Can I just say it makes me sad...

[mtgianni]

I have mentioned specific guns to be given to children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces and my wife. If half are still owned by them in a year I will be shocked.
While guns are important to their owners, if I were to inherit a collectible car it would be gone in a week.

 

[handejector]

I don't think we should be so hard on them. People have different likes. They have a right not to care about inherited guns, don't they? Like Sig said above, parents have things that don't interest us, like bird figurines. My mother collected glass shoes. She had a wonderful collection built over many decades in a very large display cabinet. I'm just not that interested.....


Another side of the coin-
Decades ago, a very prim and proper old lady, very well dressed, walked into my shop. I asked if I could help her. She said "Do you know anything about guns?" I smiled and said I might be able to help her. She plops her large purse up on the counter and pulls a 1911-A1 Rem-Rand out, in a very nice custom calf shoulder holster. She says "This was my husband's in WW II. Officers were allowed to keep their pistols and he brought it home." I said "Uh-huh"
She goes on- "He had this holster made in Italy during the War. Here's a picture of him wearing it." She had a pic of him sitting in a jeep with the holster and 45 clearly visible, dated on back with location and his name.
Her- "So, do you know what it is?"
Yes, ma'am.
"Do you buy such guns?"
Yes, ma'am.
"What would you pay for it?"
$450 (this was decades ago, and I WANTED the gun. It was GORGEOUS)
"My nephew wants it, but he said it was worth $300"
Well, ma'am, family comes first, so maybe a nephew should get it at a discount.
"Humph! I'll see if he wants it for $400." She put it in her purse and stomped out.
A few days later, she brought me the gun and holster. I asked for the pic.
"NO, I'm not giving you the pic." I explained the historical significance of keeping the provenance with the gun, and offered to pay her $50 to let me have it copied. No dice, but I bought the gun.

 

[JP@AK]

This thread needs photos.

Yep!

Sometimes I am thankful for the decisions others make. Here are two pictures of a Missouri State Highway Patrol .38 Combat Masterpiece from 1952. I bought it several years ago. I'd been looking for one. The trooper who carried it on duty bought it from the department when he retired. After he passed away, his son sold it to me. He didn't particularly want it, but he was glad to find a collector who wanted it and would appreciate what it is.

 

[GypsmJim]

My buddy were talking about guns one day. He was whining about not knowing what to do with them because his health wasn't too good. I said Man, you have a grandson. I bet he would cherish them. His reply was that his SIL would not have a gun in the house.

I guess the wife will probably go to Cabelas and take whatever they offer.

 

[mocha001]

one of the greatest experiences was being able to take a buck with my grandfather's Winchester model 70 made in 1952.When I inherited it I wanted to know how much it was worth,but I would never sell it.hope to pass it on to my son when my hunting days are over

 

[LVSteve]

It's only stuff, I don't care what my son does with everything when I leave. What counts is the memories when we were alive.

I can surely relate to this. After ma-in-law#1 passed, nobody wanted to get rid of her stuff. Some of it went to a niece but the rest of the stuff ended up in our house and storage.

Three years later, wife#1 passed from cancer. Do you you think I could get clearance to move on what was then her stuff? Nope, her sister expected me to keep my home as a museum and everything in storage. Applying pressure for the sister to come and "help sort this mess out" was only partially successful.

Then my sister-in-law passed. I told the niece and her son "what you cannot take is off to Goodwill". They weren't thrilled, but why should I be the curator of all that stuff.

As for my guns, if there are still any left after I'm gone most of them will be converted into black stiletto pumps if I know wife#2 at all.

 

[biku324]

My buddy were talking about guns one day. He was whining about not knowing what to do with them because his health wasn't too good. I said Man, you have a grandson. I bet he would cherish them. His reply was that his SIL would not have a gun in the house.

I guess the wife will probably go to Cabelas and take whatever they offer.

That situation describes mine, but with a very sad twist. My grandson, who is in his mid-teens, lost his mom (my daughter) to a DV murder by his very new stepdad with a handgun. No one in the extended family, including him, wants anything to do with guns, so I've instructed my surviving daughter where to take mine to get best consignment dollar once I'm dead or demented.

 

[delcrossv]

Both my son and daughter say "there are too many guns in the world". (I know, I know) Fortunately I have a nephew that loves them, so he is getting everything with family history associated with them.

Not to call you out jmace as others have posted similar things, but as a general question as I really don't understand it:

How does it happen that kids of a gun collector wind up being "anti-gun"? My kids shoot guns in my collection and the older ones have started getting their own- each of them has their faves, but all of them like guns and shooting.

 

[biku324]

^^^Easy - peers in a a more urban and suburban society.

 

[delcrossv]

^^^Easy - peers in a a more urban and suburban society.

??? We live in the 'burbs. So do our gun owning friends.

