Help me understand... a 10lb rifle 'worth' it's weight in gold?

LoonWulf said:
want is a big part...and if you got the cash then 350K might as well be 3500

Hell im trying to figure out how to afford @luv2safari 's cape gun down in the BST.
No practical use, but I WANT it.....
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LW, that's why I bought a gun that now would break my bank. I wanted it, but...BUT I have practical uses for my combo guns and another reason I buy them other than pride of ownership.

I love to hunt grouse and wild chukar, and our deer season runs concurrently with the bird seasons. It's why I worked like a dog...no a dog team at age 12 mowing lawns and gardening for an eye doctor friend of my dad's for a long summer to buy a drilling. I got to keep the money, however. The doctor knew I wanted a drilling more than anything else in the world. He Gave me his drilling, a circa 1909 Sauer/Charles Daly sidelock-side cock in 12/12/30-30!

My first hunt with it was on valley quail at a ranch along the Truckee River just east of Reno. My dad and Dr Clark were friends of the owner, and it was a quail factory. With great dog work from our griffons and the Dr's shorthair we had point after point. I went 10 for 10 that day with the drilling that fit me like it was made for me, hardly warming the left barrel, although I did take one double. By fall I was now 13 and "no longer a kid", as I told my dad.

Pop beamed, the Dr smiled in satisfaction, the dogs had a great time, and Johnny Armstrong, the ranch owner, was dazzled by the three-barreled wonder-gun. I've only shot that well one other time in my entire life, a very long life. Later that season I killed a limit of quail, limit of chukar, and a 5X5 mulie buck on top of the NE end of the Limbo range, all in one day and all with that drilling. It was the best hunting season of my lifetime and the last season ever like that in NV.

I have always earned just a lower middle class salary, but I made combination guns and hunting with them a top priority; I've owned around 200 over the years. I see one I might like, get it, hunt with it usually, and move it along to use the funds to get another. A few found permanent homes. This is how I feed an addiction on meager funds.

The BSW cape gun was intended as a keeper when I got it, but rapid downturns in my ability to hike up our steep craggy terrain, let alone get back down have me passing along my steel-n-walnut friends to good homes with the hope that they'll be used as intended by the master gunmakers. Seeing this BSW go will be pretty hard, but it needs someone who will shoot it.
 
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The value of art is not predicated by the cost of its materials or minimum wage labor rates x the time spent to produce it.

My wife sells 50 or so $100 sugar cookies every year - single cookies - and folks don't bat an eye at the price... They come to get what they want, and they get it...
 
Another_Kelley said:
Might as well ask for 1.2Mil if you can keep a straight face and ask this much..........

https://gordyandsons.com/purdey-best-double-rifle-375h36601/

It does indeed have some nice engravings. Might even shoot well on top of that. I'm just in awe of the 'asking' price on some of these boom-sticks. Help me understand. Do folks really buy a 10lb item costing this much and then take it on a safari hunt? What's an average day like for this individual :)
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Unfortunately, this will probably end up in a mansion as an adornment. Purdeys are amazing guns that deserve a hunter with good dogs in a field full of upland game.
 
luv2safari said:
LW, that's why I bought a gun that now would break my bank. I wanted it, but...BUT I have practical uses for my combo guns and another reason I buy them other than pride of ownership.

I love to hunt grouse and wild chukar, and our deer season runs concurrently with the bird seasons. It's why I worked like a dog...no a dog team at age 12 mowing lawns and gardening for an eye doctor friend of my dad's for a long summer to buy a drilling. I got to keep the money, however. The doctor knew I wanted a drilling more than anything else in the world. He Gave me his drilling, a circa 1909 Sauer/Charles Daly sidelock-side cock in 12/12/30-30!

My first hunt with it was on valley quail at a ranch along the Truckee River just east of Reno. My dad and Dr Clark were friends of the owner, and it was a quail factory. With great dog work from our griffons and the Dr's shorthair we had point after point. I went 10 for 10 that day with the drilling that fit me like it was made for me, hardly warming the left barrel, although I did take one double. By fall I was now 13 and "no longer a kid", as I told my dad.

Pop beamed, the Dr smiled in satisfaction, the dogs had a great time, and Johnny Armstrong, the ranch owner, was dazzled by the three-barreled wonder-gun. I've only shot that well one other time in my entire life, a very long life. Later that season I killed a limit of quail, limit of chukar, and a 5X5 mulie buck on top of the NE end of the Limbo range, all in one day and all with that drilling. It was the best hunting season of my lifetime and the last season ever like that in NV.

I have always earned just a lower middle class salary, but I made combination guns and hunting with them a top priority; I've owned around 200 over the years. I see one I might like, get it, hunt with it usually, and move it along to use the funds to get another. A few found permanent homes. This is how I feed an addiction on meager funds.

