The one that got away...

[Cab]

We all have or have heard the story of someone(or yourself) selling a gun and wishing they never did. Just thought this could be fun to hear about some interesting firearms and stories behind them.

Thankfully I don't have any yet but I do have one that my dad told me. He was buying a Dan Wesson Arms model 15VH 357 Magnum Pistol and I guess they're was just the pistol alone in a 4in barrel or a set with multiple interchangeable barrels at different lengths. He wishes to this day he bought the full set of barrels, they are really hard to find complete sets.

[BeerBugler]

I’ve never sold a gun in my life, my dad told me you never sell a gun unless it’s to buy another gun. Well, he sold a Model 70 .222 to a guy to buy a custom .270 Weatherby, ran into the guy 20 years later and they guy asked if he’d like to buy it back. Sold it to him for the same price he bought it for; the guy had never fired it. One of my favorite guns.

[jeffitz]

Crazy - my Dad had a Dan Wesson .357 with the different barrels just like youre talkin about - think he traded for a Willys jeep years ago 
Actually we used that Willys for many years and it was cool but now its gone too- O well...

[DOUBLELUNG]

My first deer gun was a 12 gauge bolt action with a 2 round magazine, made by Marlin but marked Spiegel as it was a catalog gun.  It would put a slug anywhere I put the bead, routinely shot the heads off ruffed grouse and snowshoe hares with slugs and never had a clue how exceptional that performance was.  Sold it to my ex-father in law to buy a rifle when I was moving to Wyoming and didn't think I'd ever hunt with slugs again.

[yorketransport]

I've traded and sold a lot of stuff over the years. I have a couple that I sold off for good reasons at the time, but wouldn't mind getting back.

- Dan Wesson CCBT 10m. Loved this gun but it slam fired on me one time and put a 180gr XTP through my desk and computer in my home office. It went back to the factory to get checked out and it turns out the "extra power" firing pin spring was just light enough to set off a primer on the Factory Hornady ammo under the right circumstances. The gun came back with completely new internals, a full cosmetic touch up (I'd been carrying that gun daily for a coupe years and it showed) and a very sincere apology. I sold it for $700 less than a week after I got it back. I loved that gun but I could never trust it again.

- Taurus Tracker Ti 41 Mag. I fell in love with this gun as soon as they came out. What's not to love about a 5 shot 41 Mag that weighs 23oz? I had over 2000 rounds through that gun, most of them shooting 250gr bullets at 1225fps, before the lockup started to get a little sloppy. I sold it to a guy about 6 years ago who just wanted a gun to carry while hunting. He still hasn't put a single round through it, but he won't sell it back to me. If they still sold those I'd buy another new one in a heart beat; my old one earned a nice quiet retirement.

- CZ 550 416 Rigby. I got this one for $400 from a guy who needed money. Great rifle in an excellent caliber and I shot it a lot! I traded it straight across for 4" 500 S&W and I definitely came out ahead. I had to sell the 500 S&W after I messed up my right wrist and had to step down a couple notches in my handgun calibers.

- BFR 45-70. This is the gun that ruined my right hand/wrist. I had well over 3000 full power (300gr @ 1800fps and 440gr @ 1600fps) rounds through this gun and it ultimately took it's toll on my hand and wrist. I developed compression fractures from my hand up into my wrist and forearm and my fingers would start to go numb after shooting it. The doctor said I either had to cut back on the shooting or I'd end up needing surgery. For a full year, the largest handgun I could shoot was 38 specials out of a 6" S&W 686. Sold most of my handguns and I got into shooting the bolt action pistols instead. I had the opportunity to buy back the BFR but I know that I'd just go back to the same routine and do more damage to my hand and wrist.

[NRA4LIFE]

I have never sold a firearm.  I've been told I have separation issues.

[jasnt]

Marlin 917 vs in 17 hmr.  Most accurate rifle I ever owned.  Once put 47 rounds in one hole group @100 yards.   Sold the gun to buy another gun. Wish I could get it back!

[thinkingman]

The CMP 1911 my dad bought in the 60’s still haunts me.
Ben’s Loans had a Dan Wesson 3-barrel set for something like $230.
I thought about it for about an hour too long.....
Kimber micro 1911 mint for $400.
SW 629-5 5” bought for $400 with original box. Mint.
Weatherby mkV ultralite with as fluted and splatter stock in 7mm-08 for 900. Like new.
I’ll think of some others.

[pianoman9701]

In 2002, I had just been divorced. A friend living in Thailand had set me up with a piano gig on a resort island (later destroyed by the tsunami). I sold my house, and all of my possessions, which included a S&W 6906 9mm, and Sears Model 97 pre-60s, a Mossberg pump model 500, a JC Higgins .22 - probably at least 60 or 70 years old, and a couple other cheap pieces. The only guns I kept were two Remingtons - a model 700 Classic .30-06 and a 12g model 1187. I met my present wife about a month before my scheduled departure and never left, obviously. The guns I really hate that i sold were the S&W, the 97, and the JC Higgins - all great firearms. Sometimes, I look at her while she's sleeping and with tears in my eyes, think "you owe me a bunch of guns, lady!" Touching story, I know.

