What gun were you sure you'd never find -- Until you found it

[bushmaster1313]

Many reason why you would think you would never find a specific gun that you really wanted:

a) Market price too high for your wallet;
b) None available in good enough condition
c) Too few made to begin with
d) Looking for needle in haystack
e) Don't seem to be any of your birth year guns in that model

For me it was a Winchester 12 gauge Model 97 in original factory Riot configuration and good to very condition. About 10 years ago I was sure I would never find one at a price I was willing to pay.

Then I went to a small gun show outside of Philadelphia on the way back from the range. I had in the trunk of my car a brand new to me very early Winchester 88 in .308 Winchester that really hurt my shoulder after just 3 rounds an hour ago at the range. On a dealer's table was a c. 1937 Winchester 97 just like I wanted, but at a price that was too steep for my comfort. Lucky for me, the dealer was willing to take the Winchester 88, along with its Leupold Vari-X scope, in a straight up trade:

 

[jpage]

That's a beauty ! Factory riot barrel ?

 

[Frank46]

Bought my first 44 special and wasn't even looking for it. S&W 624 6.5" barrel and had the box but not the paper work. That one cost me $650. The hunt was on for more 44 specials. Next was a Lew Horton 24-3 with the 3"barrel and combat stocks. My wife took to going with me to keep her eye on me and the credit card. Last one was a 24-3 with the 4" barrel. So now I own 3 44 specials and all made by S&W. I've toned down my buying considerably as I grew older. Frank

 

[bushmaster1313]

That's a beauty ! Factory riot barrel ?

Factory riot barrel and solid frame not takedown.

 

[ACP230]

Does it have a "Full Choke" marking on it?

 

[Cellar Hound]

In my case, it wasn't a gun that I thought I would never find. It was a barrel.

A long time ago, when I was much younger, I received an Ithaca model 87 Featherlight shotgun as a Christmas gift. It was (and still is) a beautiful gun. It has a black walnut stock and a short rifled barrel for shooting deer slugs. It was an amazing gun to use in the part of my state that did not allow center fire rifles for hunting.

About 10 years later, I wanted to purchase a 24" bird barrel with chokes to allow me to use the gun for other purposes. I went to a gun store and learned that Ithaca had moved their factory and no longer made the model 87 (they switched back to the 37). So no luck on finding a barrel... For the next three years, I asked every small gun shop if they happen to have one........no luck.

Then one day after asking a gun store owner and being rejected once again, he stopped me just before I walked out the door. He said, " I just thought of something. It's a long shot but let me call a friend of mine who use to work for Ithaca before they moved the factory." He called his friend and asked about the barrel. The guy told him that before the plant closed, he had purchased some customer returned inventory that was not sent forward to the new location. He said he needed some time to dig through his storage room and call us back. After 45 minutes he called back and said he found a 24" vented rib barrel for a model 87 with three chokes. The customer sent a note stating they had ordered a 26" barrel.

The guy shipped it to the gun store the next day and now I own the barrel that I was hoping to have to complete my model 87.

 

[bushmaster1313]

Does it have a "Full Choke" marking on it?

Factory riot guns usually "CYL"
Barrel above is marked "CYL"
See last photo near the receiver

 

[BAM-BAM]

"Forum Knowledge" has allowed me to make some great scores on guns.

From a Registered Magnum to a 3" Model 66; a Pre-39, a CZ .22 Kadet...... to lowly CZ .22 rifle like a 452FS/mannlicher stock used but still nib at 50% of cost of new.

I've got 5 Beretta 92 Compact Type-Ms single stack 9mm over the years..... Beretta's answer to the S&W 39..... first as a hedge against the 94 AW/hi-cap mag ban...... then more because I like them!!!! These include a D model DAO and two SBs made in Italy with bright blue finishes and walnut grips... think BBQ guns.

I'd say 40% of my guns were opportunity buys...... uncommon or guns I'd like to have,but didn't need, at prices I couldn't pass up.

 

[Lonestar57]

I have a small collection of Browning Hi-Powers. Mainly the different finishes that were offered over the years. I also like the Browning BDM (Browning Dual Mode) and actually carried one back in the 90's during my LE career. I read where Browning produced this model in Matte Blue/ Black (the most common), a Two-tone (Black over Silver Chrome), and one in Silver Chrome. I have the two-tone but went one the hunt for the Silver Chrome. Browning for whatever reason only produced 119 of the Silver Chrome BDM's in 1997. Anyway looked and searched literally for years and my patience eventually paid off.

 

[Echo40]

That would be my Smith & Wesson California Highway Patrol 4006TSW.

