Most expensive firearm you ever bought or almost bought?

[Joewisc]

My brother, who works at a large gun shop out West, says it's not uncommon for well-heeled customers to plunk down big money for highly sought-after firearms and/orcollectibles, including 50k once for a rare Fabbri over-under. Here's a Swedish rifle that retails for more than $800,000, said to be the "most expensive gun in the world."
http://strangeweaponoftheweek.com/most-expensive-gun-in-the-world.html

If your wife's not reading this, what's the most you ever paid for a gun and do you have a limit or budget on how much you're willing to spend?

 

[Onomea]

I ain't gonna say, but I do think that is a funny write up!

 

[A10]

Well, I bought some titanium 1911 slides for about 50 grand one time.....yup, there's a story there.

 

[jaykellogg]

Well, I bought some titanium 1911 slides for about 50 grand one time.....yup, there's a story there.

Oh wow! I thought I went overboard on my AR-15. I have about $3500 in it.

The most expensive I spent at one time was $1805 incl tax for a Colt SAA made in 1874.

 

[RonJ]

It's hard to say if you consider inflation.
If I were to sell them Nib I guess I'd have to say a Anschutz 54 Sporter or a Ithaca SKB over and under. Dang it's really hard to say.

 

[Mickey D]

I'm not saying how much, but the two most expensive guns I bought are

Walther P38K, unfired

S&W Model of 1950 .44 Target "Pre Model 24"

 

[Joewisc]

Well, I bought some titanium 1911 slides for about 50 grand one time.....yup, there's a story there.

We're all ears.

 

[dewey]

What I paid for it?

Or what it's worth now after I sold it????

 

[Dalkowski110]

I'm not going to say how much I paid for it, but a Waffenfabrik Simson-for-Iver Johnson Sporting Goods 12 Ga. x 12 Ga. x 8x50R Mannlicher drilling, pre-production or uncatalogued production. The case colors have faded a bit, but the wood looks great and the barrels are richly blued.

 

[Arik]

AK47 SBR with aim point red dot. $2600 with the $200 tax stamp

 

[medxam]

Registered magnum #1, but I could not afford it!

MEDXAM

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I think it's my 1926 target. Bought it and and a HE 2nd target at same time. So that double buy has to be the most I ever spent on guns in one day.

 

[feralmerril]

I have several guns worth $1,500 up to $3,000 but I never gave over $600 or so but bought them long ago. Probley have quite a number I paid about $250 for that also are worth $750 to $1,300 or so.

 

[rburg]

I'm suffering over that question this very week. My historical numbers are easy, its a tie between the M1950 44 I bought from Lee in very early 2010 and the K22 2nd I bought from David Carroll about 6 or 7 years ago. I think the value of the K22 has continued to go up.

My suffering is caused by me finding a Winchester M21 of a configuration I would like and it'll be at the show this weekend. So my high dollar gun may change between now and Saturday.

But as Feral just stated, the values may be all distorted by current value. The guns I feel have the greatest market value right now didn't cost me much when I bought them, they just kept going up.

Worse still, I have guns I'm actively seeking. No, I won't tell because it might distort the prices even worse.

 

[Fishslayer]

I ain't sayin either, but probably this one... 4536 bought NIB. I still haven't been able to bring myself to fire it.

 

[Bat Guano]

Some years ago I bought my first (and last) gun at auction. Won't say who but their initials are RIA...It was a 4" TL. I asked a lot of questions as to condition, etc. and bid on it. I "won" it at $1700. When I finally saw the gun I wanted to cry. I suppose that I had some recourse on it but didn't press the issue. After a suitable mourning period I sent it, to a good friend who might be able to salvage something from it. I told him it was free to him.

He set about straightening out the action--as much as it could be--and stripped the non-factory nickel. He then addressed the metal and did a fantastic job of polishing, then had it blued. The grips were not only correct but the best part of the gun. He sent me pictures of the work as he went, both in the white and completed. The exterior appearance was great--a great restoration. He then asked me if by any chance I would want the gun back. We agreed on the value of the work he did--quite a few hours. Bottom line is that I have way more (I don't want to say how much as it was insane) in that TL that I could ever justify, but we did turn it from a junker into eye candy and give it a new lease on life as a restoration.

I am still on the lookout for a nice 4" TL, but I guarantee I will be a LOT more careful if there is a next one. My ego (and the gun fund) took a real hammering on that deal!

It is pretty, though. I need to learn how to post photos.

 

[bushmaster1313]

When the first Ithaca 4E Knick (Serial Number 400,000) was offered online for $6,000, I cannot say I was not tempted.

But when the first in the series is $5,000 more than the same gun built two years later, it did not seem like a good deal.

The first 4E Serial No. 400,000, from 1925:

My 4E Knick Serial No. 400,9XX, from 1927:

 

[perrazi]

krieghoff 500 nitro sxs rifle and a perazzi combo shotgun. both in the low 5 figure range.

 

[A10]

We're all ears.

I don't want to jack the thread, suffice it to say I had a genius friend with a million dollar idea. We had the same issues getting titanium to work as the big boys have had. I learned a bit about 1911s though, and still have the prints and 3 castings.....

 

[forresth]

Boy, I'm some sort of slacker.
My first handgun was very nearly a Desert Eagle. I would have got it, but in the time it took to arrange the logistics of getting a purchase permit (I was in college at the time) through my home-town PD, and returning it; a killer deal on a pre-ban (this was a couple years into the Clinton AWB) Ruger P89 came up that I jumped on instead. Nothing I've purchased since came close to the price of the DE that nearly was.