Best money ever spent on a firearm?

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absolute0

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What purchase do you look back on most fondly? Factor into it any criteria you like (best shooter, exceeded your expectations, gets used the most, screamin' good deal, etc.) and identify your best acquisition.

Mine would be a Smith & Wesson model 17-4. Superb quality, accurate, beautiful to look at and half the price of a new Smith .22 revolver.
 
Any of the many Ruger semi-auto .22 pistols I've owned. Strike that, any of the Ruger .22 handguns I've owned.

Same for any of the Marlin .22 rifles I've owned. Hard to beat $50 for 18 rounds of tubular fun.

-MV
 
Kimber Series 1 . .barely been fired for $500 . . .that or my Ruger Mark II 6 7/8 that a buddy leaving the country sold me for $100.
 
My Best Two

Picked up a Marlin Camp 9 for $300 (consignment), because hey, what the heck.

The guys at and near the counter told me I'd either love it or hate it.

Some told me it was pointless past 100 yards, others told me it was just plain fun to shoot.

There was another one right beside it, but I didn't like the (folding) stock, and somehow my mind spaced that stocks are cheap and easy to change.

The Camp 9 came with undocumented "ballistic intuition" and just knows what I'm trying to hit. At 50 yards it's bottle-cap accurate. And it's just plain fun to shoot.

My other "best" hasn't even been fired yet.

Picked up a S&W 586-7 when Sports Authority decided to clearance their handguns. They knocked $150 off the tag, and I helped them with their inventory problem. (Guy I work with took the remaining one off their hands two hours later.)

So I got a 586-7 for the price of a Taurus m66 or Tracker 7-shot (.357).

Can't complain.

Now, if I could only find another service grade M1 Carbine for $300 . . .

Oh, and the Marlin Camp 9 stock thing? Some weeks later I walked into that shop as the manager was swapping out the folding stock for standard wood furniture. My eyes got big; asked him where he got that and was it for sale. "Had it for months. You've held it in your hands. Used to have that stock on it. Just sold it to Walt." Long silence. "Dammit."
 
I think some posters here are confused, the OP wasnt looking for the best value. The best value for me is any 10/22 I own (I can never leave a 10/22 priced under $100.00 in a pawn shop, I have 6 of them :D ) The best money I ever spent was on a Kimber custom II stainless target. I shoot that gun nearly every week, and have never regreted the purchase. I would dare say that if I could only keep one of my guns that would be it.
 
My S&W Model 686. If hypothetically forced to choose one firearm in my collection at the expense of all the others, this baby would be it. Hands down.

Arsenal.jpg
 
Have to be the two Swedish Mausers I bought back in '88 for the whopping sum of $69.00 each at Woolworths (of all places). A 1900 Obie and an '09 Gustav.

All matching numbers ('cept the cleaning rods), long, slim and accurate.

Ammo wasn't that cheap back then however (still isn't today for that matter, just a little easier to come by).

Those two are a joy to shoot. They make me look like I know what I'm doing.

And that's always fun.
 
Definitely my Garand. Best $450 I ever spent. If circumstances ever got to where I had to sell off guns to keep from starving, it would be the last one to go.
 
I've had a few great buys for various reasons....probably the best buy I've ever made was a pair of Colt SAA's that were mint condition from a widow I worked with.......got them both for $1300. I did feel a little guilty.

Two other ones are the Springfield 1911 I bought after trading a Ruger P-90.....the Springfield is a really nice .45 I miss the Ruger from time to time b/c I hate to get rid of guns, but it was definitely a wise decision. The other being the purchase of my Glock 23.........one of the best damn handguns I've ever owned, carried or even fired. I'm a 1911 man at heart but I do love my Glock.
 
My HK USP fullsized 45. I think it was around $750 and I'll never get rid of it. It's probably the gun I've owned the longest. Nice to have next to the bed...
 
Best money I ever spent was on my Thompson Contender G2 rifle and various barrels/scopes.

Next was my Glock G26, then my Stoeger double barrel shotty.

My other 20+ guns don't get used as much as these.
 
Tough question, as I really like most of the purchases I've made ... and those that didn't click didn't stay. But two I am really fond of were both serendipity purchases.

