Since we are talking about RMs PWMs...

[Art Doc]

Lets pretend you have access to the time machine and can go back to 1938 and order your own RM. Assuming you don't plan to sell it (which means you order every oddball one of kind barrel length and other option to interest collectors into offering top dollar) but plan to use it (or at least keep it), how would you outfit YOUR personal RM? We'll assume you can afford to pay 1938 prices.

And, would you shoot it or just look at it when you got back from 1938 with it?

Me, I think I would want a 6.5" barrel with the front ramp. If the factory offered ivory Magnas I would want them. If they didn't offer those then wood Magnas. If possible I would spring for the lowest level of factory engraving, like 1/4 coverage.

Yes, I would shoot it.

 

[pace40]

I'm not sure what I would order but here's the form you would have filled out to place your order.

 

[Buford57]

RM Order

Great idea SP

5" Barrel
Ramp Front
Service grips with adapter
Sighted with .357 Magnum ammo

Add a nice carved Heiser holster and I'd be in business.

Do I really have to come back to the land of locks and Kydex?

And yes, I'd shoot it, just as if I woke up married to Raquel Welch at 30 I'd consummate the union.

 

[Alk8944]

Either 6 1/2" or 5 1/2", Call Gold bead w/"U" notch rear, humpback hammer, Circassian Walnut Magnas. Still deciding on Nickel/Pinto/Bright Blue and engraving. Stick it in a Sam Myers floral carver Tom Threepersons.

Shoot it? If I wasn't going to shoot it I wouldn't be buying it!

 

[29aholic]

I think 6.5" ,King reflector front sight, I would like ivories too.

 

[shawn mccarver]

I would shoot all of them. Using the order form, mine would be:

Number 1

Barrel: 3 1/2 inch
Front sight: Plain black serrated Baughman ramp on ramp base
Rear sight: Plain black square notch
Sighted in at 25 yards with Magnum ammunition
Dead center hold
Magna stocks

Number 2

The same except 5 inch barrel sighted for 50 yards with Magnum ammo

Number 3

This would be 8 3/8 inch barrel with patridge front and square notch rear, sighted for 100 yards with Magnum ammo.

 

[wayneb]

RM order

Great idea SP
4"BLUE
Call gold bead,u rear
Humpback hammer
Magnas
I would want a spare rear sight blade,and a couple of different front sight blades.
An order would be sent to Sam Myers for aThreeperson crossdraw ;floral carved,laced,with a hammer loop.Also need a Lyman/Ideal mold for the Keith 173 gr swc.

Wayne

 

[pharmer]

Make mine 4 3/4", ramp front with ivory target grips. That should be rare enough even if I shoot it before WWII. Joe

 

[mikepriwer]

Lets pretend you have access to the time machine and can go back to 1938 and order your own RM.

Well - given this presumption, you'd have to be nuts to order anything other than
the 1/4" and/or 3/4" lengths. The time machine gives you the advantage of knowing
which ones are going to be worth the most !

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[H Richard]

3 3/4" barrel. King reflector front sight. Ivory Targets. Class C engraving, (1/4 coverage). Target hammer and trigger.

 

[mikepriwer]

Target hammer and trigger.

I think you might be pressing the luck of the time machine, on this one. They weren't
available for at least another 12 to 15 years ! But - thats a time machine for you !

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[Art Doc]

Mike, I noted that if you intended to sell for profit then the odd barrel length would be an obvious choice. But we are presuming this is to be your gun to keep, not sell.

 

[mikepriwer]

SP

Yes - you did specify that. However, all things considered, I stand by my response.
Let me explain.

First, all the guns (eventually) get sold - one way or another. To specify that one
is buying the gun to keep , is an oxymoron. It just doesn't happen. We've discussed
this many times in the past.

Second, most collectors acknowledge that they are only custodians of the guns
in their collection. This is ,peraps, a better way of saying that all the guns get
sold.

Third, we already have the capability of a time machine, and we use it frequently.
Everytime we go to a gun show, or a gun auction, we are effectively in a time
machine. We seek out those things from some bygone era. And what are we willing
to pay the most money for ? 1/4" and 3/4" registered magnums !

Fourth, we are also in a time machine every time we send a gun off to a gunsmith,
to have some feature (from years ago) recreated, in one way or another. For example,
we send guns to Keith Brown, to have a nice pair of Ropers made up. Or, a nice
pair of pre-WW2 magnas - either to be restored, or made up from new.

In effect, we are already doing the exercise that you hypothesized about, via a
time machine. The only difference is, we can't order it new from the factory
anymore - instead we have to get it put together ourselves, one way or another !

So - this is why I stand by my earlier response .

Regards, Mike Priwer

PS: Thanks for starting this thread. Its been fun, even if I've taken some
poetic license with it !

 

[Onomea]

The point about we don't buy guns to keep, that sooner or later they all get sold, well…. I don't look at it that way. There are some things in life I acquire with an eye to what their future value will be, and others I acquire for the fleeting pleasure of the experience. For example in the former category, stocks, land, houses, and in the latter, a great meal at an expensive restaurant.

I think SP's question is more akin to the great meal than the stock portfolio.

I have not been collecting or accumulating guns as long as many here. In my case my interest has revived only in the last seven years or so. But I have never bought a gun primarily thinking about its future value. Actually, I don't think about its future value at all. I try not to make foolish buys, overpaying too much, but if I want a particular gun I go out and buy it.

I buy guns for me to enjoy now. I understand that someday they will get sold, and that someone else will have them in the future. I hope they enjoy them, too.

I think the difference may be, Mike, that you have some extremely valuable guns, or maybe many of them, and that therefore your gun collection represents a significant financial asset and investment to you. So you treat your gun purchasing and selling with great care, with an eye to the financial implications.

In my case, I'm just foolin' around and havin' fun.

(And I'll add that my guns have retained their value, such as it is -- and it ain't much at all -- a lot better than my stock portfolio recently... Hmm. Maybe there's a lesson in there. A-ha: I need more foolin' around and less careful financial planning! )

 

[Art Doc]

I buy guns to please myself.

Period.

I don't give a damn what they are worth when I'm dead.

They will belong to the wife when I'm done and I keep trying to keep her informed of the relative values so she'll be a smart seller but she says she doesn't worry about the monetary value as she will likely just give them away to my friends.

She doesn't realize that I plan to outlive all of my friends...

 

[mikepriwer]

Arlo

A-ha: I need more foolin' around and less careful financial planning!

Try this on for size :

Regards, Mike

 

[29aholic]

It should be an unwritten rule that a man's friends ought not try to buy his guns off his widow for what he told her he paid for them

 

[Onomea]

Saxon, Mike, Curtis: Yep. Ain't that the truth!

 

[pre16]

Registered 32 long

I Would special order; 32 Long Caliber, 7 3/4" barrel, Ropers, King Sights, Nickel Cylinder.