doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Your gun that got away

I am sure that we all have a gun that got away for want of a better description, we either sold it or just did not purchase it at the time due to lack of funds or just a bad decision on your part.
Here is mine. As a young man I went to a farm winding up auction and amongst a pile of cases and boxes there was an obvious gun case on opening it the gun was a little rusted but given a clean could be made usable. So, I bid for it with very little interest from other people I got the gun for an incredibly low price.
After a good clean the gun turned out to be a Cogswell & Harrison side lock with Damascus barrels built in 1910 hence the low value price Damascus barrels!!
I used the gun for a couple of years then I was given an offer I could not refuse, well as a young man I had to stretch my wage between shooting a motor vehicle Booz and of course the opposite sex. Though I did sell it for a good price but a very bad decision!!
But I do have this memory photograph of yours truly with said gun and a Beatles mop top haircut.

Great photo, damascus. That haircut dates you!!

Mine is not so nice a gun as your Coggie, but one that I miss dearly just the same. I grew up on my Grandfather's farm, where I now live and farm, and we had a neighboring landowner who had made a lot of money in the commercial cookie business. He was a great friend of our family, and when I was 8 yrs. of age he gave me a J C Higgins .410 S x S to keep, and hunt. It was my first real gun, and I learned to use double triggers and shoot flying with it. I killed my first doves, quail, squirrel, rabbits and even an owl, with it. Yes, in those days it was legal and you were encouraged to shoot predators on the farm. When I got older he took the gun back and gave it to one of his grandsons. The family still owns the gun, but I think of it often with fond memories.

SRH

I can add two getaway stories to the thread.
As a young sport, in Victoria, B.C., I saw quite a few British guns in the 1960s. I had a chance at an Army and Navy .303 double rifle for $600. I did not have $600 but I am sure I could have borrowed from my Dad. A lifetime of regret for that missed opportunity.
Fast forward to the mid 80s at a Saskatoon gun show, I saw a good condition British percussion double for the very reasonable price of $600. I stupidly walked by. Coming to my senses 5 minutes later, I returned to the table. Of course, the gun was sold. You snooze, you lose.

I have two. Nearly 20 years ago at a hardware store, I passed on a 20ga Eusebio Arizaga sidelock with a H&H action. One firing pin was broken, so it was offered at an absurdly low price. When I went back a few days later, it was sold. The other was around five years ago at a gun show, a VL&D Francotte Knockabout was offered at $130. I hesitated, came back 10 minutes later and it was gone.

In the 1970s when I first had enough money to look at guns I was visiting relatives in the Washington D C area and stopped by a local gun shop. Among dozens of other things was a fully engraved Lefever sideplate with Damascus barrels . Fine condition and priced in the $300 range. I could not be fooled, though, because Damascus guns were not worth having.

one especially - a London 20ga percussion gun by Adams (if i remember the maker correctly)- its condition was incredible, little used and it was in an oak and leather case with all the accessories still there - it was in an antique shop at a faction of its value - having only just won(?) a long fought divorce and custody battle I did not have two dimes to rub together and had to walk away

i have of course missed out on other deals since- but that one has always stuck in my mind

Years ago I had an Uncle who lived in Virginia and he had a daughter in Florida. So he made monthly trips to Florida. He also was a gun nut and as being retired from the railroad he dabbled in selling some guns. He would scour the Pawn Shops in central Florida and at the time I suppose all the retirees were selling guns that they no longer needed.
He would stop by my house in NC and when he would open his trunk there would be piles of guns inside. Winchesters, Smiths, Foxes just to name a few.
I bought a few guns as they were a deal. I bought a nice Model 12, 12 bore with a solid rib, a LC Smith just to mention.
But the one gun that got away was a nice Winchester Model 42 Skeet with a vent rib. He begged me to buy it at the time but I was hesitant as it had 3" chambers and not knowing better I assumed all skeet guns would be 2 1/2" chambers, hence it was a made up skeet 42.
I later learned that was not the case. The gun was like new and was priced to me (his nephew) at $800.
Now this was the late 80's of course.
Another gun was a nice 1903 Purdey that was re barreled by Purdey in the 50's . While laying up with a bad case of the flue and looking at the Purdey I decided to turn one gun in to two. As I was already interested in Spanish doubles I contacted a well known west coast dealer and made a deal to swap the Purdey for two new made for me Grulla Windsor's, a 12 and 20 bore. Need less to say I did not keep the very long.

BHE 16 gauge vent rib 0 frame Parker skeet gun for $1750 in the 70s but I did not shoot 16s at the time. Bobby

1985, when a 2nd Lieutenant at the basic course in Oklahoma, I passed on a near mint Purdey 12 with two sets of barrels for 5k. I was engaged and spending ridiculous amounts of money on long distance phone bills to my now wife of 32 years and did not have the cash.

