My requirements and tastes have changes over the years so my new list of what I would buy follows.

Volquartsen VM-22 Rifle with Leupold Rimfire Scope and Rings

Volquartsen BlackMamba or
Ruger Mark IV pistol

Glock 19X
Glock 19 Gen5

Springfield Armory TRP 1911

Daniel Defense DDM4 V1
Daniel Defense DDM4 MK12
w/ Additional PRI MK12 Mod O Upper

What would you have if you had to start over knowing what you know now..?

A good AR rifle x2.

A 22 conversion upper for that AR.

Ruger Mk whatever set up for action matches (red dot, Volquartsen, etc)

Beretta 87

Lever gun in a pistol caliber

9mm Beretta 92

9mm P365

J frame

Ruger 3” Wiley Clapp GP100

I’m sure I would like other guns but that would be my starter kit, give or take, on a short notice ask.

I would have bought a ton of those $599 HK P7s.

Honestly I’m a gun geek so my journey is more about the joy of shooting/owning and less about the practical.

That said I wish I would have gone more Beretta than SIG in the beginning. I always felt they were too big but many many years later I found I shoot them really well and I just really like them from the ease of maintainence, aesthetics, history etc.

My gun owning history has been part of my life education. I now understand what it takes to build a muzzle loader, what old military rifles look like and how they function (and why I should hate cosmoline!! ). Big revolvers and little revolvers. Lever action guns, shotguns , cheap guns, expensive guns etc , etc....

Without these purchases over the last 45 years, I would have a much less informed mind about guns in general.

So no...I don't think I would change much about my past gun purchases..

Also, and I know you are focusing on firearms, but I would have delved into mid-high end airguns far sooner. I mean I’ve been at them for a long time I wish I would have bitten the bullet earlier. They really have largely taken the place of my .22LR shooting.

Are we only able to buy current offerings or can we go back to when we started learning with the knowledge we have now?

Cause I'm about to make some money!

If I had known then what I know now about (almost) countless guns that I’ve owned*, I would have never owned them in the first place. Unfortunately, there’s no way I would know what I know now without having owned them in the first place. And of course I learned a lot about guns in general and those guns in particular by owning them. But all that’s not limited to guns. In fact guns are a minor subset of my “If I’d only known” regrets.

* There are also a few guns I wish I still owned—but perhaps because I no longer own them. If I did I might wish I didn’t.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
If I had known then what I know now about (almost) countless guns that I’ve owned*, I would have never owned them in the first place. Unfortunately, there’s no way I would know what I know now without having owned them in the first place. And of course I learned a lot about guns in general and those guns in particular by owning them. But all that’s not limited to guns. In fact guns are a minor subset of my “If I’d only known” regrets.

* There are also a few guns I wish I still owned—but perhaps because I no longer own them. If I did I might wish I didn’t.

Much to your point, what you are today is based upon all the guns you owned. You know an awful lot about everything. It’s based upon your individual experience. I wouldn’t take a farm in Texas in exchange for that.

To me, the process of getting where I am today wouldn’t be sufficient without all the guns that I tried and didn’t work.

Based on that, my current needs are simple. Quality AR and a Glock pistol.

But what fun is that.

Wow, you guys sure know how to take the joy out of a simple question. Lol

Like other have said, I've learned something from every gun that I've owned. Sometimes about a different design feature, or a different technique for doing things, or what works for my hand or doesn't, or in some cases just not to buy junk! My collection has matured to the point where I'm pretty happy with everything I have, and there are few regrets about anything I've let go (the only ones I miss at all I sold to my brother, so I still get to shoot them from time to time).

Were I to lose everything today and have to start over, I'd start with the following (Probably in this order):

A P228 (or maybe a P245/P220 Compact...had a hard time deciding on this one but I went with the P228 due to capacity and 9mm even though I currently carry my P220 more)
A 16" AR in 5.56
An S&W 640 Pro
A CZ457
A Remington 870
A 2 3/4" S&W Model 69
Ruger MkIV Tactical
S&W 63

I'd eventually want to rebuild my milsurp, levergun, and Beretta collections as well, but those eight guns would cover almost all of my basic needs.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
I would have bought a ton of those $599 HK P7s.

