Years ago now, I almost put a Sig 556 SWAT on layaway. Ended up deciding against it.
Honestly I stopped paying attention to the 556 series not long after so aside from Sig’s QC issues, I dunno if they were ever really a bad gun, but I did get the impression they were at least underwhelming.
Back before I owned any ARs I also once almost ordered a Bushmaster M4gery. I had had a Vector Arms underfolding AK on order for months from them but had gotten sick of waiting and was going to cancel the order and get the Bushmaster instead, however at like the last minute Vector suddenly shipped the underfolder, which I still have.
There’s actually a much longer list of guns I almost bought, and later regretted not buying them. Such as $265 German Sig P225s.
I almost went down the AK path. I’m glad I didn’t. The more I shoot friends AK’s the more I love my AR’s.
Before i knew better I almost bought a Rock island 1911 from my cousin who swore by them. I shot it and it FtF’d and FTe’d a few times and said, no thanks. Cheap 1911’s are just good looking Expensive paperweights.
That mini 14 almost got me at the gun show. Walked by it and handled it a few times. Glad it didn’t feel right to me.
There are more. I’m glad that I take my time and don’t just impulse buy. I’d have a lot of junk.
Before I was really into guns both on a professional level and for recreational reasons, I was almost successful in avoiding a lot of pitfalls in firearms. That being said Ive shared my bad experiences in owning a Mini30, FNP-45, off brand ARs and a SKS that was tinkered with by a previous owner waaaayy to many times. There are some others also that bite me in the ass so to speak. The ones I luckily avoided were a Charter Arms in 44 that a guy at my range was selling for a steal which I passed on.My reasoning was Ive “never heard of Charter Arms, S&W yes, Colt yes, Charter a big fat no!” It came apart in the new owners hands luckily, not injuring him. A NIB Tec-9 for rap videos yo…PASS. A Hess HK91 copy(?) that looked like a monument to aluminum cans. While waiting and saving for DSA FAL, an Enterprise FAL came up with low round count. A buddy bought it and literally had to rebuild the thing from the bottom up to get it to work correctly. Olympic Arms PCC in 9mm with these super funky mags, not the Sten ones. A lever action (forget which make) that was mint on the right side but a bucket o rust on the left side…real cheap, PASS as you could push in on receiver side with a finger. A multitude of the WSM/ WSSM chambered bolt guns from 90’s that have been offered up for cheap.
I remember those! I too almost fell for it. It came out at a time when Factory New Steyr AUGs were vaporware and empty promises.
So glad I held out.
You can add Tavors to that as well. I remember that one Rainbow Six game for the original Xbox and it was like “the gun” and all those pictures of IDF girls posing stoically with wind blowing through their hair were floating around. Then Resident Evil Apocalypse came out and the Umbrella guys had them. It seemed like the ultimate rifle.
Then I held one and it just felt icksome. It felt like physical nope.
Still…I sometimes sort of want a Galil ACE 556…sort of. Kinda. yeah
Went to a gun show today. Very nearly bought a Beretta M9a1 compact, and a 92 compact. Good prices on them. But in the process, I walked past two M240 grip/trigger assembly’s in original USGI packaging. As in probably not procured legally. Also several stripped uppers in the same type of packaging. And then, there was a guy selling “solvent traps”, which were threaded tubes with baffles that had no central hole yet, or which accepted fuel filters.
After someone offered me a RPK 74 mag for $120, I was done.
Talked to Pete Athens at Shot Show that year and was ready to roll. Then he called me personally to let me know about many of the production changes that happened at MSAR and that he was no longer involved in the project. I was able to get some of the first “production” rifles (after the Beta test “collector edition”) and even though they were rifles built when Athens still was affiliated with MSAR they were quite a disappointment in terms of accuracy compared to my A1s.
I was fortunately able to sell them before the reputation of MSAR rifles really took a hit and the values dropped out the bottom and later snagged an AUG A3.
God, I grabbed one of those when they were like $599 from Classic Arms and it was a horrid POS. Did everything I could to make it run but the fatal flaw was the receiver itself with those crappy feed lips. Tried in vain to sell it for $599 without success. Finally chopped the receiver and sold the Steyr “parts kit” for $750.
I was all excited about 20 years ago to get an HK clone, with a rail on the top instead of having to mess with the claw mount.
It was the FA aluminum receiver one. The charging hand would bind up. It seemed to be loosening in other places. I don’t think I went over 1000 rounds with it. I trashed the receiver and used it as a parts kit on a PTR receiver.
I also saw a couple of Henry survival pistols for sale. Basically a pistol version of the AR7. I am a sucker for pistol rifle combos. For the love of god now though, I can’t come up with a single reason why I had to have some cartoonish, oversized Han Solo looking pistol with typical AR 7 reliability.
I don’t learn though.
Oh look, an enforcer m1 Carbine type pistol, I should get that.
In 1997 I was saving every dollar I could scrounge up for a pre-order deposit on a Todd Bailey Special Weapons SW-3 HK-91 clone. After about 3 months of saving I discovered the relatively dirt cheap (At the time) hobby of FAL kit building and never looked back.
