$40k+ for a rifle...?

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I don't deny anyone the finer things in life, I've just accepted that life has some funny quirks, I'm not going to be one of those who have those fancy, nicer things. I've accepted this lot in my life. Many years ago, I went through a nasty divorce, none are pleasant I'm told, anyway... after the dust had finally settled, I had some extra cash left over. Having hunted for most of my life, shooting some nice firearms, I decided I needed a very nice revolver, always wanted one, so I splurged and bought a 6" Colt Python, Royal Blue. The LSG had this one for $275.00 OTD, I dropped the cash in a heart beat! I know today this piece is worth about $1700.00, won't part with it in this lifetime. My meaning, I bought this as a way to starting my new, unencumbered life, every time I shoot this fine revolver, I think about how far I've come from that "other life" I thought I was living, nice to hold something thats a finer part of this life now.
 
$40,000 would buy me every firearm and all the reloading equipment I could ever want.
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It would buy all I currently have.......several times over.
It would buy all I really need.
But all I could ever want? Not even close.
 
part of the the fun would be flying to england to be measured and picking out the wood stock blank from their inventory of 500 year old wood and coming back in a year or so to pick it up. used of course is a lot less.
 
I remember drooling over some pics of the various grades of Winchester Model 21 they made at Connecticut Shotgun Mfg. Co. Could never justify that kind of money on any firearm, even if I had it. But I can certainly understand why those who have the means are so willing to put their good money down for that sort of thing. The looks, the handling, and the feel of these truly fine firearms is a wonder to behold.

Oh, to be a master gunsmith at one of those custom shops...
 
Good golly gosh Art,
The music on that link makes me feel like I must be getting billed for even looking at their precious products.
 
people shopping for $40,000 rifles aren't usually really concerned about the exact resale value of them. I have a Rem 700 reworked by H&H in the 70's I think and it's a tack shooter, it's previous owner said he used it to hunt sheep in Spain and the Middle East. There's a practical limit to how accurate a gun is called "the shooter" so I would think it's about name brand recognition and how and where these rifles are marketed that brings that kind of price tag.
 
It's no different than buying a nice 4x4 pickup truck. Does that change anyones perspective? Just curious.
 
and I thought the bolt action takedown rifle used in the bourne legacy was expensive. i think that thing was 4-6k if i remember right. makes that look like chump change.
 
BTW, Purdey is more expensive, but if you want the creme de la creme of shotguns, rifles, and multi-barrel guns, look at Peter Hofer or Philip Ollendorf. Hofer has certain models that go for upwards of 600K
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I have heard of Philip Ollendorf, I read an article about some of his shotguns a while back from the pictures I looked at they looked expensive, but very nice.
 
It's no different than buying a nice 4x4 pickup truck. Does that change anyones perspective? Just curious.
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Sure it is, buy a $50,000 Ford 4x4 today and in ten years it will be worth $7,500. A firearm worth that kind of money rarely loose that much value and generally go up in value.

Now if the machine gun regestry were to open back up you would loose your butt if you have a pile of $30,000 MP5's laying around.
 
If you would have gone to Eastern Africa back in the 70's after kenya shut down hunting and Kynoch quit producing ammo for the Nitro Express rifles you could have bought almost any double rifle for hundreds of dollars at the most. I've heard stories of guys picking up Rigby drop locks and H&H's for under $100 during those bleak times.

Doubles were considered obsolete due to the total lack of ammunition being available. India was another place where you could pick up royal grade doubles for pennies on the dollar. Some guys did.

Quality double rifles have exploded in value in the last decade. They were a better investment than gold if you'd have had the hind sight to buy them at the bottom of the market. They continue to be a solid investment if you REALLY know what you're doing. But if you don't know what you are doing you can wind up with a really expensive boat anchor pretty easy too.
 
I'm not going to be one of those who have those fancy, nicer things. I've accepted this lot in my life.
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Ask that guy living on the street whether you have any of those, "...fancy, nicer things". Wealth is a relative thing and if you have the money just to post on this site you're much better off than a lot of other people. And if you have a few nice guns you're way better off than some. That's the thing about owning things. You can never own enough of them to satisfy that longing to own the whole world. And if you did own the whole world you'd feel guilty about it. Money isn't really where it's at. I do ok but my BIL owns a yacht, a bunch of really nice cars (they loaned us a Mercedes 500 when my wife needed a different car to drive to work because she got transferred) and they have a vacation condo right along the water where they joyride in their yacht. I couldn't pay for a single fill up of gas for the thing and they pay double what my house cost to build every year just to moor the thing. But to hear them tell it they "struggle" to get by. There's no such thing as enough and the quicker we learn that the happier we will be. People who win the lottery almost always end up regretting they ever won it. And the things people will do to try to sweat money out of you are just amazing. I could really tell you some stories about things that have happened to people I know who won a big lottery. I won't do it because they might read this some day and it would create great pain for them beyond anything you can imagine.

I'm happy to have a car to drive and enough food to eat. Anything more is just gravy. All the folks here who said they envy people with money must not know any people with money. I could go into what people try to do with their money too like the old bat that tried to break up my marriage by waving money under my wife's nose. "Let me take you down to meet the members of The Eagles" was how that went. "They're playing at the theme park I own and I can get you introduced. But you'll have to leave your husband at home." She owned one of the Six Flags parks before Six Flags bought her out and changed the name of it. I don't even remember which one it was but she was about to marry my father in law and she didn't like me one bit. Lucky for me I married a woman with integrity.

