Saw a gun at a local shop today which I don't need at all, might never use, and somehow still sorta might want to buy. I want you guys to convince me one way or the other.

What is it? Well, it's a .30-06 Remington 760 carbine in minty condition, no blue wear, and no other apparent wear either. In fact, this gun is still so tight, the forend doesn't even rattle at all. Bore is pristine, I already have several spare magazines from years gone by, and also still have scope mounts and scopes which would work well on it. Also have load data from my previous .30-06 M760s.

Oh, and I could walk out the door with it for $275, maybe a tad less, including sales tax and insta-check fees.

Bad side is...am in the middle of paying for more than $10,000 in dental care (no insurance either), not to mention it is almost Christmas, followed closely by tax time, wedding anniversary, and wife's and daughter's birthdays.

Question:
So anyway, the question is, is this enough of a bargain that I should just buy it and quit hemming and hawing?

Or should I say, "Yeh, neat gun, but I already have 10 or so '06 rifles..." and just keep on walking? The little frugal advisor in the back of my head leans that way, but the little fiery spirited guy with the pitchfork keeps saying in my ear "What the hell, it is only $275, and you could always get off your buttt and sell a couple of your military junkers to pay for it....."

So, which should I do?

Choices:
Buy it, NOW.
Let someone else have the little jewel.

 

I didn't see the box I needed to vote, which states "Send gun store phone number to Biebs" !!! I love those little pump carbines. :-)

AC

If $275 is going to put a dent in the rest of your life..................SX

those Rem. 760s are superbly accurate rifles they will shoot with any bolt gun right out of the box in many instances..I have never seen one that wasn't accurate. I have never owned on because the rattle like a bb in a box car, but man they do shoot, point like a high dollar shotgun..
My total experience with them is mounting scopes and sighting them in.

If I find one for $275 in that kind of condition then I'll buy it.

If you don't buy it you will regret it a long time.

Personally I consider that carbine to be the best all around game rifle for the continental US.If you really need the cash maybe we can work something out.I do not , however, need another fire arm. roger

From one Canuck to another, I,ll help you save 9700 bucks,AND, save a rifle from the trauma of being abandoned.
Round up $300.00, stop at the store and get a tube of sensodyne for 5 bucks, off to the gun shop, get a good deal on a gun you want, get a box of ammo on sale. That would be the practical thing to do.

At some point you need to learn to be strong enough not to give in to temptation. You want this because you won't use it but you can tell everyone you have one?

Let someone else have it who can't afford a whole collection but needs one good one. In fact buy it for them and gift it to them. You will both feel good about it! Nate

gee AC,
ol buddy... at your age... by God have fun and treat yourself well...

hell, ya don't need it... but ya don't need that 10K in dental work either...

but a $275 rifle will hold its investment value better than 10 grand in dental work...

sadly ya had to leave Oregon to make the little woman happy...so you deserve a $275 rifle ya really don't need...

enjoy it while you can, and soon enough it will be back on a rifle rack for someone else to enjoy...

the older we get, the most expensive thing in our lives is Regret... regret for the things we passed that we wanted to do, and instead we were trying to be practical..

practical, you can't take that with ya..
enjoyment... that you can take with ya..

take the enjoyment ol friend...

quote:

Originally posted by BigNate:
At some point you need to learn to be strong enough not to give in to temptation. You want this because you won't use it but you can tell everyone you have one?

Let someone else have it who can't afford a whole collection but needs one good one. In fact buy it for them and gift it to them. You will both feel good about it! Nate

Actually Nate, I want this one because from my past experience with these little rifles I think they are one of the best "handi-guns" around....and its been a long, long time since I've seen one of the carbines in minty condition avilable anywhere here in the West. And I still have magazines, scope mounts, and so on because I always planned to get another one anyway.

And, if Biebs and Ray (Atkinson) like them too, then I know I'm not just a senile old nut. I respect their opinions very highly. And Seafire, you and Roger (Bartsche) know me as well as anyone does. This will be the gun which will remind me of why I should still be in Oregon...not that just looking out the window at the tsunami in the local Sargasso Sea of humanity doesn't tell me that daily when I wake up.


