We've all done it. Sold a rifle and kicked ourselves later for having done so. Putting this in classifieds in hopes that it may return one day! Feel free to share and commiserate.

ULA 284 Winchester 22" stainless, Mel's tiger stripe. Boringly accurate as most of his pieces are.
Colt Light Rifle conversion 300 win. Chrome Molly. Fern leaf. Fast twist for 200+ bullets.

I bought a heavily customized #3 45-70 at a local show once. Took it hunting on a 10 day out of town trip.
Before going I listen it on GunBroker to establish a value, for double what I paid.
Killed a very nice buck, but, when I got back saw that it had actually sold.
I contacted the buyer and explained to him that I didn't intend to sell it but that I would honor the auction.
Gentleman was in his late 70s and we made an agreement that he would put a letter in his gun safe stating the rifle was to be sold back me for the original full amount.
A decade later I saw the gun for sale, again on GunBroker.
I contacted the seller who happened to be a dealer working on behalf of the estate who put me into contact with the family attorney.
When I asked about the letter he said he absolutely knew what I was referring to a that he read it and disposed of it. That it had no legal binding power regardless of the old man's wishes. That I could bid on it if I wanted it.
I bought the rifle for $600 and it did sell on GunBroker at $1900.

80s Rem 700 BDL 6mm Remington. Shot 2” 300 yards groups with factory 100gr. Corelokts.

I traded it like a dumb-ass.

Let’s see…
several Ruger number 1a 7x57’s and .243’s
Marlin 336, 35 Remington
Remington model 700 guide gun 7 mm 08
Tang safety Ruger ultralight’s in. 270
Tang safety RSI Ruger. 308
Winchester 32 special
Marlin Lever action 44 mag
Tikka T3 6.5 X 55

But the one I really like to have back is my New England firearms 22 hornet. I got it as a Christmas gift at eight years old, 12 years later had a falling out with my father who decided to give that one away to a cousin. Said cousin says he still has it but will not relinquish.

So if any of you kind folks want to sell back some of those guns listed above, I am All ears!

Remington 1100 12 ga. Shouldered well and nice carry for upland birds.

Browning 1885 high wall custom barreled in 7 STW, sold it as it kicked like a mule, if I only knew then what I know now

Colt Diamondback, .38 special, 4" bbl, mint; Ruger .44 carbine; Colt Trooper, 6" Sadly, in looking back, it's the famous last words, "seemed like a good idea at the time"!

I had a custom Siamese Mauser in 45-70 that I badly miss.

This thread upsets me. For you guys.

An old man once told me to never ever sell a gun you bought for some reason or another.

I took his advise.

I’ll take the 284......












Lol

“I have never been taken with the idea of selling a gun. When you possess a firearm, you possess something of importance. If you trade it for cash, you have lost it - and the cash in your hand will soon be gone. Sell something else!” Jeff Cooper

Wise words.....

S&W model 15 combat Master piece 8 3/8 Barrel
Sounds silly but one of the first Glock 17s to come into the US

Hank

My custom Remington 700 .280ai in a faux Ti. Traded it for a riding lawn mower....

At least I never got rid of my 7mm-08 in the same setup....

I long ago resolved to never sell two things: guns and rural land. Have been successful on both accounts. My dad lost most of his guns to a thief when I was 11. Pre-64 model 88 308 and a pre-64 94 in 30-30 where the biggest loses and I still lust after those when I see them on the legs rack ( much rarer these days than in past years.

Mine would be a Ruger Redhawk I bought when they first came out in 1979. A custom 375HH built on a Mauser action with a early zeiss scope/QD mounts. A Styer 308, and a Sako 308. Sold them all about 30 years ago.

A over and under muzzle loader a 45 on top and a 16 gauge on the bottom. I was all original, and I gave it to my brother. We don’t speak anymore. I bet that gun had some story’s to tell!

Dakota 22lr. Gorgeous wood. Just couldn't get the dang thing to shoot as well as my Remingtons and Winchesters. Traded it for cash and a Browning 52.

They're only things......

Ruger tanger in .358 Win.
S&W Model 66-4 4" barrel.
...and most of all, my first deer rifle that I bought with my own money: Remington 760 in .30-06. Bought it in "like new" condition in 1969 or '70 for $70. Sold it to my brother a few years later when my parents informed me that I needed to pay my own annual car insurance premium.

There have been a bunch, but these four come to mind;
1 - A pre -64 model 70 Featherweight in 358 Win.
2 - A pre- 64 model 70 Super Grade in 257 Roberts
3 - A Colt light rifle that I bought as a 270 and had Melvin convert to a 7x57. I DID get this one back!
4 - A Remington 700 in 338 Win Mag that made two trips to Africa with me. I have a room full of trophies on my wall and that rifle should be there, as well, but it went down the road in 2016.
donsm70

To many to mention.

