Downsizing, Purging. What do you call it?

DGY said:
My dad gave me a bunch of his rifles, and I would have a hard time selling them, all took moose for me! The next one will be his latest one, sako s20 precision in 7mm rem mag! He bought it right handed cause I’m right handed, he’s left handed!
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Sounds like a great dad.
 
I've thinned the herd a few times. Down to 10 essential rifles. It was hard to let a few special ones go, but for the most part, I kept the tool guns that fill a specific purpose. I also wanted to focus on specific and useful calibres.
 
There was a time where I "collected" (read: hoard) any fullstock rifle I could find. I divested my collection to a like-minded younger fellow, but have kept one. I have accumulated an amazing amount of things over my 35+ years of repairing firearms and still can't pass up an opportunity when I see a bunch of parts. One of these days, I'll have had enough but I don't see it anytime soon.
 
gunrunner100 said:
There was a time where I "collected" (read: hoard) any fullstock rifle I could find. I divested my collection to a like-minded younger fellow, but have kept one. I have accumulated an amazing amount of things over my 35+ years of repairing firearms and still can't pass up an opportunity when I see a bunch of parts. One of these days, I'll have had enough but I don't see it anytime soon.
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Awww, bless yer soul and give the chappeau noire a sqweeez pour moi.................. :wave:
 
SuperCub, you've just gotten older, narrowed your interests beyond the common stuff, and moved on to enjoy the "special" stuff, near and dear to you.

You may also be considering what would happen with the "other stuff" should something go severely awry at this point in your life and whether your heirs would have a clue what they have in front of them or know how to get the type of value out of them you would be able to.

Not that many years ago, I had close to 900 firearms. They're mostly gone now; some very nice specimens were "paid forward" to people who appreciated them for what they were. Most were sold to pursue other interests.

I still have several firearms I find interesting or have issues parting with.

My wife has zero interest in firearms and looks at some of them, thinking, "I could go to Hawaii with the proceeds from that."

The trouble is, she hasn't got a clue about moving them on or even where to start.

My stepson loves everything that goes bang, hopefully with plastic stock.

He might sell them for her, but at ridiculously low prices because he has no idea about their value.

So, the time came a few years ago for me to narrow my interest range and move things along to others to take care of for the future.

I've had a lot of fun along the way and used firearms for stressful life conditions, as well as having fun and harvesting game.

Now, I'm enjoying going to shows, moving some of the stuff, a bit at a time.

I'm choosey though, if I don't like the potential buyer, it isn't going to happen under any circumstances.

There should be more of that going on. People need to be pickier about "who" they sell a firearm to.

Go well on your new path, not all of the value is in the cash those firearms will bring. More in the real enjoyment they will bring.

Once you've done the bell curve, where do you go from there? Sort of like letting your home-made wine "cure" for six months to a point it's barely palatable or letting it "age" for ten years before opening.
 
It's not downsizing if you add square footage on to the home equal to or greater than the square footage that is being consumed by the items you bring home
 
bearhunter said:
SuperCub, you've just gotten older, narrowed your interests beyond the common stuff, and moved on to enjoy the "special" stuff, near and dear to you.

You may also be considering what would happen with the "other stuff" should something go severely awry at this point in your life and whether your heirs would have a clue what they have in front of them or know how to get the type of value out of them you would be able to.

Not that many years ago, I had close to 900 firearms. They're mostly gone now; some very nice specimens were "paid forward" to people who appreciated them for what they were. Most were sold to pursue other interests.

I still have several firearms I find interesting or have issues parting with.

My wife has zero interest in firearms and looks at some of them, thinking, "I could go to Hawaii with the proceeds from that."

The trouble is, she hasn't got a clue about moving them on or even where to start.

My stepson loves everything that goes bang, hopefully with plastic stock.

He might sell them for her, but at ridiculously low prices because he has no idea about their value.

So, the time came a few years ago for me to narrow my interest range and move things along to others to take care of for the future.

I've had a lot of fun along the way and used firearms for stressful life conditions, as well as having fun and harvesting game.

Now, I'm enjoying going to shows, moving some of the stuff, a bit at a time.

I'm choosey though, if I don't like the potential buyer, it isn't going to happen under any circumstances.

There should be more of that going on. People need to be pickier about "who" they sell a firearm to.

Go well on your new path, not all of the value is in the cash those firearms will bring. More in the real enjoyment they will bring.

Once you've done the bell curve, where do you go from there? Sort of like letting your home-made wine "cure" for six months to a point it's barely palatable or letting it "age" for ten years before opening.
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Well said on all points. I don't want to leave a huge mess behind if I go. I've seen that with other gun owners.

I don't see that owning dozens of gun's that do not get used as something that enhances my life. Just owning them didn't do anything for me. My Dad was a very practical fellow and I see some of that rubbing off on me later in life.
 
SuperCub said:
...I don't see that owning dozens of gun's that do not get used as something that enhances my life. Just owning them didn't do anything for me. My Dad was a very practical fellow and I see some of that rubbing off on me later in life.
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^ This, definitely. I'd bet that most guys with triple digit firearm collections could sell at least a couple dozen or more without batting an eye or feeling a twinge of regret, at least beyond the initial shock of finally selling something. Once you get rid of that dead weight that you don't use and don't really care about, you hit a "wall" where the remaining guns are all "nice" specimens that are more difficult to part with. I was that way with Ruger #1's, with Marlin levers, with .22lr's in general and some other types..but how many #1's can you really use and enjoy? How many .45-70 leverguns does it take to fulfil every role? I can forgive myself for keeping a few more .22's, but again...how many can I actually use regularly?

Once you get over that hump of looking clinically at a half-dozen rifles that are all nice...but which are also functionally identical...you can bite the bullet and let some of them go, and there's a palpable sense of relief in doing so.

My dad was not by any stretch of the imagination a "gun nut". When he immigrated to Canada from one of the U.S.S.R. subject states, he very quickly got a .22 bolt, a Lee Enfield and a 12-gauge pump gun...largely because he suddenly could! He felt that those three guns covered the complete range of what he might ever see himself doing with a gun. He was right! He also believed that his sons should be introduced to guns at a very early age and become competent and capable in their use... a decision for which I have been ever grateful.

I'm not kidding myself that I would, or could, or would even want to go to the extent of owning only three guns. I know I won't. But I also know for a certainty that I am enjoying the much smaller number of guns I own now much more than I did the larger number I owned only a few years ago.
 
Purged a nice Browning Safari in 222 last night.

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jjohnwm said:
Once you get over that hump of looking clinically at a half-dozen rifles that are all nice...but which are also functionally identical...you can bite the bullet and let some of them go, and there's a palpable sense of relief in doing so.
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Agree .... Next on the block for me to consider are four 30cal rifles.

One 700 308, one 700 30-06, one 760 in 30-06 and a 721 in 300H&H. Thinking I might keep the two 30-06s and sell the other two. The 760 has been cut to 20" and would make a handy "bush gun" and the other stainless 700 30-06 (in a Brown Precision) would be fine for a beater moose rifle.
 
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