Cheapest handgun you purchased?

[SaxonPig]

I've been buying guns since 1968 so naturally I bought a lot of used handguns in the late 1960s and 1970s at what would NOW be considered bargain basement prices. Sadly, all were sold, traded or given away years ago.

Of the pistols I still have in my possession, a few were acquired at bargain prices.

About 10 years ago I bought a 4" USN Victory Model at a local pawnshop. It was priced at $100 due to a bulged barrel. I told the shop owner that it likely would not sell due to the damage and he invited me to make an offer. I blurted out $60 and he accepted. Dammit. Didn't really want anoither project. I found a 5" barrel on ebay for $5 and swapped it myself so I have a total of $65 (and a couple hours of labor) invested.





Maybe 5 years ago I saw this Model 14-3 on Gunbroker with a $100 starting price. I bid and nobody else did. Has finish issues but tell me you wouldn't have bought it for a C note.





$100 because action was frozen. I figured it was just hardened grease and I was right. After flushing with solvent it worked fine. I load the 38 S&W and this is a hoot to shoot.

[Rumpelhardt]

**

[nstoolman1]

1978 I paid $250 for a blued '61 Colt Python 6" barrel. Got 250 rounds with it also. Still have it.

[TheNev]

$170 for a rough, but functional and very accurate CZ-70 a few years ago at a gun show.

[Stevie-Ray]

RUGER STANDARD 6" 22LR AUTOLOADING PISTOL; $37.50 Aug'62. Brand New.

Price had zoomed to $92, 17 years later when I bought mine. It remains my most inexpensive.

[tdrizzle]

Like a lot of people, I got a Raven .35 for $50.00. From my brother, who inherited it when dad died and didn't want it any longer. Good little shooter, lives in my medicine cabinet.

Otherwise, a Ruger MkII Target for $125.00. My first gun. I still have it, twenty odd years later.

There's also the Marlin Papoose I bought for $80.00. I got it after I watched the gun store owner pay a guy $40.00 for it. I waited until he left the store, then asked if the gun store owner if he'd like to double his money. He said yes, and he appreciated how I'd done so, not overbidding him in his own store. Good manners sometimes have their reward.

[FM12]

#1. Ruger std 22, $30 in 1970. #2 A sterling .22 AUTO for $55.00 in 1973.

[militant]

I paid 80.00 for a Rough Rider .22lr revolver in 07.

[Niner4Tango]

In real dollars, this P6. Runs like a, well, like a SIG.

[m&p45acp10+1]

This one was $60 a couple of months ago. Came with half a box of ammo, and the brass from the fired rounds. 1895 Ngant revolver.



I have Jennings J-22 that was given to me in a tackle box full of lures. When I tried to give it back he told me to "keep the darn thing". The J-22 is gaurenteed to jam at least once per magazine.

[Bluestarlizzard]

Dad runs into the "hey, you're into guns, right?" deals fairly often.
I think the best so far was $90 for a mystery revolver from a guy he worked with.

It was a S&W M-19 in pretty good condition, only a little holster wear. Dad gave it too me, and I still have it.

[pete2]

High Standard Sentinel, new in the box, 39.95. It was a few years back, a few years later I bought a S&W model 15 for 80.00 new in the box.

[sigpro2022]

Beretta Jetfire 950 .25cal. Paid $40.

[HawkeyeNRAlifer]

I've bought a lot of guns since the 70's but the cheapest was a Jennings .22 for around $55 new. There was also a used Raven .25 for about $30. There's been quite a few $100 guns in my life, the CZ52 and Norinco Tok being some of the better built ones.

[mattL46]

330$ for a S&W M65 traded...the nest one 4-5 years later was 500!!

[Northrider]

The least expensive handgun I purchased was a Browning Buckmark .22 in the late 80's. it still works well and is accurate. I always use it first at the range.
Paid about $139 and change.

