Most expensive firearm you ever bought or almost bought?

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

Walther P38K, unfired

WaltherP38kb.jpg



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

SWpre24.jpg
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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:

wm_1750922.jpg




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

CIMG4041_zps6bb4a73e.jpg
 
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krieghoff 500 nitro sxs rifle and a perazzi combo shotgun. both in the low 5 figure range.
 
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.
 
Don't have all that money. I paid $3100 for this 28 gauge Darne at Ron Peterson's. It's Darne's lowest grade; you can imagine what the finer grades look like.
 

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Cased set of martini rifles for $2000. One in 303 and the other 577/450 but wiser heads prevailed (my mom) as this was after I got out of the navy and was making $1.95 an hour shoveling coal. Frank
 
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."
The Most Expensive GunStrange Weapon of the Week

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?

Sir, FWIW, my means and taste both tend to be modest; I've gone over the $1,000 mark only a few times. My old Les Baer Thunder Ranch 1911 was the most expensive at about $1,700. Wish I still had it. :(

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.
 
Guess i'm fairly small potatoes as well.
Spent a grand or slightly more just twice, once on a SIG P-210 back about
1988 (never fired in box), and my first machine gun a S&W model 76 about the same time frame. Have neither of them now but wish i did.

Chuck
 
Colt SAA 3rd Generation in .44 Special was my single most expensive purchase, around $1,300, which is chump change compared to many higher end rifles and shotguns.

I was in a large regional gun store a while back agonizing over spending $500 for a used S&W when a local surgeon picked-up a $20,000 Beretta custom shop shotgun. He then ordered something else that was over $20,000. Store owner said the Dr. spent nearly $100,000 at his place so far in 2012.
SAAboxweb.jpg
 
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I guess I'm cheap. I've got three shotguns. Two came from Sears, the other from Wal-Mart. :D I don't have $500.00 in all three I'll bet.

Handguns, I pretty much draw the line at a grand. I paid just under that once for a 5", "Pre-27" with the box. Probably too much, but it was the most I ever paid for any gun. I've come close on a couple of other occasions but I've never gone over $900.00 since.

One I came close on was a Auto Ordinance, Thompson 45 Pistol. Man that thing was COOL. With a short (10"?) barrel, it looked JUST like a Thompson submachine gun with no butstock. I put it on hold for a few days, but later called and told them to put it back on the shelf. I realized I had no use for it, would probably never shoot it, and it would just be a silly thing to have.

But it was COOL. :D
 
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Kimber limited edition 257 roberts AAA french walnut stock. Shipped to Doug Turnbull for rust blued barrel, charcoal blued bottom metal, case colored receiver and rings. Total cost 2800.00 with Leupold scope.
 
A Sig X5 L1 has been my most expensive gun to date. It will be the second most expensive as my new addiction, Trap and Skeet comes with greater costs than my present addiction to USPSA shooting.
 

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