What gun/guns have you been reluctant to buy that turned out to be your favorite?

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Schwing

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I recently read through the thread about guns we buy and then lose all interest in. It was an enjoyable read. It made me think about just the opposite. What guns have you been hesitant to buy or have been talked into buying that turned out to be great decisions?

For me, it was my Ruger GP100 5" stainless. I had very little interest in revolvers and even less in Ruger revolvers. I had a 686 on my gun bucket list and suddenly got the itch to go for it during the last election cycle when I couldn't find one. My local Cal Ranch had a GP100 come in and the guy that works the counter (I know him pretty well) talked me into it. It was a very half-hearted and impulsive buy that I regretted before I even made it to the car.

That all changed the first 6 rounds down the barrel! Upon coming home, I immediately ordered dies, casings and bullets for .38 and .357. Not only is it my favorite pinking gun, but it is the gun I carry in the woods. It has led me down the road to more revolvers and lever-actions after decades of having a poo poo attitude about "Outdated" guns.
 
I used to be a 1911 only guy when it came to handguns. Then I bought a S&W 19 and along came a series of other Wheelguns all the way down to 642 that I often carry.

Don't get me wrong I still love my 1911's but I know have greater appreciation for Revolvers. If you haven't had the pleasure to be behind a finely tuned S&W, a Rugged and Reliable Ruger Blackhawk, a good SAA or a Python you are missing out. Heck for that matter I'm fairly attached to my Taurus Judge for around my ranch.

Raleigh
 
AR15. I'm an old guy and old school. Blue steel and walnut please, thank you very much. Well, Nancy Pelosi talked me into getting an AR in 2008 and, though I never wanted one, anything I could do to please Nancy was OK with me. Threw it in the safe and sorta forgot about it for a few months. Then my friend, Mr. Obama told me I should shoot it. I was amazed. Nancy and Mr. Obama were right; this is a fine weapon. Totally converted me. I've since become a real fan of plastic-fantastic and will never look back.
 
For me, it was all things modern. I worked for a gunsmith, and his attitudes wore off on me. I started shooting in my teens, and didn't buy a Glock until I was 52. Two years later I have eleven of them, AND a M&P 15.....
 
About 10-11 years ago, I finally relented and bought a Polish TT-33 Variant. I had chosen to get a couple of CZ52s instead of the TTs because I much-preferred the look of the former over the latter.

When I found the CZ to be heavy, cumbersome and uncomfortable, I bought the TT to try ...

... and immediately fell in love with the accurate, comfortable, concealable, reliable little pistol(s).
 
i was relatively new to shooting 7 years ago (i guess i still am) and was having trouble at the range keeping a smith 329pd on the paper with 44 specials. my buddy handed me a Colt single action army in 45 colt and said "give this a try". it was like an epiphany. i emptied the cylinder into a small group. it recoiled naturally in my hand, rolling back after each shot instead of slapping straight back into the web of my hand. the ergonomics of that "antique, obsolete, POS" were amazing to me. how could a design 140 years old shoot so well? i never had much interest in cowboy guns or cowboy stuff before that. shooting that Colt SAA changed my life. i have several colts and USFAs now and absolutely love shooting single actions and leverguns.
 
I spent 20 years denigrating "plastic pistols." I swore they were too ugly and I would never own one. A couple months back, a friend who runs a gun store handed me a Glock 19 and I tried out the trigger. I liked it :D It is now my nightstand gun and one of my favorite pistols ever.
 
I've never bought a gun I was reluctant to buy. If I had to look into the future, it would probably be a Glock. I've shot them and they're ok, just feel better with the M&P line......but they don't offer a 10mm. When a Gen 4 Glock model 20 rolls in locally, I might snatch it up. Until then, I can only guess this will be my "reluctant" purchase of the future.
 
Ruger No. 1 in .458 Lott

I thought the recoil would be so massive that I would have to shoot .458 win mags or other reduced loads through it instead of full-power .458 Lott.

