Gun Collections left in passing.......

Wife will sell it all for pennies on the dollar and buy more shoes.

huntsman said:

I limit myself to one medium gun safe, that shouldn’t be too difficult to disperse.

Click to expand...

The last person I tried to help with this was a widow, left with one 24-gun safe, containing 51 firearms, many compact semi-auto pistols you've seen flashy adverts for in gun rags. Her late husband had also left a handwritten list of values. . . retail prices he had paid during the Clinton and Obama Banics.

I spent about 10 hours photographing the whole collection and researching completed sales in GB. I handed her a list of what I thought I could sell them for mostly ranging from 60-80% of what he'd paid.

That entire 'collection' is still sitting there, and she's waiting for someone to come and tell her it's worth what he paid. Baring a zombie apocalypse, no one's coming. Her kids are entirely uninterested.

After your passing, your stuff is worth exactly what it's worth to your heirs.

D.B. Cooper said:

where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal

Click to expand...

Yup.

After asking my son and daughter if they had any interest in my firearms, and getting a negative response, it was time to come up with a plan. My young grandson enjoys shooting with me, but my daughter won't allow any guns to be stored in her home until he reaches majority.

I contacted a friend several decades younger than myself and asked if he would be wiling to assist my wife with disposal after my time was up. He was, so I made a list with all guns, serial numbers, etc. and indicated current value. He and I both agreed getting 60-70% of value would be more likely.

So the list is where my wife will find it, along with my friend's contact info. I feel I've done what I can to help after I'm gone.

One last note: guns are not like other inherited items. There's a limited market, it's a unique item that people have strong feelings about, and with certain laws, they're not the easiest items to dispose of. My feeling was to do what I can ahead of time to help dispose of them so they're not a burden to my heirs.

Let's hope we all have a long time to go before this becomes a necessity!

I don’t have any kids but I’ve been downsizing every aspect of my life and my possessions.

I choose not to live a life as a slave to clutter.

My kids will have to deal with my gun and guitar collections when I’m gone. I keep a detailed inventory of everything and approximate value but it’s all only worth what someone’s willing to pay. My 11 year old son is starting to get interested in shooting so I’m sure they’ll one day go to him. Neither have much interest in guitar but I’m still holding out hope for my daughter although she’s more into piano. My father in law retired and moved down to Florida recently. He owned more tools than Home Depot! None of his four sons can so much as hammer a nail so he stopped over with an suv filled with tools one day. Half the stuff had never even been opened. I gave him a few hundred dollars for thousands of dollars worth of stuff.

edwardware said:

The last person I tried to help with this was a widow, left with one 24-gun safe, containing 51 firearms, many compact semi-auto pistols you've seen flashy adverts for in gun rags. Her late husband had also left a handwritten list of values. . . retail prices he had paid during the Clinton and Obama Banics.

I spent about 10 hours photographing the whole collection and researching completed sales in GB. I handed her a list of what I thought I could sell them for mostly ranging from 60-80% of what he'd paid.

That entire 'collection' is still sitting there, and she's waiting for someone to come and tell her it's worth what he paid. Baring a zombie apocalypse, no one's coming. Her kids are entirely uninterested.

After your passing, your stuff is worth exactly what it's worth to your heirs.


Yup.

Click to expand...

Buy wisely and get what you can, Losing money on my collection would just be SOP for how my gun ownership went

After dealing with MIL estate I learned an important lesson on the value of “Stuff”, if anything it’ll be the artwork and library that’ll be an issue.

tstrat99 said:

He owned more tools than Home Depot! None of his four sons can so much as hammer a nail. . .

Click to expand...

I have to say, that just makes me sad for him.

armoredman said:

Wife will sell it all for pennies on the dollar and buy more shoes.

Click to expand...

