Page 1 of 1

Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:23 pm
by Buck13
What firearm or related item do you regret buying, not buying, selling or not selling?

I'll start with: a S&W 8-3/8" .41 Magnum that was on the S&W Forum classifieds about 6 weeks ago for $750. I've wanted an 8-3/8" Smith for a while (preferably not in .22LR), and this was the most affordable I've seen. Not sure why I didn't jump on it. The Middle Magnum has a cult appeal, and the issue of ammo scarcity doesn't bother me since I like reloading for revolvers. Admittedly, the cost of buying new dies, brass and bullets did cross my mind as a negative. I started feeling stupid about a week later.

I'll post some more whining after ya'all join in.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:29 pm
by Bisbee
I kinda regret selling my Taurus 9mm snubbing after I started reloading. Figured I could roll
my own .38 specials and .357 mags for cheaper than store bought 9mm so I went ahead and sold it to help buy cooler/older revolvers.

True, a 9mm revolver is unnecessary to me now but it's still one I feel an itch for sometime... like a phantom limb or something.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:33 pm
by Marlene
The 1926 Winchester Model 94 with all sorts of special order features that I sold. Should have found another way to pay for the shotgun I bought with the money.

The current owner should smile while reading this.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:35 pm
by featureless
I regret not getting an AR15 pistol while still possible in California. While I still think they are kinda stupid, I regret not wanting one when I could get one. It's hard to stay ahead of the ban curve in this state... Oh and not buying that new 3" SP101 .327 when I saw it for $400. Doh.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:38 pm
by Bacchus
I regret the purchase of a Glock G21 Gen4 that is destined to end up on our Trading Post. It does not bring joy and lives in my safe, unloved. :(

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:48 pm
by Bisbee
A Glock is a tool whereas a 1911 is a firearm. If a man could fall in love with his hammer, then maybe emotions would also spring from his Glock...

But being that I love the infallible reliability of an AKM were the world come to an end, maybe I can say that a Glock also has a place in my heart.

I'm sorry, did I just contradict myself? I find that most interesting people often do that.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:21 pm
by featureless
Bisbee wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:48 pm If a man could fall in love with his hammer.
I love my old California framing hammer. It's a Hart. I used to smash wood, nails and the occasional thumb with it the brief time period between college and my "real job" and the transformation from calloused to metrosexual office hands. Glory days... I still don't like Glocks, although I've taken a fancy to my equally ugly M&Ps.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:44 pm
by YankeeTarheel
Bisbee wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:48 pm A Glock is a tool whereas a 1911 is a firearm. If a man could fall in love with his hammer, then maybe emotions would also spring from his Glock...

But being that I love the infallible reliability of an AKM were the world come to an end, maybe I can say that a Glock also has a place in my heart.

I'm sorry, did I just contradict myself? I find that most interesting people often do that.
I have a leather-handle 20 oz straight claw Estwing hammer I bought in 1975 and paid for part of my college, grad school, and made my living building houses with it for a number of years. It still fits my hand better than any other hammer, even the newer blue-handled curved-claw 20 oz Estwing. When you have a hammer that's perfectly balanced, swings lighter than other brands of 20 oz, and is proven indestructible, and puts food on your table and pays the rent, no matter how abused, 43 years later, it's a tool a person could EASILY love! No other tool I own comes close, not even the Mikita cordless impact driver I've used for just about everything for the last 10 years.

But back on topic, I wish I had bought better quick access small handgun safes, and a bigger rifle safe. The firearms themselves? No regrets.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:51 pm
by Hiker
Many many years ago, when I got my first post-college job, I started looking at guns. I was greener than goose squat and had no idea what I was doing. I bought a Ruger Mark 1 or 2, thinking it was a German Luger. It turned out to be a jam-o-matic. I didn't know that it was just dirty, so I traded it for a double barrel shotgun with the curly hammers. Turns out that it had wire-wound barrels and needed black powder shells, so I got rid of it. Those are ones I regret buying.

The big ones I regret selling are my west German Sig 226 and my Colt AR-15 A2 Sporter.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 8:18 pm
by TrueTexan
My regret is selling my Ruger Security Six 6 inch stainless 357. I had a gunsmith do a trigger job and it was sweet. In fact a friend I would shoot with liked it as much as his Python. My son came along and the gun got sold to my boss.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 8:54 pm
by SailDesign
I should have kept my SR22, not because it was super accurate or anything, but because it was just plain fun to shoot. It won me 3 out of 4 Christmas Tree Ornament shoots (25 yards, 5 shots, 2" ornament) with style. And it was fun (did I mention that?)

