Guns You Should Have Bought When You Had The Chance, And Now Regret Not Buying

[Speedo66]

I’m sure we all have one or more that might fit the category above.

In my case it was the H&K P7, a pistol I admired but didn’t buy when I had the chance. The current prices are more than I’d care to spend on one at the moment.

What firearm do you regret not buying?

 

[1KPerDay]

New Fazakerly SMLE
1917 Enfield
Gibbs .308 jungle carbine
Springfield Tanker Garand
Winchester 1895 .30-06
3 screw 357 Blackhawk
USFA SAA
Desert Eagle
SIG P228 factory nickel
Beretta 92FS Inox straight dustcover all silver controls
Colt 2nd gen cap and ball series

 

[Simple Shooter]

Circa 1985 Mini-14 with the folding stock.

I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[CapnMac]

Really only two, where I had the cash and the opportunity and the desire, h=just failed in volition.

Number One is a Swiss SIG P210 for a price near thievery.

Number Two is an oddball that would still be an oddball worth owning for its own sake. This was a Suomi built by a Houston outfit in 7.62x25, with a drum and coffin mag included. Utterly impractical, an entirely oddball caliber, and even an incredibly peculiar (and likely under-useful) PCC. But, given that fewer than 500 were ever built, rare enough to just be cool.

Everything else, if I had the dosh and the desire, it went home with me (ok, and it wanted to be a "deal" of some sort).

I want all manner of cool arms still.

 

[jwamplerusa]

M1 carbine when they were sub $150 in cosmoline.
Model of 1917
K31 when they were cheap

 

[GEM]

SW 3913 LS - neat gun, on sale, me broke. Sigh. Best 3rd Gen CCW gun.
SW 432 - when they were dumped cheap, got one and could have an extra for a nice profit.
Glock mags just before the ban. Offered a dealer pack for a price I thought was a tad to high. Then they went to $150 each. Of course, later they were cheap again.

 

[silicosys4]

M1941 Johnson rifle for $1800,
Manurhin MR73's for $500,
An 80% 1905 production Winchester 1894 rifle with 24" octagon barrel for $900,
Crates of 10 Norinco SKS's or 6 Mak-90's for $600,
90% finish, original parts commercial luger for $900

 

[Terry G]

Really only two, where I had the cash and the opportunity and the desire, h=just failed in volition.

Number One is a Swiss SIG P210 for a price near thievery.

Number Two is an oddball that would still be an oddball worth owning for its own sake. This was a Suomi built by a Houston outfit in 7.62x25, with a drum and coffin mag included. Utterly impractical, an entirely oddball caliber, and even an incredibly peculiar (and likely under-useful) PCC. But, given that fewer than 500 were ever built, rare enough to just be cool.

Everything else, if I had the dosh and the desire, it went home with me (ok, and it wanted to be a "deal" of some sort).

I want all manner of cool arms still.

You mean this? Heavy as all get out with the drum magazine. It was reliable and accurate but my original thought to have it along on Hikes? What was I thinking? It reminded me of humping an M-60 machine gun. It was cheap to buy. I remember doubling my money for it at a gun show.

 

[PapaG]

I'm not going to reduce myself to tears by revisiting all the dumb decisions "not to buy" over my 79 years. That said, I have a pretty good sized safe full of ones that I didn't pass on. Many were fantastic bargains.

 

[hoardingthemanual]

Just yesterday. Online retailer had a Colt delta elite for $1k. Too scared to state my desires. It’s gone. Story of my life.

 

[trackskippy]

Anything machine gun related that was still dirt cheap back in the 70's and 80's that I should have bought, even if I didnt have the money.

Same goes for anything HK back in the 80's and 90's.

 

[commygun]

Good Lord. I was thinking about this topic just this morning as I cruised through the mere-shadow-of-it’s-former-self Centralia, WA gun show and was haunted by the remembered shades of guns I could have bought there since 1992 but didn’t (and some that I did buy and foolishly sold).
Too many to mention, but if I could use the Wayback Machine I’d probably be returning with armloads of minty S&W revolvers, Browning, Beretta, and Sig P-series autos, and an East German Makarov. Also a minty Forehand & Wandsworth Swamp Angel that I should have asked about but lingeringly passed by.

 

[Walkalong]

Ruger Mannlicher stocked .308. $500 about 35 years ago, fit me perfectly.

