

[George Dickel]

I've owned 3 Miroku reproductions of the Winchester 1885 Low Wall in .22lr. The first one was so inaccurate that it was frustrating to shoot, sent it on down the road. A few years later I bought another one and it was very accurate, but due to a case of dumb A, I sold it for a good profit. Recently purchased one new in the box, paid significantly more for it than the second one I sold, but it shoots well and scratched an itch. I really like the slow pace of shooting that a single shot dictates. I'll keep this one.

 

[buck460XVR]

Nope. Ain't hardly ever sold a gun unless it proved to not be reliable(and informed of this to buyer) or I just did not like it period. No reason to go down either of those roads again.

 

[lightman]

I never have but I plan to. I probably had the only Browning HiPower in existence that didn't work reliably. I did everything possible to make it work. Finally traded it back to the shop where I bought it at. I currently have another one on my watch list. Why? Just because............!

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Had an Old Model Super Blackhawk 44, sold it like a clod. Found another nice one a few years later .

 

[MosinT53Hunter]

I have bitten that apples a few times....

FEG PA 63 pistol, twice. First was in 9x18 Mak. Beautiful, almost unfired pistol. Very James Bond feel to it. But that slide bite and web of the hand pummeling...no thank you.
Then a few years later, I bought another FEG PA 63, though this time chambered in .380 ACP. Same great feel, recoil about the same as the other. Traded it away on something else..

The other was the Bulgarian Makarov. First one was in 380 acp. Good gun, reliable, heavy. Foolishly traded it away. Then bought one almost new, military surplus. Holster, matching magazines, etc.
Then something caught my eye that I thought I needed, and there it goes again.

Maybe I'll never learn my lesson...on well.

 

[JTHunter]

Phaedrus - there have only been 2 guns that got away from me in the last 49 years. The first was a Ruger .22LR SA pistol with the round receiver and a ~7" barrel. I didn't have the funds for the larger pistol I wanted so I traded that for an Astra Constable in .380.
I still have the Astra.
The other was a Marlin "Golden" 39A lever action .22LR. I ran afoul of a pompous, arrogant neighbor and his crooked cop buddy and lost it in the ensuing court battle. The "female dog" attorney I had failed to inform me of "exceptions" to the "unlawful use" charge as, if she had, I could have made the cop look like the fool and liar he was as the rifle was "non-functional" at the time.
I studied the statutes in the books at the library and learned how the lawyer had failed me. That saved my bacon about 4 years later when a different cop in the same department tried a similar scam on me when I had been training my GSH with a Ruger Single Six. That gun had the cylinder removed so it was "non-functional", yet he tried the "unlawful use" again. I quoted him the pertinent exception and his reply was "I don't care about the law! I'm gonna book you anyhow!" A complaint filed with his chief resulted in the charges being dropped 3 days later.

That pistol and rifle are the only ones that ever got away from me. It is that experience that makes me hang on to the ones I have now like a leech. And, the assortment I have now - with one possible exception - is satisfying.

 

[.308 Norma]

I'm just curious how many of you have sold a firearm only to buy back the same model later?

The only one I can think of is my Smith 638 (a j-frame "humpback" .38 Special snubby). I thought I wanted a j-frame DAO .38 Special snubby instead. I was wrong.
It doesn't matter - I'm pretty sure that's the only mistake I've ever made, and it was 10 or 12 years ago anyway.

 

[Steve Milbocker]

I sold a Ruger Security Six 20 some years ago for a 150 bucks and bought it back a few years ago for 300 and was glad to have her back! Thinking about buying another LCP ll after giving my youngest son the first one I had.

 

[jar]

Yup, memorable examples were a Sig P226 & P225 traded for a new Dan Wesson Pointman/Patriot semi custom with the then owner of DW. It was a case of "Oh! New shiny!" that turned out to be an example the Price turning into a frog.

The Prince:





and the frog:





Turned me off 1911s for about two decades.

The replacement P226:



Was never really comfortable with the P225 and so I haven't replaced it yet.

 

[commygun]

Oh, jeez....

Multiple Webley Mk. IVs, Tokarevs, Makarovs, Ruger GP-100s, Walther PPs, Colt Trooper Mk. IIIs, S&W 1917s and Model 19s, Sig P225s, 239s, and 229s. Some I'm no doubt forgetting.

Sometimes the one I've landed on is nicer than the ones I previously owned, sometimes not. The one constant is my latest one is always the most expensive one, even allowing for inflation.

 

[Dragonfly]

So this might take the cake...I’ve bought this exact Model 28-2 back not once, but twice. I’ve learned my lesson for sure—the full story is in this thread here.

 

[Riomouse911]

Only two I can think of off the top of my head; I bought a new Winchester 1894 .30-30 when I turned 18, but had to sell it in my early 20’s when I was between jobs. I now have two of them.

I had a Rossi 92 in .357 years ago that wouldn’t feed very well. I sold it off, then 15 years later I bought another one.

Stay safe.

 

[Ignition Override]

Another German-made commercial Sig P225 and a (Czech) CZ-83.

This P225 is Not the same gun as the P6: the 225 has a much lighter (stock) DA pull.

 

[Legionnaire]

Original Ruger PC4 (eventually sold the second, too)
Pre-lock S&W 317 (plan to keep the second; took a long time to find one)
Lots of Marlin lever guns because I want to like levers. They’re all gone now.

 

[herrwalther]

Only firearm I have bought twice was a NAA mini revolver in .22Mag. For the now ex-missus. The first one got sold to help pay bills when money was tight. The second one got sold because we are now divorced. If I buy it a third time, it will be a Sidewinder model.

 

[J-Bar]

I won a CZ 2075 RAMI P at a shooting match, and in a state of madness swapped it for an old Marlin 39 .22LR at a gunshow. The Marlin was crap, I got rid of it and will never own another. I bought another CZ RAMI new, locally. It sleeps beside me.

 

[igotta40]

Springfield M1A

 

[tarosean]

Never...

When I sell a gun its for a reason.. Typically there is something I don't care for about it.