I guess I'm cheap. I've got three shotguns. Two came from Sears, the other from Wal-Mart.
I don't have $500.00 in all three I'll bet.
Handguns, I pretty much draw the line at a grand. I paid just under that once for a 5", "Pre-27" with the box. Probably too much, but it was the most I ever paid for any gun. I've come close on a couple of other occasions but I've never gone over $900.00 since.
One I came close on was a Auto Ordinance, Thompson 45 Pistol. Man that thing was COOL. With a short (10"?) barrel, it looked JUST like a Thompson submachine gun with no butstock. I put it on hold for a few days, but later called and told them to put it back on the shelf. I realized I had no use for it, would probably never shoot it, and it would just be a silly thing to have.
But it was COOL.