Still - I sold it on to buy something else, and that something else is also fun. :)

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:07 am
by VodoundaVinci
Sold my Dan Wesson 15-2VH .357 mag. Revolver to pay for food/utilities back in the early 80's and regretted it. My FIL found one exactly like it 30 years later and left it to we when he died.

Still regret losing the original.

I regret having to buy various Glocks only to sell them when I discovered they were great carry guns but I'm afraid to carry them.

VooDoo

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:35 am
by Bucolic
It may sound like a trivial loss but I regret selling my Ruger SR9c. A really nice compact pistol that was easy to shoot well.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 9:14 am
by SailDesign
My biggest regret was not selling a gun, but not being able to buy one years ago (1968-ish) when I was about 13 and therefore permanently broke. A little antique shop of the "interesting-but-not-very-good" variety had a Colt revolver in the window. It was for sale for £10 (this was the UK) because it had no trigger or guard. Store owner said it was "bust" and therefore just a curio.....

Even at that age, I could recognise a Patterson when I saw one, and handling it confirmed my theory. Put the trigger back to bed, run out and find my Mum who was just down the road. Would she lend me £10? Not a frikkin' hope!

So I went back and told the guy what he had, and went home heart-broken. :(

I always wondered what happened to it after that.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:37 pm
by eelj
I believe my biggest regret is selling my Rem 788 in 222 rem. It hat a Leupold Vari x 3 scope on it and shot into a dime at 100 yards. It was replaced by a TC super 14 in the same cal and that is my worst purchase.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:25 pm
by Bisbee
Hey, SailDesign, that was a wonderful story. True, in one sense it's sad that you didn't have the means to purchase a treasure for a song at 13 and it must have felt terribly dis-empowering at a formative time in your life. But you know what surprised me about your story? Even at that young age you knew what the gun was worth and (realizing you couldn't buy it for yourself) you shared your knowledge with the shopkeep! That reveals to me a larger treasure the 13 y/o you had inside yourself that unfortunately many people also didn't recognize or value of to tell you. In a sense, you have also been much like the shopkeep all these years.

The owner of that antique store likely used the extra money he earned selling the Colt Patterson to aid his living expenses or help with his children's schooling or whatever. He likely always needed the extra money much more than you ever did. It was wonderful thing you did for him, SailDesign, and in that respect you were incredibly selfless in helping him and his family. But truly, the riches of your character shown that day has already paid you back several times in this lifetime. Don't believe me? Then go ahead and buy that Patterson now! As expensive as they have become, I know you can actually afford it even if it takes selling your entire collection of other toys to pay for this one revolver which would still put you in a better position than the 13 y/o at the store window. Really, not many people in this world can afford to buy a Patterson Colt but the money you've made is a direct result of the strong character that was always a part of you. So show your 13 year old self that y'all are now rich and can decide for yourself where to invest your time and money for the best return in fun experiences.

You'll see there is simply no more regret in simply re-framing the memory of what happened that day.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 5:51 pm
by SailDesign
Bisbee wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:25 pm Hey, SailDesign, that was a wonderful story. True, in one sense it's sad that you didn't have the means to purchase a treasure for a song at 13 and it must have felt terribly dis-empowering at a formative time in your life. But you know what surprised me about your story? Even at that young age you knew what the gun was worth and (realizing you couldn't buy it for yourself) you shared your knowledge with the shopkeep! That reveals to me a larger treasure the 13 y/o you had inside yourself that unfortunately many people also didn't recognize or value of to tell you. In a sense, you have also been much like the shopkeep all these years.

The owner of that antique store likely used the extra money he earned selling the Colt Patterson to aid his living expenses or help with his children's schooling or whatever. He likely always needed the extra money much more than you ever did. It was wonderful thing you did for him, SailDesign, and in that respect you were incredibly selfless in helping him and his family. But truly, the riches of your character shown that day has already paid you back several times in this lifetime. Don't believe me? Then go ahead and buy that Patterson now! As expensive as they have become, I know you can actually afford it even if it takes selling your entire collection of other toys to pay for this one revolver which would still put you in a better position than the 13 y/o at the store window. Really, not many people in this world can afford to buy a Patterson Colt but the money you've made is a direct result of the strong character that was always a part of you. So show your 13 year old self that y'all are now rich and can decide for yourself where to invest your time and money for the best return in fun experiences.

You'll see there is simply no more regret in simply re-framing the memory of what happened that day.
Bisbee - I thank you for that, but in reality I must confess that it was probably closer to "sour grapes." If I can't have it for cheap, then no-one else can.

But I'd like to think there was some of what you mention. :)

Again - Thank you!

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:01 am
by Buck13
Looks like Sail has a crushing lock on the trophy here, but don't let that stop you from posting your petty discontents.

