Oldengineer
Member
You guys are probably real tired of hearing me say “the results are always perfect for the choices we make.” You made excellent choices Ralph.
WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?!!
- Thread starter rct269
- Start date
OP
Well yes, and that's just the way it turned out----no thanks to me---I was in the right place at the right time.
I reckon the primary excellent choice I made was to buy only top condition guns---the best of the best---no exceptions---the Ray Cheely School of Gun Collecting.
I walked into the Gun Room (SWCA Orlando---I think.). David Carroll had a bunch more tables than usual. Over I go! David's excess tables are COVERED with the bulk of Ray Cheely's collection. It's a good thing I don't wear false teeth, 'cause they'd have been on the floor!!
Ralph Tremaine
And that takes me to first day qualifying for an Indianapolis 500---years back. We made a little side trip to Meyer Drake Engineering---makers of the then very popular Offenhouser racing engine. The sign over the door reads "THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS! BRING MONEY!"
That was the first thing I thought of when I saw one of Ray's guns in a box---with the price written on a little card----$17,500.
Yep, "THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS! BRING MONEY!"
Ray made it easy for Sheryl-----he made up a list---all the guns---with the values (price). I bought one of them. I'd asked David if the price was the best he could do. He shook his head, told me about the list, and told me he wasn't really involved---that he was just helping Sheryl out. With that, I hand him one of those little bank envelopes with $5,000 in it. He shakes his head again, and tells me it goes to Sheryl---to find her, and give it her. Off I go, find her and hand her the envelope---telling her what it was. "Did you count this?", she asked? "No, but I watched the lady at the bank count it." Sheryl laughs, tells me I'm "a piece of work", and pitches the envelope into her purse. She didn't count it either. This is what you call "Easy to do business with". And I'm sittin' here right now, laughing my you know what off!
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What percentage is David Carrol's cut for selling one's guns?
OP
15% then---and now.
Your involvement in the process is to deposit the checks as they come rolling in.
RCT
Modified
Member
I have small children interrupting my ability to read, so please forgive me if I missed someone else making this point:
Pre-War Targets are incredible guns.
When the gun collecting world was smaller, before the internet, the incredible production number of "Model 10s" (a term I will use to highlight the general gun public's inattention to detail) meant that "just another model 10" was a real thing. Still is. Even after the internet has made collecting scarce guns not only possible, but competitive.
The thing about the M&P Targets is that they are exceptionally fine guns. Of a build quality and masterful gunsmithing you would pay so much for today to duplicate it's utterly prohibitive.
As noted, with inflation, the dollar is worth less, but that's not the whole story. The actual fact of the matter is that a high condition M&P Target is a $2,500+ gun. It's just taken years for enough people to understand that, and most importantly be happy having paid that for the gun.
We who have been fortunate enough to been around in the days when you could grab one of these for (even at the time) an absolute STEAL of a price might have a hard time wrapping our heads around that. But if you look at it objectively, you have to admit it's true.
I've been telling people for years that Pre-War S&W collecting holds the most upside for any type of gun collecting, purely because the quality of the guns produced. Which, when layered on top of the beauty, enjoyability of shooting, and the ever increasing ability to add provenance to the gun after you buy it?
Well, all I can say is that in another 10 years time we will be looking at $4,000 M&P Targets and saying...why, I remember when they cost a mere $2,000! What happened?
Pre-War Targets are incredible guns.
When the gun collecting world was smaller, before the internet, the incredible production number of "Model 10s" (a term I will use to highlight the general gun public's inattention to detail) meant that "just another model 10" was a real thing. Still is. Even after the internet has made collecting scarce guns not only possible, but competitive.
The thing about the M&P Targets is that they are exceptionally fine guns. Of a build quality and masterful gunsmithing you would pay so much for today to duplicate it's utterly prohibitive.
As noted, with inflation, the dollar is worth less, but that's not the whole story. The actual fact of the matter is that a high condition M&P Target is a $2,500+ gun. It's just taken years for enough people to understand that, and most importantly be happy having paid that for the gun.
We who have been fortunate enough to been around in the days when you could grab one of these for (even at the time) an absolute STEAL of a price might have a hard time wrapping our heads around that. But if you look at it objectively, you have to admit it's true.
I've been telling people for years that Pre-War S&W collecting holds the most upside for any type of gun collecting, purely because the quality of the guns produced. Which, when layered on top of the beauty, enjoyability of shooting, and the ever increasing ability to add provenance to the gun after you buy it?
Well, all I can say is that in another 10 years time we will be looking at $4,000 M&P Targets and saying...why, I remember when they cost a mere $2,000! What happened?
OP
And finally---after allowing the fog to clear, I can say when all this came to pass---for sure and certain----never mind I can't say for certain where it happened--but IF the SWCA annual meeting was in Dallas in 2004, that's the where, and 2004 is for damn sure the when.
So just how is it I'm so sure about that? Easy----at least it's easy after I put my brain into gear, and thought about it for more than a nanosecond. I lettered all my guns---and I kept copies of all the letters. The letter on one of these guns is dated January 4, 2005---meaning it was ordered in 2004.
Done and Done!!
Ralph Tremaine
So just how is it I'm so sure about that? Easy----at least it's easy after I put my brain into gear, and thought about it for more than a nanosecond. I lettered all my guns---and I kept copies of all the letters. The letter on one of these guns is dated January 4, 2005---meaning it was ordered in 2004.
Done and Done!!
Ralph Tremaine
Keith Brown
Vendor
Can’t explain exactly what happened but I’d not dismiss the possibility that some folks went a bit farther to own one of your guns ! I know when it was over I had that nagging regret that I’d not stepped up and grabbed at least one. The M&P Targets are my favorite prewar S&W period.
Every thread needs a pic or two, the top gun was my first and purchased right here in the classifieds years ago from member J38, it’s a great gun and gets shot often. The second was added maybe a year later.
Every thread needs a pic or two, the top gun was my first and purchased right here in the classifieds years ago from member J38, it’s a great gun and gets shot often. The second was added maybe a year later.
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