Maybe fifteen years ago I found a Remington 541T at a Dick's Sporting Goods of all places. This particular Dick's had a couple of old timers behind the counter, guys I knew from my club. One of them was working on the 541T, seeing how light he could safely set the trigger. I asked him about it, and he said it was part of a scratch and dent inventory reduction sale. I bought it on the spot; $225, if I remember correctly. That gun has been target accurate both on the range and in the field, having taken many squirrels.

The second was just this past year, when I found a pristine Ruger SP101 on consignment at my local shop. Marked $250, and again, I bought it on the spot. That 2.25" .357 snubby has quickly become one of my favorite carry guns. It's built like a tank and handles full power .357 mag loads with ease.

I've spent much more on guns that I really like, but consider these two of the best purchases I've ever made.
 
A couple of stories

1. Bought an Iver-Johnson Hercules SxS in 12 ga 28" barrels at a gunshow with another hardware store SxS (King Nitro) for $100 total. The I-J is well balanced, swings nice, is a dream to shoot becuase it fits me well. Many a pheasant and rabbit have fallen to this workingman's game-getter.

2. On my way out of one Father Pfalger's Gun buy-backs, I run into a guy who "didn't fit into this particular Chicago neighborhood" the same way I "didn't fit into the neighborhood". There was let's say "insant recognition" and he asked me where the gun buy-back was. I asked him what he had. We went to the back of his car and he showed me a rather short barrel sawed-off shotgun, not having a ruler or tape measure handy I passed as it looked a little (okay a LOT) to short (let's just say the barrels were probably closer to 8.5 inches then 18.5 inches) and an ERMA ET-22 "Artillery Luger" target pistol/carbine (like in the picture only with some beautiful custom wood grips). I thought this would be perfect for my daughter to learn on. Visons of Olympic Gold medals in Free Pistol began to dance through my head. I gave him one of $100 Visa gift cards I had just received and he gave me the ET-22.

Fast forward to our next range trip. She is totally unimpressed with pistol shooting. Dad's Olympic vision is shattered (although she like shotgun sports-trap, skeet, sporting clays and five stand, but does not care for competition.)

Fast forward to the next gunshow. Sold to a dealer for $325 (He still has it for sale as I saw it in his display last Sunday with a tag on it asking $450.)

So to recap. I turned in 3 guns (a Remington .22 pump, that I bought from a co-worker for $15, with a barrel so shot-out/corroded, that it keyholed at 25 yards, a Chinese pellet gun that I paid $10 at a Hardware and Tool auction, and a Chinese knock-off 1903 that another co-worker gave to me after a construction crew found it buried in his front yard when they were replacing his broken main main/water line.) and got I $300 in Visa Cards. I traded a $100 card for the target pistol and then sold it for $325. Net gain works out to $300-$100+325-$25 = $500 which I spent on reloading supplies.
 

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It's a toss up...for rifle, it would have to be my EBR :D That thing is soooo fun to shoot, and just as accurate as it is fun. And it didn't cost an arm and a leg, as it is Olympic Arms ;) Otherwise, it would be the Beretta Urika A391 20 gauge that was my anniversary present this year (25th, coming up this Tuesday :D :D :D ) It's just...elegant. Fun to shoot, only mildly bruises my weenie shoulder. I don't shoot it often enough, but it's my prize possession.

Springmom
 
Well I'd have to pick two very unlikely guns. It would be either my s&w 22a because its let me practice enough at a price thats low enough that I consider myself a much better shooter for owning it. It makes me really want to try a s&w 41 sometime, while its pricey I hear they're great.

My other top choice would be my kel-tec p3at. It doesn't seem like much but its small enough that one could always have it on and packs a good punch for the size.
 
I spent $10.00 on a 410 my neighbor had. It was the first gun I ever bought and I paid for it with my hard earned allowance. Best 10 bucks I ever spent. Recent purchases I'm hard pressed to say, I just bought an FEG PJK 9HP for about $200.00 that is a dandy shooter and a nice Hi-Power pattern gun. Well worth the money I paid for it. My Marlin 336 was a good Purchase too. Bought it low ball from a freind who got it to cover a poker debt.
 
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