I just buy shooters these days. I made that mistake a long time ago with a fancy grade Marlin, I'll never buy something too "nice" to use in the field.
I grossly overpaid for my first EG, but I think I did ok on the 2nd EG and my 1899A. I'll probably end up with a 4th in 25-35 or 32-40 eventually when I have the bucks, or find a cheap-ish one in 30/30 to rebarrel, and I'll be good at 4.
I wish I had bought them 20 years ago, when I was living in MN they were cheap and common in pawn shops, but at the time I never really knew much about them or had much interest.
