I loved cap guns at 5 and eventually moved up to a Stallion 38.
Did not start collecting guns really fast until age 40.
I would read on line about Leupold scopes, but they seemed too expensive.
But eventually I have found not to buy cheap:
guns
scopes
ammo
brass
bullets
powder
mounts
stocks
barrels
binoculars
GPS
range finders
shoes
clothes
vehicles
buildings
bipods
slings
recoil pads
But the most important, is no cheap scopes.
15 years ago, Ken Marsh had a web page called the "cheap scope page"
In there was a question, "What to do with a cheap scope?"
One of the many answers was, "give it to someone you don't like."
There are still traces of usenet
http://www.recguns.com/Sources/VIIIB3.html