Never sell my gun?

Fishinfool

Fishinfool

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I know a lot of guys, and see a lot of threads where the poster states he never sells a gun once he has it.

It got me to wondering why?

I figure I have owned about 400 firearms, give or take a few. BUT, not at one time..

I like to buy and sell, giving myself the opportunity to use a wider variety of firearms then most folks get to.

This allows me see what I like, or don't, and what works well, and what doesn't. Then I single out, and keep the best models and calibers for their chosen use.

There are some guns I would never sell, because of sentimental reasons - Dads deer rifle, my 1st Duty Gun, the shotgun I first started hunting with as a kid, things like that.

The rest that fill my safes are their because they are to me, the best at what I use them for.

The guys who say they will never sell one of their guns, unless rich, miss out on getting to shoot and play with a lot of nice and interesting guns, and may be holding on to something without knowing something else is out there that would serve them better.

Any thoughts?

Larry
 
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S'funny how much easier it is to buy than sell.

I sold two splendid guns last year. What I have left isn't so splendid but they are more useful.
I stay away from gun sales counters lest I get another splendid something I don't need.
 
When I was in my '30's I bought and sold a lot of guns. There are some I would like to have back. On most of the transactions I made good money and I always had cash if a deal appeared. I cut way back because my wife objected to the time I spent on it. Since my divorce in 2005 I have been buying some more. I haven't sold many yet, I am mostly accumulating. I would say it is harder to make anything on them today. Perhaps in PA there weren't many pawn shops and individuals were more agreeable to selling privately. Now when I see private sales offered it is most likely some jackleg dealer (unlicensed) who thinks he has to make a profit on every sale. I probably have several guns I'd sell if I could get my money back out of them. Rather than sell at a loss, I will let them sit in the safe. I have several that are just "not for sale". Last gun show I made reasonable offers on two or three guns. If I had paid what the sellers wanted I would have been over Gunbroker.com prices. As far as I am concerned GB is top, top money.
 
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My story is similar to yours. The thing is I have pretty much what I want. I started turning guns over pretty much in the 60s, 70s and 80s. I did get rid of many in those years that waters my eyes now. Why let many fine desireable classics go now that I dont even use as they have been going up in price more than stocks or other investments? I will answer that one myself. Probley my/your wife couldnt get near as much out of them as us. With stocks there always is a going price on them that either you buy or sell for. NO haggeling! I never thought of that before this secound. Stocks probley is the only thing in the world that no one barters over. You take it or leave it!
The hard part of buying for us old guys is we remember when the prices on what we want was a 1/3 or 1/4 were of what they are now. Especialy on the older classics that I like. There are few modern guns that turn me on.
 
I believe it has to do with how different people think of stuff.

Some people think of "stuff" as what they want, while others think of "stuff" as a means to money. My brother-in-law was the second type. If he bought something, even if it was something he wanted dearly, if you offered him a profit, he'd sell it. He'd sell gifts. "Man, I gave you that 1911 for your birthday, just last month". "Yeah, but so-and-so offered me 700 dollars for it".

I'm the first type. I buy a gun because I "want" the gun. Not because it looks like it might be fun to shoot. There are rentals for that. There are friends with guns of their own that I could try.

Occasionally I will buy one, and then, after some time, decide I do not like it. Then I sell it. I've sold, maybe, 6 because of that. Sometimes I make a "multi-gun purchase" - buying four or five guns to get the one that I really wanted, and then sell off the other three or four that I did not want in the first place. Over the years I may have done a dozen that way. There are a few I have traded off for other guns, and then, almost immediately, had seller's remorse. I checked my records, and I've sold right at 30 guns. Come November I will have been shooting 40 years. Most of what I've bought I've still got.
 
I buy 'em, sell 'em, and trade 'em. Some I miss, most I don't. I have some that I'll probably never sell, but eventually somebody else will own all of them anyway.
 
I have some I shoot and some I bought just to have. If I want to shoot a .22 pistol, I can shoot my M&P22, my 1911 .22, my Colt Trooper .22. If I want to shoot centerfire I have a lot of guns I consider range guns. I don't need so many range guns, but right now I think I'll keep them. When AR's went crazy I traded my AR-15A2 for a S&W 29-3 and a High Standard Victor Military. (TX Mfg.). I had already decided I didn't need more than 1 AR. Before the craziness I would have been happy to sell the gun for $900. I got about $1100 in trade out of it and I sold my "extra" parts for another $135.
 
I guess for me, it been the desire to try out as many different guns and calibers as I could over the years, then eventually pick the one I like best for the use in mind.

When I did most of my trading, in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, There were not to many places to rent a gun to try, or to many people I knew who had some of the more specialized hardware I wanted to try.

