If "hind sight is 20-20" What firearm do you kick yourself on for not buying?

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Let me count the ways...:( But the missed opportunity that still haunts me most almost sixty years later is passing on a new, deluxe Winchester Model 71, replete with the yellow and red Winchester hang tag, located in a hardware store in Agana, Guam and selling for under a hundred bucks. Given the fact that there are no bears on Guam and the deer there don't get much larger than a beagle, I have no idea why a rifle chambered in .348 Winchester ever found its way there. Yes, ninety some dollars was worth a lot more then, especially to an Airman second class and, yes, I didn't know any better then, but still...:cuss:
 
Probably 10-15 years ago at a gun show I passed on a post-'64 Winchester Model 88 in .308 Win. Barrel had a bulge about 4" from the muzzle and he wanted $175 for it. I considered buying it and shortening the barrel or replacing it with a 7-08 chambered barrel, but I was looking for something else at the time. Went back the next day and it was gone.
 
The one I wish I could have gotten was a Mainz-made guild drilling in 16x16/9.3x74R (the 'standard' combination) that I had the money in my back pocket for, but it was my rent money. :cuss: My boss bought it, cleaned it up, and sold it to a friend of his for way more then he paid. Of course, I never would have sold it.
 
Soooo many at the gun show in Tulsa. A new Remington 870 Wingmaster 410 for $500, a Browning Highpower for $800. A new Anschutz 1712 don't recall the price.......the list goes on.
 
None, I'm blessed to have been able to get what I want and I have what I need. Whether I made the best selections only my heirs will be able to say :)
 
Like most of the others, my shoulda
woulda coulda list is long.
Mostly wish I'd bought a box of the Smith and Wesson trade ins , and more of the
$60.00 SKS's like others have posted.
The SKS's were NIB and the Smiths
were either fired very little, or they were
maintained by a professional gunsmith.
Either one shoots as good as anything
 
M1 Carbine from the DCM back in the day when they were affordable. 2nd place goes to, as several others have said, a S&W Model 10 when they were cheap. (Actually, my dad had one, but he sold it.) Not sure I can brig myself to pay the current market price for either of those now- not that they'll be cheaper tomorrow.
 
RKRCPA said:
I remember sitting around with some friends in 1986 debating whether or not we should buy a full auto before the ban.

In hindsight, that was definitely a mistake.
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I wonder if people are doing the exact same thing right now regarding an AR15.
 
A re-barreled Garand for $350. A S&W M17 K22 Masterpiece for $275. A 4" J-Frame flat latch, (M34) maybe.
 
There's a couple styles I wish I would have picked up.

Years ago I picked up a pristine Yugo SKS for $200, "instead of" an AK for $300. At the time I considered it either-or, not complementary... and I reasoned that as a semiauto the SKS was the more accurate platform. I never did get the AK, and by the time I started expanding my rifle selection AR's were cheaper than AKs.

Also, I remember seeing Chinese Mosin carbines for $69, and Russian Nagant revolvers for well under $100. This was when I was beginning to look at more modern, more expensive handguns, and in my mind those were so cheap they "weren't worth it". I did get a Russian Mosin 91/30 years later for my son, who loves it. I wish I would have grabbed one of the revolvers, I've seen them listed recently for over $700 (!), and ammo for under 30 cents a rd. It would have been a decent plinker that allowed me to get cheaper ammo this past year.

Most recently, at a gun show a couple years ago, I was getting ready to leave, and wandered across a Tanfoglio Witness in 10mm, for $399. Kinda dusty matte blued, very businesslike, seemed in good shape. I love the CZ 75 platform so this would have been something I would be familiar with. It looked a lot like the CZ in my avatar. Ultimately, I decided I didn't have any other 10's, so that would be one more caliber I'd have to add... so I let it go. I really wish I would have grabbed it.
 
My tastes have always been rather simple and pedestrian. I have been in a position to get most things I wanted for a few years now.

I've had a thing or two that I wish I had snagged - maybe I saw it at the LGS, went home to think on it and of course it was gone when I returned. But nothing I would consider the regret of a lifetime or anything.

Things were always cheaper "back then" when you didn't have the $ at that point in your life. So I don't get too caught up in worrying about that.


I would say I have much more "glad I got" than "wish I had". And I mostly have this board to thank for that with the knowledge gained from here.
 
Just a couple. About a decade ago I had a deal for a nice Colt Trooper MKIII for a cheap price. Considering what I've seen worse shape ones sell for now, kinda wish I had taken that flyer on it.

Same for a Detective Special, but mostly because it'd be neat to have. Saw one cheap and in good shape at about the same time.
 
That $1500 buy it now K-32, by the time I decided to pull the trigger, a wiser person had beaten me to it.

Taurus .32 Long in an approximate K frame size on GB because I was not familiar with them, sigh. ( I did pick one up in .32 Mag later)
 
The .22 Walther PP from the '30s that I could probably have got for the reserve price, as no one bid on it.
 
