What is "the one that got away", the gun you got rid of but wish you didn't?

As a complement to the "dream gun" thread here: https://www.ar-15.co/threads/183891-...your-wet-dream

I would ask: What gun did you used to have and got rid of, that you wish you could have back now?

Since I asked, I'll go first: Back in the early 80's (couldn't have been later than 1984 or so) I bought a Vietnam bring-back SKS at Foothills Shooting Center at Wadsworth and Jewell (now Blue Core.)

At that time, anything in 7.62x39 was as rare as hen's teeth. The ChiCom imports of SKS's and AKs didn't start until several years later. This was fully functional, though it had a lot of wear, and had all the proper War Trophy Bringback paperwork.

I thought it was a very cool gun and probably paid close to $250 for it (roughly the same cost as a Ruger Mini-14 at that time.)

However, I found that ammo was almost impossible to come by and very expensive ($1.00/round, which sounds cheap 40 years later but back then you could buy .30-06 or .308 for about $0.40/round, brand new in the box.) So I kept it for a year or so and then traded it for a Walther P-38 with Nazi markings. The P-38 had been reblued, which pretty much destroyed any residual value, but it shot fine. A few years after that I traded/sold the P-38 for (I think) a Dan Wesson .357 Revolver (the kind with the interchangeable barrel) and a Universal Carbine.

If I had just held onto that SKS it would have been worth big $$ with the war trophy paperwork. Not only that, with cheap 7.62x39 ammo that was widely available starting in about 1988 - 89, I would have been able to shoot it, too.

(Side note: When I traded the SKS I didn't give the buyer the war trophy papers and kept them in my personal records until 3 - 4 years ago when I found them and gave them to someone on this board.)

So yeah, for me that SKS is "the one that got away." Or maybe the P-38 (although I'm not into Nazi stuff, personally, it was a historically interesting piece.)

I'll also add a note that I generally try not to get emotionally attached to "stuff." For example, rarely do I give my car or motorcycle a name. It's only "stuff" to me.

I do have 3 guns I inherited when my dad passed away in 2020, one of them is the first gun he ever had, a little JC Higgins single-shot .22 that is also the first firearm I ever shot.

But beyond that, I don't really regret selling or trading a gun, although I do generally apply a rule that if I get rid of a gun, I will almost always use the money to get another gun.

Vickers belt fed. All that remains is the stamp :(

O2

Getting a tax stamp for a MG. I never had it. Its just a pin up girl of what I desire.

There are so many I wouldn't know where to start...

I don?t generally regret moving anything along to a new owner but I had an older, blued GP-100 that was buttery smooth and a real tack driver. Probably should have held on to that one. And maybe my old Contender and all of the fun barrels that I had for it.

Every. Single. One.

Probably...

HK P7M13.

.44 Mateba. Owned 3 of them. Sold them when I needed money. I paid 850 each. Sold them for over 1k each. Now to get one you are looking in the 5k range. They were a fun revolver to shoot.

I got rid of many HK rifle collection I had since age18-20.
Decade later, I kept selling because the market was asking 2x to 4x of what I've paid for.
many of 308s had msg90 or psg1 parts I bought from CFI which I believe it was in Ft Worth TX.

Most of those funds got into many quality bolt guns.