Widows will either sell their decedent's possessions for pennies on the dollar, or, conversely, hold out for too much. Now, I've considered making a catalog of everything I own, with values (which in itself would be a huge task), but such a listing would be out of date almost as soon as it was written. In addition, would the values be retail values, be what I paid years ago, or be what a dealer would be expected to give? In each of these cases, the listed values would be misleading. Better to have a trusted friend, who is extremely knowledgeable about guns, handle this after I'm gone. Problem is, I don't know anybody who is both that trusted and that knowledgeable. I've given up trying to worry about this. What will happen, will happen. I'm just focused on enjoying what I have while I'm still here.

460Shooter said:

I choose not to live a life as a slave to clutter.

Click to expand...

One person's "clutter" is another person's "treasure." I've spent my whole life collecting not only guns, but also books (thousands of volumes), cameras, stamps, coins, etc. I even have a car in the garage that's been awaiting restoration for the last 30 years. If I were to downsize, it would be like a declaration of surrender from life (I'm 75).

edwardware said:

I have to say, that just makes me sad for him.

Click to expand...

Yeah totally agree. They all good guys, just not much in common with their dad. Ironic thing is my dad is not handy at all so diy and building things are something me and the FIL have bonded over. My In laws spend the summers in Chicago where I live so he’s always over helping me with projects when they’re here. He still gets to use his old tools ,haha!

AlexanderA said:

One person's "clutter" is another person's "treasure." I've spent my whole life collecting not only guns, but also books (thousands of volumes), cameras, stamps, coins, etc. I even have a car in the garage that's been awaiting restoration for the last 30 years. If I were to downsize, it would be like a declaration of surrender from life (I'm 75).

Click to expand...

If you enjoy your collections, more power to you.

I enjoy going places and experiences more, and at my income level I have to make choices. I’m not poor but I need balance. I am also the child of a family of hoarders. Posthumous clean up is not fun.

460Shooter said:

I am also the child of a family of hoarders. Posthumous clean up is not fun.

Click to expand...

I agree with that. However, "collecting" is not "hoarding." Everything that I collect is carefully selected, in accordance with theme(s). For example, when I say that I collect cameras, what I really mean is that I collect Zeiss Contaflexes and certain models of Nikons (F2s, Nikkormats, and FMs). Likewise, with guns, it's mostly U.S.military models. I don't just accumulate haphazardly.

AlexanderA said:

I agree with that. However, "collecting" is not "hoarding." Everything that I collect is carefully selected, in accordance with theme(s). For example, when I say that I collect cameras, what I really mean is that I collect Zeiss Contaflexes and certain models of Nikons (F2s, Nikkormats, and FMs). Likewise, with guns, it's mostly U.S.military models. I don't just accumulate haphazardly.

Click to expand...

I agree there’s a big difference. My folks took collecting to extreme levels, that also involved never throwing things out.

You are a collector. My folks were scary.

When my aunt passed she was a "collector" of many items. Took 7 of us 3 weeks to clean the house out. That was a lesson all of us learned from. My folks passed a few years back and the clean-up was pretty mild thankfully. I have some of their items in the garage that will be due for sorting. We didn't have kids so other than a niece, most of this stuff will be downsized. Each month I sort through to donate or toss. Changing mindset that now I want a reduced mental inventory to track.

I'm 65, retired, and still buying. It's a hobby I love and enjoy along with reloading. I'm at the range at least once a week and still have a place to hunt. The way I see it I'm still young and not done yet. I told the wife if I go before you have fun with the money you make off of the collection...

Every inventory, shoot, clean, lubricate. Current value typed up on inventory sheet. Son can have all of it, but must split dollar value with his Sister. Meanwhile, I'll be dead.

JDeere said:

I'm 65, retired, and still buying. It's a hobby I love and enjoy along with reloading. I'm at the range at least once a week and still have a place to hunt. The way I see it I'm still young and not done yet. I told the wife if I go before you have fun with the money you make off of the collection...

Click to expand...

That's generally how I also feel, although I'm 75. I'm still buying, but it's much more selective these days. (Far fewer holes in the collection left to fill.)

I’ve been the recipient of a couple of “someone get rid of these things” accumulations over the years, and known a few other accumulations that got dumped for a pittance before I could put in a word.

