He Who Hesitates...M19-4 Story

[semperfi71]

Walked into a gunshop looking for used pistol grips. Inside the guncase is a M19-4 2 1/2 inch barrel. Red paint on the sight ramp. Some blue wear on both sides of the barrel at the muzzle. Otherwise in good condition. $400.00.

I ask about lay-away and am told it was half down and the rest in 30 days.

I ain't got the money (having just acquired two handguns in the last seven days) but I'm thinking what can I sell from my collection to get this revolver. It is high on my "gotta have list".

But, I put it back and go looking at grips.

The gunshop phone rings, the counter-man says just a minute into the phone. He goes to the owner and says the guy on the phone wants to know if you will take his offer. Bossman says sell it to him.

I fade out on the conversation because I am looking at "stuff".

I find some grips, buy them, and decide to look at the M19-4 again and maybe see if I can somehow purchase it.

It's gone.

I ask the counter-man if the phone call was for the M19-4. He says, "Yep". He put it aside for the phone-caller.

I'm not sure if I missed that buy because of "restraint" or if I was just not thinking straight..........

I mean I could have come home and sold one of the dogs to finance the buy..........

 

[Hondo44]

It's probably happened to all of us at one time or another. My dad always said: "He who hesitates, looses."

If I'm undecided about paying the price asked, before I put it down I always ask if they have any room to move on the price. Very often they do and that puts me over the fence and I grab it.

I wonder if the guy on the phone made an offer under the $400 price that was accepted.

 

[TAROMAN]

BTDT. I feel your pain. Just remember, like busses and women, another will come along..
My most recentl hesitation was with the Bud's 3" M-10s.
Mulligan..
So, last week. it was ME on the LGS phone putting a 65-5 on "hold".

So, learn from this negative experience.

And, remember, insanity is doing the same thing again and again while expecting a different result.

 

[fyimo]

I missed a mint 14-4 with 6 inch barrel last year because I wanted to think it over and only after the making the decision to buy 15 minutes later did I found out it had just sold. Two weeks later at another gun show I found the exact same condition revolver for the same price and snatched it up without even thinking about it.

Good luck in search and another will come along.

 

[ralph7]

i feel your pain, semper fi.

when a gun is offered, sometimes it sounds a bit too much and then when you find it gone, you realize what a great deal it was.
it's a weird mental thing that i have been trying to fix for a while now. i hate kicking myself for poor or slow judgement.

 

[PA Reb]

This same type of incident just happened to me but I was the on the other side for once. I wasn't looking to buy a revolver when I went into my local FFL dealer but I spotted a very nice 686 in the case. I asked to see it, looked it over and said I'd take it. Not thirty seconds later, a fellow that had looked at it a half hour before me made the decision at home that he wanted it and called back to buy it. I could hear his high pitched voice on the phone yelling "&%$@!&^!" So yes, it happens all the time to all of us in both directions.

 

[steamloco76]

I just missed a 19-3 four inch in near mint condition last week.
Saw it on the PAFOA forum classifieds and waited a couple of days before emailing the seller. When he got back to me I was second in line to look at the gun. Received an email a couple days later that the other guy bought the gun for $350!

Why did I not email the seller the second I saw the ad. He lived only 45 miles from me.

 

[jebe]

we all have missed one,but thats what keeps me looking i could be the one to find a m19 for 250. i dont beat myself up to much cause it motivates me to get out there and find the next one!!!! jebe

 

[PbRx]

This happened to me several times. Sometimes because my subconscious noticed something my conscious mind did not right away. Other times, like Semperfi, the guns were gone by the time I figured out how to pay for it. Just keep looking. The fun is in the chase.

 

[H Richard]

Yeah, a couple weeks ago, I got my issue of Gun Digest and didn't read it for about three days. There was a particular I Frame I had been looking for listed in 98%. I called immediately, and was told sold two days ago.

 

[Marshal Tom]

I have had that happen many times over the years but another one will come your way. I sold my mint 2.5" 66-2 with box etc a few years ago wanting a 3" 66. I passed on several of them looking for the right one and finally found one NIB for $599. I always think that if I pass on this one, I will never find another but fact is they made more than one of all of them!

 

[Dump1567]

I don't miss anymore.

I tell them to pull the tag and "I'll take it".

Picking-up my model 13 with 3" barrel today. Got it for $280.

And while I'm there, I'll swoop-up anything else that's priced right. I can usually just sell it later and make my $$ back if I change my mind.

 

[bigtubby]

I don't miss anymore.

I tell them to pull the tag and "I'll take it".