I was lucky, in that I was a serious fur trapper when I was just a kid in the early 70's. Fur prices were high - $20 - 25 for a good coon, $50 - 60 for a red fox. Caught a lot of both, and this was back when $100 a week was decent living money. For a while, I was dragging my parents to the local gun shop every week or two, and buying a new gun. By the time I turned 16, fur prices had crashed, I had a drivers lisc., and girls suddenly started looking pretty good. But by then, I had built up a pretty impressive collection that has served as the foundation for many trades and purchases.

Pretty much at where I want to be now. The perfect gun for each use - Sunny day squirrel rifle, rainy day squirrel rifle, long range squirrel rifle, cold weather squirrel rifle....And then there are the rabbit guns...:)

Larry
 
I own 10 firearms. Guess compared to some of you guys that's probably not enough but I'm happy with all the one's I've bought. They were worked for with my hard earned cash and I'd like to permanently keep them in my collection. Mostly revolvers and some rifles.

I think if you buy good quality firearms from the start you'll avoid ever having to trade or sell. Do the research and get exactly what you're looking for, even if it means having to save up for longer. It's worth it to me as I always end up with something I love and not "just another gun".

Leaving my children with a legacy of nice firearms to pass down the generations is also important to me. I'm also the same way with watches.
 
Fishinfool said:
I figure I have owned about 400 firearms, give or take a few. BUT, not at one time..

I like to buy and sell, giving myself the opportunity to use a wider variety of firearms then most folks get to.
Click to expand...

I lost track of the number of guns that have passed through my hands, but it's been that or more, I'm sure. I buy/sell a lot, and on occasion, trade, because I like variety. My wife says that's fine with guns, but not with women. ;)

There have been more than a few I've regretted letting go, especially now that age/changing financial circumstances have told me I need to slow down. I'm not really losing interest, since I still read about them and go to shops to check out various models, but the need to acquire seems to be slowing down. There are a couple of specific guns I still want to get, before I shuffle off, and once I have those, I probably won't sell or dispose of them, except in my will.
 
I sure would have hated to go through life with just the guns I needed or used. To me it's kind of like a female buying shoes. I see, I like, I buy. Now I just need to weed some of them out.
 
I sold two guns in my life.

A used 30/30 when I was 12 because I couldn't wrap my young mind around the bullet sitting against the primer in the mag tube. Actually, that gun was given to me and I gave it back. Technically not a sale.

Therefore the only gun I have ever sold is an AR15 during the O-hype. The guy offered me $1000 over what I paid for it and I took the cash.

Before the big boating accident I only had about 45 guns total. With 5 shooters in the house that's not many.

I could make do with ten for myself if I had to.

.
 
I also almost never sell a Gun & I Never do a Trade at all in fact I have only sold 2 guns in the last 30 years & kinda wish I would have kept them,I just like holding on to what I have & selling can be a hassle anyway.
 
Now we're not talking financial necessity here just whether or not people sell stuff they own.
Anything I have is for sale. Guns, fishing gear, boats, office building, house-anything. The thing with toys is that when you sell one you get , in my case, money. Unless you put the money in a drawer and forget about it-you spend it. Then you don't have the toy OR the money. If I sell a toy regardless of what it is-I've got another use for the money-ie buy another toy. My boats depreciate-I could not buy another boat for what I could sell the ones I have for. Hence I ain't selling any boats. Guns-don't need any more-don't feel the necessity to sell any. If I do, I'll just pee away the money. It's as safe in guns as it would be in a CD. Hence I'll keep my guns (unless of course the price is right ;)). House-ain't selling-wife isn't ready to live on a boat so I'd have to buy another house anyway and then move so what's the point. Office building-sell it in a heartbeat for the right price and then go rent space. Bottom line is that once I buy something unless I can make a killing flipping it-I' tend to hang on to it. More of an inertia problem rather than an attachment problem.I figure that I'll come out ahead keeping it. My wife is the same way about that 12 place settin gof sterling in the oak box under the bed that we've probably used 3-4 times since we were married. Me-I'd sell it in a heartbeat-but she who must be obeyed will hang on to it until she dies.
Best thing still on stuff George Carlin Talks About "Stuff" - YouTube
 
I finally decided a few months ago to start sellin' off some of my 40 year accumulation. I've sold a good many here,mostly in response to WTB ads in the classifieds (thanks Lee!),but I still have way more than I need. My son doesn't share my passion for the older guns (his loss) and I don't want my wife to have the hassle of doin' it. I used to say I'd never sell one and held true to that for a long time,but when you get to my age,some things become less important than they once were. Good thing is that my next Z-71 will be a cash purchase. :D
f.t.
 
What was it Jeff Cooper was supposed to have said, "If you sell a firearm for money, in short order you will have neither the firearm nor the money." Or words to that effect...
 
I only own 4 firearms... I bought each one for a reason... because I wanted it. Will I sell any of them? Probably not. I like my dads reason for not selling guns "Will give my kids something to fight over when Im dead"

If I bought something just to try it and hated it? Sure I might sell it, but I like to collect things. A gun from all the major manufacturers isn't a bad goal in my opinion.
 
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