The joy of a new toy

For me, and I think for most gun enthusiasts there are few things that bring us as much joy as the purchase of a new gun. It's like Christmas came early for us. I got the extreme pleasure of having this feeling last week. However, this one comes with an interesting story as a bonus.

Back in 2001 - 2002, I took a part time job at a very large gun shop in Charlotte, NC. I ended up spending far more money than I earned, but it was a fun job. One of the guns that came in while I was there was a Fabarm FP6 imported by HK. This is a pump action, tactical/LE style shotgun with a carbon fiber finish. I liked it a lot but it was $700 for a pump and I just could not justify that.

Fast forward to present day. I had my XD-40 up for sale in the classifieds of a regional gun forum. I had decided to sell it to reduce the number of handgun calibers I had in my collection. After bumping the ad for the night, I sat down and watched an episode of Best Defense (great show on Outdoor Channel hosted by Michael Bane) on my DVR. Rob Pincus was showing a tactic for taking corners in your house with a shotgun and I noticed that the shotgun he was using was a carbon fiber HK/Fabarm FP6. I recognized it immediately because of the unique look. I had been wanting to get a good home defense shotgun for a while and that made me start thinking that the HK would be a good choice. However, HK stopped importing for Fabarm in late 2002 so finding one would be near impossible.

The next day, I got an offer on my XD for cash and arranged to meet they buyer the following afternoon. I collected the cash ($440) and decided to head down to Charlotte to browse the shelves of the gun shop I used to work at for a new shotgun. When I arrived, I talked to a buddy of mine that is the manager there. I told him I wanted a new shotgun and had he ever ran across one of those cool carbon fiber shotguns that HK used to import. He laughed and said he ran across one just the other day and it was still on the wall. He looked up the inventory number and it turns out is the SAME shotgun I saw when I worked there. Somehow, it had been there all that time and had never been sold. As large as their inventory is, it probably got rotated to the back to make room for something else and forgot about for a long time.

I talked to the owner and ended up getting the shotgun for $440 OTD. My buddy says he can't be sure after all this time, but he thinks I probably got it for less than they paid for it.

Anyway, I just thought it was rather weird that I got reminded of a gun I wanted all those years ago by a TV show and then happened to find that VERY shotgun on the shelf and haggled the price down to the exact amount I had just received for my XD. It's a strange strange world and apparently I was just meant to have this shotgun. I ordered a magazine extension tube for it which arrived today. Installing it was a pain, but I got it on eventually. Now I just need to find some ammo and me and my new gun can head to the range.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.