Matter of fact, Nate, you have convinced me as much as anyone else, 'cause you made me rethink why I instantly was tempted by it. I'm gonna call Jeff (the dealer) on the phone and tell him I'll take it if he still has it. And the Norma bullets I just sold here at AR in the classifieds will pay for the rifle anyhow.

Hell, I'm in my late '70s. My new dentist can sue my estate for his balance if he ever needs to. I'm not sure I needed him to remove 5 amalgam crowns and a gold crown and put in new non-metallic ones anyway. My dentist for the past 21 years in Oregon and who I saw at least 3 times a year, surely never even suggested that.


P.S. Thanks to all of you guys for your input and insight, including you Nate. You folks remarks about the relative importance (or lack of) occasioned by $275, and the cost of regrets, were all good reality checks.

I agree those are great rifles. I recently acquired my first. It is first year production chambered in .35 Rem. I love it. My best friends Dad used to shoot one chambered in .270 Win. and never failed to bring home the venison.

When you consider the quick handling, fast follow up shot ability, and chambering, it is a hard combiniation to beat.

This is an old trick I learned from my dad: Buy the rifle, gift it to your wife for her birthday or anniversary and then hopefully you will have killed 2 birds with one stone. If not; I'm sure the couch is semi comfortable.

Every time, and I mean every time, I fondle something in a gun store and walk away from it, to think about it for a day or two, its gone when I return. Now if I have the money, and something catches my interest, I make the purchase right then, and wonder why the hell I bought it in the first place three years later.

quote:

Originally posted by Lee Woiteshek:
Every time, and I mean every time, I fondle something in a gun store and walk away from it, to think about it for a day or two, its gone when I return. Now if I have the money, and something catches my interest, I make the purchase right then, and wonder why the hell I bought it in the first place three years later.

Yeah, I do the same. Since I am notoriously cheap, it has to be a good deal. That way, even of I get buyer's remorse (which never happens), I can still sell it at a profit.

buy the rifle & threaten the dentist. probably save money and have a new rifle thataway

quote:

And, if Biebs and Ray (Atkinson) like them too, then I know I'm not just a senile old nut.

Unless, of course, your just the 3rd senile old nut in the group!!! :-)

Since I am of extended years (77) and limited means I am not able to avail myself of every bargain I see that I would like to have,so I have devised a system. I visit my favorite gunshop at least once a week ( the owner is a friend of long standing ) and when I see something I REALLY like I pass it by and see if it is there the next week,and if it is I resolve to let it sit for at least one more week and if it is still there I will buy it. Have lost a lot of good buys with this system but very few I couldn't really live without. Last one I bought this way was a 458 Whitworth in almost mint condition for well under $500. Works for me, but then I look back on the ones I've lost sometimes and wonder if I should change my system. Ain't life hell?

Happy Christmas...now some "words of wisdom"...

There has NEVER been a gun I regretted selling. I may sometimes reflect and think maybe I ought not to have, BUT, when that "push" comes NO I HAVE NEVER REGRETTED SELLING A GUN.

But ask me if I have ever regretted not buying a gun? Yes. And you never get that chance again.

There's some too I regretted buying...but I sold them on pretty quick...but more that I regretted NOT BUYING!

The last was a 240 Holland and Holland with 'scope, made in the 1960s and immaculate for US $3000. And my mother even offered to pay for it as a Christmas present!

Now, I'll never get that chance again.

Fact is if you buy and don't like it you can sell it. But if you never buy it you'll always regret it.

My advice? Find somewhere else to shed that $275 from! Maybe a couple of weeks of "own brand" shopping at the grocery store? Or cut out the beers with the guys?

But here's a Happy Christmas and as I say I've never regretted selling a gun...but there's many I've regretted not buying!

In October I also had your choice. A Winchester 94, 1973 date, in 44 Magnum. Never drilled nor tapped for the saddle ring!

Did I want it? Did I not want it? Fact is at the equivalent of US $275 would I ever see one again! So...I bought it.

What's up with the amalgam crowns? Good grief here in England, UK, where despite "socialised medicine" you can still use a private dentist that work wouldn't cost that amount!

