Most expensive firearm you ever bought or almost bought?

You guys have put me to shame. My most expensive has been a Browning 1911-380 Black Label, it was somewhere around $650. Something about it, I just had to have it.
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Well, I have an AR I assembled that, totaling up the receipts, is about $2600. But that doesn't feel like a $2600 gun since it was a lot of little purchases over a month or two.

Almost bought a $1600 627-0 recently, and came really close on an STI 2011 10mm for around $1700 last year (cost of mags was the deciding factor).
 
A matched set of Krieghoff K-80 blued super scroll trap shotguns. One unsingle, and 1 o/u. Factory cross fitted, and consecutive serial numbers. It is not so much what I paid for them, it is the 20K+ that they are now worth after I sold them for a Ljutic LTX and a Perazzi GA88 o/u, and then had them stocked by Paul Hilmer. A spare trigger group costs over a grand. At least I kept them
 
Without a doubt for me it's the 2 Krieghoff shotguns that I use weeky in competition registered shooting. In order to stand up to lots of rounds you better spend a pretty penny for a good shotgun that will last.
 

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I purchased two Sigs that are 1K guns. I don't think I'd go higher than that. For me, they're tools to get the job done, nothing more.
 
Jake Hawken, circa 1836. If a nickel would have bought a ticket around the world, I couldn't have got out of sight. I passed.
 
The shame is, a good quality 1928 A1 could be made and sold for under $5k if not for government's interference.

Thanks, Mr. Reagan.
 
Small potatoes by these standards, but around 1400? For a gen 1 Benelli SBE. Best 14 hundo i ever spent.
 
I owned one of the first 12 Colt 1911's sold to the USMC. I sold the gun for at the time what I thought was crazy money...$ 3K. Saw the owner a couple years later and he wanted $ 12K for it. Oops... But I enjoyed owning a piece of history.
 
OP mentioned those firearms we might have bought. For that category I will report almost having to buy the M16A1 that managed to disappear when I was medi-vacced out of Vietnam with a moderately serious head wound, then returned for duty about a month later. For a while it looked like Uncle Sam actually planned on making me pay (I think) $266 for that rifle. Those were 1970 dollars, back when my base pay (as a sergeant) was $248.75, combat pay was $65 per month, jump pay was $55 per month, overseas pay was $17, and family separation allowance was $30 per month (and we paid no income taxes while in the combat zone). Serious money at the time!

Today I would gladly put up the $266 for that M16A1, and pay the $200 transfer tax, with originals bringing $20,000-plus on the collector market! The profit would probably keep me well supplied with beer for several weeks!
 
I see it a little different than most other guys here.The most expensive is the one that,to me,was the costlier.
In '85,I bought a Ruger P85 in 9mm.Shot one round through it and I didn't like it(not to downgrade the gun;some prefer blondes,others brunettes as they say).
I brought it back the same day to my LGS who bought it back...minus $100 1985 dollars.
At the then going price for the 9mm rounds were going(aprox $.006)I think that owning a gun for ?100.06$ a day was quite expensive!
 
Ruger Gold

My Circa 2004, very rare Ruger Gold Label
"Dickinson Style Action" Side by Side Lever Action
Shotgun with Right and Left Charge Holes for
12 gauge shotgun shells.

English style straight grip. Paper thin changeable
choke tubes (skeet, improved cylinder, modified,
full). Extremely light weight shotgun.

Only used during the South Dakota Pheasant Season.
 

