Justifying Gun purchase

[JTROKS]

A sooped up Glock 34 is no slouch as it can still keep up with capacity. Accuracy and cycling can be tuned by installing a match barrel and milling the slide. Can't go too light on the recoil springs as it will move the slide rearward resulting in poor accuracy.

A raced up Glock are about as costly as a custom 1911/2011.

[tanks]

It is really funny seeing some of the comments. Most people will not try to say a souped up Chevy is equivalent to a Ferrari. But they will say there is not much of a difference between a $600 plastic striker gun and a single action 2011 designed for competition.

[Spike8484]

It is really funny seeing some of the comments. Most people will not try to say a souped up Chevy is equivalent to a Ferrari. But they will say there is not much of a difference between a $600 plastic striker gun and a single action 2011 designed for competition.

Like I said before i am one of these guys at the match but deep inside everyone wished they had a 2011 not a glock.

[osis32]

there's a lot more involved to make a Ferrari and Chevy though. guns are machining and springs. and let's face it a glock will hit the target just as consistently it's the Indian not the arrow.

[boopiejones]

Ok I'm laying out out telling my personal income and all the crap I pay to get a precise answer.
I own my own business very stable job year round but can cost me $5000 at any moment just to fix a broken piece of equipment. My business is 100% debt free. I owe 145,000 on mortgage got a 15 year loan $1200 month.
I pay myself $4000 a month take home the rest goes into business account,
I have $30,000 in my savings/business emergencies fund. this is where gun money would come from. Got a wife and 2 children under 4 years old . No other debt or payments other than utilities. I can put in enough overtime this month to get my extra $3000 but not the total of $6000 I need

do you have any other savings, or just the $30k? because the $24k that will be left after your gun and your wife's shopping spree won't last very long in the event something happens to your business/job/health. And your kids, while young, will be in college in the blink of an eye.

you may be able to easily sell the gun for close to what you paid for it, but i doubt you'd be able to recoup any of the $3,000 your wife spends. to be conservative, i'd assume that $4,000 of the $6,000 will never be recouped.

if you leave the $6,000 in the bank, it will likely double or triple by the time your kids are college age.

[tanks]

there's a lot more involved to make a Ferrari and Chevy though. guns are machining and springs. and let's face it a glock will hit the target just as consistently it's the Indian not the arrow.

It is the same Indian shooting the arrows. And yes the firearms matter. The sights will come down more violently on the Glock and will have a tuning effect, on the STI the sights will settle much faster. That results in faster split times between "aimed" shots. We are talking about consistency with SPEED, not just consistency.

The lighter trigger on the STI will make it easier to stay still when the shot goes off (hence less jerking etc.). Accuracy is better as well on the STIs out of the box.

Now, if one is shooting paper without any movement or rapid fire, yeah not much difference between the firearms at short distances.

[drunktank]

$3,000 to me is different than $3,000 to the next Calgunner and so on/so forth...

If you're financial obligations are all in order, then by all means make the purchase. You'll actually be using it and it's no different than me picking up another dirt bike or a woman buying a nice purse. Creature comforts!

[Spike8484]

Yes I realize I can shoot my glock just as well overall as my STI. But the trigger in the STI and recoil and everything about it inspires confidence no plastic gun can. I wasn't really much faster when I had my old STI but I felt like I was a beast lol. But friends I shoot with say I was faster but the times in stages don't really show that. It does seem like you don't have to try as hard with the STI to go fast it just kinda happens

[Erion929]

How about selling off a safe queen or a couple of nonmotivational shooters? Might make the bite more palatable....

I always go through similar decision-making episodes when buying another gun. If I REALLY want it but have a purchase dilemma...I usually buy it...off of either of 2 methods:

-- sell something else, for the "upgrade"
-- know that I've never lost money selling a gun.... always made money....so buying is just a rearrangement of cash for valuable goods. Even my wife gets that. Her $180 shoes are worth maybe $30 used....my $600 gun brought $1200.

In this case of the $3000 STI, I'd just sell another gun off and grab it for the "reduced price"

[Irv]

People not remembering it's a $6,000 deal. 3 for him and 3 for her.
That a big hit.
When my wife, rest her soul, was with me we had the same deal. She liked her Louis V. and Gucci bags.
As long as your can take that hit go for it.

[peter95]

can your wife spend the same?

