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

[Terry G]

I'm happy to say I DID NOT miss the "Golden Age" of C&R's. M-1 Garand's, SKS's, Makarov's, CZ 82's, Mausers, SMLE's, a Walther P-38, Tokarev's and CZ52's fell onto my greedy hands my Wife's only complaint's were answering the door for UPS and FEDEX and the house smelling like cosmoline.

 

[.45Coltguy]

I'm happy to say I DID NOT miss the "Golden Age" of C&R's. M-1 Garand's, SKS's, Makarov's, CZ 82's, Mausers, SMLE's, a Walther P-38, Tokarev's and CZ52's fell onto my greedy hands my Wife's only complaint's were answering the door for UPS and FEDEX and the house smelling like cosmoline.

"smelling like cosmoline". Better than burnt toast!

 

[tritonguy]

Romanian PSL-54 with scope for $750 a few years back. Now they're north of $2800 w/o scope.

 

[Sniderman]

A basically pristine Browning A bolt in .257 Roberts. A non shooting/hunting friend was selling off his father's guns and I hesitated, told him, "Sure, I'll call you later"
Called back 2 hours later and it was gone. I'm a dummy. :/

 

[Gumby0961]

When I was a teenager, my dad wanted to get me a Winchester M70 with the Mannlicher stock in .243. I thought they looked "stupid" LOL , my younger brother still has his. I think it has become the most collectable standard grade post 64 m70 in the rarest caliber.

 

[mope540]

My dumbest non-buy was the $600 S&W 624 with the 3" barrel (with original box and Combat grips) at a local gun show.
They were averaging $800-900 then. I used the lame excuse that I already had a 3" Model 24.

 

[Anchorite]

Browning Hi-power before production stopped (and the clones started).

 

[doubleh]

This inspired a very slight twinge of regret for leaving a nice looking High Standard Supermatic at the last gunshow I attended. Then the asking price popped up in my mind and the twinge disappeared.

 

[Mark_Mark]

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

you know how rich you would be now!!!

 

[DesertFox]

Every Winchester lever gun I ever saw. Every HK I saw in ads in the early 80's.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

1985 or so I looked over a reactivated Reising M50 smg. The dealer wanted $150.00 but the $200 tax for the Form 4 transfer (and wait) made me put it off.

 

[TarDevil]

Ruger Redhawk, .45 Colt
CZ 97B

 

[theotherwaldo]

I bought at least single examples of most of the non-NFA milsurps mentioned so far.
A few of them fell to the depredations of some of my family members, but most remain in my possession.
The main one that I resent losing was a SIG 47/8. the predecessor for the SIG 210.
My uncle did away with it when I was out job-hunting.

 

[Terry G]

Ruger Redhawk, .45 Colt
CZ 97B

The CZ 97b's are still around but the prices have gone up. Mine was 0n;y $800.00 and change but that was when CZ was still making them.

 

[Legionnaire]

I regret not buying a S&W 629 Mountain Gun before they put the stupid locks in them.

And I regret not buying another Lyman flintlock (or two) before they stopped making them.

 

[Targa]

There a bunch of C&R guns I wish I would have bought when they were cheap and plentiful!

 

[AlexanderA]

Regrets?

In the mid-1970's, I had a Mark I M1903 Springfield that I had retrofitted with all the parts needed to mount a Pedersen Device. As luck would have it, I was offered an original Pedersen Device for $5,000. That was a lot of money in those days, especially considering that you could buy a Thompson SMG for less than $1,000, transfer tax included. (Which in fact I did buy.) So I turned down the offer for the Pedersen.

In retrospect, I should have borrowed the money and bought it.

 

[Riomouse911]

I have several.

A buddy moved to Belize and before he left he was selling a Python for much less than its value that I initially passed on. Of course it was gone when I saw him later that week. ( I did buy his M1Carbine though.)

A Coonan .357 pistol. Was saving up for one when they folded, now they are pretty dang pricy.

H&K SL-6 and SL-7. I always liked the looks and utility of those 1980’s era semi-autos. I never had the money for one back then as a high school and college kid, I don’t have it now, either.

Stay safe.

 

[Old Dog]

Not long ago I walked into a gun shop as a clerk was putting out an absolutely pristine Browning A-Bolt in .308 from about 1990, un-fired, gorgeous walnut furniture. for a consignment sale, the widow only wanted $400.

I passed, as I've never been a fan of .308 in a hunting rifle. Of course, I had the money on me.

Another prime example of the absolute stupidity I've demonstrated over the years when it comes to decision-making.

I could probably come up with another 100 examples of guns I've passed on, but a man can only suffer so much embarrassment for every few hours he spends on the internet...

 

[Doug444]

Long, long time ago, when I was first shopping gun shows, I had an opportunity to purchase a Win. M88 in .308 with a slight bulge in the barrel about 4" from the muzzle. $150.00, wouldn't take less. I already had one so I walked. 10 minutes later I realized I could either a) cut the barrel just behind the bulge and have a "carbine", or replace the barrel with one in 7-08 Rem. and would have a dang unique gun. Went back - gone. I've tried to never make that mistake again (though I have), but I've never found that bulged barrel M88 again, either.

 

[captain awesome]

Romanian PSL-54 with scope for $750 a few years back. Now they're north of $2800 w/o scope.

Yep. I bought one for $700. came with the scope. The scope was so far off to the right that it could not be sighted in even at the max adjustment, I got disgusted with it and traded it for an HK USP 40 and $200. I loaned the HK to my cousin who's wife was pregnant. He told me it "was stolen" in short order. Two years Later I found out he had pawned it....for $130.....and didn't make any payments to reclaim it and lost it.

 

[Lo-Profile]

A couple cases of Saiga rifles

 

[buck460XVR]

Browning 16 ga. SxS back in the early 80s. Let 'er go because of my financial situation at the time. Never saw one before and haven't seem one since. My biggest regret in firearms.

 

[Ethan Verity]

I would imagine anyone who was in the firearms market before 1986 would regret not buying a ton of full auto rifles... even if only as a future investment.

 

[jmorris]

Yeah, these were $150.



You could have got two for what a Marlin camp 9 cost back then…