To those that have and do, a sincere thank you.

I hate thinking about some of them. Three in particular come to mind but there are quite a few more.

Colt Python
Shiloh Sharps .45-70
Merkel 147 side by side 16 bore.

The first 700 Classic I bought in 7/08 wouldn't chamber reloads buddy of mine told me remington wouldn't fix the headspacing issue then after it didn't chamber a few Winchester combined technology factory rounds I sent it down the road. At the time I was adamant about reloading for all my guns. Then picked up a ruger compact 260. Sold that too but buddy got hard up for money and sold it back to me. Years later the buddy asked me what happened to the 7mm/08 saying he would have sent it back to remington. Other than that 3 S&W 357s figuering they were like [bleep] everyone had one and could get another cheap. I kick myself the most over the 586.

This could take a while. Few of the highlights though.
Smith and Wesson 4" Mountain gun 629
Ruger 77 heavy barrel 25-06 tang safety , one of the most accurate factory guns I've shot.
Ruger Red Label 12 gauge O/U
Glock 17 Gen 1 that someone offered a crazy amount of money for and i sold it.
Early 1895 Marlin Guide Gun in 45/70 and outfitter in 444
1100 in 410
Winchester 42 skeet

My first ever No 1...a 45-70 I bought in 1974

A 5" nickel Smith M27

Gold Cup

All three of those had been purchased by me, shot a bunch, and sold...before I was 19 years old.

I have been a dumbass for a long time!

Savage 99 in 303. It was my dads rifle. I was young dumb and needed money. Someone cut the stock and put a recoil pad on it before my dad got it.
All so my dads old Remington 121 pump. Shot a lot of squirrel with that rifle. And my trap line gun. Another young and dumb move.
And an older Bushmaster varmint model that shot pretty good.
Handguns, I had a Ruger Redhawk 7.5” with a Burris 2x scope, nice shooter.

Bought a Ruger M77 in the skeleton stock 7mm Mag. Hunted with it in the fall, took a buck then bought a Ruger M77 walnut stock for it. Swapped out the stocks. Hunted with that gun for the next 14 years till I got tired of lugging it around in the woods I hunt. Sold it for $475 and used the money to get a Remington Ti in .260.

To this day I really miss that Ruger, good shooter and it was comfortable to shoot. Don’t ask what I did with that skeleton stock.

Only 2 I regretted selling later were a Kimber .22 Hornet and a custom lightweight 7mm-08 built by Gordy Gritters. Not sure what I was thinking on either one, LOL!

My ‘79 Dan Wesson in 22lr with 6” barrel.
My ‘89 Ruger Mark II 6 7/8” government target
A Savage striker in 7-08
And a Ruger M77/17 HMR

Only one for me and its a bad one. 3030 jm marlin that i bought when i turned 18. We were poor as hell growing up so it took until then for me to get my own rifle. Not only was it my first rifle, its the gun i killed my first doe and buck with. Traded it at a gun shop on a 3006 rem 7600. Was young and dumb. Made an attempt to find it. Offered the gun store owner $500 just to let me know who bought it years prior. He kept records for many years. He refused so my search ended there. Was pioneer gun shop in juniata, pa. Would give a nut to have that gun back

Mannlicher-Schoenauer M1952 .257 Roberts.

This time last year I sold "Marine Sniper" over on LRH a highly customized 5 lb 2 oz Remington Model Seven in 6.5x284 Norma. Started regretting it the day I dropped it at FedEx, and it kept nagging at me. There is a happy ending though. I talked him into selling it back to me a few weeks ago, and he sold it back at the same price he paid for it. It's happily back in the safe and I'm happy!

Keith

16 years ago I had a Colt Stainless 6” Anaconda ANIB on layaway for $650 and had to get my money back to buy a wheel and tire on an old POS I was driving. The woes of having no money at the time!

A 303 Savage 99 eg, one of not very many sold, checkered, and at the time the 99 gurus on here we're gushing over it, I would pay the moon to have that back

Ruger Hawkeye All-Weather .223
I would like to find another one or the Hawkeye Predator in .223

I’ve sold several rifles 20+ and pistols 1-2. Always kept my “gift” guns and gotta haves. Never sold a gun I really regretted yet. I always figured if I was not using them I had no need for them.

Plus if I wanted another one day it could be easily replaced with a little coin and looking.

However, thinking more about it I wish I would have hung on to several until now just to sell and quadruple my money!

Buy, sell, trade, and hunt em boys. Safe queens are only good for two things, collecting dust and being peddled down the road once you taste dirt.

You really had to create this thread...

