Here's the correct thought process.
1. Realize you need a gun. Try to rationalize it (defense, hobby, skill, etc)
2. Look in wallet... check online statements etc. Realize that I have wife and kids to feed. Wife also needs to cut spending on crap - yes crap like getting her hair done (What's wrong with Great Clips/Supercuts? Why don't you go there instead of that $150 place? No? I go there all the time for my haircuts and my hair looks fine.)
3. Decide to ignore wife.
4. Go ogle at guns instead. That Larue/LMT/KAC/blah blah looks hot.... analyze options with engineering knowledge - decide you can make one better for less.
5. End up buying cheapie and spend more money on optics, ammo, and accessories. Engineering common sense says they're all the same and you can make them better when you glean more knowledge from first hand experience. Besides, it's not like throwing money away since you can always resell it (unlike expensive haircuts)
6. Go shoot, and discover you can't get enough destruction.
7. Do the math - it's cheaper to reload. Yes, all that engineering school math comes in handy.
8. Buy reloading gear, start reloading. The engineer in you enjoys having more gadgets around the house.
9. Shoot some more. Tons more... and keep reloading your own ammo. As an engineer, there's nothing like experimenting with loads etc. Besides, the wife isn't there at the range so you get some peace and quiet.
10. Wife says "why are you spending so much money on gun stuff?" Grunt and tell her that you're reverse engineering gun stuff so you can start making guns and that she should STFU and go make money for a change. Ask her to make a sandwich right after that.
11. Goto #1.
P.S. I stopped drinking after the military (20+ years ago). I have bad allergies with alcohol....but that's a completely different story...