Why do you sell a gun?

[Ravensview]

I’ve done a bit of horse trading over the years, some because I worked into one I wanted by getting good deals on ones that were deals but didn’t interest me, I am in the process of deciding what to cull now, I want to get simpler, I am leaning towards acquiring a blaser eventually and simplfying.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I seem to buy and sell them until I find one I really like. I’m on my third 375, I think it’s the I will keep forever, but I can’t be sure.
I guess it’s the same, just more expensive, as trying on a shirt.
Also if I don’t use it, I will likely sell it.

And when it comes to the larger bore rifles, what other option is available to many of us other than to buy them and try them out? Other than a couple of guys I know that have .45-70s in my circle of hunters and friends, I’m the only one who owns any .375s and up? So, that would be another reason to sell a larger bore rifle that didn’t quite fit the person’s expectations?

 

[CoElkHunter]

I'm waiting for @TOBY458 to answer...
Can't wait to hear that one.

+1! Ha!

 

[curtism1234]

I tend to have personal attachment, especially with the guns bought in my younger years.

I've only sold 2 guns. One I bought used and it had problems so I moved it along. The other was very heavy.

I have a couple that I will probably use for trade in the future.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

I have bought and sold so many I have no idea how many. I usually buy thinking I will like it and then it just sits so I move it on to buy another. Here lately it’s all big bore rifles, trying to find the perfect set to keep. I think I have got that set up pretty well done now. Buying and selling is almost an addiction for me.

 

[Red Leg]

I have gone through many many dozens of rifles, shotguns, and handguns during my lifetime. Trading or selling, I always tried to follow the ”business model“ of never ever trading down (that usually, if not always, worked). Pretty sure @TOBY458 would fully understand. I often would pick up bargains at a show or gun shop for the express purpose of using them in a deal later. I remember hauling six or seven to the Dulles show to put together the eventual purchase of my WR .318 NE takedown later in the day. As a result, the quality of those that became part of my core collection became better and better over the years. There are quite a few that I regret letting go - a Webley "WG" .455 and Austrian .375 double come immediately to mind.

Other than my R8 and a couple of AR’s and handguns, I have added nothing in the last 6 years or so and have not traded or sold a thing. A couple have been given to nephews. Most will go to auction when I pass on, and even in Joe Biden's anti-gun Nirvana, Mrs Red Leg should do quite well.

 

[Randy F]

I’ve sold 4 guns over the years for a quarter to half of what they were worth to new young hunters that really wanted to hunt but had very limited resources to buy what they needed. They were really just older (starter) guns that I had upgraded from anyway and really had no reason to hang on to them. Those were the only ones I’ve ever sold.

 

[Accidental Villain]

Interesting topic.
Reason for selling rifles in my case is experience, some of them hard earned.
After an hair raising incident with a deadly wounded bear almost on top of my feet where I was`nt able to finish it off immediately partly because of stock design and the optics.
I was a competition shooter and expected myself being able to have control of the situation. Towards myself I felt almost a little embarrassed and humiliated.
Still in Canada I started thinking about the nice old english rifles I`d been so lucky to handle/borrow in Kenya and how some of them would function in the same situation. Then I remembered a new in box rifle in the gun safe at the gun shop I was working in at the time with typical "english setup", a Tikka "Hirvester". Returning home I immediately took it to the range. Even shot a couple of clay pidgeons on the skeet range and had an eureka moment. Yeezz,,this was it!
I had a nice collection of interesting rifles at the time but they were all sold within a week or two exept my old battered 375H&H of course.

 

[Tra3]

Haven’t sold any yet, but I’ve given a few away to aspiring hunters. I am experiencing that an R8 has stopped additional rifle purchases. The goal was to get one nice rifle and stick with it.

I have a few inferior rifles I bought and now almost never use. I should sell them, but most likely they will be given away to an aspiring hunter.

