Rifles we wish we've never sold, and WHY!

[RAGGED EDGE]

Have to add another to the list. It was a custom-stocked and 'smithed Remington 30-S in .35 Remington caliber. It was an iron gun with a sourdough front sight on a banded ramp with a Lyman 57 SME rear. It was one of those that was on target when you threw it up with your eyes closed. I never shot it, but can't think of a better deep woods deer gun. Have not seen a 30-S in that caliber since.

 

[k jensen]

I bought a Sako AV in 6.5x55 as a teenager. I saved some of the money for it & my dad paid for the rest, after I helped run his feed mill business while he was unwell. I remeber my mum & I milling stockfeed until 11pm every night ready to sell the next day.
I sold this rifle during a weak moment & regretted it even more after my father died.
Happily it came up for sale & I bought it back immediatly. Lesson Learn't.

 

[corsteve]

all of them

 

[Bearjumper]

Rem 760 .308 shot my first deer with. Could put thru rounds like a semi-auto. Our deer camp disbanded when my uncle died. Did not think I would hunt deer again. My wife told me I will regret the day I sold it. She was right.

 

[DJ Fergus]

Ruger skeleton stock 243 ultralight. Not specifically a tackdriver but they are getting hard to find.
M70 shadow ( the cheap Walmart version)
It was a tack driver after a trip back to Winchester for service due to horrible accurracy.

 

[DCAN]

Trap door 45-70 in outstanding condition. Paid $5.00. Sold at garage sale for $10.00. But, there is a little more to the story.
It was about 1975 and I was living in the Beaverton, Or. area. I was 15. A lady my father worked with had lost her husband and was getting rid of his gun collection. She had heard of my hunting exploits and thought I might want to look at the guns and maybe buy a couple.
I can still picture the sight as my father and I walked into the basement of the home in Portland. The floor was covered with bed sheets. The bed sheets were covered with row after row after row of rifles and pistols. The walls of the basement were covered with swords. I picked out a few things from the "floor collection" . A Nambu pistol, a trapdoor 45-70, a double barrel shotgun with hammers, and a flintlock pistol. All original, all in working order. Never even looked a the swords.
Knowing what I now do, this snapshot in time still haunts me. The swords were katanas and sabers. I know this now. I really want a "do over" . Did I forget to mention, anything I wanted was priced at $5.00 each.

 

[cstout]

I have had more than several rifles over the years but the ones that got away were a Mod 71 Winchester in .348. Found it in a local gunshop. About the same time I got a 256 magmum. I was young and easy come easy go. Also had a Browning Safari FN in 338 Winchester that I traded away for a pair of skis. The first gun I ever owned was an early model 700 7RM, the usual tale of I needed money for some cause that is long forgotten but not the gun.

 

[Vortex!]

Trap door 45-70 in outstanding condition. Paid $5.00. Sold at garage sale for $10.00. But, there is a little more to the story.
It was about 1975 and I was living in the Beaverton, Or. area. I was 15. A lady my father worked with had lost her husband and was getting rid of his gun collection. She had heard of my hunting exploits and thought I might want to look at the guns and maybe buy a couple.
I can still picture the sight as my father and I walked into the basement of the home in Portland. The floor was covered with bed sheets. The bed sheets were covered with row after row after row of rifles and pistols. The walls of the basement were covered with swords. I picked out a few things from the "floor collection" . A Nambu pistol, a trapdoor 45-70, a double barrel shotgun with hammers, and a flintlock pistol. All original, all in working order. Never even looked a the swords.
Knowing what I now do, this snapshot in time still haunts me. The swords were katanas and sabers. I know this now. I really want a "do over" . Did I forget to mention, anything I wanted was priced at $5.00 each.

I wonder how many guns I would get with an opportunity like that. Probably quite a few. Makes my stomach feel funny thinking about it.

 

[DrDave]

I've bought, sold, and traded many firearms over the years, but 3 that I regret not keeping: Ruger 77RSI 250 Savage, very accurate, beautiful wood, Remington 722 .222Rem, ugly, poor trigger, but tack driver, Browning Abolt Medallion 7-08, good shooter, light weight.

 

[Bait57]

I really miss my .243 wssm. It was a Winchester Model 70. I got the gun doing some trading. It was a laser. Numerous people wanted to buy it but I would not sale it. Fast forward 10 years later, brass was not available and I was on my 7th round of loads on the brass I had left. I got an offer for another gun so I traded it.

Two days ago I saw new brass for that gun in Scheel's. Man I miss that gun. I'd like to have it back.

 

[DCAN]

I wonder how many guns I would get with an opportunity like that. Probably quite a few. Makes my stomach feel funny thinking about it.

At 5.00 each I would buy everything. It's been making my stomach feel funny for a lot of years. The flintlock pistol sold for 600.00 some 15 years ago. It was documented to a British Artillery unit, from a time when large caliber smoothbore flintlocks were cutting edge.

 

[ScottB338]

How about one with a happy ending????
Bought a Sako AV LH in 338 win mag as a present to myself for quitting smoking in 1986. Most accurate rifle I ever had. For some stupid reason I found something more shiny that I had to have and sold the Sako in 2008. Ran through a couple of different 338's trying to replace it Gave up and decided to get another Sako. In 2018 found one exactly like my first one on GunBroker and bought it. It was about a week after I got it that I felt like the scratch on the stock looked familiar. Double checked the serial number and it was my original Sako. I got the exact same rifle back after it being gone for 10 years. It got a new recoil pad and muzzle brake and will never again leave my possession. Never thought I would see it after I sold it, but it's mine again!!

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Yup, like many of you I sold a rifle for a house... I'm still in the house 16years later and it's nearly paid off; the m700lh lss 300win, however, was a heck of a pipe. The only solace I have is I still have my "other" 300win from that era; I VERY accurate Browning a-bolt 2 lh stainless stalker in 300win. Said Browning just dumped a mule deer for me last year at a lasered 642 yards with an offhand shot; it has taken many deer over the years.
I also sold a m700 lh bdl in 30-06 to fix a truck; another great rifle sold for little reason in the grand scheme of things. The truck is long gone. I do, however have a lh lss m700 in 30-06 I bought from a lgs for a song a few years back. I had intended on building a 280 mountain rifle with a barrel my brother had given me The 30-06 shoots, though, so the 280 mountain fluted takeoff barrel sits in my basement waiting for a home. It shoots fine, but my brother wanted to build a 280ai on the action, so the barrel came off.

 

[ralfus]

Remington 700 Mountain in .270 Win. Belonged to a very good friend and mentor that taught me reloading and gunsmithing. I had it 25 years, harvested my 1st deer and elk with it. Was insanely accurate.

I bought a 6.5CM and assumed I wouldn't need the 270 much and another friend offered to buy it. 3 months later he traded it off at the gun store I work at. I sold it to a regular customer of ours.

The friend/mentor I got it from passed away a year later, I regretted letting go of the rifle even more. As I thought of contacting the current owner about buying it back he reached out to me the next morning to see if I wanted it back. Strange timing and fate. Its mine now and will become my daughters and grandson's in time.