Trying to help my brother sell or give away his collection

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I imagine many of these prized pieces in the collections of older persons are C&R eligible by now.

It may be worth the $30 for the C&R license for the daughter (OP) or whoever to be able to save money and effort in selling, shipping directly to other people's FFL's.

One could sell to a broader national audience and get higher offers, while greatly reducing costs to do so.

FFL transfer fees on each piece of a large collection vs. one time $30...
 
I personally like the idea of sharing some of my things with my kids while I'm still alive. There's a certain enjoyment I get from seeing them enjoy the same things. Not dying just yet, but I also like having things in order.
 
My father died unexpectedly at a fairly young age. He contracted CJD in his 60s. Thankfully my brother and I sat down with Mom and went over his firearms are were able to split them up over a few beers while telling stories about dad. I'm always one to give a firearm a loving home. They are more than wood and steel to me. They have souls that tell the stories of all the hands that have held them over the years.
 
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Dog Soldier said:
Aging for me has allowed me to buy firearms I always wanted. I buy more guns than ever. My will can gift many fine arms to my son and the NRA.
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Same here. identical situation. I was dirt poor all my life until the last four years. The oil Boom in N.D. changed all that ( I have mineral rights in McKenzie Co.) Suddenly, I had money to buy dream guns. My affairs are in order and the guns will go to my son and friends who will appreciate them.
 
tark said:
Same here. identical situation. I was dirt poor all my life until the last four years. The oil Boom in N.D. changed all that ( I have mineral rights in McKenzie Co.) Suddenly, I had money to buy dream guns. My affairs are in order and the guns will go to my son and friends who will appreciate them.
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I like your story. After rearing a family paying college etc. I retired. I worked for British Company they bought us out. Bingo! :D
I worked out of Williston, ND in 1980, during my years as an Engineer. Your, production would have been South of town.
 
I'm getting up there a bit too ... If I dropped tomorrow, my wife would be overwhelmed :(

I've been thinking I need to sell some I rarely shoot anymore. Get my safe down to its rated capacity and leave her a valuation doc on what's left. Some I'll give to the nieces and nephews. Most I'll sell.

I still have projects in the pipeline, but need to thin the herd.

Good on you for helping your brother out. Time to move on to just a few special pieces, and current projects :)
 
When my Father in Law died several years ago all his guns stayed in the safe for several years under his wife's control. I'd check the once in a while for her and finally came the day she said it was time to disperse the between the 5 kids. I volunteered to inventory them and my wife made out a spreadsheet. This was emailed to all kids and they were asked to enter their first three picks. After a couple of emails all guns were spoken for with age being the tie breaker. My BIL flew in from Wyoming for dispersement day and had great stories about most of the guns.

My brother ended up in a different situation and had to liquidate his guns. Best / easiest solution was a large gun auction house (Rock Island), they came to him, inventoried guns and ammo, listed, sold and mailed him a check. He actually thinks he did better then trying to list them all himself. Some went lower then expected but some much higher.
 
You see, he is having a very tough time thinking about this.
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Stress can take a healthy person and make them sick. I guess you know your Brother better than we do but I would either tell him to forget about it and move on to something else, it's spring time after all.

Or you could be a stand up brother and tell him you'll get a plane ticket and fly the 600 miles and even pay for the cab to the local uhaul place to rent the box van, you just need to know when a good time to take all the problems off his hand. After all, who better to give his collection to than a Brother that's so thoughtful...if you don't have the time, you could always give him my number ;)
 
I'm lucky as my youngest daughter inherited my passion for firearms. I have a couple of special bequests laid out, she gets the rest to do with as she sees fit.

My older daughter has an interest as well, but she lives in a country where she can't really own firearms. Her sister has agreed to store a few for her for when she visits the US.

Most of my extended family are into guns and shooting, so I have plenty of people to gift with gun related stuff when the time comes. But my daughter is first in line, and she is already "helping" me "free up space" in the gun cabinet...........and the ammo locker.......;)
 
In a rural country county that borders the county where I live , the towns 90 plus year old barber had a auction house sell his guns this past fall . He had a lot of Belgium Brownings , Parker , and LC Smith shotguns , probably over 100 guns total . I went there to buy a 20ga. Browning , he had about 15 of them and they all were in excellent condition . When I saw the first 5 go for over $2000 dollars I left . I don't know what they charged him to sell the guns , but it looked like he was getting about twice as much for them at the auction . So that might be a way to sell them if the collection is large .

