The Gun That Got Away

[CoElkHunter]

Always wanted a full auto Thompson, prices are so high now I regret not buying one many years ago when I had the chance. I thought prices will go down and boy was I wrong.

Thompson, BAR. I'd like either one. In the late '80s, a guy came to work one day and unwrapped from a towel, a PRISTINE German Schmeisser(?) 9mm sub machine gun. He said he bought it at a garage sale over the weekend from an elderly lady who's late husband had brought it back from WW2. He said he paid $50 for it and wanted to know if anyone at work wanted to buy it and/or what should he do with it? We all fondled it and told him good luck with whatever he chose to do with it. I guess MAYBE he could have gotten a Class 3 stamp for it, but nobody knew back then about that.

 

[Kurt Swanson]

A bunch of Warren Page's rifles were sold at auction in 2012 and some went quite cheap. The one I regret not buying was his Remington 700 in .458 Win Mag. It had a Kollmorgen 2-3/4X Bear Cub in a G&H sidemount and sold for under $1,000. I didn't put in any bids because I assumed things would go high.

 

[OldnLazy]

Back when firearms were more reasonably priced, Y'know, when I was a boy.........One of my buds sold me a smokeless Rolling Block in 7x57 Mauser. A Mexican Army rifle from the late 1890's or early 1900's. I gave $10 for the old girl. Had a gunsmith install a barrel in .45 Colt to match my Ruger 3-screw. He put on a barrel with .458" grooves and I never could get the thing to shoot right. A bullet fat enough to fill the throat wouldn't chamber. Then I got disgusted, had $110 in the project and sold it for what I had in it, telling the buyer about the situation. Looking back, I should have kept it and tried home cast hollow base Minie type bullets.

Now they get $1000 for a smokeless Rolling Block. France bought some early in WW1 in 8mm Lebel. Argentina had issued them in the 1890's chambered to 7.65x 53 Mauser.