Guns are expensive, I've found. But not as expensive as cars.

What you see above represents 1/20 of my income this year. I'd don't make a whole lot of money as a retail goon, but man, do I know how to spend the green.

In March, I bit the bullet (yeah, pun intended. Live with it.) and bought my first gun- a brand new 2007 CZ 75B. I bought it under the pretense of thinking I'd never have a good shot at buying my absolute dream gun, given its rarity and usually demanding price. I'd happily be proven wrong only two months later.

The 75B had an out the door price of 460 bucks at the local shop, which is pretty much what they go for nationwide. When you factor in cleaning supplies, a better case, and a box of ammo for the range, I spent 500 that day. Honestly, that isn't bad. Alot of guns that perform on the same level as the CZ cost three times that much, and don't have the sturdy reputation as the "Czech Masterpiece".

Only a week after that, I had my first round of upgrades on the way in the form of rubber grips, a rubber base plate for a mag, and some extra power springs (which didn't work out). Another 50 bucks there. At the same time, I decided to get into hobby gunsmithing, meaning I needed tools. Another 100 dollars.

Then came the next wave of upgrades. Then the next. Oh, and I needed some more tools along the way. And don't forget ammo and range time. And yeah, I also need to call CZ and get some replacements parts for some parts I had managed to screw up.

Before I knew it, my 460 dollar gun now had 400 dollars in parts, tools, and time invested in it, and in only two months. Factor in ammo and range time, and I had blown 1,000 bucks on this new hobby with ease.

And then...I saw it.

The legend itself. And not just one, but TWO of them up for auction at the same time. And absolutely rare event. Even better, neither of them had a reserve price. With my economic stimulus money in hand, along with the paltry sum I had managed to save for my next gun, I leapt at the once in a life time opportunity...And won.

I was in awe. With 656 dollars, I had acquired my one and only dream pistol, and at half the money I had imagined. I rushed to get a cashier's check to the seller, which also had to include a 25 dollar shipping fee, and later, a 25 dollar transfer fee. The total cost of my dream gun? A "measly" 706 dollars. Chump change.

Don't forget the ammo. And range time.

I was at my absolute pinnacle that day at the range. I proceeded to show off my prize to the man I bought my 2007 75B from two months prior, and he was impressed, as was the detective who registered my gun earlier that day.

"Hell of a deal, man", they said, and I agreed. It was for this gun.

But then, I actually shot it...And I realized why it was so "cheap".

I had detailed stripped the gun before going to the range to ensure everything was in working order. What I found inside of the gun amazed me, as everything was in near perfect condition. The trigger, sear, hammer hooks...Everything was immaculate, with no trace of rust to be found inside. The outside of the gun had been refinished with a dark gray Parkerization, and bore a few areas of pitting due to its former life as a South African service pistol (as was common for these old short rails). The pitting and minor scratches didn't bother me one bit. In fact, I welcomed them along with the gun, as they were a part of the gun's history. Trophies from its years on another continent.

Sadly, the barrel turned out to be in no-so-pristine shape upon closer examination. Its hard to tell, but once I knew what to look for, all the signs were there. My barrel was shot.

As a gun is fired over time, exiting bullets and gases conspire to wear out the bore of the barrel, gradually widening it and robbing the gun of effeciency and accuracy. My gun was shooting low- a sign the rifling wasn't doing its job do to being worn down. Even aiming high and compensating for it, the gun wasn't capable of consistant grouping.

Even worse yet, the barrels for the new CZs won't work without major modification to fit in the older guns, due to a design change when they switched to the "B" model.

So here I am. My dream gun in hand, and its all but useless. I've contacted Angus Hobdell, a world class shooter and CZ gunsmith, about replacing the barrel, but its going to be costly. I'm estimating it'll be a 300-400 dollar venture. And thats not including the dreaded shipping charges- another 50 for a two way trip. And while its there, I may as well have him do some other work to it, like frame and slide strengthening, a trigger job, total spring replacement and tuning, and zeroing. And while its out, I may as well have him send it out to get stripped, have its pitting and nicks filled in, have the roll marks recut, and have it re-Parkerized before sending it back to me.

When its all said and done, before I am able to use this gun with the performance it originally yeilded back in 1978, I'll have spent AT LEAST another 1,000 bucks on this "cheap" $656 dream gun.

Before the year is out, I'm estimating that I'll have spent around 3 grand or more on guns, ammo, parts, tools, holsters, cleaning supplies, range time, training, and a CCW permit. And that's IF I don't fuck up and run into another gun I just HAVE to have.

Guns...Are expensive.


***

We all have our hobbies. Hobbies help us get by. They give us something to look forward to at the end of the work day. They re-center us, and help us remember what's important to us. We in North America are privilaged with the ability to have time and money for hobbies, while many other people worldwide don't know what the hell a hobby is.

Some of us choose to have cheap hobbies, which is smart. Building a twenty dollar Gundam model on occassion is alot more sound than blowing 20 dollars on ammo alone, not including another 13 on range time. But even that is far more conservative than sacrificing 100 dollars for a tank of racing fuel for the drag strip.

