I just a read a post by Jim1970 about how pleased he was with his S&W Sport AR, and how well it performed, despite a lack of "bells and whistles". And that got me thinking about a couple of successes (and failures) of mine with inexpensive (cheap) products.

I'd been shooting since I was a kid, mostly shotguns and pistols, but I had never hunted deer until I was in law school. One of my cousins got into deer hunting seriously, and had a great place to go, so I decided to go. A local gun store had 1 year interest free financing, and I ended up with a beautiful and great Sako rifle in .30-06 for $500. It was a $900 rifle at the time, but .30-06 was not a popular caliber for people buying such a rifle, and they gave me a great price. But I had no money left for an optic, and bought a Bushnell 3-9 for $50. Although it wasn't junk, it was definitely cheap glass. My first weekend hunting, second afternoon on the stand, end of daylight where I could barely see, I shot a beautiful 8 point at 180 yards. In the neck, as it was standing behind brush and all I could see was from the neck up. So late that there was a tremendous flash from the shot, and it was pitch black by the time I climbed down the tree. I later put a Leupold on that rifle, but I honestly don't know what more I could have asked for out of a scope.

On the other end of the spectrum, this story:
I was out at my uncles property, and he had a couple of ponds that held fish. I hadn't brought any of my good rods as I didn't plan on fishing, but decided to try my luck with a cheapo rod with a Zebco 202 or such on it. I got a big hit on a topwater bait, and what had to be a 6 pound bass made quite a show of the fight. As I was reeling it in, I made the comment to someone next to me "it's going to be hard to justify spending money on nice reels when I caught such a nice fish on this cheapo". As the fish neared the bank, one last lunge broke the reel from the rod, and as I desperately tried to pick up the reel and start pulling on the line by hand, the fish got off. I had certainly spoken too soon.

Anybody else have stories of great outcomes with cheap stuff, or disasters?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: honestlou,

Crappy fireworks. Stopped to get a few relatively tame items for the grandkids at one of those permanent factory direct stores when passing by on a recent trip.

They sucked. About 20% were duds and the 10 ball Roman Candles varied from 6 to 9 balls, none had 10.

Next time I'll shop the temporary tents at home. Might not be any better, but at least I could go back and complain!

Man, you can get some great cheap Mexican food here in Houston. If you go into a Mexican neighborhoods and go to the family places, you can get great chow for a song. There is a Monterrey style place nearish my office that serves a lunch for $6 that can just about make 2 people happy. Not that I don't eat it all myself, though.

My Lee cast turret press. Have loaded thousands of perfect rounds with this "cheap" press.

Could have spent lot's more on the "blue Kool-aid"

Bought sex, cheap. Worked out great.

Got married, cheap. You don't wanna know...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Bought sex, cheap. Worked out great.

Got married, cheap. You don't wanna know...

LOLOLOLOL There is no such thing as a "cheap" marriage. You pay for it dearly, one way or another!

Monkey, I love your posts

Gun wise, it would have to be my Remington Nylon 66. I bought it used for $25.
The most fun rifle I have ever owned.
Fishing wise, I also use an inexpensive Zebco on an Ugly Stix.
I got tired of untangling snags on my more expensive open reels.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Man, you can get some great cheap Mexican food here in Houston. If you go into a Mexican neighborhoods and go to the family places, you can get great chow for a song. There is a Monterrey style place nearish my office that serves a lunch for $6 that can just about make 2 people happy. Not that I don't eat it all myself, though.

^^ THIS ^^

Authentic Mexican mom & pop places are a bargain as they taste better than chain restaurants for a lot less money. My previous stint in Houston, I lived by a place that had $2.49 breakfasts and you got as much food as a $9 IHOP breakfast. Heck, when I lived in Midland chain restaurants couldn't survive because their $15 fajitas couldn't stack up to a family chain's (chain because they had daughters and none of them could work together so the Dad opened a restaurant for each daughter) $7 fajitas.

I have one of these infomercial specials, works great in my tiny garden.

AT&T Mobley. Fast, unlimited internet, wherever there are AT&T towers for about $20.00 a month, plus tax.

Mobley was designed for Connected Car/On Star but with a power adapter you can use it at home or on the road.

I am pleasantly surprised.

Years back I gave in and ponied up $300 for an Oregon chainsaw sharpener. It died 10 or 12 years later but it worked just fine. A while later I was in Harbor Freight and saw they had a very similar sharpener on sale with coupon for $29.99. I bought the damn thing and it has worked great for the last 8 years.

Needed a borescope for work, searched online and found them for $300 and up. Then I found this (plugs into Android phone) for less than $20 on Amazon. Works great:

https://www.amazon.com/Android...id=1499689747&sr=1-8

My inexpensive cheese lyre is the best thing in the world for slicing cheese that isn't too hard. Aged cheddar is about the hardness limit. And it's so easy to clean – I just rinse the wire part under running water, rubbing with my fingers, then wipe with a towel.

Edit: For really hard cheese, I use my Chicago Cutlery 62S utility/boning knife, which has a thin, narrow blade, and a substantial haft.

I have expensive German and Japanese kitchen knives, but the knife I grab 90% of the time, is these $5 to $7 Sams Club commercial restaurant knives. I highly recommend them and cant think of anything with better value to performance ratio. Good quality stainless steel that stays sharp plus ergonomic handles. Good buy. They are easily as good as the Forschner Victorinox Swiss kitchen knives that sell for a lot more.

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/...875&wl17=1o1&veh=sem

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/...D=730010300000671333

My dad drives a German car. One day he complained the fuel economy had tanked. I determined there was a leak and found a hose that needed replacement. It had fitted ends and a molded shape so off to the dealer I went. They wanted over 250.00 for it.

Nope.

Instead I went to Evco House of Hose. They removed the factory fittings, replaced the hose (not molded though)(didn't matter) re-crimped the fittings, tested the unit under pressure and had me out the door in 20 mins. Total cost: 12.00

My dad thinks I am the Superman of gearheads. I am a recovering gearhead....one day at a time

I can think of a number of things that fit the criteria but the one that stands out in my mind is an old Savage over & under camp gun in .22 mag and .410 I picked up in the early 70's for next to nothing. That thing went with me every hunting, fishing and camping trip for years and accounted for an untold number of grouse and rabbits etc. for camp fare. Like the idiot that I am, I sold it for next to nothing and haven't seen one since.

Jim

8" & 10" Tramontina ProLine Skillets from costco as I got two for the price Amazon sells one. I have several years of use and they're still in very good shape despite running thru dishwasher.

Considering picking up another one (12" or 14")

Timex watches in the '70s and '80s.