I could have put it together if I only understood clearly how good a deal it was, but between the cash flow and my ignorance of how easy 2 1/2 chambers really were caused me to pass. Instead I brought a mint Fox Sterlingworth 16 w 4 weight barrels for $300. If I got the Purdey, I may never have turned into a 16 ga purist.

As also a 2nd lieutenant in 1985, as I recall, the pay was only around $300 a week, with an extra $110 per month for rations. As long as you lived in the BOQ. And that was even after Reagan had raised the pay scales.

I was pulling about $1200 a month after taxes, not including per diem while at OBC, I had a paid off car and no debts. Some months my phone bill hit $500 plus.

I haunted on the Fort Sill Skeet range shooting four times a week, and skipped the bars and other stuff my fellow Lieutenants focused on. I drank enough in High School and VMI and was beyond that by that point.

The maids in the BOQ must of hated me as I spilled lead shot from my reloader all over the carpet all the time.

Life was simple, focused, and good. All I needed was a wife in order to have excellent care for my future hunting dogs. Things have worked out.

I was at the Ohio gun collectors show 15-18 yrs ago when my nightmare began. I knew who AO Niedner was and I knew who Tom Shelhamer was, but I had no comprehension of the value of the rifles. I would have been late 20's / early 30's and just hadn't seen anything like that for sale. Anyway, there was a like-new 1922 Springfield with a Niedner barrel and stocked by Shelhamer priced at $1400. I showed it to a friend who was looking at a Mauser 410b pretty hard (for the same money) and he didn't show much interest. Neither of us got it and I think about it regularly

I declined the first graded Remington 1100 F grade as a gift. Did not know the person that well and figured it should stay in her family. The early F grade did not have any gold inlays. It was of course 100% engraved and had a stock with exceptional beauty. I think it was more of a prototype or after that one they decided to add gold inlays. I did buy three Colt Pythons, one 3 digit and two 4 digit serial number, 1K range, NIB from her for a good price. Still have them, NIB. Waiting for my old age. Never would have thought they would go up more than ten times what I paid for them. Insane.

I have missed dozens of bargains over the years and more than that because of lack of knowledge. A few due to lack of funds and more than that because I just wont pay but so much for any gun. Same way about land and trucks.

Well since we're talking about 2nd Lt. days, that's what I was at Ft. Benning in 1972. I already had a law degree, a wife and house payments. No recollection of what my pay was, but I was glad when that phase of my life was over...Geo

A pair of American Eagle Lugers from the estate of a good friend. I did end up with a 1944 1911A1 from that collection that apparently I've done well on.

Ljutic serial number 1111 with four aces artwork, a spare trigger, and a case. I could have had that in about 1985 for $1,300 but I just didn't have it. I last saw that gun in the rack at Jaqua's for a 'just slightly' higher price.

An as new Greener FH35. Again, lack of funds.

A Kimber Super America. I regularly kick myself over that.

How about an early GSI import Merkel 147E when they first arrived for about 2500? They have doubled.

I could go on...

�...I was glad when that phase of my life was over...Geo�

Been saying that for over 20 years. Just when you think you�re out, they pull you back in. Judge gave me a choice between the Marines or jail. I�ve been second guessing my decision ever since.

Guns, nah. People, a few.


_____________________
It�s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. (first snow)

Mine was a German drilling in an odd gauge/ CF caliber mix. It was a work of art. I could have afforded it if I had stretched the budget but in the long run it would have wound up a wall hanger even though the owner said that the odd Euro caliber could be re-chambered for a more common CF caliber, but I let it go.

Back then IIRC states I hunted in did not allow for a center fire rifle and shotgun to be carried simultaneously during small game season. Yet another reason to relegate it to being a wall hanger.

Blind Eddy the Barber?

The one I miss, is my first gun that I got for Christmas, it was a Nobel 16ga SxS made in Spain. I had a hard time hitting with it so my Dad let me use a Model 37 20 ga and the Nobel sat in the gun cabinet. In High School I sold to a friend of my Mom's for $100. Twenty five years later I run into the guy I sold it to and he had given it to his uncle in FL and he was sure he would sell it back to me. Well Rob the guy I sold it to passed away before he could get me intouch with his uncle. So somewhere in S. FL is my first gun a Nobel 16 ga, like Stan said, nothing special except..................

My problem is not the ones I didn't buy but the ones I bought and then let them get away. I will be 84 next month and have been addicted to double guns since the 1960s, during that time I have been the caretaker of many but not being rich meant some had to go to make room for the next one.

