Most expensive firearm you ever bought or almost bought?

[2152hq]

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,XXX, from 1927:

First class Trap guns I think.
I'm just finishing up a restoration on a '$2000 Grade' Knick.

 

[Big Fred]

It's a toss up between my non-registered magnum and a 2nd. generation Colt SAA. The NRM may have been about $50 more.

 

[Art Doc]

Most of my guns are either not particularly expensive or they are not in good enough condition to warrant high values. The guns I own that would be considered pricey are mostly so simply due to inflation. I have had them long enough for the monetary values to rise. Like my Colt Gov't Model with ivory stocks. The gun was $135 new in 1973 and the stocks were $32.50. Would likely sell now for $1,300 or so.

Well, since we're (mostly) being honest here, my most valuable gun is a Cogswell & Harrison double rifle. I paid $1,800 for it in the 1970s. Not sure of current value, but about 8 years ago I saw an identical rifle offered by a specialty seller at $6,000. That rifle had been refinished and mine is still untouched. Plus mine is documented as formerly owned by the prince of Afghanistan and Ian Flemming's father in law (tenuous celebrity connection, I know). Trust me when I say that at the time I got it, that $1,800 was a fortune to me.

The most I actually paid for a gun was the $3,000 I spent for my RM about 6 years ago. After I got it I realized that I over paid by at least $500 partly due to the incorrect replacement hammer (that was not disclosed by the seller). It was a bad combination of the fact that I wanted it very badly and I knew I had enough money in the bank to write a check. You can imagine my dismay a year or so ago when forum members told me it was worth maybe $1,500. I still can't believe it's worth that little but I know I overpaid at the time. It now has the correct hammer, BTW.

 

[Smith357]

My most expensive firearm by far was my Thompson Center Contender. After 8 scoped barrels, a second frame, the custom wood, and a fitted road case I was probably 4k into it. The Contender was the gun that started me down the path of reloading.$$$

 

[BubbaBlades]

Back in the early 90s, I traded about $9,000+ worth of AR15s for a French Giat FRG2 bolt action .308. According to the information that I was able to find, 20 something modified FRF2 (unmodified FRF2 in picture) rifles were imported into this country during the 80s for evaluation by the US armed forces. They were not a hit with the government and the guns were sold to the public. Mine had the Virginia import markings on it and a Kahles ZF 84 scope.

Mark

 

[mwtdvm]

A Luger

Early WWI model all parts supposedly matched....
Turns out the magazine with the lower Al number does not match the electropencil engraving on the magazine side wall.

Moral of the story.. Do not spend/invest in models you do not have intimate knowledge.

 

[medxam]

steamloco76,

You can believe that THAT surgeon was NOT an autopsy surgeon!

medxam

 

[Mike McLellan]

I paid $540.00 for a model 48. I really wanted a .22 magnum, and that was the cheapest one that I could find after two years of searching. It's still my most expensive gun. Basically, my standards are pretty low. I love cheap, old, shootable Smith & Wessons.

 

[DeathGrip]

I filled the K-22 slot this year with a nice one. Not expensive but I saved for it.

I really want a trench gun this year. We'll see. I like nice guns that I can't afford.

I'll be debt free in less than five years and I hope prices will be within reach for me then.

 

[BrainOnSigs]

$7500 total. G.A. Precision (GAP) Crusader rifle (custom finish, center rifle). With options $4300. Added a Schmidt and Bender 5-25x56 PM II scope. $3200.

 

[Brian41]

I'm rather cheap and a grand is about the most I've spent on ARs, a Beretta O/U and Kimber CDP some years ago.
I got a great idea then and started buying up some N frames here going for $250-$500 then. Wish I'd bought more of them now though.

 

[BrainOnSigs]

I got a great idea then and started buying up some N frames here going for $250-$500 then. Wish I'd bought more of them now though.

No kidding. I had 3 sequentially serialized, 70's, unfired, nickel 5" M27-2 revos in oak presentation boxes.

I sold all 3 to the same person maybe 10 years ago.....for $1400 total.

I also bought 2 NIB Colt Pythons back in the 70's. I sold them both.....unfired....around the same time as the 27-2s for $550 each.

Wish I had them now..... :-(

 

[45Wheelgun]

Fully automatic Thompson SMG - Sold it for $15k a while back.

Sure do miss her. I had fired over 8000 rounds before I sold it.

 

[Mickey D]

Seems like a great price.

 

[The Tourist]

"Back in the day" I was offered a Pasadena A .44 AMP Automag with dies to cut down .308 and 30-06 brass and box of Mexican ammunition.

The dealer wanted 350 dollars for the complete package.

Since a Python was 250 bucks at that time--and considered high--I passed on the Automag deal...

 

[Frank237]

Bought a new Kreighoff K-80 with complete skeet tube set back in 2007 as a retirement gift to myself. One step up wood, choke tubes, hard case, etc. Lets just say....five figures. To this day...the actual price STILL astounds me.

Also have a Ljutic Trap gun , 34" barrel, exquisite wood, unmolested. Paid $4000 for that one and it was slightly used.

BUT...the nice thing with good shotguns...theres always a market for them.

In the S&W world... I paid $2000 for a LNIB 6 1/2" blued pre 29 two years back. I think $2K is my record for any Smith.

 

[oberon]

I bought a 1917 DWM Luger in 95+% shape a few years ago.
It was a lot of money. I won't say how much.
I will do ok when it goes.

 

[GKC]

The most expensive gun I have ever bought wasn't the one that had the highest price tag on the gun itself...it was the gun I bought on our anniversary. After proudly showing it to my wife, she said in a sad tone, "I guess that can be your anniversary present." Only then did I realize it was our anniversary, which hadn't even dawned on me when I put the date on the 4473! We had been married for many years, and this was the first time I had ever forgotten.

Of course I didn't have a present for her...so I told her that we would get her whatever she wanted to make up for it, and she told me about an RV she had seen for sale.

 

[resgestae]

I bought a performance center .357, and it cost me around a $1,000. While this isn't very expensive relative to some of the guns in this thread, at the time, that was almost 3 weeks pay!

 

[dewey]

All those long guns are confusing to me as I have no idea what they are and would be hard to hide from my bride....but I like them. I guess a LOT of folks know what they are to fetch that kind of money.

I'll have to expand my knowledgebase and get some...