The BSW cape gun was intended as a keeper when I got it, but rapid downturns in my ability to hike up our steep craggy terrain, let alone get back down have me passing along my steel-n-walnut friends to good homes with the hope that they'll be used as intended by the master gunmakers. Seeing this BSW go will be pretty hard, but it needs someone who will shoot it.
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Ill admit, im envious lol. The mystique of the combination gun (and all the other "unusual" guns) has always captivated me. Unfortunately they are of limited utility since we can only have ammo/weapons for the specific game we are hunting and mammal hunting is closed during bird season.
Still....much like a few other firearms, i will eventually own one and use it, even if its only one barrel at a time lol.
 
I had not heard of a .550 Magnum, but there is such a thing.
Does it have a "sporting purpose" exemption from the .50+ DD clause?

Talk about actually using an expensive gun, I still recall seeing in a used gun rack a Westley Richards with well worn finish, including heavy scratches on the receiver from being used to hold down fence wire to step over. Of course that is just a Birmingham gun, nothing special.

While not on the Price of a House scale, I know people who go for quantity instead of quality. Half a dozen similar cheap guns instead of one nice one. I am particularly thinking of Mr Five Mossbergs, no Browning shotgunner.
 
someguy2800 said:
The top of my list for stuff I want but don't need is a nice big bore double rifle. I have come to terms with the fact that I'll never be able to afford one due to the other hobbies competing for my interest so I am slowly putting together a 550 magnum bolt rifle.
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Pedersoli made a nice double rifle in 45-70 for around five grand. Don't know if they still make it. Re-chambering it to 45-120 with the 3-1/4" case can turn it into a suitable elephant rifle, even at low 45-70 trapdoor pressures.

Recoil would be harsh, as the gun doesn't weigh that much.
 
I’ve actually been there.

Purdey

I'm in London this week on business, having a beer at this neat old pub, when I happen to look across the street and see this..... I couldn't believe it. So I walk over and a very friendly gentleman greets me at the door and politely explains that they're having a private party but if...
www.thehighroad.org
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0AF2m399Zg

Two words would have adequetly summarized it in a nutshell for me........ ''they're british''. Instead of looking into their origin, I created this monster 🤪

The fact that some folks are able to say, yes, I'll take the 10lb rifle over an outright HOME or an extra investment property... could be another thread by itself. This isn't about me being 'envious' of someone's 'ability' to buy an item that may or may not be 'worth' its asking price.... it's essentially about understanding the actual market value of an object compared to other objects in that same market. The fact is, if you don't already have a given list of worldly items in your possession to begin with, you're not going to be attracted to a 10lb rifle with an asking price of $325,000, instead of the enormous PILE of legitimate goodies one could have in its place.
 
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Another_Kelley said:
it's essentially about understanding the actual market value of an object compared to other objects in that same market.
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Its not in the same market though. You need to compare it to a cheap one like this Beretta. Instead of some 50 cent Mossberg.
1997FB98-AAD9-42B1-B456-B9FC0A150E42.jpeg

Another_Kelley said:
instead of the enormous PILE of legitimate goodies one could have in its place.
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What makes you think they dont already have piles? Aside from the fact that there are NFA guns that cost more.
 
No way- not for a gun . And the news about who buys it would leak out to professional burglars.

But for a much younger guy than I, maybe a Trophy Wife could be found for that price.👩‍🦰 Someone resembling a Charlize Theron.
 
tarosean said:
What makes you think they dont already have piles? Aside from the fact that there are NFA guns that cost more.
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That's literally what I said, in the beginning of that same sentence mentioning 'piles'.... but we're not trying to actually understand eachother, it's more about trying to out-think, and/or correct.
 
If one is plunking down that kind of money for a shotgun, they proly have multiple homes/ investment properties......they have their PILE of legitimate goodies.

As long as theyre living within their means, who cares?
 
It’s art. It’s also one of those “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” things. They could just as easily ask 2.2 million because the customer who will pay 1.2 will pay 2.2 without blinking.
 
Another_Kelley said:
Might as well ask for 1.2Mil if you can keep a straight face and ask this much..........

https://gordyandsons.com/purdey-best-double-rifle-375h36601/

It does indeed have some nice engravings. Might even shoot well on top of that. I'm just in awe of the 'asking' price on some of these boom-sticks. Help me understand. Do folks really buy a 10lb item costing this much and then take it on a safari hunt? What's an average day like for this individual :)
Click to expand...
Let's say this firearm peaked my interest...

Would I but it now? Answer is no.

Would I buy it if i made a little more than I do now... Absolutely!!!! In a heartbeat!

For this one,,, I don't think it's about buying performance, It's about craftsmanship.

If I did buy that one I doubt I'd ever even fire it. If I did, round count would stay below 5
 
I have known people with guns "too pretty to shoot." I am not one of them.

Back when double express rifles were hunting guns, Elmer Keith wrote of a .500 Nitro with appreciable erosion in the right barrel from hot Cordite ammo. Hardly any in the left barrel, second shots on game had seldom been required.
 
