The gun salesman had that look on his face of a trout fisherman that just set the hook in a nice brown. He knew he had me.
In the fall of 2009 while on vacation I mentioned to the wife that when we got back home, I was going looking for a Marlin 1895 Guide Gun– a 45-70 big bore that I’ve been drooling over for years. Surprisingly she didn’t hesitate a bit and said “Fine, I’ll go with you.” Later that week a brother-in-law and I wound up in the Bass Pro in Sevierville, Tennessee and lo and behold they had one. They actually had three, and I asked to see all three so I could pick out the one with the best wood. After carefully handling the one I picked, I handed it back to the gentlemen behind the counter. Long story short, as we started to complete the sale the fella behind the counter asked for my driver’s license and when I flashed my Florida plastic, he said no deal.
The next words out of his mouth almost crushed me. “We can’t sell to a Florida resident…” I was so close to finally owning an 1895, 45-70 big bore Guide Gun. After kicking the counter cabinet and forcing back a tear in one eye (I even tried to arrange with him shipping to my FFL dealer) I swallowed and said “OK, guess we’re done here.” I’m sure my brother-in-law was sorry he had to witness a grown man in that much pain, especially a 6-foot, 2-inch grown middle-aged man.
Now my brother-in-law could have bought it being a Georgia resident and then sold it to me, however, as we discussed, that just wouldn’t be right (actually against the law if the intent was to skirt the standing law) so we moved on over to the knife store down the road. You know the one, SMKW’s – but that’s another story for another day.
As that vacation came to a close, my wife and I arrived back in our small town in Florida and, being the spoiled husband that I am, I mentioned to the wife that in the morning I was going to head up to the two local gun shops to continue my search. As it worked out, it was actually in my favor that Tennessee didn’t sell to Floridians. Truth be told I’d had my eye on a first-year, 1998 factory ported Marlin for years. Now to try and find one in 2009 at a decent price.
I had originally seen this dream gun in the 1999 Marlin Firearms catalog (otherwise known to me as The Book of Dreams). I, like many waited with great anticipation each year for their catalog. I’d sit and drink coffee on the weekends thumbing through the pages of beautiful lever guns just drooling. There was just something about the allure of a Guide Gun. Just the sound of that brought glimmers of hunts-to-come into my mind. The Guide Gun, originally designed for Guides in Alaska to utilize in thick brush tracking dangerous game all the while chambered in the heavy hitting 45-70 Government. I must have it!
After wandering into the first gun store my eyes scanned the used gun racks for the Marlin Bullseye–that white round bullseye in the lower bottom side of the stock that quickly identifies a Marlin firearm. I saw a couple, however they were not the model I was looking for. The gun shop owner (not all that friendly in my mind) gruffly asked what I was looking for. I told him I was looking for a first year Marlin 1895G that was factory ported. He laughed and said “Good luck.” Then he rattled on how desirable they were and that if I found one, I’d pay a hefty price to get it. I just nodded my head in affirmation and said “Thanks, I’ll check back later” as I started to walk toward the door.
He let me grab the door knob and step halfway out when he muttered a firm “Wait.” He said, “I just happen to own one of those personally and would consider letting it go for the right price.” Well, hell, he had me at he’d let it go at the right price! I had done my homework online checking for this model at local gun stores for miles away and couldn’t find one listed for sale. However, sometimes you just have to happen across one in person. As I sauntered up to the counter he said “Hang on” and proceeded to rummage around in the back of the store and came out with an old plastic hard case. He opened it up and directly in front of me was exactly what I was on the hunt for. Almost too good to be true. After all, this was the first store I had walked in to.
As he picked up the rifle with caution, he started to chronicle the hunts he had used it on and the game he had taken. I’ll say that he had taken extraordinary care of the eleven-year-old rifle as it just shined with no sign of rust or major dings in the stock or forearm. It came with the scope I had planned on buying anyway, which was just closing the deal although I had not heard a price yet. He knew what he was doing. From the start he had planted in my mind that I would pay a premium for this rifle.
We finally got around to talking price when he dropped the $700 price tag in my ear. In today’s standards that would be a fair to very good price. In 2009 it was almost highway robbery. I handed the rifle back to him and said I’d have to think about it and said I might be back later. As I turned to walk out the door I glanced back at the rifle and saw him looking at me. He had that look on his face of a trout fisherman that just set the hook in a nice brown. He knew he had me.
When I climbed into the truck, my wife asked how it went. She decided to wait outside rather than watch me get disappointed figuring no chance I’d find one that quick. When I told her that he actually had one but the price was a bit high she said, so let’s head to the grocery store. She said you can think about it while we pick up groceries.
As I’m writing this, this whole story happened eleven years ago and I can remember to this day the emotions that wicked through my mind while wandering the aisles of that grocery store. I knew I had to have that rifle, that one and no other. It was perfect in every way and I wasn’t going to go through a lengthy search just to save some bucks. I just wasn’t. While these thoughts bounced around my mid-life mind, I found myself moping behind my wife making life miserable. She finally said, “Go and get it, and then come pick me up at the store when you’re done.”
Fleeing that store like a felon I found myself back in the shop of pricey used rifles with the owner sitting at a desk barely visible back behind the counter. He didn’t even look up and said, “should I start the paperwork?” Like I said, he had me hooked. Now his body language indicated he was readying his Orvis Nomad net to capture me and the sale. By the time he added tax I was well above what I should have paid. But that no longer mattered because all gun owners know–it’s not what it’s worth on the market, it’s what it’s worth to the gun owner. In many cases they are priceless.
So that is the story of my Guide Gun hunt. I’ll just add that since then I have added more to the stable, just like that one. Some at a better price and some more pricey. But not one of them mean more to me than that first one. I don’t own a flashy red convertible or ride Harley’s, but, in my own way, I have faced down a mid-life crisis and succumbed after all to that “Book of Dreams.”
Michael McIntosh offers practical advice on buying, shooting, and collecting older guns–what to look for and what to look out for, all based on long experience. McIntosh also offers advice on buying and shooting older guns–what to look for and what to look out for, all based on long experience.
As interest in fine double guns reaches a new high in this country, Best Guns serves as both a guide for the uninitiated and a standard reference for the experienced collector and shooter, all written with the precision and seamless grace that is Michael McIntosh’s trademark style. Buy Now