This 90 plus year old man was still in excellent looking and mental shape .
 
I didn't start collecting (buying shooters) until I was 62. I'm nearing 70 and still acquiring guns prudently and slowly. I probably won't end up with a closet full but I have a 7.62 mm, two .22lr-s, two .45 acp-s, and the trusty Remington 870. I bought a Marlin Model 60 recently because it's such fun to shoot. I'd never planned on a .22lr rifle but I figured if I passed my son could use it and then pass it to my grandsons. Until then I'm still looking, shooting, and having a ball. By the time I hit 80 I don't expect that to change much. I'm walking with Jesus and ready to go but am not in any hurry. My son is level headed and can do what he wants with my very modest collection. Hopefully his two boys will learn and love to shoot as much as I do.
 
You'll need to catalogue what's there before you do anything. The stuff needs to be evaluated anyway. If any of it is collector grade stuff/historically significant, there are museums.
Suggest your bro and other buddy make a living will and appoint an executor so the kids and grand kids cannot argue over his stuff. Even if they don't appear to care now, the smell of money/free stuff changes every thing with every body. Had an uncle(my long deceased Da's brother) tell me I wasn't part of his family years ago.
An auction house wouldn't be a bad idea. E-Bay, for anything, is not. No selling to gun shops either. Dealers base they price they'll give on the wholesale price and how fast they think they can sell it. Consignment is ok if you know what the stuff is worth.
"...at THAT age too..." Yep. 63, yesterday. Told my older brother and others, years ago, to build me a pyramid. Told 'em to put me on my couch with my stuff around me, turn the TV on and close the door. Lazy SOB's haven't even started it. snicker.
 
I am 72 and still adding to my collection. Sell a few on occasion. Plan on enjoying them till I drop dead or have to go to the home. I wouldn't be too quick to claim capital gains on my taxes. Its a hobby. If you go back all those years and add up how much you lost on various guns, cost to travel to gunshows, and a lot of other legal deductions it may not be what you think it is. They will not let you take a deduction on a loss on a hobby. I have given away a couple of family heirlooms to family members. My immediate family has no interest. Two of my friends who have been going to gun shows with me for years get choice of one gun each out of my collection. I have a contract with a local dealer to sell the rest of my collectilon on GunBroker or in his shop for a 10% fee. Wife has met him and is comfortable with him. She has no idea as to the extent of what I have is worth and that works better for me. The I trust the dealer and he won't short her. These things are personal decisions and mine may change if my health goes to crap or I start running out of cash.
 
I don't have very many guns. Both of my sons have several guns. I have a grandson too. They hunt and enjoy a bit of range time as well. Just in case... I've made a list of the guns and put a name beside each, After they make the split they can trade back and forth till they are all settled and happy. Then they have to deal with the reloading parts and pieces. This could very well turn into a hand down day if it gets to a time I can't enjoy the days afield. Who knows.

Mark
 
I'm 67 with no heirs that are interested in guns and I started thinning the herd down from around 40 guns to about the 13 that I have left a couple of years ago......the 30 or so that I've parted with so far (four were 'gifted' and the rest sold) were my more expensive / somewhat collectable firearms.

Oddly of all the ones I sold only my 4X Weaver scoped 30-30 Marlin 336 had a little meaning to me because it was the first deer rifle I ever bought and it accounted for my first three deer but it hadn't been on a hunt in many years and was just sitting in the safe.

I've also been selling excess brass, bullets, dies etc. that were mostly related to the guns that I've sold.
 
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Shanghai McCoy said:
I'm getting into my mid 60's and don't have a son so it's been on my mind what to do with my collection/accumulation myself lately. I have not been doing any adding to it as of late.
My teenage daughter could care less but at least my wife knows the worth of things and will be able to sell them. I hope...
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I too am in my 60's not in the greatest of health, I asked a friend that upon my death to sell my collection for my wife and keep any one of them as payment.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
I'm getting into my mid 60's and don't have a son so it's been on my mind what to do with my collection/accumulation myself lately. I have not been doing any adding to it as of late.
My teenage daughter could care less but at least my wife knows the worth of things and will be able to sell them. I hope...
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Don't worry too much about to do with your collection in your mid 60's. Based on my personal experience, I think that's too early since you should have several more years to enjoy them.

