For me it was a colt Defender.
I graduated high school in 1998 and right around then Colt released the Defender. I remember lusting over this gun and making a promise that I would own one as soon as I could. So early 2002 I finally saved up for two damn years to buy this 1200 plus tax gun and was basically the most expensive single item I had ever purchased on my own. (they are cheaper now, but back then full price). looking back now the quality sucked, fit was sloppy and the trigger was terrible. But this was my dream gun. Took it to the range and the damn thing jamed multiple times. Last round stove piped and I looked at what happened the underside of the slide had caught the follower on the last round of the Colt GI style mag and pounded it into the feedramp of the aluminum frame. The follower gouged the feedramp. Now I have had this gun maybe 24hrs when I make the call into Colts customer service, were I am blamed for the damage and told If I want it repaired it would be approx 500 to replace the frame. I ended up trading that Defender for the Brand new Springfield XD. Now I already owned a Gen 1 HS2000 (that I still own and shoot) and was super excited about Springfield taking it over. Now the Store gave me what I was told a deal and traded me even the defender for the XD. Now you might not think I got the better deal, but in the long run I did. My first XD ran like nothing else and I could not make it fail if I tried. That was also the first gun I ever modded I used a lacquer stick to fill the engravings in. People over at XDTALK asked were I got those engraving filler sticks at and asked if they could buy them from me. And that my friends was how the XDMAN was born (back then it was XD-HS2000). Now in the long run I got the last laugh that gun store owner thought he pulled a fast one on a young kid. That gun sat there for two more years until the gun store went out of business, at full price mind you. I have made a decent living. And I get paid to play with and work on guns, how many people can say they have their dream job?
I graduated high school in 1998 and right around then Colt released the Defender. I remember lusting over this gun and making a promise that I would own one as soon as I could. So early 2002 I finally saved up for two damn years to buy this 1200 plus tax gun and was basically the most expensive single item I had ever purchased on my own. (they are cheaper now, but back then full price). looking back now the quality sucked, fit was sloppy and the trigger was terrible. But this was my dream gun. Took it to the range and the damn thing jamed multiple times. Last round stove piped and I looked at what happened the underside of the slide had caught the follower on the last round of the Colt GI style mag and pounded it into the feedramp of the aluminum frame. The follower gouged the feedramp. Now I have had this gun maybe 24hrs when I make the call into Colts customer service, were I am blamed for the damage and told If I want it repaired it would be approx 500 to replace the frame. I ended up trading that Defender for the Brand new Springfield XD. Now I already owned a Gen 1 HS2000 (that I still own and shoot) and was super excited about Springfield taking it over. Now the Store gave me what I was told a deal and traded me even the defender for the XD. Now you might not think I got the better deal, but in the long run I did. My first XD ran like nothing else and I could not make it fail if I tried. That was also the first gun I ever modded I used a lacquer stick to fill the engravings in. People over at XDTALK asked were I got those engraving filler sticks at and asked if they could buy them from me. And that my friends was how the XDMAN was born (back then it was XD-HS2000). Now in the long run I got the last laugh that gun store owner thought he pulled a fast one on a young kid. That gun sat there for two more years until the gun store went out of business, at full price mind you. I have made a decent living. And I get paid to play with and work on guns, how many people can say they have their dream job?