Honestly I’m a gun geek so my journey is more about the joy of shooting/owning and less about the practical.

That said I wish I would have gone more Beretta than SIG in the beginning. I always felt they were too big but many many years later I found I shoot them really well and I just really like them from the ease of maintainence, aesthetics, history etc.

I agree, although the Sig P210's I bought have probably gone up more in value than had I bought Beretta's. The only other Sig's I purchased were a P226 Navy, P245 (from someone here) P239, and a P232 which I sold. Last year I bought my first Beretta pistol so I do have one now.
When I first became interested in pistols I was very intrigued with P7's in fact my second center fire pistol was a new P7M8 (first was the P232). Subsequently I picked up more P7's; M8's, Jubilee, Final Run, M13's, and a couple of the German police trade-ins you referenced, so I spent about as much as I could afford on P7's.

Would not have sold so many of them. Pythons, who knew? HK P7's, Smith 520, 65, all the 3rd gen semi's.
Sharps rifle, custom black powder, Larue, ...

I just saw in the classifieds that a P7M8 went for $3500. Yikes, I may be rich. lol

I would have bought more, sooner.

I would have gotten the whole rack of $80 SKSs, invested in Colt Pythons.

If I literally was starting all over today.

-Would probably ditch most rifles, as I don’t get them out much.

-I would probably ditch .22LR in favor of airguns.

-I would have a Glock 45 (the model not caliber)
-A thin small carry piece (P365/Hellcat/Shield)
-A Wilson or Langdon Beretta 92 of some kind
-A high end Revolver of some kind. Manurhin/Koth etc.
-A 12 gauge because of the sheer versatility (prob a 1301)

That would cover me from fun to self defense.

I mean I would want a ton more and I probably prefer my hammer fired HK’s to the Glock 45 but if starting over I’d want something with a little more future support and I genuinely love the G45 and you could do a lot worse then an optics ready G45 as an “only gun”.

Sometimes I wonder if it would make a difference. But, with that said, a few Sigs and HK pistols I owned would not have left my control. I don't buy to resell but I do have a tendency to find something I like more and will sell something I own to finance what catches my eye and then regret it later.

I would have stocked up on 7.65mm ammo sooner.

They are more fun in a Sig than I thought.

Over the decades I cycled through phases of “old classics” then black tactical then back again, with each old classic phase lasting longer each time. I have concluded old classics are my thing.

For me after all this time and probably hundreds of guns owned over the years my answers would be this:
22 suppressor host pistol -S&W victory ( yes it is yucky looking stainless and is an ugly duckling in so many ways, but is near bullseye competition accurate and insanely reliable)
A S&W model 34 2” square butt kit gun ( prob my most shot handgun)
A 4 “ K frame 38
A glock 26 ( my one concession to modern stuff- I have had lots of 9mm’s including multiple glocks, but this fits my hand best and has been the most accurate of all my glocks)
A ruger LCPII for deep cover
My almost daily carry a J frame 442
A 2” steel J frame for more practice ( durability of gun and shooting fatigue) to back up the 442
At least one 1911 and colt SAA

I am not much of a shotgun guy, but if I had to pick one to keep on hand an 870.

For rifles for my purposes
My Kidd 10/22 for shooting nrl matches
One iron sighted old classic 22 ( mine is a Remington 521-T)
An AR for teotwawki
A classic lever gun

That would cover all my needs easily.

Right now I am still looking for a classic lever ( I want an original Winchester 1873 )

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
I would have bought a ton of those $599 HK P7s.

.

Oh AMEN to that!
A buddy and I were just talking about this earlier today.
Pythons for $375-400
No one really wanted the CAR-15's back then, and were a lot cheaper than the M-16a2 style AR's.
SKS's for $70
Israelli arms Uzis falling from the shelves...

Man, I miss those days.