 

[ajgunner]

My own father is knocking on 83 and has a modest collection of 20-30. He has taken the time to visit with each grand child and asked them if there is anything particular in his safe that they would like to have upon his passing. My siblings either have their own or are not gun people so he bypassed us and went right to the grand kids. My son being the wisest of the group said he would like to have the safe (nice Fort Knox). He has a decent start at 24yo, but no safe yet. He also piped up about an old civil war musket that has traveled down the family tree. Last I heard dad was on the fence with that one---either my son or a museum.

 

[dave1918a2]

I have My dad's only gun. His 1960 Browning A-5. Those I have will go to Grandsons of Friends as I have no family in this Country. Unless I find a woman I can live with who has kids who like to shoot. When the time gets close I will probably offer most of them here first.

 

[pjpjr]

My father passed 3 years ago August.
He had about 35+ years active law enforcement.
As you can imagine he accumulated quite a few firearms.
I was tasked with his care and I ended up selling many of his guns to help keep the lights on as well as pay for his care.
I did keep several for myself and gave some to my sons so they have a memory of him.
I did what I had to do and have regrets on several of the guns I sold but I had no choice and the "collectible" guns were the ones that brought in the money.
My father is on the left in the photo.....this was his first year as a county Sherriff

 

[tndrfttom]

I ended up with an old Remington tube-feed, bolt action .22 from my Mom's side of the family. Her dad divided up his few, well used, guns amongst the son's and one didn't want one so my Mom was able to take the .22 rifle. It sits in my rack with other .22s I've bought.

My dad's side of the family weren't gun people but had one on the farm for putting animals down. I'm told it went in the farm auction when the family moved from Maryland to Ohio. I still have most of my dads uniform (8th Air Force) which I could never sell. My dad worked as a carpenter after the service and after he passed I had to cleanout the old home. You think I could get rid of his tools in the toolbox he made and carried to the job every day? Couldn't do it. Dad's old hand saws and mismatched sets of planes, screwdrivers, chisels, etc. aren't worth much today - except to me!

 

[robvious]

if every family kept all the guns passed down thru the family... we would not have many in our collections now would we.. my house is full of objects that only have sentimental value... and I have created a spread sheet for my son that has keeper and not listed... only the family guns are really keepers... he is my hunting and shooting buddy and understands the true value of some of them... both money and memories... but in the end they are just stuff... and if he or the next generations sell them it won't make me sad... I will be dust by then

 

[moralem]

My dad worked hard his entire life for his 6 kids to do better than he did. Never had anything of value.....but the trinkets and few tools I have kept.....I benefited from his hard work....y'all have seen a lot of my guns. He made it so that I could be the first generation to be able to pass my firearms on down the line.

 

[SRG]

Just remember, that your most prized possession will someday most likely be in somebodies yard sale.....

 

[steelslaver]

I have way more guns than relatives. I don't want to see them dumped for nothing. Hope some of them USE them and think of me. But if they are not going to use them, sell em.

I would rather see some kid who needed a good hunting rifle get my little Mohawk 600 308 and take it hunting than have it end up tucked away in some closet or safe to sit unused just because it was mine and that particular gun has been with me a long time and been many a mile with me. Same goes for my favorite finish poor model 18. I enjoyed them and they made me happy. Hope they do it again for someone else too.

If my wife, kids, step kids and grand kids all take 2 or 3 there will be some left overs.

 

[BigG-n-Tn]

I think different people are wired differently concerning sentimentality. I happen to be in the middle. There are things I was fortunate enough to inherit and feel blessed and there are things that I was UNFORTUNATE enough to inherit along with them. I think it depends on whether or not you have that connection to a particular item or items. It's not practical to keep everything sometimes.


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[Rubone]

I have a lot of experience from that scenario in my other life which is antique motorcycles. Dad/Grandpa/Uncle had a collection that no one in the family cared about. It all ends up on eBay or an estate auction. Sad but the reality of life.

I have a really nice Model 81 Remington in .35Rem that I got from a neighbor a few years back. She called one day and asked how to tell if a shotgun was loaded! I told her to leave it alone and I would come over when I got back from town. She responded that she had it in her trunk and was headed for the UPS store to send it to her SIL. I agreed to meet her there and check it for her. While we were talking I mentioned I did not know that she had such a thing (her husband had died about a year before) and she said it had been her dad's and that she had another old rifle of his. I asked about it and she said we should get together and look at it. A couple weeks went by and she called and asked my wife and I to come over, and by the way could I install a new light switch for her and get the sliding door back on the rollers. For year my wife has called me "the neighborhood husband" because everyone calls me to help. Anyhow, after the switch and roller accompanied by a nice glass of red wine she says "would you like to see the rifle". I begrudgingly answered "sure" , so she went to get it. Old sheepskin case, and when I started to pull it out I thought it was another shotgun when the Browning hump came into view. Then I saw thew rest of the receiver. I asked why she had it and she said her dad kept it in his cabin in the UP and after he died no one in the family was interested in that "old" rifle. She asked if I wanted it and I said sure, so she told me just to take it. It dates to 1937 and is in great shape. But she, her brother and sister, their kids, the in laws, no one was interested in it. And that is a sad part of our world these days.