SundownRider said:
HK P7. Had a chance to pick one up for $700. Price one now.
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I remember seeing them in the ShotGun News 25+ years ago ... this one place, for years had police trade-in the HK "Squeeze-Cock" P7 & P13 ... and every time I saw them I thought "What a STUPID name" ...
The fact that they were police trade-ins should have tipped me off to buy as many as I could but I just couldn't get past the "Squeeze-Cock" name!
 
kimberkid said:
I remember seeing them in the ShotGun News 25+ years ago ... this one place, for years had police trade-in the HK "Squeeze-Cock" P7 & P13 ... and every time I saw them I thought "What a STUPID name" ...
The fact that they were police trade-ins should have tipped me off to buy as many as I could but I just couldn't get past the "Squeeze-Cock" name!
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That was an interesting opportunity to correct not getting one when introduced and STILL, I waffled!:cuss:

Missed the recent Israeli Hi Powers and CZ99 clones too.

Some fold (read: ME!) never seem to learn.:evil:

Todd.
 
I always wanted to buy The Ruger 44 mag semi carbine... I thought it would be a real good camp rifle or for hunting in heavy bush.. and usfull when in big bear country....( but for big bear hunting would have used 45 70 anyway) i always bought what i needed or wanted and some how this just dropped off the list..... but i still find myself thinking i shouda coulda..... ya
 
P7
Other HKs. I do have a C93 but getting a head start when they were much cheaper would have been nice.
Valmet M76. I got a FAL instead at the same show, but this was nice and eventually I got a Galil (on US receiver) so again... head start.
I saw MANY other good guns once but they were stupendously unaffordable to me then, so not quite /regret/ to not spend $5,000 1990s college student dollars on a FAMAS for example. That was never, ever gonna happen.

One day after shooting go upstairs to the gun store and I pull off the shelf a Robar SR60R (which was cutting edge at the time), new, but for half of retail. I ask WTH, and it as back when we had a good LGS so e.g. a guy puts down a deposit, they get the gun in, he can't finish so they don't sell for value but to get their money back only! I know what it is but do not shoot rifles; didn't even have a range membership at the time, so hard to justify and just turn to the other pistol shooters who are chatting amongst themselves right at the counter not paying attention "This is a new SR60 for [whatever the crazy price was]." Pause. staring. Two people reach for it, no words, at the same time. The first one there didn't stop touching it until the paperwork was done.

Similar story from same gun store which is NOT the same now that went well: I pick up the C93. "Anything else?" Yeah, I need to get some magazines for it. He gestures wait, goes to the back, comes back with three HK mags, 20, 25, 30. Literally blows the dust off them. Wants to do it off the books but I only have $20 in the wallet: sold. Recently enough that is a hell of a deal. My other HK33/C93 friends hate me.
 
M2 carbine 40 years ago at a gun show. The price was $150 over the limit of the discretionary funds I had budgeted. Went home empty handed. My son, who was with me, mentioned it to his mother. She replied "He knows I wouldn't have said anything about going over his budget for something he really wanted." The show was fifteen minutes away. I was there in ten. Ya'll can guess the rest of the story. :notworthy:
 
Back in the 1980's I could have gotten a new Weatherby rifle for free. But I passed on it.... Back when the Bank Of Boulder, Colorado was giving them away as interest on a certificate of deposit for a fixed number of years. You gave them the money, ( 2 thousand something (?) IIRC ), they send you a new Weatherby, and after the certain number of years they send you your money back. The Weatherby was the interest payment up front and after the certificate of deposit matured you had all your money back.. At the time I didn't have that much spare money around to tie up for years and thought that Weatherbys were a little too extravagant anyway. Of course I now love Weatherby's and have been kicking myself ever since for not jumping on that offer.
 
kimberkid said:
I had a few that in hind-sight I wish I'd bought but in recent years I found them and bought them.
Now I'm content ... I've said that before but now in my mid-60's and no gun-nuts in the family to pass them on to, I've considered selling some of them off, but even having trouble doing that ... cars, home and is paid for but still have one in collage but will probably sell off the happy-switch otto's and take a few well deserved vacations with the wife in the next few years.

There really aren't many that I kicked myself over, because if I wanted it bad enough, I found a way ... Some, I just didn't want it bad enough until years later.

Years later, I had regretted passing on was a Valmet Tube-Folder, the one I passed on was a 223, if it had been a 7.62x39 I'd have bought it then ... it wasn't, so I passed but a few years ago I found another Tube Folder in 223, bought it and discovered what the attraction is.

Also wanted a SiG 550 back in the mid 90's, but I figured there isn't anything it did that an AR wouldn't do ... so I waited 25+ years and paid 4 (or more) times as much for a used one!

Another was a Knights SR25 Match I passed on back in the day and acquired one 4-5 years ago.

Most of my problem then was not being able to appreciate the refinements.
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