Genuine Question,

[Lakey]

This year people have done a lot of reflecting on life, as a result of the virus and how it has changed our daily lives, so here is a question.

This is prompted by me reflecting on all the wonderful guns that I have passed up on throughout my collecting career, due to a fundamental lack of cash.

So here is the question. Would unlimited financial resources hinder or help your collecting career ?

My thoughts are as follows - Yes - initially of course it would help on the pure issue of buying more guns. But if those guns came too easily, without effort - would you enjoy them so much? To me, part of the joy of collecting, is the dreaming, the desire, the thrill of the hunt, the longing to get that particularly rare model, that has always been just out of reach. The sleeping, living, breathing the thought's of someday laying your hands on the prize etc etc.

If you had endless money to chuck at the hobby, all of those things and loads more would cease to be an issue, you could just outbid everyone and get what ever you wanted, as soon as you wanted it. Surely that would remove so much of the fun out of the hobby, and it would stop being a pleasure ?

Guess we can all dream, but I would be interested in hearing your views.

Cheers

Lakey

[cinedux]

I've always had a 'gun account'(as many do) but I don't want anything that much that I'd 'do the farm ' on it!
Right now.I see NZers payng over a thousand dollars for Zinc CO2 pistols by Crosman and Umarex. Doubt they are wise purchases.......

[Benelli B76]

I've always had a 'gun account'(as many do) but I don't want anything that much that I'd 'do the farm ' on it!
Right now.I see NZers payng over a thousand dollars for Zinc CO2 pistols by Crosman and Umarex. Doubt they are wise purchases.......

I don't mind buying Zinc alloy (Zamak, "Mazak"), a lot of the good old pistols are made from this material, Crosman 600, 677, 451 etc, Schimel, and a lot of others.
This is the material that has to be used as machined steel is not cost efficient for making air pistols due to complexity of shape.
Look at the all steel Inokatsu CO2 1911 at around £700, zinc model £100.

[IMG][/IMG]

[walnutfarmmick]

To sum up - A man's reach should exceed his grasp.

Thankfully I realised that a long time ago ( Thanks, Mum and Dad ) to the point where more than one person has said ' A lottery win would be wasted on you! ' That was never going to happen because I've never bought a ticket, honestly, for fear of losing job satisfaction. It's a matter of concern that, subject to Boris getting/not getting a deal my cattle truck driving may end abruptly, and that's at 74.

I know a lot wouldn't agree with me and that's their privilege.

ATB, Mick

[micky2]

I sometimes think that l had loads of money to buy what ever gun l wanted. but then l come back to realty, and think well l really wouldn't not get any satisfaction out that at all. so l am quite happy with my small budget trying to find guns at the right price or even a bargain one now and again.

[guitardan]

I place a big difference between having enough money to buy what you want, and wasting money on things that are overpriced. However, value is a tricky thing, and if you want something really bad, then it may have a greater value to you than someone else.
But anyway, if anyone has so much money that it is spoiling your hunt for collectable guns, I'll take the money off yer hands to stop you stressing...

[slug-gun]

It seems to me that the fundamental question being asked here is; would winning/acquiring/receiving vast wealth make you happier? For many people, if not the majority, I think the answer is probably not.

Imagine a huge lottery win of say £10,000,000 - the sheer enormity of merely administering that amount of money? Just the aggravation in finding 'financial 'advisors' you could trust to 'advise'?
Who to tell, if anyone. Who to give money to and who not to? Dealing with the potential resentment from family and friends if your good fortune became public knowledge? And so on. The list of potential difficulties would be endless - and so would the stress I suggest.

Then to bring it down to the collecting of airguns. Perhaps knowing you had funds to buy anything at all, would make you dissatisfied with your modest collection of Gats . You may decide that since you can now afford cased Purdey shotguns, then that is what you should buy. But having bought half a dozen you might find that although exquisite they do not actually 'do it' for you. Would you then become dissatisfied. So what would you do next?

Probably the happy medium is best. The pleasure in finding that elusive piece at the right price is hard to beat, but having the resources to sometimes 'go out on a limb' for that special item,is also good to have.
Having bought it, and then deciding if you do actually like it as much as you thought you would, and then what to do with it thereafter, is of course the most personal decision of all? It is why collectors of all persuasions are all a bit mad really!

[cinedux]

I don't mind buying Zinc alloy (Zamak, "Mazak"), a lot of the good old pistols are made from this material, Crosman 600, 677, 451 etc, Schimel, and a lot of others.
This is the material that has to be used as machined steel is not cost efficient for making air pistols due to complexity of shape.
Look at the all steel Inokatsu CO2 1911 at around £700, zinc model £100.

[IMG][/IMG]

I've my share of old alloy pistols.I just balk at say Walther PPK's-a year ago at around $300 now selling at a thou because they are prohibited imports

[ggggr]

Like a few others in this section, I dont consider myself a collector, but I like to tinker.
I suppose in any form of collecting, there are people with money who will just outbid everyone. There are people on here who will pay quite a lot of money when something really collectable comes up as money doesnt seem to be a problem. If you have the money it doesnt really matter. If they put the minimum price of a unit of booze up or the price of petrol, it doesnt really matter to people who are wadded. I heard of one bloke on here years ago who was wadded and I think the thrill he got was getting the most money he could for anything he sold, whether it was a complete gun or spares. Also there was someone who seemed to get the thrill of buying stuff at car boot sales and then telling people the bits were not obtainable and how much the gun would be worth broken on the bay of evil.