(Funny story...one of the people who couldn’t wait to get rid of their father’s guns posted about a week ago on Facebook about how they were at a friend’s business, “with a high power rifle,” to defend against looters, and angrily ranting about how his “fellow liberals” really need to stop attacking the 2nd amendment... bet he wishes he hadn’t dumped all those guns for $0.00.)

I’ve also seen a family hold on to “grampa’s guns” where most of them were nice enough except for grampa’s SSN scrawled on each one with an electric pencil, but one was the absolute worst semi-auto .22lr rifle I’ve ever fired...it couldn’t keep 5 shots on a paper plate at 25 yards, jammed, etc.. I can’t help but think that one rifle was just something “gramps” was holding on to because it wasn’t worth selling, and now it’s treated as a family heirloom even though it was frankly junk.

My kid is young enough that I can only hope he ends up interested. My wife is ambivalent...she’s glad I can shoot but doesn’t want ‘em (well she decided recently that circumstances call for her to have and be competent with one). If my kid isn’t interested, I suspect that several generations of heirlooms will end up buried in an argon-purged vessel off in a desert somewhere, with a note explaining what they are. Maybe it will make some archaeologists happy in 1000 years. The rest I’ll sell, or give away, or whatever makes me happy.

edwardware said:

I handed her a list of what I thought I could sell them for mostly ranging from 60-80% of what he'd paid.

Click to expand...

Twenty percent depreciation would actually be really good for the seller.

I generally don't buy anything used anymore. Sellers always want 80% of the new price. Or more.
I also no longer sell anything, either. Buyers always want to pay pennies on the dollar.
It's just worth the hassle for either side. I buy new, and I keep everything. Even if I don't need it, use it, or even want it. I'm far more likely to just throw things away than I am to sell them.

Ed Ames said:

...one was the absolute worst semi-auto .22lr rifle I’ve ever fired...it was frankly junk.

Click to expand...

Must have been Nylon 66. bwahahahahahaha

All this worry about "only 50-70%" or "pennies on the dollar" --- my guns are not a 401K!

My survivors (funny term there - like I went down with the Titanic but my family made into a lifeboat...) aren't going to get much for my clothes , and nothing at all for the food I ate while I was still upright. It's all just stuff that sustained me in life. They should be glad that there is actually something of value to liquidate rather than just boxes of stuff to haul to Goodwill.

A number of years ago, my wife and I "downsized", which means we sold our large home (3000 sq ft with full basement) and built a smaller home (1930 sq ft on a slab). We got rid of 2/3rds of the "stuff" we owned. Our basement had the usual tumult of shelves, barrels, boxes, and piles that reflected our lives. We had a large garage sale and made trips to Salvation Army donations site and the remains went to the curb. Obviously we didn't need the stuff any more and I don't remember much about the specifics of what we ditched.
I ask myself, "Are my guns any different?"

For me it's easy. If I pass first, the wife has one or two items she likes. Might even keep another or two as "mementos". Stepson is a gun guy, eventually he'll have everything. He has two daughters, one of which is already expressing an interest in hunting at nine. The other granddaughter isn't interested in hunting but does like shooting the bb and pellet guns. I think I'm going to buy them a couple RoughRiders. Would prefer Ruger Wranglers, but my stepson and I decided that the thumb safety might be a good idea at this time.

At one time I had a lot of firearms. Knowing current values is not a good thing sometimes. If I saw a good deal, I bought it. Realized that I didn't shoot a lot of them and they were taking up space. Sold excess off. Actually made money. And the firearms I have left have grown in value ( ex: have various Ruger Six DA/SA revolvers, bought in low to mid $300 zone) have grown in value.

So the kid is really gonna make out! But he has a long wait. The men in my family are known to live to their nineties! He might not get the cool stuff until he retires!

Threads like this remind me that I need to update our Will.
My kid won't get any of our firearms and neither will the brother out in California.
That I do know for sure...

Sovblocgunfan said:

I’ve seen too much ugliness around this issue to not have it squared away when I go.

honestly, guns or not, anything worth handing down or giving away will be itemized by person. Big ticket items like house or other property will not be left for the kids to fight over.

Click to expand...

So, so true.