Police auction, Colt 1911 in .38 super, made in 1932, possibly test fired only that I bid $250 and won.

A coworker told me he had a 380 he bought new in the 90’s, didn’t have the box or anything but gun and mag. He wanted a new .45 pistol in trade, didn’t care what. I took the offer sight unseen and got him a new polymer pistol in .45 and he was happy. He brought me the pistol and it was a like new Colt Government 380 which was worth about $700 at the time. I think the .45 was about $400 wholesale.

I always carried my first gun purchase. Eventually the 229 got a bit irritating. One day at the range I picked up the Sig 239. It fit like a glove. I bought it and i have loved that gun ever since. Mine was a .40 but I changed i converted it to .357 sig. it goes everywhere with me now.

It would be my P7M8. I bought it 4 years ago and I just love bringing to the range and running a couple mags through it. It’s unique and extremely accurate. It has also more than tripled in price since I bought it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 1s1k,

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
I have two.

First is a .22 pistol that my aunt gave to me after my uncle died. I knew he shot target with it, but other than that, didn't know anything about it. When I got it, I took a good look at it, and started digging, thinking I would trade it for a .357 mag. As it turns out, it's a Colt Officer's Model .22, which is a target revolver built on the .38 special Officer's frame. Has the finest trigger of any pistol I own, and is better than a bunch of rifle triggers I have shot. Even better, it was built in 1930, which was the first production year for that gun. Condition is 95% or so. Blueing is fantastic, with only one scratch on the cylinder where it looks like it was placed on concrete. Original grips, and fully adjustable sights. Needless to say, I have kept it.

Second is an Imbel inch pattern FAL bought from a member on this forum. Decent price, 18 magazines, and the member told me that he had it rebarreled when he bought it, but never shot it. FALs are spec at 4 MOA. This one is far better than that. I'm getting 2 MOA, and I'm a shitty rifleman. Very satisfying gun to shoot.

Glad your enjoying it!

Purchased a Remington 40X from Armslist. Civilian market heavy barrel 4 digit serial number, considered by long time 40X owners as the best of the breed. All of which I was unaware of when buying it.
Absolute tack driver, the most rewarding rifle to shoot I own.

My first and my most recent were the best surprises.
My first, days after I received my LTC in the mail, was a gun show (yes we have them in MA, but they are nowhere as good as they were) buy- something I could afford at the time and felt great in my hand. Got it home and actually
LOOKED at it and it was one of the IPSC 10th Anniversary commemmorative Smith and Wesson 745 single actions. Bought a commemorative gun as a shooter, for a game I had hardly just learned about, that is still a tack driver today as my first buy. COMPLETELY by accident...

By the was, if anyone has one of these in the mid DVC 024x range of serial numbers, I’d love to think about getting one of her sisters...

And the most recent,my P320c- most natural pointing firearm for me other than my Smith 625. The 320 fit like a glove and shoots like a laser to me. I expected to like it, but nit to have it be such an incredibly natural fit.

I bought a Sig 1911 XO, that turned out to be a 1 of 75 two tone 1911s.

Just a few years ago, I saw a fuzzy pic of a sporterized and scoped Remington M1903A3 Springfield on Facebook, before they got wacky about posts with gun sales, for $450. It was about 60 mile away from me. I asked the seller to email me some better pics. It turned out to be a sporterized M1903A4 sniper rifle, with its original bolt and scope base. I immediately told him that I would buy it and met him the next morning for the sale. Because I drove to him, he dropped the price to $400 and threw in a soft side case and two boxes of hunting ammo. It took me about two years and $800 to restore it to original military configuration, with a lot of help from CMP.

My Smith & Wesson 627-2

There was a gun shop on Cave Creek Road in Phoenix that had recently opened. The owner had moved his business from California and had a few pre-lock Smiths that had been just sitting in the back room of his shop. They were not on the CA DOJ approved list and he couldn't sell them.

So I bought the 627 from him; 5" full lug barrel, 6 shot fluted cylinder, gold bead front sight and Smith & Wesson in script on the side of the barrel rather than their standard block letters. I just thought it was a cool revolver, kind of like a 686 on steroids and well, it didn't have a lock...

Well that gun got its picture and my name in the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson. Turns out it's 1 of 12 "Parts Guns" that were built. One of the funnest guns I have to shoot. It's heavy and has virtually no recoil. Full magnum loads get attention on the range...

probably my last one; 9mm 1911, 5" STI Trojan.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by FlyingScot:
Feel like I should be doing the old "1 arm out, one arm crossed behind the back" state trooper pose

It wasn't just state troopers. That "bullseye stance" was the standard police/military pistol stance pretty much worldwide for the first half of the 20th Century, and into the second half. It wasn't until about the ~1950s that the more modern two handed pistol stance started to gain traction, and it took several decades for it to become really widespread.



