I wish I would’ve known...

That I shouldn't have traded away some of the older guns I had in the 70's.

I wish - fervently - that I had known about the importance of always wearing hearing protection. Back in the day, nobody did, it was normal. Sure your ears rang afterwards, but it always went away. Until it didn't. Then they rang all the time. Forever.

natman said:

I wish - fervently - that I had known about the importance of always wearing hearing protection. Back in the day, nobody did, it was normal. Sure your ears rang afterwards, but it always went away. Until it didn't. Then they rang all the time. Forever.

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I am with you I am 28 and I have roughly 58% of hearing left and the phone rings all the time and no one answers. Lol

Sucks but way it is, my world is quite

That I should have stocked up on cheap surplus firearms and ammo. Particularly the 2 for $79 SKS that were filling the barrels as parts rifles and the cheap ammo for them. But having the money to spend on them then would have been nice as well at that point.

I wish I would've known that I would regret putting a funky tapco stock on my fairly nice Russian sks years ago(breaking the unobtainable handguard ferrule in the process, obviously) although I did save the wood and the ferrule pieces somewhere. Now that I know how to tig weld I may just have to dig those pieces out and make her right.

1. Don’t sand all the sharp edges off a blackpowder rifle stock.
2. Don’t sell your old model Vaquero or your SMLE.
3. Go back in time and buy a garage full of Portuguese 7.62 when it was dirt cheap.
4. Don’t touch the crosshairs/reticle of your dad’s hunting rifle scope with your finger.

KY DAN said:

I am with you I am 28 and I have roughly 58% of hearing left and the phone rings all the time and no one answers. Lol

Sucks but way it is, my world is quite

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Having been nearly deaf at birth, and still battling (much improved) with hearing, let me offer two things - one already known....

#1. Always wear hearing protection for any loud noise activity.
#2. Modern hearing aides can do much more than you think. Expensive - but they are WORTH the money.

Wish I would have known 22lr was going to be unobtainable again. I would have bought a few more cases last year at this time when I bought 2 5000 round cases for $300 shipped.

I wish I'd have known back in the day how much more you can shoot if you reload. Wish I'd started years ago.

That I would have asked for more of my father's guns before he passed away.

That I could have ordered Leupold scopes and products for 1/2 price for over a decade.

That I should have ordered 1 class higher of scopes when I ordered my scopes. You can never go too high with scope quality.

Biggest thing for me is that I wish I had went ahead and gone Carbine on my contender instead of selling the 44 mag super 16 barrel. Super 16s are fairly expensive and highly sought after for contenders, especially in popular varieties like 357 max, 30-30, etc. A $50 stock would have had me where I want to be now, and now it will likely cost me $400

I wish I would’ve known...

...that the 45 GAP would end up being so obscure that I'd have a hard time even giving that Glock 37 away. Finally suckered my brother into accepting it though.

natman said:

I wish - fervently - that I had known about the importance of always wearing hearing protection. Back in the day, nobody did, it was normal. Sure your ears rang afterwards, but it always went away. Until it didn't. Then they rang all the time. Forever.

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This. My ears have rung since the 1990's. It sucks.

I wear hearing protection all the time now, and sometimes double up at the gun range.

460Shooter said:

I wish I'd have known back in the day how much more you can shoot if you reload. Wish I'd started years ago.

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Wish someone had told me that learning to reload won't save me money. It will actually cost me more because I will end up shooting so much more! LOL (not necessarily a bad thing, but it's the truth!)

Newtosavage said:

This. My ears have rung since the 1990's. It sucks.

I wear hearing protection all the time now, and sometimes double up at the gun range.

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Yup hearing damage is very bad and often irreversible. Loud music via headphones, gun shots and many industrial sources are ruining hearing and have lifelong effects. Docs say Anything over 85 Db is not good. As an example I've measured breaking glass at a recycling plants at 135-150 Db,

My hearing went long ago due to an accident when an F-111 (like avatar) crashed and burned on the runway in Thailand, 1972. They say 18 of the 24, 500 pounders cooked off. I lost count after 3. Makes life tough and when you can't hear.

Newtosavage said:

Wish someone had told me that learning to reload won't save me money. It will actually cost me more because I will end up shooting so much more! LOL (not necessarily a bad thing, but it's the truth!)

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Yes. Note I never mentioned saving money.

I wish I would have known how much damage I was doing to my right thumb, wrist, and hand, shooting N-Frame revolvers, with .44 and .41 Magnum ammo, double-action, with my K/L/GP100-sized hands. I used what some now call the “h-grip,” to get enough finger on the trigger, which meant that recoil went into the base joint of my thumb, and then torqued my wrist, violently. Oh, but I believed in training with street-relevant ammo, and plenty of it. Deep. Sigh.