Mine are:
Colt Python royal blue
Sako 75 stainless in .308 just over 1" at 200 yards and may be my worst rifle decision
Rem 700 KS stainless in 7mm Rem Mag

Ruger 96/44
Dan Wesson 15-2 8” .357 Smooth as glass and great hunting pistol.

A 4" S&W 681 that seemed to shoot everything to POA at 25 yards. No special reason to sell it either. Dummy.

A USFA 45 Colt, a super clean 1st Gen SAA 45 made in 1928, a DA Lightning, a clean Commercial 1911 made in the spring of 1919, and a factory SAO Smith 14 target, all back when I bought my first house.
Can't truly regret them under the circumstances, but boy I'd really like to have the USFA, SAA & 1911 back!

But the biggest one by far was selling my Grandfathers single shot 12ga. When I was 16 or so, one of my uncles talked me into selling it and getting a pump to hunt with.
That mistake has been burned into me - I'll never think that way again.

When did you sell the Tikka 6.5x55 approximately? I bought mine used but don't remember through which channels (but know it wasn't face to face). Unfortunately, it's one of my favorites so it's not going anywhere.

Older Remington BDL 30-06, (maybe 1967?) that was a real beauty. Got it on GunBroker for like $425, some pawn shop didn’t realize what they had I guess.

I’m a recoil pansy so I sold it for roughly $575. Maybe a few months later I saw it resell for like $800.

just a guess but probably 6-7 years back. you change your mind on it, keep me in the loop ;

I just remembered the “one”. I sold it to a member here. A Ruger No. 1 stainless 7.62x39.

No regrets,
They are just guns.

I'm fairly confident I bought mine in the fall of 2013. I've shot it a decent amount but only shot one antelope with it but decided recently it's going hunting next year here in WY.

I'm betting that if that old fellow had written a letter claiming that you owed him money, that lawyer would have said that it was "legally binding". I don't trust a damn lawyer any further than I can throw them.

My first shotgun, sold to upgrade to something better; Ithaca 20 gauge model 66 Super Single.
Two in particular when I was in my late teens:
S&W model 36 snubbie in mint condition, sold "because it wasn't accurate". Correction; *I* wasn't accurate.
12 gauge Remington 1100 Mag, sold "because it wouldn't cycle field loads and didn't have screw in chokes".

In my early 20's, and this one still hurts; pre-safety Marlin 336T "Texan", sold because "now that I live where we can't use rifles for deer, this stereo equipment will be much more useful".

Now that I'm older and more mature <cough, cough> I don't sell a gun unless it's something that I specifically dislike or at least is particularly non-special and highly unlikely to be of much value or use to me in the future.

when I was in my early 20s I sold a sporterised Springfield Model 1903A3 it was nice shot like a house on fire. It had a fixed 4x that adjusted from the mount with friction with a dot reticle, The sad part was I let it get away twice, 8yrs later it was in the same pawn shop I sold it at, and I bought it again, then needed money so I sold it again. I sold it twice, thats really the only one I really think about all the time, man would it shoot!!!

I can count the guns I sold on one hand and don't regret any of them.

An SKS, a crappy shooting Taurus PT100 40S&W, a Russian Mak in .380. Thats it.

My sons get my collection when I pass, so I'm sorta buying stuff in two's now.
2 Marlin 94's in 44 mag.
2 Ruger 44 mag Carbines
2 Colt LE6920s
2 Colt 1903
etc etc.

for what its worth

I like the way you roll

Hank

Sako AII 22-250 with fiddleback in the wood and 1/2" groups with 50 grain Nosler Ballistic tips

The gun I shot my first deer with - a Remington 700 ADL in 270. Got it for my Christmas/eleventh birthday but being a looney with no money and not very bright had to trade it for “better” - several hundred hunting rifles later I realize it was all I ever needed (as I said not too bright) but did learn not to part with any so now I keep them all🥴.

PennDog

did very similar with a 700 ADL in 06 sold it bought a boat paddle Ruger 06 I still have it
but when I got in a position I bough 4 similar 06s and a beautiful 243 700ADL

Hank

Rem 572 BDL

Ruger 77 tang safety RL 243

Not buying more Fieldcrafts from Whittakers on closeout prices

Rem 700 BDL enhanced 223 (walnut/blue)

And more......

Winchester 94 trapper in 44 mag

M77 in 7x57. Got a nice deal here on the fire and stupidly sold it assuming I'd find another in the same price range. I didn't/haven't and almost certainly won't. 😔 My own dumb fault.

No regrets selling any guns other then losing money a couple times. The good ones even can be sold at the right price. They all can be replaced

If you could help replace my Springfield I would give a finders fee

Kind of a dick move on your cousin's part...

