What's your rarest gun?

[silicosys4]

Over on the Colt forum they have a rare gun thread and Holy Cow there are some really nice guns over there, some really rare ones that I'd never even heard of before.
I spent hours on that thread, googling different obscure variants, manufacturers, and models.
Now I know some of the members here have some really good stuff,
I won't post mine as they are already shamelessly plastered all over the forum, and to be honest I don't know the production numbers of some of them so I can't say for sure.
I do have a few S&W heritage models with production numbers in the low triple digits, and a Colt DSII with a very rare 4" barrel, production #'s unknown but somewhere in the triple digits.
If I had to guess I'd say my rarest gun is a blued S&W 29-9 heritage model, production numbers unknown but probably less than 150.

Time to show off your unicorns!

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I had at one time a H&R USRA model .22 single shot, of which about 3300 were produced. It lives in a good home with another member now.


Rarest now, aside from unique home builds, would probably be this guy-

Remington Model 51, around 65.000 produced up to 1928, but seldom seen today.

I've got a .308 Navy Garand waiting for pickup at the LGS, only about 30K conversions and barrelled receivers produced.

 

[kidneyboy]

My rarest gun is a Dan Wesson Heritage.......

 

[CajunBass]

This is probably only "rare" to me, but I sort of half hearted looked for one for years. A Harrington and Richardson, 926, top-break, 9 shot 22 LR. Largely overshadowed by it's more popular faternal twin the 999, it lacks the automatic ejector instead, relying on a manual hand ejector system. I've seen a lot of 999's, with a 6" barrels, but I have never seen one with a 4". I'd never heard of the 926 to be honest, they were only made for a few years toward the end of Harrington and Richardson's life.

So, I doubt it's really "rare" but...It's about as close to it as anything I've got.

 

[Yamifrk]

I have 2, the .41 mag pinto early serial number n125 and a Whitetail’s Unlimited S&w 460 mag state gun. 1 of 500, I reached out to S&W and found out that they only made 79 guns total for Michigan.

 

[bannockburn]

One of the rarest guns that I have is a Colt Combat Commander that was done over by Colt's Custom Gun Shop back in the late '70s. I seem to recall it was part of a limited run made for a large Midwest gun distributor and numbered something like 200 guns. It originally had checkered walnut grips, an arch mainspring housing and a matte nickel plated magazine. I replaced these parts (still have them too), for a Pachmayr set-up with one of their magazines. Besides the bright nickel plating (normally Combat Commanders had a matte nickel plating) the gun also had an MMC adjustable rear sight. Another unique thing about this gun is the addition of a Gold Cup trigger along with a Custom Shop accuracy package, throated barrel and an action tune-up make the gun equal to a Gold Cup in terms of accuracy while not being as fussy about ammo selection or getting a little dirty from use. The only other option that was available at the time was an ambi thumb safety that I couldn't afford back then (it came in at just under $300 with the ambi safety being an additional $14)!

Still one of my favorites to take to the range.

 

[tominboise]

Probably my Sharps-Borchardt in 25-35 WCF. If it was original it would be very rare. As it is, it is rare and I am guessing, one of a kind. It did not come from the factory like this nor as a 25-35.

 

[earlthegoat2]

My current rarest would have to be my Browning 1885 in 454 Casull. I don’t even know the production figures but the rifles are around in the online auctions and classified ads. Not rare but surely uncommon.

My second rarest would probably be yet another Browning 1885 but in 270 Win. Also only uncommon.

More uncommon in numbers produced but definitely not desirable enough for anyone to care would be my Ruger American Ranch in 450 Bushmaster left handed. Only a handful are produced every year but they are highly accessible even if the production numbers are low. So neither rare nor uncommon since they are still in production. Granted, finding out about them is not common information but not hard either.

