Anyone care to share their tale of missing out on an air gun and the stinging feeling of remorse that followed? Whether its a childhood memory of never getting the "it" bb gun when all your friends had one. Or turning down a gun for one reason or another, only to regret it later down the road. Or hesitating to buy something when it was cheap and/or easily available that is now rare and/or expensive. Or missing out on a great deal.
I'll start off with mine; After flirting with this hobby for a couple years and cutting my teeth on the typical starter brands and learning from forums like these about the true quality guns and their history, I decided I wanted to graduate to the next level and started looking for something special and well-built. One Diana 34 later and I was hooked on German guns. I'd found my following and fell down the rabbit hole pretty quick.
Around that time (about two years ago), I was looking through the local Craigslist listings one evening before bed and low and behold a Beeman R1 with Blue Ribbon Model 66 scope popped up not more than a few hours prior. Asking price: $125. I called the number as fast as I could and managed to connect with the seller who said it was still available. I told him I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but because of the late hour asked if we could meet first thing the next morning which he agreed to.
I felt like I won the lottery! Finding an air rifle that made magnum springer history with period correct scope to boot for that price was sensational. It would easily be the jewel of my fledging collection. I could hardly sleep I was so excited. Around 6am the next morning I wok up, and checked the Craigslist ad again for whatever reason. The page was gone. My heart dropped but tried not to panic. I waited until a decent hour and called up the seller who told me the rifle was no longer available. Apparently not more than a few minutes after we'd spoke the night before, someone else called saying that they were in the area and would like to check out the air rifle. Naturally, the rules of first come first serve played out... I was devastated at the time and spent the rest of the day cursing myself for not having jumped in my car as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Turns out I would ironically meet the lucky buyer a few weeks later when he responded to an ad of my own for a cheap Chinese Beeman that I was trying to sell. We ended up having a good laugh about it, mostly about the serendipity of it all. But I'll be honest, the sting of missing out on that Beeman by such a slim margin lasted a while. Luckily I now have an R1 of my own (below) that's been doing a good job of helping me forget that memory. (Although I paid a lot more than $125 for it!)
I'll start off with mine; After flirting with this hobby for a couple years and cutting my teeth on the typical starter brands and learning from forums like these about the true quality guns and their history, I decided I wanted to graduate to the next level and started looking for something special and well-built. One Diana 34 later and I was hooked on German guns. I'd found my following and fell down the rabbit hole pretty quick.
Around that time (about two years ago), I was looking through the local Craigslist listings one evening before bed and low and behold a Beeman R1 with Blue Ribbon Model 66 scope popped up not more than a few hours prior. Asking price: $125. I called the number as fast as I could and managed to connect with the seller who said it was still available. I told him I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but because of the late hour asked if we could meet first thing the next morning which he agreed to.
I felt like I won the lottery! Finding an air rifle that made magnum springer history with period correct scope to boot for that price was sensational. It would easily be the jewel of my fledging collection. I could hardly sleep I was so excited. Around 6am the next morning I wok up, and checked the Craigslist ad again for whatever reason. The page was gone. My heart dropped but tried not to panic. I waited until a decent hour and called up the seller who told me the rifle was no longer available. Apparently not more than a few minutes after we'd spoke the night before, someone else called saying that they were in the area and would like to check out the air rifle. Naturally, the rules of first come first serve played out... I was devastated at the time and spent the rest of the day cursing myself for not having jumped in my car as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Turns out I would ironically meet the lucky buyer a few weeks later when he responded to an ad of my own for a cheap Chinese Beeman that I was trying to sell. We ended up having a good laugh about it, mostly about the serendipity of it all. But I'll be honest, the sting of missing out on that Beeman by such a slim margin lasted a while. Luckily I now have an R1 of my own (below) that's been doing a good job of helping me forget that memory. (Although I paid a lot more than $125 for it!)
Last edited:
I've had a few upset people on Craigslist when I had some tools for sale and I said that if the person I had a appointment with failed they would be next in line.. guess I just believe in keeping my word..