My advice? Get another quote from another dentist!

sore tooth or a new rifle...take three aleve and lets go shooting....

One of our local gunsmiths that skipped the country built himself a 35 Whelan on a Rem 760 and for sights he used two ivory beads one in the center of the barrels rib and the other at the crown. He lined the two up and shot, and that guy could shoot that gun, he rolled elk like a 222 rolls rabbits and he could bust 6 inch white rocks at 300 yards off hand..He was and is a fantastic rifle, pistol and shotgun shot..Last I heard he was in Las Vegas dealing cards, after a stint with Beretta I think, as an exhibition shooter.

I have often wanted to convert one to a 9.3x62..being clip fed you can do about any thing you want with them..I even heard of a guy showing up in Africa with one in .458 Win. and apparantly shot plainsgame and DG with it.

Here's my standard.

Bills Payed?
Credit cards payed off?
Retirement funded?

If yes, then buy the gun.
If no, then take care of the above first.

The price is right.

The only thing better would be if it was a free market gun.

Alberta

I say buy it for yourself as a Christmas presant to yourself.
I know it can be a hard time this time of year X-mas, Taxes Birthdays etc, but sometimes a guy just has to take care of himself and you should.

Buy it and dont look back.


Merry Christmas Alberta


Cal30

Buy the gun, then flip a quarter to decide if it is going to be the wifes or the daughter birthday present..

What an affliction.. I keep telling myself that If I settled on just one, (or maybe two) guns that I would end up being a better shot and not have to stock so much powder, bullets, dies, cleaning accesories, etc. etc.. And yet every time I turn around I find myself either building or eyeballing "just one more" rifle to add to the collection..

Forget the dentist, I think I need therapy..

Do I detect a trend here? Buy it, as already stated, the only true regret is in not buying one. The same thoughts ran through my mind as I had to pass on a Sauer Mauser rebarreled by G&H last week, but I made up for it with a O.G. Scheller pre 1912 Mauser sporter at 1/3 the price. The 760 is too sweet to let someone who won't appreciate it buy it.

I had one briefly to sell for a friend. Wish I'd a kept it. It wasn't a benchrest rifle by any means but it grouped around 1 1/2 inches @ 100 yards with factory ammo and it was really handy. It kicked pretty hard for just an '06 though. DW

quote:

Originally posted by Wstrnhuntr:
Buy the gun, then flip a quarter to decide if it is going to be the wifes or the daughter birthday present..

What an affliction.. I keep telling myself that If I settled on just one, (or maybe two) guns that I would end up being a better shot and not have to stock so much powder, bullets, dies, cleaning accesories, etc. etc.. And yet every time I turn around I find myself either building or eyeballing "just one more" rifle to add to the collection..

Forget the dentist, I think I need therapy..

True brotherhood and understanding!!! My life in a nutshell.

AC

I just want you guys to know you are a BAAAADDDDD!!!!!!!influence.

I went to the gunshop three more times this past week. The first time I pretty much managed to ignore that little 760 Carbine...just made a remark to the owner that I could see it was still there. Didn't even fondle it.

The second time I was hoping it wasn't still there. With any luck the un-needed gun would be gone and I would be saved from myself. Unfortunately, it was still hanging in the same place. All kinds of folks came in and out, buying stuff on the AR-15 platform, and lots of "Wonder-nines".

So, I just casually asked if the price I thought I could get it for ($275) was acceptable. Well, no, but $280 out-the-door was. Still, I resisted like a good little dooby and came home without it.

Yesterday I was there visiting again, sending a pair of guns to another person. Danged gun was STILL there. Proprietor said, You know, you really want that gun." "No I don't", I responded. "Yeh, you can't even sleep at night thinking about it.", he said, "I can tell.".


"No, I really already have too many 30-06's", I said."

He said, "Yeh, but I'll throw in a scope too."

AAArrrggghhh!

So it followed me home, and now I have to spend $1,000 or so on ANOTHER gun safe so I can get into my closet for a change of clothes.

You guys REALLY are a bad influence. I come to you for help resisting an addiction and what do you do? Tell me, "It'll be fine. Here, take two rifles and call me in the morning......."