[ctwiggs1]

When I was 18,  I told my brother and his father in law that I was thinking about selling my Mossberg 500 and upgrading to a semi-auto.  My brothers FIL, a former marine and current gun enthusiast, gave me two pieces of cursed advice that day:  1) You never sell a gun, just save up and buy another.  2) You don't need a semi auto.  They don't shoot much faster and you just have more parts that'll break. 

To this day, I've never sold a gun and the only semi-auto shotgun I own is an inheritance (that'll never leave my house). 

I'm hoping some day to be cured of curse #1, because I've got 7-10 guns or so in my safe that really could find a new home.

[Okanagan]

Interesting stories..  I've got two regrets, sort of, about guns that got away.

1.  Officer’s Model Colt:  In the late 60's I was newly married, in grad school working two part time jobs with our first child on the way.  Stopped by a local sporting goods store that was closing out and obviously just wanted everything out of the premises ASAP.  They had a new in the box Officer's Model Colt .22 revolver for $66.  I knew that I was looking at the gun buy of a lifetime, and knew that we were so broke that the responsible adult thing to do was not buy it.  I was trying to learn to be a grown-up.  I did the right thing at the time though still wish that I had bought it anyway.

2.  03-A3 30-06:  My first scoped rifle was an 03-A3 that I partly sporterized and hunted with exclusively during the 20 years we lived in the interior of British Columbia.  It shot a PILE of game.  I bought a factory second semi-inletted Fajen stock from Herter's (that dates this tale) and gradually refined the shape of the stock over my first two years of use till it truly fit my face and bod.  I've never handled a firearm that fit me so well.  When it came to shoulder, the crosshairs were precisely where my eye was looking.
   It was also amazingly accurate, putting 165 Sierra's into one 5/8 inch hole all day.  It was heavy, a bit ugly.  I liked the Parkerized finish and the shark fin front sight so kept them.  I got a hankering for a new rifle so sold it and bought a Rem 700 in 30-06.  I've owned five 30-06 rifles since and never have found one as accurate nor that fit me as well.  I have tried to buy it back for 20 years.

But I caught a few good buys as well.  Was in the old Kesslerings and found an absolute steal of a buy on a custom Mauser in 6mm with a gorgeous palm swell swirly wood Roberts stock, heavy Douglas premium barrel, Dayton-Traister trigger... for a give away price.  Ron K was surprised at the price on it. He said that the owner who had consigned it a week or so earlier had just left, and was so anxious to sell that he had reduced the price.  Ron hadn't even seen how low he had marked it.  I didn't have much but recalling the Officer’s Model Colt, borrowed enough from a friend with me to cover the $175 on the spot.   

[lee]

DISCLAIMER:  I fully expect to recieve a ton of flak for this.

In 1982, I pawned an M1 Carbine (got $90 for it) to pay off an engagment ring..... I know let the flaming begin.

Lee

[Bofire]

model 47 Winchester with barrel factory threaded for suppressor
Carl

[Skyvalhunter]

DISCLAIMER:  I fully expect to recieve a ton of flak for this.

In 1982, I pawned an M1 Carbine (got $90 for it) to pay off an engagment ring..... I know let the flaming begin.

Lee

Was she worth it?

[Cab]

DISCLAIMER:  I fully expect to recieve a ton of flak for this.

In 1982, I pawned an M1 Carbine (got $90 for it) to pay off an engagment ring..... I know let the flaming begin.

Lee

Was she worth it?

  oh boy

[Calvin Rayborn]

Kitsap County Sherriff surplus Marlin camp 9 carbines at Kesselrings...$150-200 bucks a pop just sittin' out on the floor; prolly 20 of them in a grain barrel. Damn I miss the '90's!

[tlbradford]

My first rifle was a Weatherby Vanguard made in Japan in .25-06.  Bought from a pawn shop by my dad and given to me around 10 years old.  I killed everything with that rifle.  Heavy and pretty.  About 12 years ago, I had gone turkey hunting before work and had that sitting in my front seat in case I ran across a coyote.  Got to the office and locked my keys in the trunk when I was changing.  I took a work truck home and instead of going back to the office to get my rig, decided to leave it overnight and not go through the hassle and put the wife out.  Around 2 in the morning I woke up from a dead sleep with a panicked feeling.  Decided to just get dressed and head to work.  Window smashed and rifle was never recovered.  It isn't worth much, but it was my first.

[tlbradford]

Forgot one.  The local pawn shop had a Ruger M77 in.458 Lott.  However, I had my eye on a couple of other firearms that day.  Went back a couple of weeks later fully committed to dipping into savings to just own something that cool.  It was gone.