Picking-up my model 13 with 3" barrel today. Got it for $280.

And while I'm there, I'll swoop-up anything else that's priced right. I can usually just sell it later and make my $$ back if I change my mind.

I don't think anybody with half a brain would hesitate on a 3" 13 for $280.00 I would but a pallet full at that price.

 

[Willeys]

Too often I decided not to buy a gun because I thought it might be too expensive, only months or years later, I buy the same model for more money. Lessons never learned.

 

[DARBY]

Semperfi71 - keep in mind the old quote "On the Plains of Hesitation lie the bleached bones of ten thousand who on the dawn of victory lay down their weary heads resting - and there resting, died.."

Choice S&Ws rarely appear in my area, and just about never for reasonable prices. You can imagine my surprise when I walked into a local gun and pawn shop looking for ammo last week and spotted two exceptional revolvers with decent price tags. One was a 29-2 in damned-near-new condition and the other a very clean 15-3 snub with leather accessories. The wheels started turning, but I walked out - I have plenty, maybe next month, blah blah.

I made it about a mile before I turned around and asked the owner for his best price for both of them. He made me an offer I could not refuse and I now have two fine additions to my growing collection.

Beware of the Plains of Hesitation..

 

[semperfi71]

"Time, condition and scarcity have always taken care of the overpayment."

My exact philosophy all although "spendy". I am 58, my eyes are "slowing down" for shooting, my time remaining overall could be limited. I'm not going to wait three years (etc.) to find what I want to enjoy. I will overpay a bit but not ridiculously so.

In the case of this particular M19-4 I knew the price was very good. I just did not have the money to spend or I would have bought it.

Honestly (but stupidly to a frugal person) I was going to have to pass it up and when I do find one I might have to pay as much as $550.00 (but it better be REAL good).

AFTER I came home and thought about my gun collection, I had ONE gun I could liquidate and buy that S&W but by then it was too late.

When I went to pay for the Colt Lawman MKIII I have discussed here the cashier told me it was a good thing I bought it because there was a guy standing close to me and he had already told a salesman that if I balked he wanted it.

I suspect the "caller" on the M19-4 we are discussing got it for less than $400.00 because the demeanor of the conversation between the two gunshop-guys led me to believe they were "agreeing" to an "offer".

There are plenty of 2 1/2 inch M19's out there. On the online auctions many of the sellers are getting stupidly ridiculous on their "starting bids" or their so-called "reserves". And they are not selling. Some of the gunshops are doing the same thing. But there are good ones out there to be found at reasonable prices.

I want a nickle and a blue M19-4 or earlier model in good shootable condition. I'll find them if the government lets me and I don't run out of "time".

 

[125JHP]

we all have missed one,but thats what keeps me looking i could be the one to find a m19 for 250. i dont beat myself up to much cause it motivates me to get out there and find the next one!!!! jebe

You mean... like the 19-3 2 3/8" Nickle I found at a Tucson gun show last year for $175 ? like that one?

 

[Dump1567]

I don't miss anymore.

I tell them to pull the tag and "I'll take it".

Picking-up my model 13 with 3" barrel today. Got it for $280.

And while I'm there, I'll swoop-up anything else that's priced right. I can usually just sell it later and make my $$ back if I change my mind.

Back from the LGS. Looked at several S&W's the owner may end-up consigning. She'll give me a call if these guns come in.

Not to thread jack, but here's that model 13. Not that pretty, but it's tight and smooth.

 

[bigbren]

That almost was me last week. Killin' time at a gun show before going on a date. A 19-3 for $295! Filling out the paperwork will make me late. What to do? Needless to say, it's in the safe, and blondie was very understanding, but complained that it was too heavy for her!

I passed on a .22 Diamondback about 5 yrs ago for $600. Went back the next day and it was there for $750. Had to skip it out of principle, but that's the one that has always haunted me. Who dares, wins!

 

[steamloco76]

I don't miss anymore.

I tell them to pull the tag and "I'll take it".

Picking-up my model 13 with 3" barrel today. Got it for $280.

And while I'm there, I'll swoop-up anything else that's priced right. I can usually just sell it later and make my $$ back if I change my mind.

I did the "I'll take it!" today.

Visited a shop about 8o miles from home that the wife and I hit about four times a year. Snagged a really nice (one idiot mark near the barrel pin on one side) 19-4 , 6 inch, P&R, TT, TS, TH with original wood stocks for $392 out the door.

I didn't really need another 6 inch 19, but the condition and price were right on. They said they just traded it Thursday night.