In my late 70's I had to give up my favorite hobby, striper fishing, due to a very bad back, lost of good balance, etc. At 80 I decided I needed a weapon for home defense since I had given all my long guns to my son. So I decided to buy a pistol and get my LTC. When I fired for qualification I used my instructor's Browning Hi Power 9mm and it is a very nice shooter! I shot a very good score and really enjoyed shooting. I was not new to guns, just not pistol shooting, I was hooked!

Long story short, I now have 5 pistols and try to shoot at the local outdoor range at least every 2 weeks. And I'm constantly looking and reading about pistols trying to decide on my next one! I have really enjoyed learning more about pistols and shooting. Shooting has been a great experience for me and I'm so glad I found it, even if pretty late in life!

So enjoy and use those pistols as often as you can for the next several years.
 
Sad too say, but even in our sport, the vultures are just waiting. Many a widow has been stripped of her husbands collections by ruthless dealers. In my own case, 75 and in fairly good health, I have three sons who know everything in the safe, gun room, workshop and reloading bench is theirs. Knives, guns, equipment, ammo, reloading supplies, wood working machinery the lot, all in the will and going to the sons. The rest of our estate belongs to the wife of course. Oldest son first choice, middle guy next youngest next, so on in rotation. They all like firearms to some degree, none hand load or hobby woodwork, only one hunts. There brothers and will figure it out.

Your right, any member over 70 reading this thread should have a plan. Just a list of items and estimated worth would be a step in the right direction.[/QUOTE]
 
My neighbor turned 87 a few weeks ago. He has a safe full of rifles, some very old lever and bolt Winchesters. He's one of these guys who doesn't ever sell anything. He has a camping trailer that he purchased in the 60's that hasn't been used in 20 years. His family aren't shooters, campers, hunters or boaters. He has boats also.

Not sure what they will do with all this stuff. Nobody in the family is going to know the value of it or how to sell it if they decide to do that. My guess it will all be stored at his son's house for another 40 years.

I'm slowly paring down my collection of firearms. I only have one small safe so never accumulated that much stuff to begin with. I consolidated my reloading to a few pistol and rifle cartridges. Most of my shotgun stuff is gone along with most of my shotguns.

We are planning on moving into town in about 5 years so hopefully I'll have this collection of stuff to a manageable level by then. Probably still shoot but reloading may be out of the picture. That seems to take up most of the space.

It's not just firearms one needs to worry about. All you have to do is look at my neighbors place to see the job that's ahead for somebody. His shop is a museum of old tools and hasn't been cleaned in about 10 years. It won't be fun.
 
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My brother lives in California and he's the LAST person I'd want to have my guns
Wow.....I've lived in California for 70 years. Seen all kinds of things change. I've owned over 150 firearms over the years of buying and selling, given to my children over 50. Still have over 60. I can not imagine not giving a semi family heirloom to a family member simply because of distasteful geographical-political boundaries of the state he lives in.
 
I go shooting with my kids every Thursday
My kids use my guns all the time & a number of their own.
They will continue to use the guns after I am gone.
They have never had an interest in reloading as I always do the reloading---maybe they will learn after I am gone.
I have been shooting for approx. 72 years & reloading for about 40 years.
Take care & stay safe
 
win71 said:
My brother lives in California and he's the LAST person I'd want to have my guns
Wow.....I've lived in California for 70 years. Seen all kinds of things change. I've owned over 150 firearms over the years of buying and selling, given to my children over 50. Still have over 60. I can not imagine not giving a semi family heirloom to a family member simply because of distasteful geographical-political boundaries of the state he lives in.
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It's not due to the geography, it's because he's a Dumbass....
 
As I read once somewhere " When I die, for goodness sake don't let my wife sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them!".

I inherited some of my guns, have added to the collection and hope to pass them on to my two sons......... many years from now.
 
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