GRAIL GUNS?

[4506517]

The term "Grail Gun" has as many definitions as there are users on this board. What you like, I might not like.

For me, "Grail Guns" are guns like SIG 552/553, "Krinkovs (I know, it is incorrect but most only know that term)", Commando style ARs, SCAR 16, ACR, etc. Most people here don't care for those type of guns at all.

I still find most S & Ws interesting. But a pristine pre model numbers, mint blued revolver is just a revolver to me. To some of the membership it is the bees knees.

Does that make it any less a "Grail Gun"? Heck no. If someone has been wanting something like that since childhood, it is a grail gun. For me it was in 1982 when I got "Airborne" a GI Joe action figure. He came with an XM177 as his weapon. I thought "when I grow up, I'll have one". I can tell you, it was a really cool feeling when I finally got one.

 

[chief38]

I guess "GRAIL GUN" has different meanings to different people. To me, it's a gun that I will more than likely never have for one reason or another. The MAIN reason (at this time) keeping me from my GRAIL GUN is the State that I live in ruled them illegal many years ago and the laws here are only getting worse!

Lately we have been tossing around the idea of leaving our expensive and not gun friendly State and moving somewhere else - but WHERE is still up for debate.

So what's my "GRAIL GUN" at this point???? A Colt manufactured Thompson. They are still around, albeit quite pricy in excellent condition. Like I said, at this point the price is moot since I can't own one where I live anyway.

 

[Marshwheeling]

To me, a grail gun is the right gun at the right price. That means a $240 CZ82, like the one I should have bought a few years ago. Those no longer exist, which satisfies one criterion for a grail gun, I guess. I’ll keep looking, not too hard. If one comes along, even at the wrong price, if I have the money, I could well jump on it.

 

[squidsix]

Aaron Burr's pistols. I believe they went for $10MIL at auction and are now owned by Merrill Lynch.
3" barreled Diamondback (They made a few dozen)

 

[vytoland]

my grail guns (like new condition) = S&W model 64 NY-1, round butt, 3 inch barrel.....S&W model 63-4

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Grail gun could be expensive, hard to find, or just evading the individual. My current list is a wooden stock Springfield M1A, a forum member's K-22 masterpiece, and a wood stock Mini-14.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

This is a fun "grail" thread.

Everything from "it's a myth" to "it doesn't exist" to "I can't afford it" and more.

Mine's not a myth, it exists, and I can't afford it, but if I ever found it I'd sell my truck to get it!

 

[pawngal]

So what's my "GRAIL GUN" at this point???? A Colt manufactured Thompson. They are still around, albeit quite pricy in excellent condition. Like I said, at this point the price is moot since I can't own one where I live anyway.

It was sold today at Rock Island Auction. Don't know the selling price yet, it will be posted later.

Fully Automatic Thompson Colt Model 1921 Class III/NFA C&R-Machine gun Firearms Auction Lot-2585

 

[kmyers]

No real grail guns here but like commented about previously would like to buy and own comes closer to me. S&W model 15 snub nose and S&W model 58. I had the chance to buy a model 58 in fine condition a long time ago but back then there was not the demand for that firearm so I saw it and just wondered why would I get one when I was not a .41 Magnum shooter.

 

[bushmaster1313]

"Grail gun" is easy to define

It's the gun you really desire -- but you know the odds of finding one in the condition you want at a price you are willing to pay is vanishingly small.

I actually found one. A Remington 31 factory riot shotgun. It had very good original metal finish but the finish on the wood was in poor condition. It cost all of $350 and I refinished the wood myself:

 

[Bill Bates]

Grail guns, unicorns and white whales; we each have that one gun, that gun we know is out there but it keeps eluding us. You hit a gun show on Saturday just to hear your grail was on a table yesterday and it was snapped up. You see your unicorn advertised on line in a shop; you call and it just sold. You forget about it and move on and spend your gun budget on something else. A few days later you are in shop and there it is shinning in the case but your wallet is empty.

You get your budget back up to where you need it to be and while cruising an auction sight, there it is waiting. You watch and wait. The prices isn't climbing too fast. Maybe this time it will all come together. Ten minutes be fore the auction ends you get in. If few minutes later some other poacher and then another get in and the bidding war starts. In a flash it now pass your drop dead number. Once again your white whale swims away.