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Just for fun, here are my thoughts on what is “rare”

Rarity, to me, is based of total examples extant and the accessibility or inaccessibility of those individual examples. Greater importance is placed on numbers in existence by average buyers but accessibility is of much greater concern. Truly rare items are nearly impossible to get. (If you don’t already have it) Example: Original Colt Pythons are not rare in numbers but their accessibility is somewhat low for the average Joe (higher price). That price is not so high as to make them nearly inaccessible though so they are not rare.

It’s amusing how many sellers on classified ads mistake something like an original Python as being rare rather than just being more valuable than average for a 357 revolver. However, original FG-42s are both rare in numbers and accessibility. They are very expensive, ($300k+) there are very few in the US, (hard to say because there are a WW2 bring backs that no one knows about as well as a very few documented examples) plus, adding to the inaccessibility further, they are an NFA transferable machine gun of which any transferable machine guns are difficult to obtain. A few layers of scarcity in numbers and inaccessibility make something truly rare indeed

 

[DeepSouth]

I recently acquired a Sharps Pepperbox. 22 with 4 barrels (see avatar) it needs a hammer spring to fire the CB shorts, one day I’ll find something to use as a hammer spring.

 

[jmorris]

My 50 BMG, it’s #1 of 1.

 

[Jim Watson]

Gee, I don't have anything unusual of note, I traded those off for shooting guns some time ago.
All I can offer is some S&W revolvers with few or no "dashes".

 

[jar]

I don't think I have any rare guns, lots of unusual ones but none that might be considered rare.

Well, maybe one; an early Harrington & Richardson 38S&W Top Break but it's only kinda/sorta/maybe rare because it was from before that particular model got a name or model number. The serial number is '234'.







Well, maybe one more kinda/sorta rare one only because of luck; an early S&W Centennial Lemon Squeezer that still has the pin that you can use to lock the grip safety in 'fire' mode. The little pins were usually lost the first time anyone too the grips off so I guess I was just lucky the prior owner never did so.

 

[jeepnik]

Randall left handed 1911A1. About 400 made.

 

[Hillbilly Hydrographics]

I've got several old "hardware store" single shot shotguns. Several being from small mom and pop places that hasn't existed in many many years. The guns themselves ain't rare so to speak because the big companies that made them for the smaller places like hardware stores made tons of the same thing. But the markings put on them for the smaller places makes them semi rare cause some stores didn't stay around long enough to sell alot of them. That's about the best I got for rare.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I don't think I have any rare guns, lots of unusual ones but none that might be considered rare.

Well, maybe one; an early Harrington & Richardson 38S&W Top Break but it's only kinda/sorta/maybe rare because it was from before that particular model got a name or model number. The serial number is '234'.

View attachment 1211418

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View attachment 1211420

Well, maybe one more kinda/sorta rare one only because of luck; an early S&W Centennial Lemon Squeezer that still has the pin that you can use to lock the grip safety in 'fire' mode. The little pins were usually lost the first time anyone too the grips off so I guess I was just lucky the prior owner never did so.

View attachment 1211421

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Wow, never knew that little detail. Cool, thanks!

This one's probably rare now. I'm sure Stevens cranked out thousands of No.66s between 1929 and '36, but seven years is a relatively short run compared to the later Mod.66 A and B which remained in production for four decades.
I doubt many survive now. Ive certainly never seen one before this-

 

[dobedo]

An 1894 30/30 Winchester Model 94 made in 1920 still has bluing and not a ding on the stock.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

An 1894 30/30 Winchester Model 94 made in 1920 still has bluing and not a ding on the stock.

Pics or its not real!

 

[Johnm1]

Would have to be my Hopkins and Allen XL 8 in 44-40. Designed as a direct competitor 6the 1873 Colt SAA, the entire XL Series had a total ptoduction under 2700 including the 44 rimfire army and 38 rimfire Navt and Police models. A very well made firearm as H&A was more than capable of, the series is a stark example that rarity does not always result in high value.

 

[jar]

Wow, never knew that little detail. Cool, thanks!

