Ditto for the top-of-the-line rifle I’ve likewise always wanted, the Mauser 98 Magnum Diplomat in .416 Rigby, which is relatively cheap; these start at about $17,000. Again, if I had that kind of cash, well, my odds of living in the back seat of my truck after my wife kicked me out would be less, but certainly not zero. But hey, at least I’d have a really cool rifle!

The Guns

But let’s be a trifle more practical. There are several guns that I’d like to have that are within the realm of possibility, so here, without further ado, are a few. Note that most of these are guns that actually exist – but a couple are pure unfulfillable wishes. C’est la vie.

1892 Winchester replica in .45 Colt. My two favorite sixguns are both in .45 Colt, that being my famous Smith & Wesson 25-5 with the rare 4” barrel and a stainless Ruger Vaquero, with that polished finish that looks a lot like an older nickel-plated gun. I’d like to have a lever-action carbine to accompany them, for no other reason other than I want one. Rossi makes such a replica, as does the company that now calls itself Winchester, but both have some kind of unsightly dingus added as a manual safety. I don’t like a manual safety on a gun with an external hammer; fortunately, Chiappa makes a 92 replica made to John Browning’s original plans. That would be a neat little gun to have, especially with the big, John Wayne-styled open lever loop. Bear in mind that my .45 Colt loads are tough stuff for that old cartridge; in one of my modern sixguns, I can punch a 255-grain Keith-style hard case lead semi-wadcutter through a railroad tie. (You wouldn’t want to try one in an old original Single Action Army or Colt New Service.) In a carbine, these would be good, short-range medicine for almost anything I’m liable to run into.

1860 Spencer replica in .45 Colt. OK, this and the one just above are an “either-or” situation, as with one, I can’t see the reason for owning the other, but then, I’ve never needed a reason to buy another gun. But the Spencer is neat, it’s different, loading through the stock rather than having the magazine under the barrel, and being essentially a falling-block design with a magazine. It’s cool to show up at the range with something that makes the other shooters go “Hey, what have you got there?” That’s not the least of the reasons to have one of these replicas. And, of the many reasons my wife and I are a perfect match, the fact that she understands that just because I don’t need another gun doesn’t mean I don’t want another gun is right up near the top – as long as I’m not spending five or six figures - and happily, along with the 92 clone, Chiappa makes a replica Spencer as well.

See Related: Sunday Gun Day Vol. II Ep. X - the Spencer Repeating Rifle

Pre-64 Winchester 100 in .358 Winchester. Yes, I know, Winchester didn’t make the Model 100 in .358 Winchester, which is one of the best short-to-medium range thumper rounds available. I’ve seen what were supposed to be photos of one prototype Model 100 in that caliber, but the website I saw those on is now defunct and I’ve never seen those photos anywhere else. In “The Winchester Book,” the definitive work on all things Winchester, author George Madis makes no mention of such a gun. But the 100’s lever-action cousin, the Model 88, was available in that caliber, so it begs the question if a pre-64 Model 100 in .308 Winchester could be converted. The case head is the same – the .358 is just the .308 necked up – so you’d need a new barrel and likely a new recoil spring. Sounds doable. And maybe a Model 88 barrel would fit? What a gun for moose in the thick brush! As it happens, one of my oldest friends happens to have a complete personal machine shop; maybe this is something I need to run past him.

See Related: Sunday Gun Day XXVII - The History of the Lever Gun, Part III

Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 Safari in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum. This would be one great rifle for big Alaska-Yukon bull moose or grizzlies, especially the big coastal brownies. Here again, though, the price of these guns – if you can find one – is forbidding. There are other versions of the original, pre-64 Rifleman’s Rifle I could have that are less dear; even a standard grade in my favored .338 Win Mag would be great, or I could go with Jack O’Connor’s favorite and find a good example in the .270 Winchester. But any pre-64 Model 70 is worth having; it’s still the gold standard of bolt-action sporters.

A new .25 rimfire. Back in the day, there were several .25 caliber rimfire rounds, the most common being the .25 Stevens rimfire, chambered in (among other things) the famous Stevens Favorite single-shot. I’d love to see a resurrection of the .25 rimfire, as an alternative to the .22 WMR or the various high-velocity .22 Long Rifle loads. Why? To give small game hunters something with a little more punch than the standard .22 LR, but trading some velocity for a heavier bullet that will kill bigger critters like marmots, hares, and foxes cleanly without tearing up meat or skins so much. Something along the lines of an older Kimber or Cooper bolt gun firing a .25 rimfire round would be fantastic – I’d look hard at a Ruger 77/22 in that caliber as well. I've been telling everyone I encounter in the gun design/manufacturing world about this desire for years to no avail, but I'll keep trying.

Your Mileage May Vary.

My own tastes in shooting irons are, admittedly, leaning strongly towards pre-WW2 pieces or facsimiles thereof. I doubt I’m alone in that, but if you get any three gun people together and ask what gun they would want to have next, you’ll get at least six different answers; we are, as a community, pretty (hah) diverse. And that’s a good thing – every cat its own rat, as my grandfather used to say.

Any wanna-haves of your own? Modern, antique, Tacticool, walnut and steel – rifle, shotgun, sidearm, or other? The comments, as always, are yours.