Money is the root of all evil friends. I know that's true. I've seen way too much of it. I've seen friends lose millions to swindlers too. The problems with having money never end.

I can hear it now. Somebody is saying they'd like to try dealing with those problems but it isn't as easy as it sounds. I've known people with big time money. It doesn't make them happy. And in many cases it can make them incredibly unhappy. Heck I made a ton of money at one time before my partner let it all go to his head. I worked less than 2 hours a day and made a boatload of money. But I never felt any different than when I was struggling to get by.
 
the h&h 270 the op was talking about i really don't care for but there are several other h&h bolt rifles on that site that i would have no problem dropping 40 grand on if i had it to spend. that particular rifle has a rather bland stock and wasn't built on a dsb action, i've also never cared for the h&h qr mounts & rings, and on top of all that the rifle isn't even cased.

now as far as the price goes in most cases its not really out of line. you looking at 8-10 grand just for the action, bottom metal & stock blank.


the only problem i see with h&h bolt rifles is unless your buying a vintage h&h, rigby etc the high end american builders are actually turning out better rifles than the european builders are today. i'd send my 40K to duane wiebe, martini & hagn, lon paul, james anderson, joe smithson, or one of the other top american gunmakers
 
We had a thread on this one, earlier:

http://www.hoferwaffen.com/hofer_52s.php?id=14&lang=en

My understanding is that the original price on the Hummingbird was $80,000. It has been resold a time or three, and rumor has it that the last price was $320,000--but don't quote me.
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You contact Hofer, he'll build another one. Rumor I heard from a gun writer is that one of his doubles with a hidden third small bore, totally engraved with a stock made from a 900 year old Turkish root burl has a tag about 600K.

At that level, there is no production line; every gun is bespoke to customer requirements and nothing is impossible........some folks look solely at the price and scoff and sneer and utter wealth-envy statements, while others (me included) stare at the exquisite workmanship and marvel at the skill required to accomplish something like that of such great engineering and beauty
 
I can not speak to this perticular rifle, but I know that the raw materials on handmade firearms alone can cost a princely sum. I have a friend who makes custom shotgun stock. He has paid over $20K for a wood blank before. When finished, the wooden stock on the shotgun was worth $30k. Now, does this mean it shoots any better...probably not, but it is a hell of a converstaion starter!
 
I'd like to have a simpler version of that Hummingbird. Same weight, in .17 HMR, but pretty much plain vanilla with a not-exotic but decent walnut stock. That would make for a truly fine wandering-around rifle. :)
 
When we are talking about 40-500K shotguns and rifles it really is the face of class society.

In England the common man can not own a firearm. There is no market for a $500 rifle, yet for people that can afford a $500,000 firearm the rules are no restriction.

While Donald Trump sons go to Africa and shoot elephants, the working people in New York City, where a large part of Mr Trump's wealth comes from, can not legally own a weapon for self defense, much less deer hunting...

As J.P Morgan supposedly said "If you have to ask, you can't afford it,"
 
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Art Eatman said:
I'd like to have a simpler version of that Hummingbird. Same weight, in .17 HMR, but pretty much plain vanilla with a not-exotic but decent walnut stock. That would make for a truly fine wandering-around rifle. :)
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I'm with you on that.
 
some folks look solely at the price and scoff and sneer and utter wealth-envy statements, while others (me included) stare at the exquisite workmanship and marvel at the skill required to accomplish something like that of such great engineering and beauty
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There you go. My aunt, who never had anything in her life that she had to pay for herself, could produce quilts that would bring as much as $10,000 each but she never sold a one. It was more a labor of love for her and she preferred having the quilts instead of the money even though she could barely survive on what she had. I grew up on a farm next door to that aunt and we were dirt poor along with her and my grandmother. We managed to do better in our lives but she struggled all the way. But heck we didn't even have a phone or running water when I was a kid or a car to get us off the farm in case of emergency. It was a long walk to the paved road too. We were dirt poor but we didn't envy anyone because we had other things that couldn't be bought. There is value in workmanship and that is something we could produce for ourselves. Because we didn't envy the money of others we could hang onto the workmanship we put into things and that was enough.

My aunt died a few years ago. I ended up with one of those quilts that could easily bring $10,000 or more. But no matter how much I might need the money I'll have that quilt until one of my kids gets it when I die. I actually have another quilt from my other aunt which is worth just as much so both of my kids will get one. The other aunt taught quilting to people from hundreds of miles around. People came to her to learn from 5 states around. To me, the workmanship is still worth more than the money and I'll hang onto it as long as I can.
 
I'd like to have a simpler version of that Hummingbird. Same weight, in .17 HMR, but pretty much plain vanilla with a not-exotic but decent walnut stock. That would make for a truly fine wandering-around rifle.
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Mr Eatmen,

Ask and you shall receive. While not "cheap" relativity speaking this is a drop in the bucket compared to the Hummingbird. For only 8.5 K you too can have a small bore "walking" double to keep the vermin population under control in the nether regions of West Texas!

Behold
http://bradshawgunandrifle.com/Small_bore_double_rifle.php
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