Another thread about guns

I've got a bit of a decision to make.

For a while, I've been looking into picking up an every day carry handgun/backup pistol chambered in .40 S&W. I've pretty much got my mind made up on the .40C, and can get a hell of a deal on it. I like it because it'll actually take the 15rd. magazines that we use in the full size M&Ps that are our primary duty pistols, and it was a ball to shoot when I tried our armorer's at the range last year. So the choice in handgun isn't the issue.

The choice I have to make- is to decide if I want to sell my M1 Garand and put the dough towards getting the pistol. In the end, I'll get more use/trigger time out of the shield than I do with the M1, and it'll be cheaper to shoot in the long run. Not only that, but there'll be extra play money left over after the handgun purchase.

I was going to use some of my tax return for the pistol purchase, but that idea was met with an icy stare from the budget committee (Read: wife) As with many people, the tax return is less an opportunity to play each year as it is to dig ourselves out of various small holes that were dug the previous tax season...and pay for two RT plane tickets to a wedding in Kentucky this summer, which are a small fortune.

So I'm back to selling off some of my own assets. I considered selling some spare paintball gear, but the climate around me these days is that you can't GIVE that stuff away anymore.
I loaned the M1 to an academy buddy as collateral last July when I borrowed his Remington 870 for qualification at the range (our dept. only had two, and they didn't want to sign the both out, so I borrowed one) He's been chomping at the bit to buy it.

But still, I have a feeling that if I let the Garand go now...It'll be hell to find one at a decent price down the road. Even though I don't shoot it that much, picking it up when I did was one of my dreams come true.

So. You're me. Keep the M1 and scrounge in other ways (Sell body, blood/semen) for the .40C, or make the immediate decision and go for the pistol now while I can still get a deal on it and before NY makes owning anything that looks like a handgun a crime punishable by death and enslavement of your family?



Edited by Reb Cpl - 31 March 2014 at 11:37am

Definitely keep the Garand.  Pass i down to little Reb some day.  If you sell the Garand now, and he find out about it later, you're going in a home.  

evillepaintball wrote: Definitely keep the Garand.  Pass i down to little Reb some day.  If you sell the Garand now, and he find out about it later, you're going in a home.

This is sort of what I was thinking. These rifles are harder and harder to come by, and if either of the boys are into shooting (...if. LAWL) I don't want them to miss out on something as fun as the Garand because daddy was an idiot.

...especially considering that if they don't get pistol permits down the line the pistols can't be handed down. The rifles, at this point...can. So keeping it in the family is certainly a consideration.

Hairball!!! wrote: Keep the M1, sell the wife.

Tried. Trade value tanks after baby #2.

Yeah, don't sell the Garand. That's what you save for one of those 'Ohhhh crap, I need money FAST and don't have any other options' moments. And hopefully you never have a moment where selling a garand is that necessary.

Don't sell the Garand.

Don't sell the Garand!  A beautiful piece of history that is also a great functioning rifle should definitely not be traded for a mostly insignificant polymer handgun.  Modern handguns come and go, and probably will never have the significance as the gun that won WWII.

I have a buddy that has a 1952 and a 1944 Springfield M1s with all original parts and matching serials.  Even though they're not the fanciest or best shooting rifles around, the M1 is definitely my dream gun.

Lightningbolt wrote: I'd keep the m1 and the m and p is a fantastic gun other than I'm not a fan of the take down procedure. I was playing with one last night showing someone how to do a basic clean.   Very accurate imo as well.   I can't figure out why I feel the need to compare it to a Glock because the really isn't one.

Fun story about the take down- When we were at the firearms training portion of the academy, the girl I was going to school with from my dept. had ZERO firearms experience. I had already had my M&P for some time and had a working knowledge of it. She was was working on taking hers down, and was having trouble. The armorer from the academy was there, and he took it from her and began to disassemble it. Without thinking about it, I said to her "Remember there's that pin that needs to be pushed down inside there..." The armorer thought I was talking to him and he gave me one of the dirtiest looks I'd ever gotten. He got all butt-hurt "Oh, an expert already huh? Are you an armorer too?" I tried to explain that I was talking to her, but he was mad at me for the rest of the day. I eventually had to smooth things over by going to him with some stupid question that I already knew the answer to, but he was genuinely pissed at me for some time about that.

I'm not sure what I did to mine, but I do to have to flip the mag safety down anymore. Mine is an earlier model.