This one's probably rare now. I'm sure Stevens cranked out thousands of No.66s between 1929 and '36, but seven years is a relatively short run compared to the later Mod.66 A and B which remained in production for four decades.
I doubt many survive now. Ive certainly never seen one before this-
View attachment 1211427

Jim Hauf shows a similar one in one of his books.



He estimated it was made in 1938 or 1939 and probably samples for a British 38/200 contract.

 

[tubeshooter]

Good question. Sadly - nothing really.

I looked at my list and there is nothing really special or truly unobtainium.


The closest I can get is a couple milsurps and out-of-production guns that they aren't making any more of. But even these can be generally still be found as of today with a little effort. Before Rossi and Henry started making .357 rifles in quantity, my Marlin stainless was kind of a rare-ish bird. Not really so much anymore...

 

[Anchorite]

I guess for me it would be my Ruger NMSBH Hunter in 45 Colt. I don’t think that many were made.
Also a Colt Anaconda in 45 Colt. Agin, not mass produced, from what I can tell.
I also have a pair of consecutively numbered RedHawks in 41 Magnum.

Had a Colt NMGC Series 70 (early 1970 production) with the lightened slide that was assembled by Colt with clean up parts, best I could tell. Rare, but by no means a one-off type. I sold that one to a Colt collector that paid me more than I had invested in it.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Would have to be my Hopkins and Allen XL 8 in 44-40. Designed as a direct competitor 6the 1873 Colt SAA, the entire XL Series had a total ptoduction under 2000 u its including the 44 rimfire Army and 38 rimfire Police models. A very weell made firearm as H&A was more than capable of, the series is a stark example that rarity does not always result in high pricing.

View attachment 1211434View attachment 1211434

 

[jar]

One other rifle that kinda/sorta/well maybe/if you squint just right be considered rare but only because it has a tale to tell but ain't telling.

It's a JC Higgins Model 28 and probably hundreds of thousands of them (it was made by High Standard) and probably sold under other names by JC Penny and Wards). It's just another tube fed 22lr and priced low enough so that even back in the early 1950s it could be bought as a Christmas present. Remember, that was when a 3 or 4 bedroom Levitown house sold for under $15,000.00.





So what might make this kinda/sorta/well maybe/if you squint just right be considered rare?

If you look close a the end of the stock, maybe two inches from the recoil pad you find two really deep canine tooth marks on each side.





Just one bite. But whatever it was was good size.

I keep asking "What happened?" but still, no answer.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

One other rifle that kinda/sorta/well maybe/if you squint just right be considered rare but only because it has a tale to tell but ain't telling.

It's a JC Higgins Model 28 and probably hundreds of thousands of them (it was made by High Standard and probably sold under other names by JC Penny and Wards). It's just another tube fed 22lr and priced low enough so that even back in the early 1950s it could be bought as a Christmas present. Remember, that was when a 3 or 4 bedroom Levitown house sold for under $15,000.00.

View attachment 1211440

View attachment 1211443

So what might make this kinda/sorta/well maybe/if you squint just right be considered rare?

If you look close a the end of the stock, maybe two inches from the recoil pad you find two really deep canine tooth marks on each side.

View attachment 1211441

View attachment 1211442

Just one bite. But whatever it was was good size.

I keep asking "What happened?" but still, no answer.

My dad has an old Stevens .22 single that was recovered from a house fire. It left an amazing flame/char pattern in the wood that he then clear-coated.

 

[Frulk]

Probably the rarest I own would be a Wyoming Arms Parker in .45ACP. Serial number in low XX200’s. Given to me by a friend who used it to dispatch the larger halibut before bringing them on board his charter fishing boat out of Homer Alaska.

Wyoming Arms (the company) in Thermopolis, WY went belly up years ago. Had a somewhat spotty (to put it delicately) reputation for reliability. I should note my friend stated his cycled and fired fine. He also said (if I remember correctly) he used aluminum (?) cased ammo w/o issue.

Link with some info for those interested. Wy Arms also made a 10mm Long Slide with pics in the link.
https://nordicg3k.tripod.com/website/id59.html