The gun buying process

I have been accused (and rightly so) of being pretty ADD when it comes to buying guns, mostly because there have been two or three guns in the past several years that once I bought them and shot them, I thought they were just the berries and kept them.   But there is a logical process behind it, and here’s how it works and then gets derailed.

  • Identify a need for a gun

For example, right now I’m shopping for another gun that I can shoot in Bianchi Cup production division – and this time I’m trying to constrain myself to mass market available plasticfantastic guns, like the XD(m), Glocks, and S&W M&P pistols.

  • Shop around

I go and look for guns that fit the established criteria, and do price comparison so I can ensure I’m not getting gouged on price.  This is also where the wheels can come off a little bit – in a perfect world, I’d proceed to step three.

  • Identify and purchase “best fit” gun.

Then I’d be done.  But what often happens is something else entirely.  See, for example say I was looking for a 1911 in 9mm to serve as a redundancy blaster for my Para LTC.  So I’d go beebopping off to GunBroker to compare prices on 1911s in 9mm.  Then, I’d see a 1911 in .38 Super at a great price.  All of a sudden, I’d start thinking about reasons to get a 1911 in .38 Super, which would be STUPID because it doesn’t share accessories or ammo with any of the other guns in my safe.  But, that’s how my mind works sometimes – I get easily distracted.

So I’ve added a new step to my gun buying process:

There are a couple of guys in there whose opinion on firearms I trust, because they’re generally not stupid – so when I’m having a stupid idea like buying a perfectly good 686 and having it converted to .38 Super, I just tell them and get called dumb, and then that idea is gone.

Of course, the point of all of this is to try and help out people like me.  See, my problem isn’t that I’m easily distracted when it comes to guns.  It’s that I really, really, really like guns.  And I like shooting guns, so a lot of the time I’ll buy a gun for the experience of shooting it, and then when that doesn’t turn out to be what I had hoped for, I sell it off.  However, if it is, then I keep it – reference my S&W 625 which I absolutely love.

Just remember this, fellow gunspaz sufferers. If you feel a compelling need to “stand out” from the crowd of shooters, don’t worry about your gear making you stand out. Buy a gun you like and shoot well, and then shoot it so much that it’s the quality of your shooting that makes you stand out.

This post is dedicated to pdb, who keeps me in line.

3 Comments

  1. but everyone needs atleast one 1911 in 38 super 😀 its just soo much fun to shot.

  2. If you get all butthurt by the gb_c guys making fun og you, you can give me a call and I’ll mock you instead. 🙂

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