More of a dick part on his fathers part IMO

drover

really it would be unusual for that side of the family to not be dicks...;)

longshot

that 308 montana you sold me is turning into a gem now that's shes a 6br

of the half dozen 84m's i've owned and sold this ones the keeper.

only rifle i shouldn't have sold was none of them. wouldn't mind that safe full of collectibles that got stolen.

I've bought and sold a bunch through the years. The one I wish I still had would be a 7mm-08 Mnt rifle, which was the first rifle I bought myself when I was out of school and working. I came home from a cold snowy day of deer hunting and leaned it up against the couch to thaw out while I took a shower. When I came out I found my retriever pup had shredded the walnut stock! It made me sick and I ended up traded it away.
All the others through the years have just been guns, but that one was special.

Rem 878 12 ga
Rem 788 243 win
Browning BLR 308 win
Sav 99 284 win
Sav 24B 22/410

There are others but these come to mind, I didn't have a lot of money so I traded to get something else that struck my fantasy.

Vortex double trigger and 270 winchester. Bought it while I was stationed in Germany in the 90s. stupid decision to sell it

Don't disagree! But the cousin is the one who can fix it now.

The first handgun I bought was a 6" Colt Python for $459 at the original Dick's Sporting Goods store in Binghamton. I decided I needed a 44 magnum so I sold it to a friend. In hindsight, I should have just saved my money and I could have had both. (Stupid kid)
When I was about 19 my neighbor's wife passed away. Old German lady, she was a hunter, fisherman etc. I had just started deer hunting the year before so her husband called me & asked me to come over. We had never been allowed to even walk on the sidewalk in front of their house without getting yelled at so I was a little apprehensive to say the least. Anyway, he has a 6 gun cabinet in the front room and offered me all the guns and the cabinet for $200.
200 DOLLARS!
I had never had that much money i my life so I passed. I can only imagine what was in there. Old Winchesters, Parkers? I still kick my own butt over that deal.

I've sold a handful of guns, and only regretted one.

It was an H&R Ultra Rifle Model 300 with the L579 Sako action and wearing a Chick Donnelly .284 winchester barrel. Absolutely gorgeous rifle, shot great, but as a younger man my logic was a bit skewed. I didn't like that I couldn't buy factory ammo, and it had a fairly short chamber so I could only load mid-power rounds, so I ended up selling it here on the fire actually (for far too cheap... I think I got $650 for the whole setup including brass and dies). I believe it went to a gentleman for his grandson, so I hope that rifle is taking whitetail on the regular these days.

https://imgur.com/a/teQiy

Beretta model 70. First pistol I ever bought. Miss it still.

The only ones that got away are ones I did not have the money for when they were for sale.

I was at a gun auction about 1996 and there were two factory engraved 6” Colt Pythons in wood display boxes with factory certificates. One Royal blue and the other Stainless. I think one sold for $700 & the other $800. I had $500 in my pocket.

Not a rifle but a shotgun, Baserri Mari HR O/U.

TC White Mountain Carbine 50 cal- Dad gave it to me for Christmas when I was about 14
Ruger 77/22 Hornet- it was in a Fajen laminate thumbhole stock, shot wonderfully, killed my first called in predators with it (gray fox)
Marlin 357 pre safety
Winchester 94 44mag trapper
Ruger Mark II 223 Target
Ruger Mark II 223 Standard
Franchi I12 12 ga auto
Browning Hi-power
Bushnell Elite 3200 4-12x40 AO

Why I don't typically go to gun shows without at least $1K in my pocket.

Well, that, and I typically don't go to gun shows much anymore.

1957 Marlin 336, .35 Rem. Fajen Stock, (Factory gorgeous wood!) Leupold 1-6x24 Hog Scope. Bought it here on the Fire about 7 yrs. ago, sold it like a dummy so I could finish remodeling a house.

I don’t regret parting with any. They were all sold to upgrade or reinvest into another firearm I preferred more - but I wouldn’t mind having some of these back…

Winchester 1886 lightweight takedown 45/70 in 95% condition
Winchester combination 30/06 over 12ga unfired in luggage case
S&W 29-2 with 3/4 coverage factory lettered engraving
NIB Ruger 77RLS ultralight in 7mm/08 w/ factory laminate stock
Colt lightning 22lr
Browning micro-medallion in 284
Sako Finnbear deluxe in 25/06 w/ remarkable Circassian walnut
Bergman Bayard M1910 (Danish contract) in 98% condition
Mannlicher schoenauer 1952 in 308 and another in 257 rbts
Savage 99K 300 in high original condition
Early Remington Seven 260 bought new w/ lawn mowing money when I was 14

The list is significantly longer - but I’ve sulked enough for now, ha!