I think some folks glossed over the fact that it's a double rifle, not a shotgun.



Another_Kelley said:
... but we're not trying to actually understand each other, it's more about trying to out-think, and/or correct.
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No, what we have here is a lack of perspective. Most people just cannot see beyond their own world. Any lack of understanding would be on your part. This is not an insult or personal attack. You just don't get it and that's fine, you don't have to. Maybe you will in time but maybe not today.

Now, I have never been in the position to order a bespoke double rifle from any of the esteemed London or Birmingham makers. However, we do encounter some of the same rhetoric with other things such as custom revolvers and mid-grade Swiss watches. Yes, I could have had many more plain Jane Ruger, S&W or Colt revolvers for what I invested in these two Best Grade guns by Jack Huntington but that's not what I wanted. When you're an enthusiast, you reach a point where off the shelf guns do not and cannot serve the same purpose or scratch the same itch as a hand built custom gun. Which is essentially what the Purdey is, though on a much larger scale. That and sometimes you want to enjoy the finer things in life, which is not a sin. So, you commission custom guns built to your specifications, not whatever some corporate entity will sell the most and make them the most money. You don't do it to show off, or to impose some sort of superiority over your fellow man. You do it because it's what you want and you can afford it. You need only justify it to yourself and/or your CFO. ;)

1714227507526.jpeg

When you love fine British game guns but don't quite have the scratch to satisfy the itch, you settle for whatever is as close as you can get. In this case, a Merkel 28ga instead of a Westley-Richards. How many plain old Remington or Winchester pumps I could've bought instead isn't a consideration. Is that some sort of veiled insult to Remington or Winchester shotgun owners? Absolutely not.

1714227603987.jpeg

Nor is the number of G-shocks I could've had instead of this Omega. Is that some sort of veiled insult to G-shock owners? Absolutely not.

1714227755768.jpeg

I also would like to add that NONE of my guns are "too nice to shoot". They're not too nice to hunt with or ride in a holster either. I don't understand paying so much money for something and then NOT using it. So were I able to buy a $300k double rifle, it would draw the blood of the Big Five, have 'more' scratches and finish wear than it started with, all in the first year. Though it wouldn't be a .375.


Mosin77 said:
It’s art. It’s also one of those “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” things. They could just as easily ask 2.2 million because the customer who will pay 1.2 will pay 2.2 without blinking.
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Disagree. People who can pay a million dollars for anything, didn't get there by throwing it away.
 
CraigC said:
Disagree. People who can pay a million dollars for anything, didn't get there by throwing it away.
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I make my living in the world of high end, luxury goods. I (personally) like the finer things in life, but I buy what I can afford, what I have the opportunity to buy at what I deem a good bargain, and what will give me the best bang for the buck in terms of experience and usage. In other words, I’m like most other gun owners.

There are several different types of people who are shopping for a double rifle.

My friend just bought one. A fine English example, I forget the maker but it’s definitely one a connoisseur would recognize. But not Purdey which is almost a household name for “most expensive gun you can buy.” He paid around $12,000. This example was made in the 1920s, close to the heyday of such rifles. He could have 99.9% of the practical experience of the Purdey by having his gun restocked (let’s ballpark …$3000-5000?) to fit him exquisitely.

But his gun will never have the engraving, or the over-the-top “experience” of buying the most expensive model from the most exclusive maker.

The customer who buys such is making a statement. “I want that experience.” Because you don’t need to spend $1.2 million on a double rifle. $15k suffices, and $350,000 would get you most of the rest of the experience too. So the 1.2 million version is more of a statement piece by the maker: “this is what we can do for the world’s most exclusive clientele.” It is advertising. It will probably be bought by a rapper. It could also, realistically be purchased by someone more in the traditional clientele of the firm who simply decides that he wants the best, period, money no object. But I highly doubt there will be (or can be) much comparison-shopping, because at this level, price hardly matters.
 
LOL....there are many, many people who can afford it. I bought into a beach community 20+ years ago. Currently there are two beach lots (~4,000 SF) for sale. One is $2,800,000 and the other is $3,400,000.....for a lot 40x100. Now they have to build on it.
Yes, they can afford to buy the firearm.

Me, not so much.....but I have a great Browning SA22.😁
 
Pepper: Larry called. He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no.
Stark: Is it a good representation of his spring period?
Pepper: No... The Springs was actually the neighbourhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked, not 'spring' like the season. So? I think it's a fair example. I think it's incredibly overpriced.
Star: I need it. Buy it. Store it.
 
I have an acquaintance that makes maybe $5,000-$6,000 a day trading commodities. Some days less, but typically at least $2,500. To him, $15,000 would be less than a week’s income. He could buy it and not give It a second thought

I suspect the average member here has $15,000 invested in guns. My best friend has over $30,000 in electronics on his fishing boat

Everything is relative
 
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