Why do you sell a gun?

[Longwalker]

I keep records of my guns, and when I looked it up, it surprised me a bit that so far I've owned close to a hundred and sold two thirds of those. I am only interested in hunting firearms, not target or defence weapons. I'm always looking to learn, and experience and upgrade. When a rifle or shotgun has nothing more to teach me, or it it has disappointed in some way, it is a candidate for selling, or hopefully "trading up". I like to have a particular firearm for each purpose. Kinda silly, I know. But I have a rifle that I consider close to perfect for stalking pronghorns on the plains, and another for sneaking through the willows after moose. One for hunting from a tree stand at dusk, and another for driven game. An African dangerous game double rifle, and a double shotgun for forest grouse over a pointing dog. A waterfowl gun and a pheasant gun. Etc. Etc. A few are functional objects of art. Each can be a little more perfect, so the quest continues. It's a form of entertainment, and a mild form of insanity. Keeps me busy and interested in this hobby.

 

[Wemshie]

The only time I have sold a gun (albeit a shotgun) is when I don't use it. But my first gun (a Winchester SXP Pump) I will never sell. Too many happy memories of scaring birds with it as I miss entirely... sniff...

 

[Velo Dog]

Fellow Hunters,

Reviving this post I will say that I once upon a time, when I was young, I was working a lot of overtime.
I lived in a very small, fixer-upper house, with no garage, to save money.
I put that extra money into, real estate, diversified stock market portfolios and firearm collecting (firearm hoarding).
Back then I had finally owned 130something firearms, simultaneously.

Twenty+ years ago, I visited Africa for the first time and was totally smitten.
At that stage, over the course of about 2 or 3 years, I sold off almost all of my guns, to help pay for more Safaris.
I’ve been blessed to visit Africa 6 times so far and my Wife has also gone there with me 2 times so far.
Furthermore, selling off my gun collection has helped me pay for additional hunting, fly fishing and spear fishing trips to other great places as well.

So to answer Kevin Peacock’s original question; Having bought the guns originally as financial investments, I finally sold them, (almost all of them as planned, at higher prices than I had paid).
In some cases, much higher prices, for the purpose as mentioned, for helping to pay for something I enjoyed more than hoarding a large pile of guns.

“I spent most of my money on proper rifles and big game hunting, the rest I just wasted”.

Best Regards,
Velo Dog.

 

[Velo Dog]

Fellow Hunters,

Reviving this post I will say that I once upon a time, when I was young, I was working a lot of overtime.
I lived in a very small, fixer-upper house, with no garage, to save money.
I put that extra money into, real estate, diversified stock market portfolios and firearm collecting (firearm hoarding).
Back then I had finally owned 130something firearms, simultaneously.

Twenty+ years ago, I visited Africa for the first time and was totally smitten.
At that stage, over the course of about 2 or 3 years, I sold off almost all of my guns, to help pay for more Safaris.
I’ve been blessed to visit Africa 6 times so far and my Wife has also gone there with me 2 times so far.
Furthermore, selling off my gun collection has helped me pay for additional hunting, fly fishing and spear fishing trips to other great places as well.

So to answer Kevin Peacock’s original question; Having bought the guns originally as financial investments, I finally sold them, (almost all of them as planned, at higher prices than I had paid).
In some cases, much higher prices, for the purpose as mentioned, for helping to pay for something I enjoyed more than hoarding a large pile of guns.

“I spent most of my money on proper rifles and big game hunting, the rest I just wasted”.

Best Regards,
Velo Dog.

Kevin Peacocke,

My apology regarding my previous post, wherein I failed to catch the incorrect spelling of your last name.
It is entirely my fault for not double checking my work
The “spellcheck” feature in my smarty pants phone here is a mentally ill creep and when I fail to double check it’s mischief (such as this time), it likes to make a fool of me.

Your friend in Alaska,
Paul Ard (Velo Dog).

 

[503]

Most of the guns I've sold were pistols I bought when I was younger that didn't work well. Other than that I've traded a few, last was a model 70 in .270 that I traded for an SX3 12 gauge.

I bought the 70 sight unseen, it was a newer one, if it had been a pre 64 or a cool caliber like 300 H&H I would have kept it. Needed another duck more tho.

Cheers.

 

[rookhawk]

I keep records of my guns, and when I looked it up, it surprised me a bit that so far I've owned close to a hundred and sold two thirds of those. I am only interested in hunting firearms, not target or defence weapons. I'm always looking to learn, and experience and upgrade. When a rifle or shotgun has nothing more to teach me, or it it has disappointed in some way, it is a candidate for selling, or hopefully "trading up". I like to have a particular firearm for each purpose. Kinda silly, I know. But I have a rifle that I consider close to perfect for stalking pronghorns on the plains, and another for sneaking through the willows after moose. One for hunting from a tree stand at dusk, and another for driven game. An African dangerous game double rifle, and a double shotgun for forest grouse over a pointing dog. A waterfowl gun and a pheasant gun. Etc. Etc. A few are functional objects of art. Each can be a little more perfect, so the quest continues. It's a form of entertainment, and a mild form of insanity. Keeps me busy and interested in this hobby.

As somebody that is packing for a move, I can definitely appreciate the idea of trading up. I’d much rather own a dozen or two of best guns in my life than to contend with 100+ whatever’s. I also like to display my guns and enjoy them for what they are, functional art. You own too many and they are just stacked up in a safe where you can’t really enjoy them.