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My biggest purchase would have been a matched pair of two english Martini rifles in one fitted case along with a couple boxes of Kynock 303 British and 577/450. one rifle was in 303 the other was in 577/450 receivers were engraved. We worked out a deal at $50 a week to pay off the $1500 price tag. After a month of 4 regular $50 payments the dealer took me aside and said another customer would have liked to buy the cased set. But when he found out it was on lay away he backed out. He would refund all the money that I had paid him no harm no foul and sell the set to another buyer as he would have paid cash money. I realized I would be making monthly payments for 30 months tying up the sale to other propsective buyers. I said ok as I didn't want to incur any feelings against me as i did purchase firearms from him in the past. He handed me the $200 and we shook hands. Within a week the cases set was sold. Truth be told the manager was a nice guy and handled the situation well.
and I bought firearms from him for a bunch of years.Frank
 
In addition to Smith's, I'm into clay targets. Some of the guys there spend crazy money on shotguns. I've always been somewhat conservative in my spending (some say cheap, I prefer frugal). I have nice stuff mind you, two Browning OUs, two Browning A5s, Remington 870s, 1100s, etc but none of these are super expensive models. I have kids, so braces, college savings, etc. were always a bigger priority.

That said, two years ago, as a 50thbirthday present to myself, I bought a sweet little Beretta 20 gauge OU which, with tax, came to a few pennies over 2K. That's the most expensive gun I've ever bought
 
Wife picked up a mismatched No. 4 Mk 1 (T) rifle for me. To date, this was the most expensive purchase made all at once ($2,800).

-Scope is a 1941 made No. 32 Mk 1 made by Kodak Ltd, and mount is an authentic Dalglish to a 1943 era rifle (by serial number). The mating of scope to mount was done at some point prior to post-war storage, suggesting cannibalization in order to keep a needy sniper rifle up and running. In my search on this scope, I found that they were basically unobtanium, and the few examples that I saw sold several years ago brought prices rivaling today's high-end optics. This one works flawlessly by the way.

-Rifle is a 1945 made BSA Shirley. The forestock and magazine are replacements, and the king screw sling swivel was replaced as well. Everything else (the most important being all metal parts) is original and appropriately marked. This was either a former sporterized gun that someone saved from bubba, or perhaps a rifle that was put together from cannibalization during the Korean War era. The rifle is worth less than the scope, but the history behind it is awesome.

Being into long-range shooting for a decade and a half has cost me quite a bit as far as equipment goes. However, I was always able to purchase/build parts separately. So while a gun may cost ~$4K or more, taking over a year to put it together makes it seem like it isn't so bad.
 

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Capt. F. a very neat revolver. Like any custom/conversion ,one has a lot of pride and satisfaction in owning.
 
Capt. F. a very neat revolver. Like any custom/conversion ,one has a lot of pride and satisfaction in owning.

Absolutely right. I don't shoot it alot but as you say the satisfaction is getting it out, admiring the workmanship, cleaning it and thinking "yep, I own it".
 
All matching AR code MG42 with Lafette, Optics, extra barrels, barrel carriers and 2 50 round drums in carrier. Back in 1999 for 24K.
 
I draw a line at $800, and, then, it's got to be a $2000 gun for me to even consider it. Paid that for a M52-2 (second one shipped) LNIB with all paperwork and accessories. Also paid that for a Smith Target Revolver with 6 and 1/2 barrel that letters to 1910 as a special order. . .one of a consecutive serial numbered pair. They are both pictured in my albums on this site. I have one of just about everything including Parkers, Drillings, Lugers, Colts, etc. There are just too many guns in the world and way too many around here in Georgia for me to fork out over $800 for anything.
 
I paid $450 for an new 8" nickle 29-2 in 1975. At the time I was an Airman 1st Class in the USAF. Had to get a loan from the base credit union to purchase it. Not sure but I think I was paid 300 a month. In 2018 dollars thats about $2100. By todays prices I still overpaid!
 
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That would be my Accuracy International rifle.

With the S&B glass, Seekins precision rings and Atlas bipod. I have a little more then eight grand in it. It does shoot well! Second place would likely be my H&K Mark 23 suppressed, right at three grand.
 

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most expensive gun

I spent $2500 for a springfield armory super match M1A, $1700 for a colt single action army Sam Colt commemorative, and a couple of Colt single action armies at $1600 each (both NIB). I recently bought a Smith and Wesson 25-3 commemorative NIB with original presentation box with book and original blue box with all paperwork for $1400. Heavenly Days! I have to get my spending under control!
 
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