I posted a thread four years ago about the Return of the Prodigal Gun, a 10 ga. Ithaca NID 3.5" Magnum, that I got back decades later after regretting selling it decades earlier.
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=359151&page=1
In the same thread, redgrouse recounted the story of selling his Damascus barreled round action Dickson, regretting the loss of it, and later re-buying it 30 years later. If you have the Photobucket Fix, you can see his and mine at the above thread.
Gil

Easy one for me. Second Generation Fox BE in 20 gauge in really nice condition. I spotted it on an auction site about 5 years ago and it had 26" barrels and I was concerned they might be cut (I had been bit before on a cut barrel gun). Ordered a factory card on the gun and that took 24 hours. I could have had it for less then half of what it was worth as it sold while I was waiting for the card and was removed from the site. I'd of course called on the gun when I first saw it, but the seller had no way of measuring chokes or sending me any pictures. etc etc.

1) An Arrizabalaga 12ga made for J.Roberts, copy of Churchill Priemere XXV. A dealer at a local gun show who sold pistols was selling for a friend. $1600. Near mint gun, self opener, etc. I hesitated and went home and tried to look through my copies of Gunlist to see what the gun went for used (never found an example). It was Sunday afternoon, never made it back to gun show.

2) A Winchester 16ga Model 21, Tournament Skeet, straight stock and slim beavertail forearm. I was never a Model 21 fan but that was a fine gun. An old guy had inherited it from his brother who live in S.Georgia, a quail gun I'm sure. It had some rust damage on one side in a couple of spots and I never called the guy back, but I should have. I was worried too much about what was wrong with the gun instead of all the things that were right.

There was only one I can think of. It was straight grip-stocked Caprinus stainless Steel game gun offered at Collectors Firearms of Texas about a decade ago. That is the only gun I truly wished I bought. I know what I was looking at and the price was laughable yet for some reason I can't think of today I passed on the gun.

A factory cased R15 Darne 20 gauge, 29" tubes, straight stock, choked modified and full. Bought it, unfired, from a preacher in Indiana. A friend of mine bought the preachers V19 20 gauge at the same time. Both guns were late James Wayne imports. Sold it after someone pointed out the bland wood, and simple engraving pattern. What I had forgotten is I had a tough time missing flying birds with the thing. I had a crackerjack Gordon that a Brit friend of mine referred to as the best meat dog he had ever seen, pointing and retrieving to hand. He used a Pointer and a Golden Retriever to accomplish the same thing. I killed pickup truck beds full of birds with that little gun, and shot clay games with it when I wasn't hunting.
I sold it to a gunshop who offered it back after they had paid to open up the chokes.
No deal, fellas. You guys dicked up one fine piece of wingshooting kit.
The gun is pictured in The Double Gun Journal article I wrote.
Been looking for it's replacement for a long time.


Best,
Ted

Parker AHE 16 Gauge in near mint condition for $1,500. Guy who owned it didn�t understand what he had and my conscience wouldn�t let me do it.

Zanicotti 12 Gauge SLE for $6,000. Couldn�t find any info on the maker and passed.

Nicely engraved pristine Sedgley Springfield .22 Hornet walked up to me at the Albany Gun Show back in the late '80s. Could have been mine for $1k but I just had Model 70s on the brain....

A 20 ga. Browning Midas grade superlight for $4,000.00 from a motivated seller 17 years ago. Reason was I had just paid for my daughter's wedding and you guys know the rest!
Hence my insistance on having a ready to purchase gun fund in my safe.
Karl

An old brown Fox Sterlingworth 20ga w/32" barrels from some defumct duck club in California with a dent in the barrel for $800.00

After that one, I had decided that I didn't want anymore Remington 1894's with short stocks, so I passed on an 1894 DE with a 12" stock and 3" of drop for $175.00

Mine was a Midas superlight, Bee engraved, 99% 20 guage. For Free, Yes Free! my conscious would not take it from the widow of a good hunting friend who stated before he passed to take it several times. I figured, his son would would appreciate it. Or at least I hope he did!

Mine was a mint Thomas Shelhamer Mod70 .270 Winchester that I passed at $2200. It was perfect! My friends got really tired of me talking about the one I should have bought.

28 ga.
I'm sure your good hunting friend would have approved of your decision. Sometimes they are difficult to make.
Karl

About 1996 I had a chance to buy a Purdey 20 bore double HR in the original case for $8500. It maybe the only one ever made. I couldn't bring myself to pay the price. A few years later I watched it sell foe $20K plus at auction.