[schleeb]

Went into the local gun shop to buy my son his first handgun. They had a bunch of CZ-52's on display that looked like they'd been drug through the mud. Basically junk... along with matching junk holsters.

So I asked the guy if he had any decent ones... he said he had a whole pallet full of them but the best he could do is grab three of them and give me choice of the three. I said sure, why not.

He brought back three holstered CZs. Started pulling them out and one of them was absolutely mint. So I told him I wanted that one and that it was for my son's first gun. He replied, well in that case we can't put that nice a gun in a crappy holster, so he went back and grabbed a basically new looking holster for it. Total cost $125. Granted it was 20 yrs ago. My son still has the gun and I've never seen a better specimen.

But wait... that's not the best deal on a gun that I've ever gotten. My mother went to an estate sale in St. Paul, Minn. that was next door to my brother's house. The old guy had passed at 93 and they were selling his belongings. My mother bought an old style console radio for $50 and when she took it home and started cleaning it she said there was a dishcloth rolled up and stuffed back inside the radio. It was all discolored and yellowed. She pulled it out and it was wrapped around a 1929 .38 cal. Colt Police Special, 5" barrel. Serial number says it was built in early 1929. She couldn't wait to get rid of it, so I volunteered to take it off her hands. Took it to a gunsmith to have him check it out to make sure it was OK. He said it had never been fired and was a 95+ gun. He just recommended taking care of it and not shooting +P loads in it. The fit and finish on this depression era relic is phenomenal and its fixed sights are deadly accurate. Cost... shipping and FFL transfer fee.

[schleeb]

Didn't know I could upload pics...

[ares338]

I paid $75.00 for a 110 year old 32 ACP French Contract Autopistol.

[JimPage]

My cheapest gun was a High Standard Sentinel snub nose .22 lr. I don't remember the price. My first gun was a Ruger Standard .22lr. (now a MKI). It cost $28.50 new in the late 1950s. I still use it and teach others in my gun club how to field strip and reassemble them. It's a little tricky, but not that hard.

Yes, I'll admit that I'm an old fart.

[vkeith]

Cheapest: Raven .25 for $25.

Best deal: Taurus 66 for $100.

[wpsdlrg]

It's a tie, more or less.

My Smith & Wesson 10-8 revolver - $300 OTD, at a gun show. Purchased from an old guy, who was liquidating his collection. Absolutely the most accurate hand gun I've ever owned.

My Smith & Wesson 6904 - $300 OTD, from a local gun dealer. Beat up looking police trade-in (re-import from Canada). Had been sitting in the case for a year or more. I offered them $300....and walked out with it. Absolutely superb in every way (except the finish wear). It is now my EDC.

My Smith & Wesson 6906 - $320.20 with tax, OTD, from the same gun dealer. Also a police trade-in....but really in GREAT shape. As superb as the 6904, except in much better cosmetic condition (shows almost no wear).

The 10-8 has since gone on to a friend, since I am no longer into wheelguns, but the 6904 and 6906 will stay with me always. I wish I'd bought them years ago and skipped most of the other pistols I've tried, while looking for the ones I'd really want to keep. But, alas, experience is a good teacher.

Ironic that, the BEST I have ever had, have also been the cheapest.....

[8MM Mauser]

Does free count?

My grandfather gave me his Ruger MKII for Christmas 2011.

It's definitly the least I've ever paid for a pistol...

[oldgunsmith]

I recently picked up a Colt Police Positive for $50.00 because it had been stored in an attic and the right side of the gun was rusted and pitted pretty bad. A local County Deputy Sheriff had offered $100.00 for it over the phone sight unseen, then changed his mind when he saw it. The bore and chambers cleaned up and look like new, the locking notches on the cylinder are fine, and timing is as perfect as I've seen in an old Colt. It'll never look good again, but shoots like a new gun. Perfect for throwing in a tool box or under the seat in the truck.

[Seven High]

I picked up a Smith M10 that was cosmetically challenged for $25.00 while I was in the USAF from a fellow airman who needed money fast.