My second-string regret is selling my 10 mm pistols. I just got the check from the consignment shop on Monday. It took only a few weeks after dropping them off there at the beginning of summer to start second-guessing that.

The base-model Witness wasn't accurate enough to be interesting for range use (not terrible, but not as great as some people say). My thinking was that my 4" GP100 is good enough as a trail gun, since I rarely go hiking anyway. The PNW just reported the second kill of someone by a cougar of the summer. I guess six rounds "for sure" of .357 should be enough, but I still have a few small twinges of regret.

More profoundly troubling, the Witness Hunter was mechanically accurate enough (despite my crap skills and eyes, I regularly shot 2 to 2.5" groups off a mediocre rest at 25 yards, which I consider good for me), but it seemed to aggravate my flinch even more than the Redhawk. I guess I am infatuated with revolvers. I was also peeved that the small (2 mm?) roll pin holding together the two pieces of the guide rod broke during my last range session, allowing the long part of the rod to eject from the front of the slide. Since I couldn't seem to score well with the Hunter in our Bullseye league, my intention is to replace it with a 9 mm, either a Glock 34 or a 1911. The single-stack probably makes more sense. However, the difficulty of actually making a fucking decision about what to get to replace it makes me wish that before selling it I'd first experimented with putting a light spring in the Hunter and drastically down-loading the ammunition, since I was handloading everything I shot anyway. That process would not suffer from paralysis by analysis. Unfortunately, someone had put a lay-away deposit on the gun almost immediately, so I couldn't retrieve it from the shop after a month.

Now I get to look forward to regretting whatever 9 mm I buy! Or maybe stupidly buying a 10 mm 1911 (since I have all those .40 bullets lying around) and *really* regretting that.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:08 pm
by BjornSig
I have never regretted selling a gun, I have only flipped a few of them. I do regret a purchase years ago though, I bought a Sig P250; yuck, what a horrible gun. I hated everything about it. The trigger, the sights; everything. I sold that one, well traded it, for a pretty bad lose. Besides that, all good.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 8:04 pm
by MaxwellG
I regret selling my 1952 Russian SKS, moneys used to buy first gaming PC parts...that got me into IT also.
I sold a POS .38 special Revolver (unknown cheapo brand) my Aunt passed off on me, she said she "found it", it was filthy and falling apart so I got rid of it for $40 at a Gun & Pawn and never looked back.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 8:25 pm
by YankeeTarheel
I've got lots of regrets, but I always figure that had I NOT made the screw-ups and fuck-ups I made, and done the things I wince at when I remember them, I would not have the life and family I have today, and would have missed out on so much.

But I do have regret my brothers and I didn't keep closer tabs on our mom--She had a couple of things we made her promise not to sell without telling us first...and she sold them anyway without telling us and got BURNED! The worst: My brother's a car guy and she had a gorgeous 1967 Pontiac LeMans convertible with a '69 GTO 400 cubic inch engine--fire-engine red! It had frame troubles and rather than selling it to him, who could fix it, she sold it for FAR less than it was worth--without talking to him first. I learned to drive on that car and loved driving it whenever I was home from college.

This ain't it...but it's what it looked like!

Image

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:14 pm
by max129
The .44 Magnum Blackhawk I brought back from Alaska in 1980. I would love to have that back. I carried it daily for 2 years then sold it to pay for my books in grad school.

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 11:10 pm
by SubRosa
I really regret selling my Czech VZ52 in the rare 7.62X39 cal.

It was mint. :weep:

S u b R o s a

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2018 6:14 pm
by Aztex999
I regret selling a 70s Colt Commander . . . . . It was court-ordered (an expunged concealed weapon misdemeanor that wouldn't even be illegal today)
Anyway, I sold it to a friend for $200 for safekeeping, with the understanding I would buy it back for the same amount when I finished probation in 2 years.

That was in 1988 - I'm still looking for him. A deal is a deal; we shook on it.

Other than that, I regret buying a couple handguns with terrible triggers - a SIG Mosquito, and a S&W 5906. Both were surprises, considering their pedigrees. I'll chalk those up to lack of research, though.

BTW - Yankee Tarheel - I had a burgundy '65 Le Mans that my Dad made me sell when I went off to college. I still miss that car . . .

Re: Regrets? We've had a few, I'll bet...

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2018 6:20 pm
by YankeeTarheel
Aztex999 wrote: Thu Nov 22, 2018 6:14 pm BTW - Yankee Tarheel - I had a burgundy '65 Le Mans that my Dad made me sell when I went off to college. I still miss that car . . .
Oh...I feel your pain, Az--the '65 was a gorgeous car too! :cry:
YT