Four years ago last June, for about a week, I had in my hands a Fox 20 ga. XE in original condition. I had posted photos in a thread back then. The gun was owned by the now 105 year old friend of my wife. The owner lived by herself on a remote barrier island on our coast until she was in her 100s. It was her father's gun. She kept the gun loaded behind her bedroom closet door and her family was concerned about her shooting someone who didn't need shooting. The family, no longer hunters, had tried to sell the gun locally but was told the gun was unsafe to shoot and a local gunshop offered $750 for it. They wisely declined. I knew the gun was worth a lot more, but the value was up in the air. Not many 20 ga. XE�s had been on the market recently. I knew better than to try to buy it as I was in a �no win� situation had I done so. The son took my advice and had Jim Kelly check it and obtained a Callahan letter (glowing letter as the son lived near him and he had a hands on with the gun). The son had it professionally photographed and I wrote the copy for the Gunbroker ad. The gun was started at a penny with no reserve. The auction was dog eat puppy and the hammer fell at $24,001.00.

A minty Fox AE 20 gauge with 32 inch barrels for $1,000. It was a long enough time ago that $1,000 was a lot of money to me and I was just getting into side by sides. I thought I could go home and do a little research. I can remember at the time thinking who the heck wants to rabbit hunt with barrels that long? I went back the next day with my hunter hat left at home and my budding collector hat on but it was gone.

Ouch! I can understand that one leaving a mark.

SRH

GLS, that's a nice example of what sportsmen do for others. I recently supported a friend who helped a widow with her gun sales from her deceased husband's collection. It feels good to help others in need. We also made a pact to help each other's family if that situation arises for us.

A Beretta SO3EELL that I passed on and another member here purchased. I'm not sure I've forgiven him. Or ever will. Or me for being so stupid.

Good story. No big deal, put it in the win column.

Two spring to mind, I misunderstood a guy over a deal involving a cheap Spanish non ejector I wanted to get rid of, he talked about a deal with an English double he had, it turned out (too late sadly) he meant he wanted a straight swap, it was a Field coil spring sidelock similar to the one B.Graham on this site has. It was in good shape but I thought he meant the Spanish gun and my cash for it, so turned him down. He sold the gun on for peanuts and gave me �50 for the Spanish boxlock. Doh !
The other was a grubby but beautiful 20 bore Harper single barrel hammergun. It was at a local auction with a starting price of �60 (iirc) I decided I'd go up to 150 but there was a last minute bidding frenzy . Commission aside, I'll bet the seller was happy that day.

Here's the thread with photos I took of the gun. We later learned that the gun wasn't made for her father, but that he bought it off the used rack at A&F within a year of manufacture if memory serves.
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=369769&page=1

I have missed several... some cause I was cheap and some cause I was slow. I even torture myself every so often by looking at completed GB auctions and seeing the Buy it Nows someone jumped on before I saw them. Two that stand out occured in the whirlwind that is pre-wedding mindset.

1.) A month before I got married my future father-in-law took me to a big flea market looking for treasures. We parked the truck and within 60 FEET of the truck there was a table with a Baker Gun Co. 32 in Krupp steel, Highly relief engraved...quail in ovals akin to a Smith grade 5, including large amount of additional scroll. Only issue was a 12 in LOP and no buttplate. $400, seller ready to deal... he suggested $350 as I walked away. I didn't want to look like a lunatic to my new FIL throwing hundreds at the first thing I saw. Went back 30 minutes later and it was gone.
2.) the week before my wedding a "neat" Ithaca Flues Grade 6 went on Gunbroker right around $2500. I was the under-bidder and chickened out on going higher. No guarantee it was gonna stay "cheap" but I would have loved to get it for what the buyer got it for!

My gun that got away, I actually owned it for about 45 minutes. 20 years ago I was just starting to learn about double barrels and knew just enough to make me dangerous. My Dad called me and told me about a little country auction coming up that "had some of them doubles I was always talking about". So I gathered up all my gun money I could scrounge up (approx $1100) and headed off to the auction feeling like a high roller. As soon as I walked in, I knew there were some really nice doubles (way nicer than my Stevens 311's, Fox model B's and even my pride and joy Parker VH). That Parker VH made me a "Parker Collector" of course... So when I saw my first graded Parker come up for sale, I went ALL IN and gaveled out at $900. I had mixed emotions because as happy as I was to be the winner, I now was broke enough that I couldnt even bid on anything else. I looked over to the doorway and in walked a dealer that i had done business with before. He has since passed on but some of you here in Ohio would know him and his shop. He was mad about being late and sat down right next to me. After seeing the Parker that I had won, he asked if I would entertain an offer on that gun. I said sure and he commenced to whipping out $2000 cash. I gladly accepted with the condition that he would let me come into his shop and photograph the gun the next day because i was of course a new member of the Parker Gun Collector's assoc. (read with a sarcastic voice).
I did go by the next day and took some pictures to share with my new found collector buddies
Short version of the ending is that the gun was a CHE 16 ga. with 32" barrels and english stock (original and possibly unfired). The dealer sold it the next day at the Ohio Gun Collector's show to another dealer for $17,500...and all I have is a bad memory, a couple extra dollars and some really cool pictures.
Ya win some... Ya lose some.