But they all do the same thing. I've done all three of the above, and I got the same out of them all. They're vastly differnet in nature, but when it was all said and done, they helped me relax and forget all of the shit that bothers me, like work, poltics, or relationship bullshit. They help me by throwing me into a hyper-involved little world, where its me and the project at hand, and thats it. By the end of it, I'm me again, even if I have to put up with all of the shit that made me want to get away in the first place.

Today, its shooting. But in a few years, it may not be. It might be (god forbid) cars again. Or sculpting. Or writing. Or models, Or video games. Or maybe something new. But it really doesn't matter, so long as I have something I can escape into on occassion.

I see you remember our chat. ^_^

But yeah, I went through expensive hobbies before. Gundam came after a time of Warhammer. This game is very, very money-hungry (even more if you try to focus on elite troops, which are often in metal rather than plastic. And there's a mean difference in price.), but looking that it "taught" me about using a cutter with good results (not losing a finger at each attempt), and using glue and paint for decent results, I don't regret it much.

Nice to see the old team shirt again.

Collecting TRansformers is a costly hobby too, although not as costly as collecting guns it seems. Although the movie helped ease the burden on my wallet ... I just don't liek the style of the movie figures, so I barely bought any!

Gah..okay. Expensive hobbies? Not very many..cheaper ones, though. Books. Video games.

I can't tell you how many times I get my parents to go to the library so I can buy the newest installment in either some anime or some paranormal book involving mysteries and vampires and all that crud. They're used books, so it's cheap and stuff..

But video games..eh..

I used to love the oldschools I could buy at the nearest Generic Used Game Shack(not really a shop) for like, fifteen bucks. Then I started finding new stuff more appealing. The game I want is about 40 bucks. Yarrrgg...and plus, we have to get new DS lites and eventually get a new Megaman Anniversary Collection. When I find who cracked that disk I will..shove something down their throat and stick them in the airvent or something. That was a special game.

Oh, and I used to be really into this band called 'Dream Street' and I would pay any price to get anything related to them. Looking back on that...man, they sound like their balls are up..eehh...o.O

Yeah this is my hobby too, but add to it Batman comics and action figures. The figure side has been kind of slow, seeing how Mattel has apparently recalled the only good Batman movie toyline. But thankfully I have nabbed a Batman and a rare Joker. I did see this 6 buck two pack of Joker and Bats in scale with Star Wars and GI Joes but I passed. I dint need them.

I used to collect GI Joes but I am now completely satasfied with what I got (It was a recent thing. I picked up a crapload of the new 25th guys. I think I have about 40 or so collected since Valentines Day). I also used to collect Marvel Legends, but Hasbro kinda killed it for me. I did, however, pick up a kick ass Iron Man. Looking good.

I think my most costly hobby was all my Star Wars crap. A shelfful of toys (Thankfully done with them, short of a Lando I will probably pick up at WalMart and the Darth Vader with the two part helmet coming out.), some old vehicles (I have the 1978 Falcon, Slave 1, Tie, Vaders Tie, and Landspeeder. My friend was gonna give me his ATAT, but he has misplaced it), posters (Dad scored me the theatrical poster of the original hanging up in a movie theater), novels (I even have the original printing of the novelization of the original), a few comics, and yes micromachines.

I even picked up a few Indy toys. Just the main Raiders Characters and the Ark, but I'll grab Connery if I see him.

However, my current focus is on Transformers. I didnt want any of the Animated line, but damn it the show is so good I have to get them. My Transformers purchases within the last year were:

Classics Megatron (Repainted in G1 colors and removed the damn wings)
Classics Starscream
Classics Prime
Classics Bumblebee
Classics Mirage
Classics Grimlock
G1 Soundwave
G1 Megatron
Cybertron Primus (20 bucks. A steal)
Cybertron Downshift (My Wheeljack)
Titanium Rodimus Prime
Titanium War Within Megatron vs. War Within Optimus
Movie Starscream
Movie Voyager Prime
Movie Voyager Megatron (Painted Silver)
Movie 08 Bumblebee
Movie Barricade
Movie Bonecrusher
Movie Payload (Repainted into G1 Shockwave)
Movie Brawl
Movie Jazz
Movie Ironhide
Animated Deluxe Prime vs Megatron
Animated Ratchet
Animated Starscream
Animated Voyager Prime (Had a gift card. Just got him today when looking for Soundwave)

And I still have to buy Animated Soundwave, Jazz, Leader Megs (The only leader class I will ever buy. Sorry Ultra Magnus), and Universe Ironhide and Prowl, with Animated Blitzwing and Sentinel as maybes.

That comes to the total of $415 just on Transformers from 2007-2008 alone. Holy crap...I never realized exactly how much I spent on this stuff...

All I can say is that my kids are gonna have a lot to play with.

I collect Classic Games as my hobbie.
Very expensive as well, but nowhere near as expensive as the hobbies listed above.
Mabye one day I'll make a gallery of my collections.

I am a collector of many things. Videos games both old and new. I am a rock hounder. I go out into the desert and dig for the shiny rocks. I collect Dragons of many shapes and sizes. I also collect Blades of all kinds.

Of course getting the lapidary equipment for my rock hounding hobby will cost thousands. But it will be well worth it when I sell a silver laced ring with a agate or jasper jewel for thousands and earn by lost fortune back.

One day I plan on making my own engagement ring for my wife of tomorrow.