Let me make a suggestion about bidding strategy: Don't bid anything until it's time to buy the item.

An auction is a competition---ergo there are competitors---and most competitors are competitive. Makes sense, right? So---if/when you raise a bid on something (before it's time to buy), you just jumped ahead of all your competitors. Competitors react to being out of the lead by trying to get back into the lead. Multiply what you just read by how many ever competitors there are. What has been accomplished by all this competitive furor (also known as "much ado about nothing")? That's right---nothing---other than to drive the price up. It pretty much figures you didn't want to drive the price up---so why'd you do it? I know---it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The time to buy the gun is the time to buy the gun.

By the way, this applies to any/all auctions---and especially to Gun Broker (with their "15 Minute Rule"----which allows you to do whatever you want to do---including save yourself).

The moral of this story is: Given the option, always strike from ambush. Never let them see you coming.

Ralph Tremaine