Of course, I was doing this because I believed the folks who believed in bigger bores, heavier bullets, and faster velocities. I had trained in the police academy, 1983-1984, with .357 L-Frames, but I bought into the idea that a bore had to start with four, and carried an S&W Model 629, for my first year of sworn service. I soon switched to a Model 58 .41 Magnum. By 1990, I had realized my error, and switched to .45 ACP single-column-mag auto-loaders, and .357 revolvers that fit me. But, the damage was done, and the chickens would come home to roost. During the Nineties, I noticed how it was so much more painful to shoot J-Frames right-handed, than left-handed. The first time I fired an Airlite L-Frame revolver, with .38 ammo, it HURT. in 2011, about the time I reached age 50, I could no longer shoot very much .40 S&W ammo, in one session, right-handed, with my SIG P229R duty pistol.

I switched to Glock 9mm pistols in 2015, shortly after my chief OK’ed 9mm duty pistols, to get a lower bore axis, and lesser recoil energy, in one move. By 2017, however, a short range session with a Glock G19 would result in swelling and pain, that lasted for days. No more compact Nines, for me. Yes, those chickens, from the Eighties, came home to roost, and started pecking me to death. (I still shoot 9mm Glocks right-handed, but the full-length-grip G17 and G19x, which reach all the way to the heel-bone of my hand.)

In hindsight, I should have stayed with .357 revolvers, that fit, and, if I wanted bigger bore, .45 ACP, fired with autos. I discovered my most-favored, handgun in the world, the GP100, a perfect fit for me, in the early Nineties. If only I had been an early adopter, of the GP100, in 1985 or 1986, and stuck with it.

I could have played with big-bore Magnums, but fired them single-action, while holding them ergonomically correctly.

I did get into a line-of-duty shooting, in 1993, with my GP100. Yes, .357 Magnum did the job. The naysayers had been saying .357 would not expand, if fired from a mere 4” barrel. Well, it expanded. Other naysayers had said it would expand too quickly, and fail to penetrate. Well, it penetrated. Devastating stop. I don’t see how any big bore could could have done better.

The bright side is that I am left-handed, so that left hand was mostly spared the cumulative battering. I naturally write lefty, but throw righty, and found DA revolver shooting to be something I could do with either hand, about equally. A smooth DA stroke was not easy to learn, but in concept, was caveman-simple. Drawing a heavy revolver from the then-mandated low-slung duty holster was not unlike throwing under-handed, so the draw felt quite natural right-handed. Plus, I knew I would be patrolling alone, and would be able to reach my right hip more easily. So, I mostly fired the N-Frames right-handed, and fired my “back-up” J-Frame mostly lefty.

I wish I would have known shotgun ammo was going to disappear this year. I've been through a couple ammo scares and shotgun ammo has always available still. Even back in late summer when I was at Walmart and Meijer there was plenty of shotgun ammo available. Now I'm down to about 250 rounds of target ammo in 12 ga and just a tad less in 20 ga and I decided last week to buy a couple hundred more rounds of each, but low and behold store shelves are completely empty.

I wish I had known that imported mil-surp was going to be this high in future costs. I would have boughten all the cheap ones I pass up so easily at gunshows, once upon a time ago...
To see the humble Nagant revolver, a milsurp no one wanted at the time when they were $49 bucks, to now ranging anywhere around $400 on up!

Plus, I regret buying a Luger P08 when they were still more or less reasonably priced....oh well

MosinT53Hunter said:

I regret buying a Luger P08 when they were still more or less reasonably priced....oh well

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I was lucky enough to be given one by a good friend, along with holster, 2 mags and a Captured Enemy Equipment certificate several years ago. Only thing I regret is not shooting it til this year. It is supremely accurate, to my surprise, and my most fun 9mm of all.

I wish I would have known the LAR Grizzly in .45 Magnum would be eliminated and soar to new heights of unobtanium. Had I known, I likely would have paid the "ridiculous" price of 800 bucks way back then and taken the heat from wifey, same goes for the Detonics Scoremaster, in either .45ACP or .451 D-mag.

I wish I'd have known ...

About reloading. I sold several firearms that were uncomfortable to shoot because I didn't know I could download for them. I'd still own most of them if I knew then what I know now.

About re-barreling. I sold a couple of very nice rifles to fund purchases of others in different cartridges. Had I known then what I know now, I'd simply have had them re-barreled in a different cartridge.

Put those two together, and your whole perspective on this hobby changes.

When I was in the Army in the '80s, I traded a nice Colt Official Police for something else. After all, it's not like Colt was going to stop making revolvers...

I wish I would have known that carrying a 5-shot revolver is supposed to get me killed. I've been on borrowed time for a good 30 years or so!

Marlins really were better rifles than winchesters was my big one. I found this out looking for a lever in 357, winchester stopped taking order the morning I went in to order one. Ended up with a marlin, and shortly after couldn't see why anyone would want a winchester 94.