 

[1dirthawker]

Mostly the reason is that I have grown. We all get older and hopefully wiser along the way. As I've continued on my journey, my tastes have evolved and changed. Add to that new interests like hunting Africa or any other type specialized type of hunting. And possibly loosing interest in things that once amused me.

I've never felt a sentimental connection to a firearm, car or any other inanimate object. I have what I need and when I'm done with a particular interest, the item will continue on its journey, as will I

this pretty much states it for me. i too am a bit of a mercenary regarding fire arms. some i like better than others, but generally, they are just guns. when my dad died a few years ago, i gave my brother all of the sentimental choices and some higher quality choices simply because i was not attached to them or already had a similar quality fire arm and wanted my brother to have a similar gun.

as i "evolve" i realize that maybe i got too caught up in the MAGNUM/velocity craze in my younger life and have since come to believe that there were few things that a non magnum could not do. so i suspect some of my less used rifles are going to hit the sales block.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I'm in the don't sell camp.

I have sold 3 in my life - all handguns. They were sold because I wasn't using them and the funds facilitated other purchases. One was a 6" barreled Llama 44 mag. It locked up tight and shot well. I just never used it. No regrets. The other 2 I do regret: a Rossi 720 and a T/C Contender in .35 Remington.

Also, I have an arbitrary rule that once a gun draws blood it can't be sold, and I very much have bucket list guns I still hope to acquire.

 

[meigsbucks]

When I was in my twenties and early thirties, I sold a few guns just because after acquiring them, they no longer lit my fire. Then I had a several stolen. Since then, I haven’t sold any and acquired a few more. I’m not adverse to selling to upgrade.
I enjoy working with different bullets and powders, even though I may never hunt with them. Just about every gun in the safe makes at least two or more trips to the range every year. For me, guns are meant to be shot and not sit in a safe.

 

[Ravensview]

Probably because I have moments of weakness and covet something different, I keep some that I inherited.

 

[IvW]

When you buy a piece of sh....
My first DG rifle was a Rem M700 375 H&H Classic....got rid of it asap....biggest mistake I ever made.....cured me from any Rem M700 going forward and I have never looked back....

 

[Ravensview]

It’s weird that this popped up now, as I’m looking through what I have and what I can cull that I dont use, I keep coming back to trading off a naval luger that I have, my dad picked it up during ww2 and had a custom shoulder holster made by a boot maker in Italy and carried it throughout the war, he was a master sergeant d-day plus 1, I have mixed emotions on it, it is a work of art and the fact that my father carried it through those trying time, but I would like to get into a Blaser R-8 system, I haven’t made any decisions yet, but this post popping up was timely.

 

[Tanks]

Unless I have an emotional attachment or it fills a niche, if I do not use a firearm for a long time I will sell it.

For example, I have not fired the pistol below for at least 20 years, but it is a reminder of a time when I was an avid bullseye shooter. So, I keep it for sentimental reasons.

Now, one I kinda regret selling is the one below, an HK P7M8. I had the original case, factory target and everything that came from the factory. I did use it in a self defense situation, and also had the newspaper clippings of the incident. A collector offered me a sum in five figures, and I just could not resist. It seemed a bit ghoulish to me at the time, but heck I took the money.

 

[steve white]

I plead temporary insanity

 

[MS 9x56]

I have traded a Mauser 98 reworked in Israel to 308 for a savage 99 in 308. I traded a Ruger 77 RSI in 243 for a Ruger 77 RSI in 250-3000. Don’t regret either one of those trades.

 

[Ravensview]

I have traded a Mauser 98 reworked in Israel to 308 for a savage 99 in 308. I traded a Ruger 77 RSI in 243 for a Ruger 77 RSI in 250-3000. Don’t regret either one of those trades.

I had a savage 99 in 250-3000 that is a regretted trade, those are two awesome firearms

 

[CoElkHunter]

I had a savage 99 in 250-3000 that is a regretted trade, those are two awesome firearms

Buy another! We only get so many heartbeats in life, so if it's something you really want and won't break your firearms/hunting budget, go for it!

 

[Ravensview]

Buy another! We only get so many heartbeats in life, so if it's something you really want and won't break your firearms/hunting budget, go for it!

They are a little bit more costly than when I bought mine, but you never
know what the future holds

 

[CoElkHunter]

Kinda off this topic, but in the late '90s, we drove to PA as I was going with my wife's two uncles and their sons and friends on a black bear hunt in Ontario, Canada. We stayed at one of the uncle's home. He had a lighted glass display case in his basement with probably a dozen or more Savage 99s in every available caliber. He did show me a .30-40 krag and a .250-3000. He had come out with us elk hunting in '95 and brought a pre '64 Winchester .300WM that looked like it had just came from the factory. Anyway, I had mentioned the display case to my father in law years later after the uncle had passed. He told me that what I saw in the display case was a FRACTION of the rifles his brother in law had NIBs squirreled away including Savage 99s and pre '64 Winchesters. He owned a roofing company and when he would do a roofing job for people (including many widows), he would take in these rifles as partial payment for the job. I would have LOVED to have seen his stash of the pre '64s and other 99s.

 

[steve white]

Regrets in selling? An engraved well figured Facile Princeps Greener that fit perfectly, and a SXS 9.3x74 with Kersten locks.