how many people lend their guns

[BUFF]

I will loan guns to a small circle of friends who are shooters. They take care of my stuff.

I used to get hit up every fall by acquaintances wanting to borrow a rifle to go hunting. "I say, there, BUFF, I got an invite to go deer hunting but I don't have a gun. You have a lot of them. Might I borrow one?" Why don't you buy one? I can help you pick one out. "I don't think I want to buy something I will only use once a year. How about it?"

I began to loan out a scoped Marlin lever gun in .45-70. It had a hard plastic buttplate. I had worked up a very hot handload with a 510 grain bullet intended for the .458 Win Mag, using tumbled, once-fired brass, put back in the original ammo box. The gun was truly painful to shoot! I would loan them the Marlin and a full box of my dinosaur killer handloads and tell them to save me the empties. I always advised them to check the scope's zero with a couple of shots before hunting.

No one ever fired more than 2 rounds.

No one ever asked a second time!

 

[akviper]

I'm very selective. I have to know the person and how they treat their stuff. There are maybe four people I would loan a firearm to. Now ask about cameras.

 

[ingmansinc]

I loan my bolt action 22 rifle to the gun club I belong to for their youth day shooting. The kids can't hurt this hunk of iron and there is adult supervision.

 

[walnutred]

I've loaned firearms to select friends and three times borrowed firearms. I would not loan to just anyone or just any friend.

 

[brucev]

My twin-brother and I loaned many things to each other. It was foolish for one or the other of us to buy items we would seldom need when borrowing would allow a job or task to be done at less cost. We swapped labor for everything from landscaping and renovation jobs to plumbing and irrigation installations. We swapped so many guns so many times that occasionally he sold one of my guns thinking it belonged to him. When he died settling up ownership of this and that was the least of anyone's concern. I have loaned cars and money to my younger brother. The result is we all now have good houses that we own free and clear in spite of locally chaotic economic circumstances. We are brothers. We back each other up.

 

[K.38]

Nope not anymore. I had a neighbor in Grand Junction, Co 20 some years ago who wanted to borrow a gun for protection. She was a very nice lady but something in the back of my mind said don't do it, so I didn't.

Couple of days later I picked up a copy of the newspaper and her picture was on the front page. She went down to a pawn shop, bought a pistol and then went over to her lawyers office and shot him then herself.

That still gives me the willys after all these years to think that would have been my gun.

I'll let people shoot my guns but only when I'm there.

 

[rburg]

I've never even thought of borrowing a gun from anyone. I don't consider someone shooting mine or me shooting theirs when I'm with them a "borrow."

My father-in-law had a saying, his wife or dog, maybe, his gun, never. Well...his wife was my MIL, enough said. His dog was a royal pain and I didn't even like petting it. His guns were mostly junk. I accepted them from my wife when he passed. Then I moved them on to my son. No reason for me to own a 16 ga Ted Williams, or a 22 Mossberg target gun.

When I loan a gun, its kind of a gift these days. When one of my sons wants to borrow one, I pretty much don't care if I ever get it back. I'm a collector, and no one borrows a collectors guns. The ones I'd loan/give to my sons were probably mistakes when I bought them. Youngest now has my coach gun. Its dirty as sin because he fired 5 or 6 boxes of 12 ga shells thru it and I'm sure he hasn't cleaned it.

Tools? I have sons. Anything like that they borrow from dad just won't make it back. They fear death, so they never even want to touch my Snap-On tools. And while a Craftsman tool might have been purchased by them, we all know they're too cheap to buy a Snap-On. Dad would be the only source for one of those, and Dad's too cheap to loan or give one away.

 

[sw44spl]

I loaned my fiancee a model 10 because her home has been broke into.and I took her out to shoot and she took to it like a duck to water.so its hers for now.but I never loan guns and my friends dont either.

 

[wheelinthesky]

Good read on all the stories.

I don't lend any of my firearms. One can shoot one in my presence, but I don't lend them out.

This thread hasn't persuaded me to loosen that policy.