But it has turned out to be one of my favorite rifles to shoot. The recoil is.... eventful... but its quite exciting and fun when you get used to it. Especially against large targets like water jugs and steel:D

Not to mention its my cheapest gun to shoot. $1.25/cartridge handloads don't seem so expensive when you only shoot 10 of them (if you're tough)!
 
Taurus PT-145. I had heard the horror stories like everyone else. But I was looking for a smaller CCW gun than the Sig P220 I had been using. I also wanted more capacity. I looked around wanting to get a Glock. I tried dozens of different models of Glocks but they just don't make them to fit my hand for some reason. At least I never found one. I told a guy at a LGS about my search and he told me I needed to buy a Taurus. I looked at him sorta funny and he said he knew about the stories but he assured me I would never regret getting that particular model. For one thing it was half the money I had budgeted for my Glock. And it held 10 rounds of .45 ACP in a package that would easily fit in my pocket (I don't carry it there but I could with a pocket holster). He gave me a great deal and a money back guarantee. He basically gave me 30 days to try it out. How could I turn that down? He knew I couldn't and he knew I'd be keeping that pistol.

What can I say. It fits my hand perfectly to start. It's dead reliable. After at least 5000 rounds it has never failed to fire a round. I did have to double strike one round but that ability is a feature the gun has that is really good. It will let you fire in DA mode if your round doesn't fire on the first strike. One time I had to do that and the round fired on the second try. Clearly the cartridge had problems since I've never had the problem again and that's been years ago. It is also extremely accurate for a gun with a barrel so short. At 20 yards it will consistently put rounds in a 1" circle. After that the rounds start to drift but that's good for a gun with a barrel shorter than 2". It's light and it is thin. It's thinner than a lot of single stack guns yet it is a double stack .45. That part freaks me out. It's amazing they managed to do that. Throw in the lifetime warranty and the rail and the thing starts to look like the best buy on a gun ever. I paid $325 for it brand new with 2 extra mags. It holds 10+1 of .45 and it isn't so wide you can't get a grip on it like some double stack guns.

I really never dreamed I would like that gun so much. I actually don't carry it any more but that's only because I heard about some .40 ammo that would penetrate car door steel and car windshields at almost any angle. A .45 just won't do that. And those are two important things for a gun that will be protecting me on country roads in the middle of the night. I was always a .45 fan until that ammo came out so I bought myself a .40. I do still carry the Taurus sometimes though. It's too good to leave in the safe all the time.
 
Mine was the AK-47. Never had an interest in them, just didn't like the looks of them. Then a local GS had a sale on the "Sporterized" Saiga AK-47's. I decided to tale a shot at one and now, after "Americanizing" it, it's my favorite long gun. Feinstein was right, it's a great gun. :)
 
Mine would be a Lanber 2087 12ga o/u shotgun. Everybody was saying I'd need to spend a grand or more to get a good o/u. I went for a blemished one through CDNN and am very glad I did. I can't find a thing wrong with it and it's a very solid gun that's a pleasure to shoot. A close second would be my Kel Tec P11. After reading how horrible the trigger pull was for so many I had doubts. The price was right so I got one. Yes it's a long, hard pull but that is the only safety feature the gun has so I'm fine with it. I think it will feel quite different during an adrenaline filled defensive situation. Hopefully I'll never find that out.


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I was never much of a SA revolver guy back in the day, like 1979 -ish, but while shopping with my best friend he bought a Ruger SBH in 44mag. As he was filling out his paper work, he kept bugging me to buy one also, but I didn't like SA wheel guns at that time, still don't particularly care for them much. But I dropped the $189, if memory serves me correctly, for a NIB SBH. I got to reloading for it right from the get go and fell in love with that piece, very quickly too.

GS
 
I am a big Sig fan

Then a plastic job came along, my first reluctant plastic....

a USP compact in 9 mm.

True love, and much more plastic followed (but I still adore all the Sigs).
 
For me it was my S&W Hammerless Safety in .38 S&W. I bought it on a whim (found it at a gun show during the height of the panic, so a 115 year old revolver was going cheap) but I have come to really, really like that little pistol. It's fun to shoot, surprisingly very accurate, and very mild recoiling (not to mention it conceals very well).

