I've bought two guns at auction in England recently. The initial prices being so low that I haven't cared at all about the cost of getting the guns to me. The overall cost being incredibly low for a high quality gun. What will $1,500 dollars buy here in the US? This is all discretionary spending and I've chosen to ignore all the add on costs because the final cost is worth it to me. My suggestion is check out the auctions and buy something. It's actually a lot of fun.