guns you wish you had kept

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cnorman18

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During a bout of ill fortune some years ago--divorce, unemployment, illness, you don't want to know--my once-extensive gun collection slipped out of my grasp. I sometimes daydream about the great guns I once owned but probably never will again. Anybody else have regrets like this?

Here are my most-mourned Top Ten:

1. Colt SAA, .44 Special, 4 3/4" barrel, nickeled

2. S&W M629, .44 Magnum, 4" barrel, stainless

3. Colt Series 70, .45 ACP, stroked & bored, blue

4. Colt (genuine) new production 1860 Army, stainless

5. Wildey .45 Magnum, engraved & nickeled

6. S&W M649, .38 Special, 2" barrel, shrouded hammer, stainless

7. Browning .22 auto rifle, blue

8. AR-15 old model (triangular handguard, no bolt assist), .223

9. HK91 fixed stock, .308

10. Winchester 9422 lever gun, .22 Magnum

(There were others, but I'm out of Kleenex...)
 
I've never bought a gun that I didn't want to keep forever :p

I think of them as heirlooms to pass down generations, generally they will always increase in value over time.

I don't buy them to sell, I buy them for pure personal enjoyment and of course the protection they provide as a tool. They provide both purpose and enjoyment.
 
A Colt Combat Elite .45 ACP, my first "new" gun purchase. I spent, if memory serves, $700 on it (in 1986) and got something like $200 on it a couple of years later.

What do the used ones go for now? $1500 or more?

The worst part of it is that I sold it to buy suits for a new job, which lasted all of four days. At minimum wage.
 
I've never bought a gun that I didn't want to keep forever
Click to expand...

same. i dont buy things i dont intend to keep.


and even those i may buy and not like,as i mostly have cheap milsurps i wont sell unless its to someone i know who will be responsible and value the gun for what it is ( read as NO BUBBA!)
my more expensive guns i plan to keep and heirloom them.

i suppose the only time id sell the guns, is to save the farm so to speak. serious financial problems or illness
 
I always intend to keep 'em, but once in a while trade for something a bit more interesting or having more desirable features, particularly the old military types.
 
The model 94 3030 my grandad gave me in 1965 had to pawn it or be homeless
about 12 years ago. never got it back.
 
.357 mag Ruger Blackhawk.First gun I ever bought (used, at age 18).Sold to pay for college books a few years later.
 
Too many to list, unfortunately. :(

In my younger days I traded guns a lot. It was the only way I could afford to try out as many different types of guns as possible. I learned a lot about firearms doing that. It was my way to find out what guns I really liked and which ones worked well for me. Now that I'm a little older I don't do that anymore, and I buy my guns to keep now.
 
Only one I've gotten rid of so far I'm regreting like crazy. Gave my older brother my single shot NEF Pardner 12 guage for his birthday because he didn't have a shotgun. At the time I thought I didn't need it because I had my Benelli Supernova and it was just a cheap single shot with a fixed choke. Now I'm in wanting another one because I miss the pure simplicity of the gun. It was light and much easier to carry about for a good day of squirrel hunting.
 
Remington "Sportsman" model 20-Ga.
Ruger "3-Screw" .357 Blackhawk
Nylon 66
Marlin .45ACP Camp Carbine
 
Colt Official Police
Dan Wesson 15VH
S&W M1917

I DID get one back, my 4" Model 29, which I'd sold to a friend and which took me 10 years to get back.
 
I used to buy and sell guns quite a bit but it seems they were more available 20 years ago than they are now. Here's a short list of ones I wish I had back:

Steyr GB 9mm
Colt Commander LW .45
3 variations of AR15
Ruger Single 6
Ruger MK1 bull barrel .22
High Standard "The Marshall" .22 (1st handgun I ever owned)

And I'm sure there are a bunch of others that I've forgotten about but these stick out in my mind.
 
We all experience turbulence and financial stress /need in our lives and regardless of the reason you had to sell them or why you lost them, stay positive. You gained valuable enjoyment and technical experience/shooting experience with them. That in itself is priceless. I know, its tough not to cry over spilt milk. I have done it myself, but the experience gained is often more valuable than the gun. The list of regrets that I have with respect to what I had to sell in the past is too lengthy and would probably make me a grown man cry if I started listing it. :(, but stay positive and concentrate on the experience that you gained. If you ever get those again in the future, you have the muscle memory, the experience of shooting them and the good memories, that is priceless. :)
 
Back when I was just a hunter and not studying shooting theory I has a nice plain M77 MKI in .308. Nice little carbine, fit me better than most rifles, and accurate enough to shoot the legs off real estate signs at 100 yards or so. I thought I needed a big-heavy barreled-super-mag-powder eating-wonder rilfe and I traded it.

Years later, I so wish I could go back in time and smack myself up side the head for doing that.
 
S&W 586 6", first handgun I ever bought, special ordered with a few extras. - got poor
Russian SKS paid $125, sold it for $100. - got poor

Ruger MKII, wife pawned it with out my knowledge, didn't get it back, almost pawned wife.

Ruger Single Six flat gate made in '56 (IIRC) lost it in pawn when wife "forgot" about a credit card I had no knowledge of, almost pawned wife
 
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My first Kimber 1911, I think they were called the Custom Class Target. It was a series 1. Pin-point accuracy is an understatement.
 
None of my own,

But my father got rid of a lever action Savage (forget the specific model now) in .300 Savage, without asking if I had any interest. Which I did. It was his old deer rifle and ever since I was a kid I had hoped to have it some day.
 
It's alway a shame to be obliged to let go away an iron friend.

For me I regret 3 of my weapons.

The two first had been sell because I need monnay.
My D.E. 44 mag. What a realy fantastique Big gun so easy and confartable to shoot.
mon_ex_desert_eagle_44.jpg


The second is my Brugger&thomet BT96 the MP5 built in switzerland. The reliability of the MP5 with the Switzerland quality. Amazing machine pistol.
If you need to be sure of your gun, this one was the best for me.
mon_ex_BT_96.jpg


And just for fun, I was obliged to sell it because the law ban this weapon of the french shooter catalogue. My MOSSBERG COMBO.
Realy fun shootgun.
mon_ex_mossberg_combo_ATP6.jpg


:(
 
First year SuperX Model 1. .22 single shot Stevens my dad gave me for my 6th Christmas.

I also had a chance to buy a Sportsman58 12ga in 3" chambering for $125 about 25+ years ago and passed. Wish I hadn't
 
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