Where Do They All Go?

[LVSteve]

Meh… "Dozens" is a good start. They tend to multiple after 40+ years!

A friend of mine passed away a number of years ago. He was a serious collector. His wife told me that he had about 300 guns when they got married.

Another friend passed away just a few years ago and his collection was finally catalogued and sold. He had 428.


That sounds like something my ex-wife would say!

Mr Darnell over in Pahrump had something like 4,500 when he passed. A few of those are now mine.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

My Dad always said. "Beware of the one gun man. Cuz he probably knows how to use it." Dad shot a 2 barrel Win. mdl 12 set in 12 ga. One .22 rifle a Win. 61. 2 deer rifles. A 30'/30 Win. and a Rem 788 in 308 with scope that we gave him as he had aged to where he couldn't see the sights anymore. One 22 pistol(Beretta) and a Ruger security six in .357........He was good with all. When Dad shot......Something fell.
Sadly I didn't follow in his foot steps.....I usually carry a different gun every time I got out/hunting or fishing.

 

[jjmIII_Ruger]

My Dad....
Sadly I didn't follow in his foot steps.....I usually carry a different gun every time I got out/hunting or fishing.

I think he would be ok with that.

 

[BB57]

There has to be a percentage lost in fires and natural disasters. I think of recent events with the hurricanes, floods, tornados and and other natural disasters.

I vaguely recall a photo of a rifle leaning against a tree in the wilderness somewhere. It had been placed there and not seen by a human for many years.

This one was found in a national park and was sent to the Cody Museum for analysis. No information on the owner but it was a Model 1873 in .44WCF made in 1882. It was unloaded except for a single round of ammo in a compartment in the buttstock that was made by Union Metallic Cartridge Company sometime between 1887 and 1911.

You do have to wonder about the circumstances that resulted in it being left there.

 

[Jessie]

There's collectors of everything. The only reason needed is that you like too.
Will Jay Leno drive all his cars? Then there's people who collect tractors.
I won't be selling any of my things just because I have a few more than most, or to make it easy when I die. When that happens my wife has instructions and it's all gravy then.
What would I spend my time and money on next anyways?

 

[AJ]

Where have the guns gone? Have seen pictures of tons & tons of guns dumped in the oceans by police & sheriff's department. How many have been crushed or cut up? The military has destroyed untold thousands of firearms. So how many guns are we talking about? Anybody's guess!

 

[H Richard]

I would wager that every one of you know or know of someone in your local area that has a collection of several hundred to over 1,000 firearms. Most not being shot, but stored properly and maintained. You may not know that this person has that many, but believe me, they are out there. Just watch the "Estate" auctions from time to time.

 

[mauser9]

Good question and answers. Many folks probably hanging onto old quality stuff from years back. Years back many folks would "trade up" Now trade up to what?

 

[Johnnu2]

I know of at least one (maybe two) old guys in Mn. that probably have MOST OF THEM..........

J.

 

[ggibson511960]

The most prolific "hoarder" or "collector" that I know of is J.M. Davis of Claremore, Ok. I've wandered through the state run museum a few times and always come away amazed that one man amassed this trove of weapons. I recall that he just collected and exhibited guns in his hotel and things snowballed from there. Police departments dumped their property rooms on him. The curators say they have thousands in warehouses with no room to exhibit them. I have to believe there are a few J.M. Davis types out there without as much notoriety that have vacuumed up a large fraction of these now hard to find firearms.

 

[peyton]

It is simple for me, my collection will go to my great grand kids. My oldest grand kid is only 11 years old now!!

 

[Dump1567]

Population growth, available income, & a limited production number.

More people in the US with more money than ever before in history, fighting over whatever the production number was for a particular gun. (Ex: M1 Garand = 6 Mil. produced)

That's why I'm a big believer in the "buy it if you see it". It probably won't be there tomorrow.

I did that today with this fairly clean 19-6.

 

[desi2358]

There has to be a percentage lost in fires and natural disasters. I think of recent events with the hurricanes, floods, tornados and and other natural disasters.

I vaguely recall a photo of a rifle leaning against a tree in the wilderness somewhere. It had been placed there and not seen by a human for many years.