These first hit the market in 2017 when the California Highway Patrol first started phasing them out, but at the time I didn't have the necessary funds to purchase one and they quickly sold out everywhere. I presumed at the time that they were all gone and would never be available at a decent price ever again, but it turned out that the CHP had around 10,000 of them in their armory which they continued to sell off periodically in batches as they transitioned to the M&P40, and finally in May of this year I just so happened to be in the right place at the right time to get one.

It's not in pristine condition like many of the ones that hit the market in 2017, but that actually suits me better, as a bit of wear is part of the mystique of old duty weapons, so I actually wouldn't have been as pleased if it had looked practically brand new.

 

[turnerriver]

I had a Walther .22 PP when I was a teenager and sold it for what I thought was a big buck at the time. Regret set in and I pestered the guy I sold it to for years but he wouldn't sell it back to me.
4 decades later I'm at a show with my longtime best friend and he puts a .22 PP out on the table. I didn't know he had one and certainly didn't know he wanted to sell it. He had already had it out at a show or 2 but it didn't sell. So I got one back eventually.
I'm fortunate to have most guns that I want.
Regards,
turnerriver

 

[ACORN]

A lowly Rossi 720.
I'd read they were the best Rossi produced and after reading Skeeter's writings praising the .44 special I wanted something carryable.
I have a 6" 624 but it's too big to carry.
Charters were iffy at the time.
Walked into a shop one day and lo and behold there it was.
I've since also picked up a Charter and a Taurus 445UL in .44.

 

[NYlakesider]

I doubted that I would find in my area a S&W 547! (shooter class)

Took a long time (many years) but finely found one about 50 miles away at a LGS. (and the price was good and so was the condition!) That was for many years the only one I saw for sale in my area, that included gun shows!

Like I said my area, I know there have been others on line but with a gun like that I want to really look it over good.

 

[The Norseman]

Found Gold in the Hills

My Circa 2004, very scarce Ruger Gold Label "Dickinson Style
Action" Side by Side Lever Action,12 gauge shotgun, English
style straight grip. Paper thin changeable choke tubes (skeet,
improved cylinder, modified, full). Extremely light weight
shotgun, nice for roaming around during South Dakota
Pheasant Season.

I seen it in Ruger's Catalog several years prior. The RGL didn't
really become available until 2005. One day on a whim I called
my favorite Local Gun Store, and had just got one in. The rest
is History.

 

[Marshal Tom]

Bright Blue 1950 Target 4" with Cokes!

 

[Rammer Jammer]

My hard to find gun is my Talo special edition Ruger Blackhawk Flattop 44 SPL stainless. Lipsey's has made plenty of the blued models, but the Talo model is SS and limited to 1000 units.

I saw one for sale on the Ruger forum years ago but I didn't have the money at the time to pull it off. In 2019 I sold two carry guns that I didn't carry in order to fund the purchase of my first single action. I had intended to go cheap and start with a Wrangler. But then a 44 Flattop came along on Gunbroker and I decided to GO BIG OR GO HOME and went for the Flattop.

I love the chambering in 44 SPL and that the gun is built on the medium frame which is easier to handle and the mid size grip frame suits me better than the Super Blackhawk. I reload 44 Mag and SPL and though Mags are fun, Specials are much more pleasurable to shoot and the Flattop is a gun I bought just to be fun and a range toy so I don't need the power of magnum rounds. Even if I do need more power I can load up some barn burners that the Flattop can easily handle.

 

[austintexas]

Reg Magnum, finally found 2 with in the same year. both were found within 5 mules of my home. One a private sale from a retired Secret Service gentleman and the other in a pawn shop advertised as a highway patrolman.
SWCA 892

 

[kmyers]

It would have to be this one.

It did not come with original grips, some fine but newer magna but I have always liked the look of Altamont and bonded ivory. Picked the revolver up at a local gun show, just under $600 before tax.

 

[Barbarian-CBX]

I bought a crappy 22 derringer when I was in junior high (middle) school from a friend for $8. I left it at another friend's house because I had to put on a baseball uniform there. Went back later to get it and it had been stolen. I found it 50 years later on GB and bought it $100. I'm sure it's the same one. It was stolen in NC. It was in NY when I bought it back. Talk about a needle in a haystack! I can't find any information on it. It doesn't even have a manufacturer's name on it. Says made in Spain. I think the date code (I1) implies made in 1963.

 

[Clarke Hammer]

I never thought I'd find a nice 3.5 inch Model 27. Here in California, it has to already be in the state -- can't ship it in. About 5 years ago a nearly pristine 3.5 inch 27-2 with original box popped up on our Calguns classified board for an incredibly reasonable price. I was lucky to respond to the seller within about 15 minutes of the ad posting. Had to go on quite a long road trip (twice) to get it. That is one gun that will be near the last to leave my accumulation.