An honorable mention goes to my Nagant revolver. Once again bought one a whim (for the history and the dirt cheap price). It was my first revolver and it spawned a new interest in wheel guns (I haven't bought another autoloader pistol since, because the wheel guns keep taking the top of the list).
 
I spent 20 years denigrating "plastic pistols." I swore they were too ugly and I would never own one. A couple months back, a friend who runs a gun store handed me a Glock 19 and I tried out the trigger. I liked it It is now my nightstand gun and one of my favorite pistols ever.
Click to expand...

Same story. Have fired several friends Glocks, XD's, etc, never cared much for the polymer guns but I work outside alot and sweat alot and was constantly fighting rust with my steel guns, so I decided to try the S&W Shield. Once I put the APEX trigger kit in it I absolutely love it, and it has become my summer EDC. I will still carry my CS9 or 3913 in cooler weather though.
 
Revolvers and Glocks. Wasn't that long ago I had little to no interest in either. Now 2/3 of my handguns are revolvers, and other than a Colt Mustang, my semis are all Glocks. And the couple of semis I'd like to get are all Glocks too.
 
Never been much on 'plastic' guns nor simiauto's that were not SA or at least DA/SA. Bought a Springfield XDs in .45 cause it looked to be so easy to conceal.

Turned out to be easier to shoot, less recoil, more accurate than I had expected never mind it's ease of concealability.

I like the thing a lot. Carry it a lot. Shoot it more than I thought I would.
 
Cz 85

Mine was when I was in the market for a 9mm -- Friend mentioned CZ, but really did not what Czech Mfg gun, offered me a CZ 75A but was not interested at the time. Months down the road I finally relented at a Gun Show and was impressed with the fell.

Purchased a CZ 85 (MR Import) and realized it had great feel to it.

Since then I have owned at one time or another

CZ 85 Combat
CZ 2075 -- sold
CZ 75A -- Sold
CZ P07 -- 2 of them -- sold
CZ 97 -- sold -- ok this one is even large for my XL hands
CZ P01

I still want a SP01 -- searching

Have tried other 9mm -- Glock and Walther PPQ -- but the feel of them is wrong for me.

UK
 
I was somewhat reluctant to buy a P3AT only because the company seemed like a bit of an unknown and the product itself didn't appear to be that well made or finished. But to have a .380 that was that small in size and weighed that little, and was perfect for summer time carry, was just too much of a good thing to pass on. Now I won't say it's my favorite .380 but I do really appreciate what it offers in its own unique way.
 
The Taurus Judge was the one for me. I bought it mainly because my wife isn't exactly a fan of snakes and she likes to keep it in her gardening basket when she is outside. I heard lots of mixed reviews over the years. I have a few other Taurus handguns and I don't have any particular love or hate for the brand. The Judge changed that for me. It is just a fun gun to shoot. Sometimes we hand toss clays in the backyard with it. We shoot 45 colt through it when we are in the mood. It's just a lot of fun. It weighs as much as cinderblock so I don't think many people are going to be using it as a carry piece anytime soon. On occasion I will grab it when I go for short walks to check on my deerstands or if I'm checking on my no trespassing signs.
 
Hi-Point .45 acp . I was reluctant to buy it because I heard how 'bad' Hi-Point's were. They also have a lifetime warranty too. I figured if the gun jammed or turned out to be a POS. I can always send it to Hi-Point and get it straightened out. For $159 new (last year), I figured I'll take a gamble.

Damn thing turns out to be a solid shooter, never jams, fairly accurate and considered probably one of the better deals I got. I cannot vouch for the other models, they might very suck or jam. But the Hi-Point .45 acp is a good shooter despite being ugly and bulky. And most importantly ...I like the firearm.
 
My Magnum Research "Desert Eagle" 1911. My friend was selling his, only had about 80rds through it. I read the favorable reviews but I wasn't exactly thrilled. Like, come on, a 1911 from Israel?!? Checked it out in person and I loved the feel but I still didn't expect much from it. I picked it up for $540 with the idea that I could always flip it if I didn't like it. 1300+ rounds later I can't say enough good things about it. Everyone that shoots it loves it as well:cool:
 
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