Quite true along with simple neglect. I worked full time in the gun business for years. I've lost track of the number of guns that came in for sale in horrible condition, often from bad storage. Many had once been very nice examples of quality firearms. Some could be cleaned up or refinished but much of their collectible value was gone.... more than a few were only fit to salvage useable parts from. Some were so bad they weren't worth spending money or time on. Of course thanks to the internet more than a few people who brought in rusted junk were sure they had a rare treasure worth big bucks!

Add in the sad fact that the anti gun types have controlled many big city police departments for years. I'm sure many of us have seen the pics of guns being shoveled into a smelter and noticed a fine S&W or Luger mixed in with all the cheap "saturday night specials" or the "gun buybacks" where a quality, name brand long gun or handgun is posed in the pile of low end, often taped together clunkers. A certain number of the good ones are bound to be lost over time.

On a more cheerful note though, guns do come out of closets, dressers and collections as time passes and, if we're lucky, sometimes a really nice one comes our way.

 

[Engineer1911]

Estate Auction ! ! !

Hate to say it but I have CMP M1s, 03A3s,98 Mausers, 303 Brits, Mosins, Winchester model 12s, Belgium Browning A5s and other long and hand guns I've owned for years and never fired. I really need to downsize but I just keep putting it off. And of course thousands of rounds of ammo that I will never fire.

I hope I receive notice of your estate auction for your firearms and ammunition. Check your safes and make sure there is not any rust or corrosion on those 'unfired' weapons.

 

[vonn]

Back when mil-surps were cheap and available a lot of people who were WWII vets stashed large numbers of them in their bomb shelters fearing the Communist threat and then the preppers took them and in the current political environment a lot more people have stashed them away as well. I know a number of people who have at least one weapon that can fire just about any ammunition they might run across. We are a gun culture, even the liberals have guns or hire them.

 

[ruger 22]

I would venture a guess that is most of the guns ever made in modern times are still around in the collections of a lot of us old folks. Most of my friends have every gun they ever bought in their long lifetimes. I have very few and have always used a motto that one in means one out. I can think of several buddies that have guns in numbers exceeding 200.

 

[alwslate]

I've been to estate auctions of guys that had over 200 guns. Not uncommon at all for people to die with hundreds of guns and no one to leave them to that wants them. Just the money. I still have my Browning MKIII HP that I bought at an estate auction where the owner passed away with over 200 handguns alone. He had a few long guns and revolvers but most of his guns were a wide variety of semi auto pistols.

 

[Redcoat3340]

What a great thread!!! Many thanks to Fishinfool for starting it.

 

[Laketime]

Anybody care to guess how many guns are owned by the members in this community alone.

 

[s&wchad]

Anybody care to guess how many guns are owned by the members in this community alone.

Not enough!

We currently have 224369 members, but most are not active. The average could easily be 5 or 10 guns. Some may only own 1 or 2, but many of our regulars have extensive collections and can take up a lot of slack!

 

[Thuer]

In the Netherlands old, clasic and antique guns are still around. But i do know when i gundealer gets a model Smith and Wesson model 19 in, he converted the revolver to blanc firing for dogtraining. Nobody want to buy it. It is al 686 now. At the moment i do collect also old blackpowder replica revolvers. Just bought a Euroarms Rodger and Spencer and a Santa Barbera Remington model 1858. A friend ask me why? It is simpel. The revolvers ar not in production anymore. If I do not safe them they dissapaer at the scrapheap and into the bonnfire.

 

[Johnnu2]

I only have two guns....

Got this one when I was 12:


and this one:



J.

 

[BB57]

I have a number of "evil black rifles" reviled as assault weapons by the media, including several built from parts kits from surplus military rifles built on civilian semi auto receivers.

Before importation of most semi auto surplus military rifles was banned, I and tens of thousands of others like me others took literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of them off the global arms market and secured them safely in gun safes to be shot only occasionally under safe range conditions for sporting purposes.

In the big picture, it was a lucrative market for arms dealers who otherwise would have sold them in conflict zones.