 

[troy fairweather]

There's a list a mile long, but one that makes me regret is after high school. 2009-10 ish I had the opportunity to buy a mauser m1918 tankgewehr rifle for $1100, I didn't have all the money but could have scraped it together. It's probably unhealthy how often I think about it.

Another about 3-4 years ago, shop had a mauser g33/40 that looked to be made into a nice sporter in Germany with a full length mannlicher stock in 7x57. Think shop was asking 450-475 ish and would have walked out with it that day, but it had a wrist crack and wanted to sleep on it. Same day stopped at a shop in pa before Grocery shopping. That had just got a nib ruger 77 ts international in 7x57, I have the same standard rifle and looked for years to get a mannlicher. Shop had it for $650 but I only had $500ish a new Burris scope came with it and tried making a deal, owner said the scope was no value to him so price was firm. He wouldn't let me put it on layaway, I went home sold a 22 rifle and back to the shop. It was sold, stopped at the other shop and the g33 sold. That I could put on layaway but I didn't. That was a bad day.

 

[tubeshooter]

I had a crack at a Remington 512, which is a tube mag bolt .22 from the '50s or '60s I believe.

To hear people tell it, those guns shoot really well. It was priced reasonably, the timing just wasn't good for me right then.


I am sure it would have been a jewel, but at the same time it would also just be another .22 rifle I don't shoot much. So it's probably fine at the end of the day. But that always feels like "the one that got away".

 

[Elkins45]

There was a batch of LH Mausers imported a few years ago. I bought one in 25-06 and now I wish I had picked up a 30-06 and a 300WM at the same time.

 

[Big-bore-bob]

I always wanted a ruger super redhawk in .454 casull. I cannot find one anywhere now, and they're 500 bucks more than 5 years ago.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I’m sure we all have one or more that might fit the category above.

In my case it was the H&K P7, a pistol I admired but didn’t buy when I had the chance. The current prices are more than I’d care to spend on one at the moment.

What firearm do you regret not buying?

I knew I wasn't going to luck into a "cheap" P7, but I did make it happen for a good one at the then-current market price.

Worth it.

I had a shot at an under-priced Rashid 10-12 years back and shoulda moved some things around to make it happen. Oh well.....

 

[Mike OTDP]

Oh, there are so many....A Lahti pistol when they were selling for $400. Swedish Mausers when they were $200. A Hege-Siber when they were $400, a Hege-Manton when they were $500. A SMLE when they were going for $200 or so. Hell, I wish I'd bought the entire crate of East German Makarovs for $180 each...instead of only one.

 

[Deus Machina]

M1 Garand. SVT-40s. All the Saiga rifles when they were cheap.
Those $300 cases of a dozen Mosin Nagants.

 

[.38 Special]

As with others, that's an extraordinarily long list. At the top, though, is almost certainly USFA. I kept putting it off, and eventually it was too late. I still kick myself.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Johnson rifle my dad bought from an estate sale in the 80s. He couldn't get $150 for it at gun shows. He had no interest as he was a hunter and I wasn't into military arms at that time. I loaded up 50 rounds for it and played for a bit, and then he sold it.

I could have bought a Thompson in the 80s for $1200, stamp and all. I had the money, but I figured it was just an expensive range toy, and passed.

 

[Frulk]

I didn't miss any screaming deals that I could cry about because I made the move on all the ones I can remember but I did miss out on guns that were in production that I regret not buying.

Marlin Cowboy in .32 H&R.
Ruger 96's in .22LR, .22 Mag and .44 Mag.

I know they're out there and I could pick them up if I REALLY wanted one but folks are asking stupid money for them so I'm not in the market...Subject to change in a nano second.

 

[maxxhavoc]

I passed up the going rate of $1000 for a case of 20 Mosin Nagants. I mean, they are $79 rifles max, right?
At the gun show today, they were going for $550-700 each.

Of course the $69 Chicom SKS rifes were good. Why would anybody pay $89 for a Russian SKS?

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

M1 Garand. SVT-40s. All the Saiga rifles when they were cheap.
Those $300 cases of a dozen Mosin Nagants.

In hindsight Im glad I didn't invest too heavily in the 7.62R guns since ammo going forward is going to be an expensive problem.
Hopefully PSA's new ammo plant will do well enough selling 7.62x39 to justify branching out into x54R and maybe even other old milsurp cartridges. If things get hairy in the Balkans again, PPU may not be available for a while.