 

[TOBY458]

I sell, simply to provide more room in the safe for more guns. If I kept every gun I ever bought, I would have to build an addition on to the house. I do however have many guns that I'll never sell, either for sentimental reasons, or they simply fill a roll that needs filling.
I guess at the end of the day, buying and selling guns has allowed me to own most everything I ever wanted. But once I've lost interest, or find something else I want, I also enjoy passing them on to the next guy who is excited to get a new gun himself. Win win!

 

[375Fox]

I’m not really one for buying and selling guns. I’d prefer to put the money into more hunting so the guns I own i bought for a specific purpose and plan to continue using for that purpose. However the guns I’ve sold were several pistols and an AR that had no application to hunting and I had no attachment to. I sold a Thompson center venture 223 rifle because it was absolute junk. I sold a tikka t3x in 308 because I couldn’t trust not losing the magazine while hunting. If I have a reliable hunting rifle, it will probably never be for sale and probably won’t be replaced either.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Each one of my rifles have a specific job. I dont own a single rifle that does not have a part to play within my outfit.
To me, a firearm is a tool. I dont get attached to them. If they dont get the job done, they're out the door and get replaced.

 

[IvW]

To buy another better gun

 

[Firebird]

I buy rifles regularly. Then I upgrade them with triggers, bedding, scopes and mounts and work up a load or two for them. Then I sell them for a profit.
Once in awhile I find one too good to let go-often I will sell something but only to buy something I want more.
the only regret I have is selling an old marlin lever action .30-30 when I was young and foolish.
In the current gun-vironment, I don’t think I will be buying rifles and working up loads-at least for awhile.

 

[Shootist43]

Toby, your answer was a lot more succinct than I thought it would be. I was thinking your answer was going to be "It's SUNDAY, It's MONDAY, etc. LOL

 

[sestoppelman]

I just enjoy buying and selling guns. Some things really grab me and hang around for a while, others not so much for whatever reason, and arent here very long and the search continues for something else.
The pursuit is the fun part.
Currently looking for a Remington Model 81 in .30 Remington. They have gone up in price and most are .35 Rem. Its going to be the consolation prize for me talking myself out of buying an Ohio Ordnance BAR!

 

[TTundra]

I love the thrill of the chase in looking for specific firearms. Often, after acquiring it, and as @TOBY458 has said, I may lose interest or more so love when someone on that same hunt I was in for it talks me out of it and I see their excitement. And as @Red Leg had mentioned, those sales allow for the trade up. Unless its sentimental or used consistently or periodically, it will probably pass thru my house.

 

[Paul Raley]

As a firearms enthusiast I try to buy firearms that I like and want . Many of the firearms I have I have also inherited from good friends that have passed , and many of my other firearms are from current friends , or have a special story . I admit I do get attached to my firearms especially those that have a sentimental connection . I have only sold a few guns , mainly for financial reasons and only if they had no special history .
Another factor that has already been mentioned is that in South Africa it is quite difficult to buy and sell firearms ( as a normal civilian ) due to the legislation so most of the time it is easier just to keep what one has .

 

[Shootist43]

But to answer the question, I've only sold four of the guns I've purchased. A 32 caliber Herrington Richardson Revolver, a Walther PPK, a 22 caliber Ruger Government Target and a 44 caliber Super Redhawk. All of them went to good homes. I did however trade a Parker Hale for a Sako Finnbear both in 30-06.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

What prompts you to sell a gun? Perhaps it is the itch to get something new and something else has got to go. Maybe that is because of a space limit, or you have a maximum number you want to stick to? Or maybe you have just fallen out of love with that particular gun and you just want it gone. Perhaps is gave you trouble, or it didn't live up to expectation generally?
Whatever it is there seems to be a reasonable turnover there in the USA. Here selling is easier than buying, it can take 6 months or more to replace a gun.

@Kevin Peacocke
I have sold a few rifles but not because I didn't like them because they were beautiful ( to me) rifles.
My little Sabatti 223 had nice wood and was extremely accurate but it had to go to fund the build of my SMLE NO4 444 Marlin. All the other rifles I have sold have gone to fund my custom rifles. The ones I now have fulfilled all my need and will be passed on to my son.
Bob