Ifyou don't like it...you can sell it! But now, at least, you have that option.

Enjoy it, shoot it, if it pleases you keep it. If not you've got, as an antique dealer friend of my mother used to sya, you've got your "fussy" out of it.

That is when a nice antique came in, which he bought, if people asked him when he was going to sell it on he'd say "Not until I've had my fussy out of it".

Which means you had it, played with it, congratulated yourself on being so clever and/or lucky to have got it, and handled it, satisfied you urge to buy it and are now ready to part with it.

Enjoy!

AC,
Not a problem, keep the scope and send the gun to me and I'll give you your money back and pay the shipping, then you don't have to buy a new safe...I really will anytime you wnat to dump it. print this one and put it in your wallet!

Well Ray, I already needed a couple more gun safes before I bought that M760. It was just the straw which broke the camel's back.

So, I won't be sending it to you this week. Or next week either. But, seriously, I'll put your name on it, so if and when I decide it has to go, you'll have the right of first refusal.

Best wishes, roper...keep that line taut and have a good winter season. And don't loop any dallies around yer shootin' hand!!!

quote:

enjoy it while you can, and soon enough it will be back on a rifle rack for someone else to enjoy...

the older we get, the most expensive thing in our lives is Regret... regret for the things we passed that we wanted to do, and instead we were trying to be practical..

Yes!

AC: I don't know your age and it's not necessary to know it but at my age ,over sixty, when I do find a nice rifle that I like and have the illusion of it being one in one hundred ..... I buy it .
Later if it don't cover the expectations I sell them maybe loosing some little money or not but with all the proofs and bullets I put through it I sure spend a very valuable time of the rest of my life and give me a lot of pleasure.

Off topic but at the same time relevant. While I was there picking up the 760 a guy came in with a very, very nice condition M51 FN .30-06 (one of the ones once sold by Monkey Wards) and traded it toward one of the new plastic wonder-nines. The dealer has it on the rack for $349.95, but since I sort of coached him through he deal I know he has about $225 or a hair less into it. (He...the dealer...didn't know what it was.) Now I'm thinking I can probably walk out the door with it for about $300, scope and all (it's got an old Weaver K-8 of the period when it was new on it).

Damn, I wish I was younger so I had enough years left to buy and shoot all these rifles a lot. And single, too, so I could live out in the boonies I love insted of trapped inside this damned city I hate.


BTW, what do you guys think a very minty M1871 Mauser musket in .43 Mauser (11 m/m) is worth these days?...all matching numbers and NRA VG bore. Someone has meticulously hand polished the barrel and action without screwing up any of the edges or any of the markings, apparently at one time getting it ready for rebluing.

Judging by the quality of the polish, I'd say whoever did it both really knew his guns, and truly loved this one. He really put his heart and soul into the polish job. It has not been touched by a buffing wheel. I suspect it was the father of the guy who brought it in. His father just died and he (the son) had no interest in the rifle, which he inherited upon his father's death. Anyway it is the nicest M71 Mauser I have ever seen anywhere.

ya sure you betcha - we're the bad influence. this coming from the founder of the organization

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
ya sure you betcha - we're the bad influence. this coming from the founder of the organization

Butch? How would you like a job as my conscience? (SP?)

Man, I'm just trying the old "American Way" here. The Republicans blame the Democrats for whatever is wrong. The Democrats blame the Republicans even for things that aren't wrong (yet)!

Wives blame husbands; brothers blame sisters. Workers blame bosses, and vice-versa.

Anyway ya cut it, it "cain't be OUR (my) fault".

So you guys being the best and friendliest I know, get to be the fall guys for this vice which afflicts me. I voted 13 times on that and there wasn't a single dissenting vote!

(No. I'm not from Chicago. If I was, I'd have voted a lot more times than that.)

Did I tell you I am keeping my eyes open for a really clean M2 Springfield? Or anything else which looks like it should be a long lost part of my family returned home like the prodigal son.....celebrated with drink and killing the fatted calf....

ME?? act as a conscience

Buy the gun if I see a deal like that I will. If I have to many guns to fit in to the safe will have been sucessful. I don't really like guns but I collect gun safes