Which Firearm got away, as in I shoulda bought it

[jon_norstog]

Three I can think of: Hitchhiking through Missoula, 1978, stopped at a pawnshop to see if they had any guitars. There was a trapdoor carbine, rawhide sleeve repair at the wrist, lots of brass tacks, S?N between two known 7th Cavalry Greasy Grass carbines. $350. I didn't think I would get many rides carrying that .. never know, though. I did buy a steel-strung guitar for $100. It was pretty good, once I worked down the action.

Ron Paterson's gun shop, Albuquerque. Gorgeous, fully engraved Mauser sporter, 8x57, mannlicher stock. That was before I had any experience with that caliber.

Ron Peterson's again: beat-up 7x57 Mauser infantry rifle, 29" barrel and military sights. handguard and stock metal gone, fore-end of stock lopped off. No pitting, no bluing either. Matching numbers. What it had was a crest: U.S. Army eagle, shield and arrows. $195.00 as I recall. Might have been one of the contenders that got tested as a replacement for the Krag?

There were a few others .. but these stand out in my mind.

jn

[BlitzKrieg]

None of you has a valid complaint . I let everything in the 1950's to 1970's get away cause I did not have the money. You guys talk about 1's and 2's of something, I'm talking the entire duration of the surplus rifle Tsunami that hit these shores for 20 years and I let it all go ...Cash Is King and I was no king.

I got a real bitch, you guys got an occasional inconvenience / disappointment.

[lyman]

None of you has a valid complaint . I let everything in the 1950's to 1970's get away cause I did not have the money. You guys talk about 1's and 2's of something, I'm talking the entire duration of the surplus rifle Tsunami that hit these shores for 20 years and I let it all go ...Cash Is King and I was no king.

I got a real bitch, you guys got an occasional inconvenience / disappointment.

I feel your pain, (remember my business was my Fathers business, and I worked for him part time, )

plenty sale flyers, plenty of gunshow time, plenty on inventory crossing the books, and not a plenty of money at that time,


but I look at it this way, you can't have them all

[Fred]

At a Springfield Missouri gun show in 1980, I passed on a Winchester Lee straight pull rifle that was on the serial List of rifles that were salvaged from the USS Maine. $500.00

[JB White]

None of you has a valid complaint . I let everything in the 1950's to 1970's get away cause I did not have the money. You guys talk about 1's and 2's of something, I'm talking the entire duration of the surplus rifle Tsunami that hit these shores for 20 years and I let it all go ...Cash Is King and I was no king.

I got a real bitch, you guys got an occasional inconvenience / disappointment.

If we're going from ones we missed buying to ones we once had and still miss....
In the early 80's I had to consign over half my collection to retain a divorce attorney after the other half emptied the accounts.
I've since bought replacements, but they aren't the same as the ones I miss.

Oh, and since time was of the essence, they were consigned priced to move fast.

[jmm03]

a Z prefix, correct scope, 1903-A4 for $1300 comes to mind unfortunately... and then there was that M41B...

[Ironlip]

Irving Texas gun show about 1988. Walked up to a table and saw a WWII Winchester Model '97 trench gun in mint condition for $700. Varnish on the wood perfect. Bright blue. All correct markings. Told myself it was clearly refinished all over. Could not be original. Walked away.

After I got educated I started kicking myself. Felt better when I found its identical twin 20 years later and happily paid several times that price.