In the Army training manual it is literally called “The gay pirate” and that’s what the drill sgt.’s called it too. It’s also not a very effective stance.

In 2012, I was searching for .22lr bolt action rifle. At the time Widener’s was offering the Wifama kbks wz. 78 rifle for about $250. These were Polish military training rifles with removable AKM style sights. Built in the early 1990’s when Poland was leaving the Warsaw pact and joining NATO, many of these were unissued and stored. At the time, I had no idea what the rifle was but it for $250, it wasn’t much of a gamble.


Mine was unissued, still covered in some kind of preservative grease. By the time I got it cleaned up, to the range and sighted in, they were sold out. I wish I had bought several as only a small number were made. All of a sudden people on RFCentral started talking about the incredible accuracy of the rifles. This is a full size rifle built to take abuse and it turns out to be an incredible shooter.

The second surprise was my Canik TP9 SFX. I bought it as a cheap, extra 9mm to use during my club’s steel shoots. This thing outshoots any other 9mm pistol that I have. I have about 10,000 rounds through it now and I’ve run upto 1000 rounds at a time before cleaning it, with no malfunctions. It runs everything I have fed it, including the low power handloads that I use for shooting steel. I don’t have another handgun that has a trigger as nice or with a shorter reset. I recently shot a friend’s Walter Q5 match with an aftermarket trigger and my cheap Canik has a better, more consistent trigger with a shorter reset. With a Vortex Venom on it I can hit an 8” steel plate at 100 yds, (unsupported) about 7 out of 10 times. I’ve tried that with some of my other centerfire handguns and I’m lucky if I make one hit out of 10.

My best is the second time I bought the same shotgun.

In 2012 I got divorced and ended up selling most of my guns and personal items of any value to pay off the lawyers and debt I was saddled with.

Fast forward to 2018 and I’m remarried and in a much better financial place. I found the gentleman that bought my Ruger Red Label and was able to buy it back for exactly what I sold it for. It now resides in my safe and I pause to admire it every time the door is opened.

Love that story.

quote:

Originally posted by badcopnodonut!!:
My best is the second time I bought the same shotgun.

In 2012 I got divorced and ended up selling most of my guns and personal items of any value to pay off the lawyers and debt I was saddled with.

Fast forward to 2018 and I’m remarried and in a much better financial place. I found the gentleman that bought my Ruger Red Label and was able to buy it back for exactly what I sold it for. It now resides in my safe and I pause to admire it every time the door is opened.

quote:

Originally posted by badcopnodonut!!:
My best is the second time I bought the same shotgun.

In 2012 I got divorced and ended up selling most of my guns and personal items of any value to pay off the lawyers and debt I was saddled with.

Fast forward to 2018 and I’m remarried and in a much better financial place. I found the gentleman that bought my Ruger Red Label and was able to buy it back for exactly what I sold it for. It now resides in my safe and I pause to admire it every time the door is opened.

I also bought the same gun twice. I traded my Beretta 87 to a carpenter buddy for labor on a kitchen remodel, years ago. I always regretted it. I bought it back, and will never let it go.

Glock 43x. Just perfect thus far.

Not really a surprise but a nice used Kimber series I 45acp from Donna (MississippiGal) several years ago

I waited 30+ years for Winchester to produce an 1873 rifle. They did finally. The initial run of rifles was limited to 250. I discovered one on Father's Day 2015, at a new Field and Stream store in Camp Hill, PA. When I put the rifle to my face, and squinted down the sights, I changed. I can't describe it, but at that moment I changed as a human being. It was a good change. My wife purchased the rifle as a gift for me. It is a low two-digit serial number of the original run of 250 rifles. It is stunningly beautiful, and expertly handcrafted. Poetry in motion, a dream long-held, now realized.

I’ve been lucky a few times. Traded my Kahr CM9 and $500 for a double barrel 16 gage Merkel shot gun. Older but possibly unfired. Looked in a book, the closest match is a Merkel Emporium model. In a 12 year old book they go $7,000 to $50,000. I really don’t know what to do with it.

In the early 80’s I bought a few of NFA guns; a Thompson M1A1 with military markings, an MP40, and a Stg44. They cost me $2500, $2500, and $2800, respectively. 20+ years later I sold them and took the family over to Europe for a few weeks on some of the Stg money, and paid for the first couple of years of college for the kids. Not a bad return. Of course the wife thought it was just an excuse to buy more guns. Now she still beams about it.