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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,124 Likes: 195
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,124 Likes: 195 |
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.
The only lessons in my life I truly did learn from where the ones I paid for!
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,160 Likes: 1154
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,160 Likes: 1154 |
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
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 288 Likes: 7
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 288 Likes: 7 |
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.
Last edited by Saskbooknut; 12/09/17 09:20 AM.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 2,862
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 2,862 |
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.
I prefer wood to plastic, leather to nylon, waxed cotton to Gore-Tex, and split bamboo to graphite.
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,271 Likes: 202
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,271 Likes: 202 |
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.
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Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 753
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 753 |
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
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,631 Likes: 75
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,631 Likes: 75 |
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.
Mike Proctor
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,936 Likes: 16
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,936 Likes: 16 |
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
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,022 Likes: 50
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,022 Likes: 50 |
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.
Last edited by old colonel; 12/09/17 12:54 PM.
Michael Dittamo Topeka, KS
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 2,862
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 2,862 |
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. 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.
Last edited by Ken61; 12/09/17 01:19 PM.
I prefer wood to plastic, leather to nylon, waxed cotton to Gore-Tex, and split bamboo to graphite.
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