I know I've been there; my white whale rare as a unicorn has been I'm my spy glass more than once only to slip away into the deep. Some of been obsessions; others more just a dream.

I can say dreams do come true. Sometimes you do find your grail gun. I chased a Smith & Wesson Pre model 45 .22, the "Post Office Gun" for years. I found mine. I got beat out by another collector that had it on hold. He blinked and let it go. I was second in line. Score one for this blind squirrel.

What do you do when you catch that unicorn. We all know, we begin our search for another grail.

Now on to the next one. This one maybe the Lost Dutchman Mine of Smith & Wesson a Model 28-1. One has been found and there might be another. I'm wondering about serial number S234252...is it or isn't it. Maybe someday I'll find out.

 

[crazyphil]

"If you wish to converse with me, define your terms."
- Voltaire

 

[BAM-BAM]

4" Combat Magnum ; aka Pre-19, from my birth year ......... 1953


Now that's a Grail gun .........................

 

[Skeet 028]

I kinda had a hankering for a Model 16-4 in 4 inch. Went to a gun show and almost settled for a really nice 6 inch one for 1500. Walked away and2 minutes later found a 4 inch as new 16-4 for 625. I did not walk away. I feel a grail gun is one that you really desire...and all of a sudden there it is. Then you have to change your parameters. Friday I found a gun I was looking for...not a grail gun. Just a S&W Model 15 in 4 inch...nothing special...but this gun I found was pretty ugly. A 15 in 4 inch....but the hang tag actually read $100. It was just like finding the holy grail(lower case). I will post pics later on the 15....just to show condition

 

[TTSH]

I guess "GRAIL GUN" has different meanings to different people. To me, it's a gun that I will more than likely never have for one reason or another. The MAIN reason (at this time) keeping me from my GRAIL GUN is the State that I live in ruled them illegal many years ago and the laws here are only getting worse!

Good definition. And yes, state laws that get in the way are certainly a factor for those of us living behind enemy lines. I'm not sure I've got a true "grail gun" (by your definition) anymore. Not sure if I should be sad or happy about that. On the one hand, everybody should have a quest! On the other hand, a poor old man like moi has got to know his limitations. I know mine and I guess I'm just trying to be more realistic these days.

Some grails are cheaper than others.

LOL!!! Decidedly so! The reason for that is pretty simple. Some gun collectors are a whole lot richer or poorer than others. But having a "grail gun" that is fairly common and costs less than one week's income by the current US poverty definition is really stretching it!

 

[ladder13]

I don’t know about “Grail”, but my friend whipped out one of those Sig Rattlers while out hunting a few weeks back.
Now I want one.

 

[MP1983]

I've been collecting since the '80's. "Grail guns" for me have changed over the decades. Never found a fixed sighted .44 Spc. S&W I could afford, and now a days they've gotten so ridiculously priced I started looking at Colt SAA's in .44 Spc!! (and settled on an adjustable sight 1963 5 1/2 inch barreled Colt SAA New Frontier in .44 Spc.). So I gave up on that one.

I did finally find a Colt Banker's Special I could afford a few years back after searching for well over a decade.

The one true "grail gun" for me that I have never seen or heard tell of out there is listed in the first edition of the Standard Catalog of S&W, page 118, the 1977 3" Lew Horton Model 25-3 in .45 ACP. Pinned barrel, gorgeous 70's N-frame blue, short barrel, versatile .45 ACP... it still calls to me.


nachogrande, as for defining "grail gun", I'm with you in that it should be fairly rare and out of production, or, at least a rare & difficult firearm to acquire. Otherwise, it's just another gun one dreams of having if & when funds ever allow. I will say this though, I truly feel sorry for new gun collectors in their 20's or early-30's, what point is there in collecting a bunch of plastic pistols and black rifles? They're all mass produced in the cheapest way possible, and all pretty much look and feel alike.

 

[labworm]

Similar to a "Bucket List"

No two are the same. your grail gun may not be mine.

 

[pawngal]

The closest I've ever had to a "Grail Gun" was a M66 no dash 4 inch with the stainless rear sight, got one with the bonus (to me) it was from the PD department of my hometown. I may have had a close encounter with it in my past!

 

[4506517]

$3500

BEFORE Shipping, Transfer Fee, and $200 Form 4