 

[crofoot629]

I've both borrowed and lent guns.

Never had a problem.

It's always been short term however. Stuff like seeing how a PM9 carries for me, or lending my buddy my 45-70 because he thought he had an itch for one, he didn't. I work with some good guys, and sometimes trust them with much more than my guns.

Emory

 

[wbraswell]

I can count the number of friends I would loan a gun to on one hand, and have a couple of digits to spare. I have known them for decades and they care for their stuff. They also don't need to borrow a gun, since they have their own. I don't loan guns to bozos. If you loan a gun to someone, who isn't a gun person of good character, there is no limit to the possibilities of what kind of disaster you could be involved in. Buff, I love that story. I've loaded 45-70s that I had to pull the bullets, because I couldn't get my buddies to shoot them up.

 

[trigtechr]

Lend a gun????
My grandfather kept two axes ... one for his personal use, and one for lending!

trigtechr

 

[sipowicz]

I once lent a .38 revolver to a guy named Leroy who lived in the alley behind the 7/11. In hindsight, I should have known better since he said he only needed it for 10 minutes.

 

[pharmer]

Nope, not once in 45 years. Unless I am with them. Joe

 

[mwtdvm]

Twice.. in 15 years..

The first was a muzzle loader. Guy killed a deer, and brought it back about a week later, uncleaned.

The second guy borrowed a 270, managed to shoot and kill a deer and then returned it uncleaned and with clots of blood between the fore end and the barrel. I lucked out and saw the blood when cleaning the barrel. Mentioned that since he was such a good hunter, next year he should get a rifle.. He responded, "Why, I only need it for a week or so, so I'll just borrow one of yours." Fortunately for him, he moved on before the next hunting season.

Quote the Raven "Nevermore"

 

[Mustang51]

I don't know anyone who would even ask me. I'm sure I'd say no to anyone outside my family. I don't lend-out books anymore...I've been burned on that too many times.

Years ago, I had a local pilot insist that I borrow his optical tachometer for a check on my airplane. When I gave-in, he handed it to me, grabbed me by the arm, and said "If you break it, I'll kill you." He wasn't kidding. I took very good care of it.

 

[gregintenn]

No. I won't loan tools or guns. If you want to use my tools, I'll come and operate them for you, but you can't take them. As for guns, come on over and we'll shoot the barrel out of any of them, but you ain't taking one with you.

 

[jimmyj]

Hi:
I have loaned firearms to new hire LEOs to help them get started.
1. a Model 4506 I had to retrieve from a Pawn Shop
2. a Beretta Model 950 that I never saw again.
3. a Colt Trooper .357 (old model) that I never saw again
4. a Remington Pump that finally returned home-broken
5. a original leather Don Hume Gun Belt that was cut off because it was a little large.
6. a new complete equipment belt with holster that was to be purchased but never was and returned when the borrower purchased a new one.
7. various off duty holsters that were to be purchased "next payday" that never were purchased and never returned.
8. Cash for "an emergency" that never was paid back.
9. Exchange time never paid back.
Yes, Law Enforcement has its share of "Dead Beats and Ethic-less" persons.
Jimmy

 

[Danny Abernathy]

Yep, I lent some out. My brother-in-law needed a gun because he bought a farm and was having trouble with wild dogs coming on his property. Lent him a 4inch 19 so that my sister could use it too. He died in a plane crash and I told her just to keep it. My brother retired and needed some extra income so he took a job at a stop-and-rob and I lent him a md37 to keep in his pocket. When he passed away no one in his family could come up with my gun but his son-in-law knew what I was talking about (you figure it out).
Oh well, I don't lend them out anymore.

 

[blacksharkL82]

lending guns?

When I only carried one gun and some one asked to use it, my statement was, "then you have a gun and I don't".
The answer to the non question was, "What do you mean?"
Stupid people should not have guns.
Would I lend a gun to some one? No. In VN, we swapped ammo, not guns.
If you needed one there and didn't have one, where did it go?
If it's not theirs they give it no respect.
Nuf said.