Keep or sell guns?

[Bob58]

I have a couple of guns that are family heirlooms and will be passed to my kids or grandkids the rest are not sacred to me, I'll get something and shoot it for a while then move it out and get something else. Lately I've been trying to consolidate things and get everything into one safe, it's going slower than I hoped .

 

[KChunter71]

If you sell one, your one behind!

 

[Rich M]

Swap en for one you want and will use.

I know folks with like 5 safes full. They shoot like 3 guns regularly.

Also consider who you will be leaving them to. If you cant see them with a gun or 10, sell em and buy something nice for your self or wife.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I support the trade program. Never support a net loss but augment the usability. My old partner had his core collection for hunting but maintained a sizable trade collection to support upgrading the hunting collection. At times he might have 3 or 4 of the same gun that were popular at the time. He got some good deals as friends liquidated to support new kids or divorces

Just some ideas.

 

[Slinger911]

I am in the same position and I will be selling the guns that I will never shoot.

 

[displacedtexan]

Swap en for one you want and will use.

I know folks with like 5 safes full. They shoot like 3 guns regularly.

Also consider who you will be leaving them to. If you cant see them with a gun or 10, sell em and buy something nice for your self or wife.

Who I'll leave them to is a huge factor for me.

No kids to pass them to.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Last year a gent with a very large collection died leaving a widow without a clue. She took them all down to a family friend that ran a sporting goods store. He inventoried them, assigned prices and sold them on consignment. Problem solved.

 

[Outside]

Hard time getting rid of guns that were given to me. The guns I’ve bought are pretty much tools…easy come, easy go.

 

[acmcgaha]

Here is what I can tell you. Aside from a Ruger LC380, I do not regret having purchased a single firearm. However, I regret every firearm that I've ever sold aside from the aforementioned. At this point, I consider firearms to be an appreciating asset, and I intend to keep them all as such.

 

[jayhawk]

You gotta be practical about it. If it doesn’t make any sense to keep it, then sell it.

 

[def90]

Nothing wrong with selling something you don't use. If you have a collection of guns each should fill a purpose whether it's something that you use on a regular basis or that you are holding for future speculative resale. If a gun doesn't fill a purpose get rid of it and spend the money on something that does.

 

[Sled]

I've sold some and only moderately regret one. Each time I roll the cash back into an upgrade, per the agreement I made to myself 20 years ago.

Some guns do appreciate and are worth keeping around. Others are like having a 5th framing hammer in your apron. It's not doing anything the first hammer can't but it is taking up space and weighing you down.

 

[Rich M]

Who I'll leave them to is a huge factor for me.

No kids to pass them to.

Same here.

Only 1 of the nephews is into guns and the rest are “city folk” who would rarely use em.

Seeing this w my FIL too, his collection is going to his brother’s kids but they arent into shooting.

 

[dtrkyman]

I aquired a lot of guns at one point in my life, sold most of them, none of them were anything I was ever going to use. Of course their value would be quite a bit higher right now!

Still have a few that I have a use for.

But I do not regret selling chit I have no use for!

Sell em and use the money for something you need or would use.

 

[KenLee]

I sold a Tikka M595 whitetail hunter in 22-250 with two extra 6 round mags about 25 years ago to fund a rebarrel of a Sako L461 to 17MachIV. The Tikka was an MOA gun and no better so I decided to sell and have regretted it ever since.

I can still feel the buttery smooth action and crisp trigger. You sure dont see many Tikka M595 for sale.

Chris

Pretty one in 22-250 on Gunbroker now

 

[KenLee]

My advice is to sell anything you don't use and convert cash to upgrading what you will use.
If I could only follow my own advise I would be so much better off.….

Amen

 

[stanginthe11s]

my opinion, if there's no sentimental value then selling is OK. but I would only sell the guns you can readily buy today. something that is not available is usually something that will continue to go up in value. I have sold and traded many rifles and the only ones I regret are the ones I can never buy again.

 

[Crusader]

I think my position is similar to that of a lot of the posters in this thread. I have accumulated a lot of firearms; some were given to me by or inherited from my father (he passed 6 years ago). A couple of those were guns I would never use so I sold them and got something that I wanted and now use regularly. My dad was a "wheeler-dealer," frequently buying/selling/trading guns and I think he'd approve of me following in his footsteps. He was a huge Browning guy, bought many new Belgian-made firearms in the 1960's. I still have a few of those and use them occasionally. I am now 63 y/o and have no sons but two daughters, one who is married. Her husband I haven't been able to turn into a hunter (though I've tried!). I'm hoping and praying that couple gives us a grandson or two; if they do, I'll likely pass on some firearms to those boys. If they don't or if I don't have interested heirs via the other daughter, I'll likely pass on a few guns to nephews who hunt with us. Other firearms will likely be sold when I'm too old to use them and/or I'll leave instructions for my wife regarding what to do with them if I pre-decease her.

The thing about the sentimental value angle is that I don't believe a gun will mean all that much to an inheritor that isn't my offspring or grandchild. While nephews like us uncles, there isn't that real, fond connection, at least in my case, so I'd say don't get all wrapped up in thinking they will value it all that highly and if you want to sell some, go for it.

All that said, I'll share a cool story. When I was a teenager, I received from my maternal grandfather an old, Stevens single shot .22 bolt action, probably in 1974 or so. It was not much of a gun but the only one my grandfather had and I was his only grandson. I had it for a few years and shot it occasionally. Then in the mid-70's Remington brought out their Model 66 nylon .22 semi-autos and I just had to have one. I didn't have a lot of cash back then so I sold my Stevens .22 to a neighborhood buddy, with the okay given by each of our dads, and put that cash towards the 66. I love the 66 and still have it, it's pristeen and I think pretty valuable (mine is the Apache Black/chrome version). So a few years later my grandpa passed away, in 1979. Flash forward another 20 years or so and I really started to regret having sold the Stevens .22; as an adult I realized the sentimentality of it. But here's where the story gets good. About 10 years go by and my wife and I are at my younger daughter's pee wee soccer game. During the game I recognize on the other sideline, a guy whom I think is the guy who I sold the Stevens to some 30 years ago. He's a parent of a kid on the other team. I hadn't seen him in probably 20 years or so. So after the game I go up to him and re-introduce myself and we have a nice chat. I ask him if he still has the Stevens and he said yes; I mentioned that I wish I hadn't sold it. The chat ends and on the way home from the game I tell my wife all about this then kind of forget about it. Then a few months later on Christmas morning, my wife says she has a surprise gift for me. Lo and behold, she comes out with....yep, you guessed it, the Stevens .22! She had secretly reached out to the guy and bought the rifle back for me. Maybe the best Christmas gift I'd ever received, at least as an adult. So now, I will definitely pass that rifle on to either my grandson if I have one or to one of my nephews if I don't, and encourage them to keep it in the family forever.

Sorry for rambling on so long, just wanted to pass that story on. Merry Christmas!

 

[HitchHiker]

I keep all guns with even a tiny bit of history attached to it, no matter how many, but don't we all sell at some point?

 

[rayporter]

as a kid i used a falling block .22 Remington that had been in the family for a long time. stock was beat up and bluing gone and Alex was carved in the stock. Alex was my dads name and my grand dads name. when i out grew it i got dads Rimington bolt action. the falling block disappeared [ went to salt lake city]

any way some years went by and low and behold it came back just before dad passed. i have since gave both to my nephew whose name is alex. i also gave him my dads first 20 ga single shot. taped up stock and all.