If I had plenty of dosh, there are a few guns i would try to buy because I'd like to see if i liked then or not. There are a few others that I'd probably buy (maybe like the Acvoke ,Thunderbolt or Hubertus) that I am pretty sure i wouldnt like, but if you sold them on and lost a few quid it wouldnt matter.

I've never been able to justify getting an LP53, but Id love to pick up a cheapo Predom Lucznik.
A few of those Webley copies would be looked for or try to prise (or price?) them out of CCDJG's hands

Rifle wise, I'd like to get a few pre war rifles and a couple of the bolt action ones to try.

I think where it might make a difference to me is when you buy something that is rough and you know it can cost a lot of money to get it sorted and it is just not worth it. Well it is nice to get them going and it would be nice to be able to pass on the odd thing to other people who are interested and not be too bothered about being out of pocket.

Someone on here the other year (Shootfish?) had a Pre war Webley Junior with a screw at the side of the frame. Something like that is what interests me from the hobby and tinkering point of view rather than out and out collecting. I'd rather leave the mint condition stuff to the serious collectors with the white cotton gloves

[keith66]

Over the years i have acquired a lot of air rifles & disposed of a lot of them. All had some downside or another which as i was primarily a shooter rather than collector made me lose interest.
The mint Sharp ace i had, trigger like a rusty bear trap, lost intest & sold it, no regret, would i buy another? No way.
I tend to get attached to certain rifles on account of great shots i have done with them. My old Mk3 Webley is one such, great hunts & scores of rabbits, squizzers & pigeons.
Two Imp mod D Bsa's one very battered whose barrel is so worn out it shoots patterns rather than groups but no way will i ever sell it.
Its very good condition mate that is a first class shooter ditto.
A friend is an obsessive collector who simply has to have what he wants. Then puts it away never to be looked at again. He now has so many I wonder if he actually knows what he has any more.

I know another bloke who does the same with wooden boats, he buys the dream but then doesnt look after them but cannot bear to part with any of them, result is he has a large collection of derelict wrecks disintegrating all over southern england, all were beautiful craft in their day but are now mostly so far gone that they will end up being scrapped. Whats the point of that?

[Buck25]

Part of the thrill of collecting is the chase. As I said in another post, it took my father and I 50 years to finally acquire a Haviland & Gunn parlor rifle. Another time my Dad found a rare Quackenbush No. 8 air rifle which the gentleman was willing to trade away. Every time we got what he wanted, he changed his mind and would never put a price on it. Fast forward 15 years, one day I stopped by to see the gentleman about the Quackenbush. He was glad to know I was still interested and even put a price on the piece. Thought I could negotiate him down on the price but he figured I couldn't come close to his price. I reached in my pocket and pulled out an envelope with the exact amount that he had asked for the piece. A look of astonishment on his face but gladly handed it over. After 15 years of grief it was finally in our possession. My Dad was elated with the purchase. Though our interest in the piece had diminished my Dad & I knew of a collector who we had promised it too, should we ever acquire the piece. Two weeks later in was in another collection and I was able to trade for a few items that had been on my want list for better than 15 years.

I believe that working for an item is far more pleasing than just having an endless supply of money. Would I like to win the Lottery, sure it would be nice but the enjoyment just wouldn't be there. Regarding the Lottery, yes I did win big time but not monetarily - I have a wonderful wife who puts up with my collecting, two loving children and seven grandchildren, who could ask for more.

[Geezer]

I think you’ve hit a nail on the head.

I don’t think of myself as a proper collector, but I get the collecting bug. As in, if someone offered me a Theoben SLR88UC at a good price, one of my kidneys would be heading to China to pay for it. Probably. Maybe.

The psychological problem with the whole collecting thing is that the search, chase, and acquisition ends up being more fulfilling than the actual owning. Once you own, despite the pleasure of ownership, your mind shifts to finding and getting the next thing that you don’t own but want. You’ve probably found that in your own collecting.

When/if the bank account isn’t an issue (and setting aside other priorities - eg a nicer house, a Ferrari, a Patek Phillipe, a cellar of Chateau Lafite, a yacht or helicopter, a Picasso, a signed first edition James Joyce, or a much younger wife with great tits), are you just able to buy whatever you wanted, or does what you want change according to your resources?

Or to put it another way, as a normal person do you own a rough Triumph Spitfire or MGB, and aspire to own an OK Austin-Healey, but when you win the lottery do you then buy ten Aston Martins? And are you actually any happier as a result?

Maybe like the ex-Mrs Bezos (Amazon) you might better give a load of it to charity?

[where's it gone]

......a wife with great tits......

It's this area I've gave years of intense care and attention, but alas, didn't with the rest of the body. But as apparently that say up north, 'it'll do'.