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

Passed on a NIB Sako Finbear 375 for $82 at the Rod & Gun at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart in 1972. Next was a pass on a Browning 425 Sporting with a full set of fitted Briley tubes and case. $2,000 about 15 years ago. Other than that, not so much. Bought several I probably shouldn’t have, but........ They’re not for sale either.

MatrixReality said:

Should have bought surplus Mosin-Nagants by the crate when they were dirt cheap

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Yup, I passed on a new, never issued, 8 sided receiver, Sako built carbine. Don’t recall the price exactly, but it was under $200. Probably 20 years ago. Try finding one today!

Palladan44 said:

A WW2 Colt 1911 about 10 years ago at a gun show

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I had the 1911 my neighbor carried as a pilot in the Pacific. Mint condition.

Gave it to my best friend’s son.

When the 1968 GCA was enacted you could still register a full auto for $200. I knew a guy that got a bunch of pieces of pipe registered as Sten guns. IIRC, he was getting $5,000 each.

There have been a few. But the two I remember best:
A Winchester Garand. The dealer even took it apart on the counter to show me all parts were Winchester.
Then there was a Browning Medalist in the box with all the weights and tools. I actually had a chance to buy that one two times. I was just too cheap and shortsighted.

Cemetery21 said:

There have been a few. But the two I remember best:
A Winchester Garand. The dealer even took it apart on the counter to show me all parts were Winchester.

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Did the same with a major regret. Dissassembled and entire Beretta Garand to confirm parts and just didn't make it back quickly enough with the cash. I could have made it.... Just didn't.

MAJOR regret!

Todd.

I had an old 'turn of the century' 1894 saddle ring carbine in .30-30 that had nearly all the blueing worn off, scars and cigarette burns in the wood, and the reciever was marked "NEW MEXICO STATE PENATENTIARY"
Why i ever put that Winchester back in the rack ill never know.
Poor boys have poor ways, i guess.
I let it go then, but i can't get it out of my mind now.

my dads uncle had a rough time in ww2.
Normandy
Wounded in Bastogne
Battle of the Bulge
Numerous commendations we learned of upon his death.
He had picked up a German Luger and had "slept many a night with it in my hand".
He sold it to an acquaintance for cheap. I would have given him 3x for that one had I known he was selling it. I had assumed it would go to his brother.

There have been a couple.
List leader is the P210 a close-friend FFL offered me at a show, and for a paltry $350.

Should not have passed on the Suomi clone in 7.62x25--it would have vanished in 2008-2012 like too much of my collection did, but would have pulled more bucks, and might have let me keep my Colt 1903.

I regret not getting the $400 Luger that came over in the 90's as Russian capture surplus. Also regret not getting a PSL when they were $800

CapnMac said:

There have been a couple.
List leader is the P210 a close-friend FFL offered me at a show, and for a paltry $350.

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I don't think I've ever really had a shot at a 210 that wasn't at least 35% more than I was willing to pay at the time.

Just one of those things that I've never been able to quite catch up on and willing to pop for at any given price-time.

Todd.

ApacheCoTodd said:

I don't think I've ever really had a shot at a 210 that wasn't at least 35% more than I was willing to pay at the time.

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That's the kicker, that price was easy $50-150 under what would have been 'going' rate. And, naturally, I had the cash, just not on me. I was close enough to the FFL to have written a check for Monday and moved funds Monday morning.

If only I had a little money and some foresight in the early sixties when I was a twentysomething, when Enfields, Springfields, Webleys, 1911s, Lugers, P-38s and 1917 Colt and Smith & Wesson revolvers, just to name a few, were selling virtually by the pound and could be purchased via the mail. If only...

Back in the eighties Mauser broomhandles were being imported from China and were selling for about 450. bucks. Boy, then and now I would love one in 9 mm. Then in the nineties we were flooded with goodies...lots of Aks and Sks's dirt cheap. 30 cal. Carbines were being reimported and selling for about 110.oo locally. I wish I had picked one up....and just as much I wish I kept the Ruger Mini 14 I bought around 86 for 249.oo.

Don't know if it would have any great value---just would have been a nice piece to have.

An 870 Special Field 12ga in 91 or so---they wanted $400-ish for it and I balked at the price---they haven't been made for a long time now.

Oh yeah, I remember being into guns but not following politics....
vaguely recall looking at the Saiga's for what, $500 or so, on Centerfire. Thinking "oh, interesting; but I don't know that I want an AK action for 223. 308, etc".
And then, one day they were gone.

I was prepared and not caught flat footed like some. Have lived through this thing too many times. I have all I need, guns and ammo included.

I remember three that I should have jumped on. One was a 1917 Smith and Wesson. The other was a 2.5 in Model 66 for a screaming good deal and the other was a 2.5 inch Ruger Service Six.

shafter said:

I remember three that I should have jumped on. One was a 1917 Smith and Wesson.

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Oh.... to have jumped on all those 1917s, be they S&W or Colt, back when the average U.S. milsurp buyer wouldn't even slow down for them.

Todd.

CZ 1911. I think it was under $800 also. Darn. Pretty sure that I'll get a second chance soon.

Passing on a Remington 81 in .300 Savage for $400 in 2016.

Zerodefect said:

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CZ 1911. I think it was under $800 also. Darn. Pretty sure that I'll get a second chance soon.

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Didn't even know that was a *thing*.

The purchase by them of Colt's grows even more intriguing now.

Todd.

I see no reason why Colt can't be as high quality as Dan Wesson with a few uber expensive modern CNC machines added.

CZ and DW have both improved each other. Colt could be huge. A Colt version of the DWX sure would be nice.

If I knew back in the day what I now know. I would have bought tractor trailer loads of $90 SKS's in the 90s. Along with a additional truck load of ammo. Also maybe a few hundred ARs when they were $300 a pop. And enough ammo to make a war lord jelous.

The only one that I think back on at least a few times each year was a pristine Winchester Model 52 Target gun that I came close to buying at the time -- perhaps 1977 or so -- but didn't. Best I recall, the gun was several years old at that time, so it was probably a 1950s model. It was priced at $300 (not sure what I could have bought it for) and probably wasn't a bargain for the time, but the price isn't why I wish I'd bought it. The reason I wish I'd bought it is that I'm sure it would have opened my eyes much earlier in my life to how much I enjoy shooting an accurate, heavy-barreled 22 LR target rifle with a good trigger. It was another 35 years or so before I bought a similar gun -- a 1958 BRNO Model 4 -- and it instantly became my favorite 22 LR to shoot anytime I have an opportunity to shoot from a bench or bench-like setup. So, I think of that old Winchester 52 -- I can still see it sitting there on Robertson's Trading Post counter -- and think of how much time I'd probably have spent shooting it all these years, or what else it'd have led to by now.

Ha! I'd not live long enough to finish the list!
When I was a kid, you could literally order anything from the back page of a comic book.
Graded surplus from everywhere.
I WANTED THEM ALL!!!
There was a pawn shop that had 2 Colt 1911s in a window for years.
One was that funny gold nickel finish with black hardware, the other was a Commander in 9mm.
I'm still looking for that 9mm.