 

[merl67]

I consider myself as a average American as far as my economic standing our household income is around $60,000. We have 3 paid of vehicles our house has been paid off for around 20 years we have been married for almost 35, and I am 54. I did not start accumulating firearms until the house was paid for. At present I have around 60 with only 3 being "modern" a AR15, Ruger LCP, and Springfield xd-9 the rest are 40 years old or older. I have sold quite a few throughout the years when they no longer suited me. I know more than a few guys who NEVER sell a gun. I suspect in the coming few years lots of nice guns are going to come on the market as aging firearms collectors sell off collections or at their passing their kids do. Most of the younger crowd could care less about the older firearms, and are only interested in the latest greatest plastic firearms. As others have stated the older stuff is still around in gun safes, and closets across America.

 

[Tntcwg3]

I've always loved to shoot! Some of my most memorable outings included a brick or two of .22 ammo, which very rarely came back home with me. Now that I'm older and my eyes aren't what they used to be and the places to go shoot have dwindled, I'm perfectly content taking my favorites out of the safe, oiling them up, and reminescing on earlier times before for hiding them away again.

 

[biku324]

When I become unable to safely shoot, the only firearms I will retain will be family heirlooms from past generations for my grandson.

 

[AJ]

When I become unable to safely shoot, the only firearms I will retain will be family heirlooms from past generations for my grandson.

I am lucky that I have four grandchildren and they can divvy up the spoils when I go.

 

[AJ]

I consider myself as a average American as far as my economic standing our household income is around $60,000. We have 3 paid of vehicles our house has been paid off for around 20 years we have been married for almost 35, and I am 54. I did not start accumulating firearms until the house was paid for. At present I have around 60 with only 3 being "modern" a AR15, Ruger LCP, and Springfield xd-9 the rest are 40 years old or older. I have sold quite a few throughout the years when they no longer suited me. I know more than a few guys who NEVER sell a gun. I suspect in the coming few years lots of nice guns are going to come on the market as aging firearms collectors sell off collections or at their passing their kids do. Most of the younger crowd could care less about the older firearms, and are only interested in the latest greatest plastic firearms. As others have stated the older stuff is still around in gun safes, and closets across America.

We see a lot of very nice guns come into the gun shop here. Some are older folks selling their things, some are families selling an individuals who has passed firearms (can't bring them back to where they are from) and just estates the shop owner buys. We think when a lot of folks move to Florida they sell the lesser guns at home and bring the nicer stuff with them.

 

[wbraswell]

Now, I feel guilty. I need to go to a big gun show, and stimulate the economy and my collection.

 

[BB57]

I consider myself as a average American as far as my economic standing our household income is around $60,000. We have 3 paid of vehicles our house has been paid off for around 20 years we have been married for almost 35, and I am 54. I did not start accumulating firearms until the house was paid for. At present I have around 60 with only 3 being "modern" a AR15, Ruger LCP, and Springfield xd-9 the rest are 40 years old or older. I have sold quite a few throughout the years when they no longer suited me. I know more than a few guys who NEVER sell a gun. I suspect in the coming few years lots of nice guns are going to come on the market as aging firearms collectors sell off collections or at their passing their kids do. Most of the younger crowd could care less about the older firearms, and are only interested in the latest greatest plastic firearms. As others have stated the older stuff is still around in gun safes, and closets across America.

My situation is similar. I owned a fairly small number of guns until I ruched a point in my life and career where I had the discretionary income to buy guns that struck my fancy.

They all fall in two categories:

- practical guns that I carry and or shoot frequently; and

- interesting or collector guns that I shoot a lot less often.

The latter also serve as an investment. Many of those have doubled in value in under 10 years. Barring an outright ban of them preventing their transfer to others, they provide a decent and appreciating addition to the retirement funds.

——-

You are correct about nice guns coming on the market in the future. That's already occurred with collectible Winchester lever guns. They've shown up in droves and at very attractive prices as there are not nearly enough up and coming Winchester lever gun collectors to replace the collectors that are dying off.

SAS/CAS shooting should have made a bigger difference but idiotic rules choices such as overly picky period correct dress and conflicting (from a realism perspective) ridiculously low power factor thresholds made the sport unappealing to a large segment of the potential competitors and interested shooters.

Absent a resurgence in popular movies and TV shows that make lever guns more popular the collector interest in older lever guns will probably never quite recover.

A possible exception would be if semi auto rifles are banned. Lever guns as the original "Tombstone tactical" option would become much more popular and that general boost in lever gun popularity would eventually increase interest in older collectible lever guns.