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  • wcd

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Dec 2, 2011
    6,274
    113
    Off the Grid In Tennessee
    For a very long time money was very tight. We were not poor but we had the basics with no budget for luxuries. I remember saving for over two years for my first 1911 which at the time was about $649.00. Now we are in a different place financially. But for some reason I have a real hard time spending over a certain amount on a firearm.

    Understanding you pay for quality, what's the maximum you feel comfortable spending?
     

    Bfish

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    13   0   0
    Feb 24, 2013
    5,801
    48
    I'm in to see peoples responses to this. For me it all depends. For certain things 400 can feel like a lot and for other things 1k seems just fine. It's all in the value of what I'm getting and uses I guess. Plus if you put optics and or a can and anything else on a gun pretty soon you can be looking at a bunch more money than just the price of the gun. I don't have a "max" but I try to be realistic and responsible the best I can. The biggest problem is that I like nice things.
     

    DanVoils

    Master
    Emeritus
    Rating - 100%
    43   0   0
    Feb 20, 2010
    3,098
    113
    .
    For a very long time money was very tight. We were not poor but we had the basics with no budget for luxuries. I remember saving for over two years for my first 1911 which at the time was about $649.00. Now we are in a different place financially. But for some reason I have a real hard time spending over a certain amount on a firearm.

    Understanding you pay for quality, what's the maximum you feel comfortable spending?

    It depends on the item and the niche it fills. If it's a carry gun it's higher up on the food chain than an occasional take to the range and poke holes in paper. However there is a "recreational" factor that needs factored in. Going to a range and sending a couple hundred rounds of lead down range is very cathartic.
    Dan
     

    wcd

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Dec 2, 2011
    6,274
    113
    Off the Grid In Tennessee
    I'm in to see peoples responses to this. For me it all depends. For certain things 400 can feel like a lot and for other things 1k seems just fine. It's all in the value of what I'm getting and uses I guess. Plus if you put optics and or a can and anything else on a gun pretty soon you can be looking at a bunch more money than just the price of the gun. I don't have a "max" but I try to be realistic and responsible the best I can. The biggest problem is that I like nice things.

    I was at a gun store yesterday and they had to me the Holy Grail of the 1911 a SA Professional, with a rail ( I am not a fan of rails on a carry gun) instantly I was thinking to myself this sure is nice but no way I could.
     

    hoosierdaddy1976

    I Can't Believe it's not Shooter
    Rating - 100%
    16   0   0
    Mar 17, 2011
    6,469
    149
    newton county
    Right now, I have to look for the cheapest reliability I can find. There are lots of members that have more money on their hip than I have in my 4 handguns combined, and probably many that would still have me beat if I threw my long guns in the mix. Even if I somehow eventually live rather comfortably, my personal point of diminishing returns will still remain rather low.
     

    VERT

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    23   0   0
    Jan 4, 2009
    9,801
    113
    Seymour
    I spend a lot of time with new handgun owners. There is something magical about $400. Even among those with good income. When people see $650-$800 handguns it gives them pause. Rifles the magic number seems to be $600-$800.
     

    Bfish

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    13   0   0
    Feb 24, 2013
    5,801
    48
    I was at a gun store yesterday and they had to me the Holy Grail of the 1911 a SA Professional, with a rail ( I am not a fan of rails on a carry gun) instantly I was thinking to myself this sure is nice but no way I could.

    I like this topic.

    I think it's always good to think hard before making big purchases. If I'm spending that kind of money it's not an impulse buy (I can't think of any gun impulse buys I've ever had though really). There are so many things I've bought since getting into the NFA world where if I had buyers remorse I'd be a very unhappy person! But thinking about it this way, lets say I spend $4500 on guns this year. I can have several guns at lower prices or fewer "nicer" more expensive let's say guns (I maybe really want) but I spent the same money. So it's all in how you look at it. Do you want to save for 2 years to afford the decked out 1911 you want, or do you want to buy two cheaper ones over the course of those two years.

    I personally don't knock what people spend on hobbies as long as they aren't being financially irresponsible elsewhere (people close to me obviously). Where ever you want to spend your money or make sacrifices that is on you. We all have our "thing".

    A guy I know was giving me a hard time about what I had been spending on guns. I asked him what his car payment was on his Denali (it was a lot), and I pointed to my paid for toyota camry that's over 10 years old... There's my gun money I told him, just in that alone and that's without looking at your hobby money too.
    It's all in where you want to spend it. You will not see me buying salient arms glocks or rifles though. I like nice guns for sure but eventually I can't justify it. I would LOVE a Dan Wesson Discretion but at my current level of income I can't justify it for what it would be to me; a safe queen suppressor host basically. I could spend that money on a PVS-14 and a peq15 which would be even more money though and not feel remotely bad.
     

    bwframe

    Loneranger
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    93   0   0
    Feb 11, 2008
    38,170
    113
    Btown Rural
    I'd call myself frugal. I really, really like to let others pay the freight and taxes while they are breaking in my next gun. :): :ingo:
     

    ScouT6a

    Master
    Rating - 92.9%
    13   1   0
    Mar 11, 2013
    1,732
    63
    I'd say $600-800 on a handgun. Max I've spent on a rifle was $1800. Backstory. That was a custom build flintlock rifle, built by a friend. He said if he put the rifle on his table, for sale, he'd put $2,700 on it. Even though I have no intention of selling it, that made me feel better about the $1,800 price tag.
     

    oldpink

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Apr 7, 2009
    6,660
    63
    Farmland
    It all depends on how much I have set aside and can afford to plunk down, and it depends on just how desirable the specific gun is.
    The most that I have yet to spend on any gun was the $600 even (before tax) that I handed over in 1990 for a brand new Smith & Wesson 1006.
    To give some of the younger folks an idea how inflation has changed, I bought a beautiful brand new walnut stocked Ruger M77 .30-06 the previous year for $400 even before tax.
    Yes, I still have both guns, the former as my carry rig, and the latter took its first ever deer (my fourth total) last fall.
     

    croy

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    24   0   0
    Apr 22, 2012
    1,875
    48
    Indiana
    Depends. My SBR with a can is probably $4500 total as it sits.

    I don't own any full autos

    I've spent $1300 on a handgun once. Most handguns I buy are in the $400-$600 range. AR builds are usually $1000-$1500. Then I also have a Scar 17... so there's that.
     

    Birds Away

    ex CZ afficionado.
    Emeritus
    Rating - 100%
    18   0   0
    Aug 29, 2011
    76,248
    113
    Monticello
    It's funny. I won't spend $800 on a new gun but will happily spend $400 and then double that or more on aftermarket parts and gear. ;)
     

    shibumiseeker

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    49   0   0
    Nov 11, 2009
    10,707
    113
    near Bedford on a whole lot of land.
    I spent a little under ten grand on a Barrett M82A1. Not to mention optics. I'm contemplating similar on a 20mm.

    But as far as pistols go, $600-700 for anything I am going to carry or use regularly. I might go higher for a specialty weapon, but not a lot.

    For rifles other than my .50bmg addiction, $2000 is about my limit.
     
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