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

[Mark_Mark]

MP-5 Navy Pack (think that what’s it called)
Shop had it for $14,000 in 2002, bought a Triumph instead

 

[Mark_Mark]

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.

I remembered those Saga 54R was $600-ish! I bought a Tula Mosin from the crate, and 3 spam cans of Silver tip instead

I stained the Tula Walnut Brown… SORRY! oopps, was young and dumb

 

[Hasaf]

I shoot a lot of 380 and at one time a luger-style pistol was available in that calibre, made by erta. Part of what held me back was the realization that the 380 luger was not a very good pistol. All the same, I kind of wish I had gotten one.

 

[hemiram]

I had a chance to grab up a really nice nickel H&K P7 M13 for what would now be a stupid cheap price. I think it was $750. I don't even look at them on GB anymore, it makes me grind my teeth. That, and the Thompson 1927 I turned down, mostly due to thinking that .45 ACP was too expensive to feed it, so I just passed.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I shoot a lot of 380 and at one time a luger-style pistol was available in that calibre, made by erta. Part of what held me back was the realization that the 380 luger was not a very good pistol. All the same, I kind of wish I had gotten one.

A local shop had one of potmetal .380 Erma "Lugers" recently. They wanted $800 and the condition could only generously be called 'fair." Ugh.
My Dad has one of the .22 Ermas and it rarely makes it through a full magazine without a jam. At least they look a little more legit than those terrible Stoeger "Lugers."

 

[herrwalther]

Missed out on buying M1 Garands from CMP when they were 600 each. Now even their worst looking rifles are going for 1000.

 

[Navy87Guy]

A Saiga AK-style in .308 when they were $250. I bought a 7.62x39 and a 12-gauge but the .308 seemed "pricey" at the time.
(The ad is from CDNN in 2004.)

 

[troy fairweather]

Missed out on buying M1 Garands from CMP when they were 600 each. Now even their worst looking rifles are going for 1000.

There $700 now.

 

[hso]

SA marked Finnish BHP. I could almost afford it, but "knew" it would be hard to pay for it at the time. I also knew I'd never see one at the price I had the chance to buy it, but I thought "I'll be earning enough one day to buy one at the going rate some day.". I didn't think about the collectors that would absorb those guns and hold them in their collections and thin the "available" guns down to nearly zero and $4-$5 grand when they do pop up.

 

[rust collector]

I wish I had picked up a nice M-39 Finn back when no one knew what they were, and that I had laid in a good supply of ammo for my K-31. I was a little slow to the party, but finally got over my prejudice against Russian designs and learned to enjoy them for what they were.

 

[Coyote3855]

The list is too long to post. I passed on a Luger in 1961 for $35 is just one that causes me to weep.

 

[entropy]

Inexpensive NFA full autos before May 1986. Not because I liked them, they're alright, but I'd be able to buy many other guns I can't now by selling them.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

SA marked Finnish BHP. I could almost afford it, but "knew" it would be hard to pay for it at the time. I also knew I'd never see one at the price I had the chance to buy it, but I thought "I'll be earning enough one day to buy one at the going rate some day.". I didn't think about the collectors that would absorb those guns and hold them in their collections and thin the "available" guns down to nearly zero and $4-$5 grand when they do pop up.

View attachment 1175826

I coulda/shoulda bought a Chinese-marked Inglis with tangent sight and stock a few years back. It definitely wasn't cheap then, but is unobtainium now.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I wish I had picked up a nice M-39 Finn back when no one knew what they were, and that I had laid in a good supply of ammo for my K-31. I was a little slow to the party, but finally got over my prejudice against Russian designs and learned to enjoy them for what they were.

My Dad has probably a dozen Mosins, including a Finn. I have no particular love for them, but will likely have to keep that one.

 

[jmorris]

I wish I had a shipping container full of registered receivers on May 18, 1986.

 

[potmetal]

Back in the 90's our shop had some police trade-in stainless Colt King Cobras just under $400. I didn't pick one up and they went quick.
About the same time a pawn shop in a nearby town had a numbers matching, police marked 9mm Luger for $400. I had 2 chances to get that and didn't.

 

[hso]

a dozen Mosins, including a Finn.

I have about a dozen variants of the Finn rifles from back when they were cheap and I was almost obsessed with the Finnish wars. I also have a Finn Luger and SA marked holster for it, but not the Finn wood stock/holster. Yeah, I was pretty "into" them twenty years ago.

 

[bannockburn]

I use to buy whenever I saw something I wanted; or else if I didn't have enough money for it, I would put it on lay-away.
The only guns I regretted not buying at the time were a couple of Browning BDAs (9mm. and .38 Super), that a LGS had in stock. I had just picked up a BDA in .45 from them and I probably could have gotten the others for a song as there was little to no interest in a single stack magazine in those calibers. Back then you would say a "Browning" in 9mm. and you would probably be talking about a "Hi-Power". If I said .38 Super you might go with "Colt Government or Commander". Instead I just thought they'd be there for quite awhile and by the time I got around to it, they were long gone.

And just to rub it in a little bit more, they both went for a fraction of their retail price!

 

[Mars5l]

LGS had an Svt40 this week. Could have stuck it in layaway for a long time, but still was $3k. Also this year they had a Franchi Spas12 that I kept saying I'd get as soon as paid off another gun.

 

[Crosshair]

Lee Enfield conversion in 50 Action Express. They only made 5-7 of them.

 

[.45Coltguy]

Only one that comes to mind is a Rem 788 in 22-250 that I really wanted. Went back to my shop to make sure I still had everything to load for it, I did, called the seller back to buy, GONE!! Damn it! Oh well, I'll locate one perhaps. Not in a hurry nowadays.

 

[hdbiker]

Marlin 39A, 60's vintage well used but solid. 400 bucks about 15 years ago.

 

[earlthegoat2]

The guns I passed on, I did for a reason. A reason that seemed good at the time.

Guns I have sold served their purpose until they could not anymore so they went to a new home.

I’ve had plenty of guns which are now several times more valuable but I really don’t care they got away. A gun not used by me is not enjoyed no matter how much it is worth in money.

The firearms I have now have purpose for me. They are enjoyable shooters and may or may not have great monetary worth.

 

[herrwalther]

There $700 now.

I was at the CMP store a week ago. Rusted rifles with poor crowns, cloudy bores, and beat up stocks were a grand.

 

[Ifishsum]

Mine was an Underwood M1 Carbine, with original sights and mag pouch with 2 mags. It was 2016 in a small town gunshop for $750 and I'd long wanted one, only paused because I'd just earlier written a sizable tuition check for my daughter's first year of college. Came to my senses and went back the next morning, a half hour after they opened. Gone of course