ROFL Story of my life

[calif 15-22]

Ok I'm laying out out telling my personal income and all the crap I pay to get a precise answer.
I own my own business very stable job year round but can cost me $5000 at any moment just to fix a broken piece of equipment. My business is 100% debt free. I owe 145,000 on mortgage got a 15 year loan $1200 month.
I pay myself $4000 a month take home the rest goes into business account,
I have $30,000 in my savings/business emergencies fund. this is where gun money would come from. Got a wife and 2 children under 4 years old . No other debt or payments other than utilities. I can put in enough overtime this month to get my extra $3000 but not the total of $6000 I need

OP kudos to you for giving out all this info. I'm going to put myself (Calif 15-22) in your shoes for a minute.

I owe $145K on the house ($1200 month)
I owe myself $4K a month
I owe monthly expenses (I'm gonna swag $1500 month)

I have $30K of which after this $6K cool gun that will increase my 3-gun by .38 seconds overall I will be left with $24K

So where are we? Oh yeah . . .I have $6700 month in debt. God forbid something happens to me like that new gun pinches my pinky and I'm out of work. I have 3.6 months of savings to get that pinky fixed. Now imagine my kid needs a trip to the ER. There is $6K (ask me how I know). Oh crap my machine is busted and there is $5K so now I have $13K or 1.9 months of savings.

Calif 15-22 also has the worst luck. After I buy that cool STI which will trim my time by .38 seconds, my car will break down, the fridge will go out, and wouldn't you know it the dog swallowed the STI barrel when I was cleaning it and now needs surgery to remove it.

For me (your mileage may vary) I cannot bring myself to spend on anything unless I have one years salary in the bank.

I hated typing the above but the "grown up" in me couldn't do it. And for what it's worth don't listen to those guys telling you "Let you kids get a loan for college and pay it off" The greatest gift I gave my 3 kids is 4 yrs of tuition paid for so when then graduate the are way ahead of the curve.

Good luck my friend and this has been a fun thread!

[Rhyyke]

I would do it. I mean sure you give your wife $3,000, but ultimately she has access to that money anyway. My girlfriend made me take her to her favorite sushi place every time I picked up a gun at Riflegear. But I would have probably bought her dinner anyway so it's not much of a loss. What does your wife do with "her" gun money? Probably buy stuff she would have eventually anyway right?

[Spike8484]

OP kudos to you for giving out all this info. I'm going to put myself (Calif 15-22) in your shoes for a minute.

I owe $145K on the house ($1200 month)
I owe myself $4K a month
I owe monthly expenses (I'm gonna swag $1500 month)

I have $30K of which after this $6K cool gun that will increase my 3-gun by .38 seconds overall I will be left with $24K

So where are we? Oh yeah . . .I have $6700 month in debt. God forbid something happens to me like that new gun pinches my pinky and I'm out of work. I have 3.6 months of savings to get that pinky fixed. Now imagine my kid needs a trip to the ER. There is $6K (ask me how I know). Oh crap my machine is busted and there is $5K so now I have $13K or 1.9 months of savings.

Calif 15-22 also has the worst luck. After I buy that cool STI which will trim my time by .38 seconds, my car will break down, the fridge will go out, and wouldn't you know it the dog swallowed the STI barrel when I was cleaning it and now needs surgery to remove it.

For me (your mileage may vary) I cannot bring myself to spend on anything unless I have one years salary in the bank.

I hated typing the above but the "grown up" in me couldn't do it. And for what it's worth don't listen to those guys telling you "Let you kids get a loan for college and pay it off" The greatest gift I gave my 3 kids is 4 yrs of tuition paid for so when then graduate the are way ahead of the curve.

Good luck my friend and this has been a fun thread!

Ouch it really starts to hurt when you look
At it this way lol. Being a grown up so many hard choices to make

[Spike8484]

I would do it. I mean sure you give your wife $3,000, but ultimately she has access to that money anyway. My girlfriend made me take her to her favorite sushi place every time I picked up a gun at Riflegear. But I would have probably bought her dinner anyway so it's not much of a loss. What does your wife do with "her" gun money? Probably buy stuff she would have eventually anyway right?

I just asked my wife what would you buy with $3000 she said she wants to go on a vacation somewhere with the whole family. Maybe she trying to make me feel guilty lol