Do You Have So Many Guns You Can't Enjoy Them All?

Been selling off some of mine; a few slots in the safe have been filled with something new; my LGS has been selling some I haven't shot in a while or plan to; so they might as well go to someone who would want them.

Just the fact that I own a particular firearm gives me pleasure. Over my lifetime I shudder to think at the total number of guns I've owned. I now have a modest collection and, no, I don't get to shoot all of them as often as I would like, but I still enjoy owning them and taking them out of the safe to admire them.

Hmmm...I dont know, you tell me...

I enjoy all my guns, sometime its several years before some of them make there way out into the sunlight. My preferences have changed over the years, I was into military weapons for a years, now I favor lever action and revolvers. Based on the time I have available to shoot I have way to many guns. I hope to remedy that situation next year after I retire

I have more than I need or have time to shoot regularly. All the long guns fit in one safe, all the handguns in a smaller one, so it’s a fairly modest collection. I have turned it over somewhat in recent years as my interests have changed and could stand to sell a few more. But at this point, I “enjoy” owning them all, even if they haven’t been to the range in a while.

I've sold five the last three weeks. Have about a dozen more to possibly go. Its that age thing again.

I have a significant amount of guns I bought because I was curious about them. Now that my curiosity has been satisfied it’s probably time to let them go to someone who will put them to more regular use.

Exactly the same with me. Just sold three really nice hunting rifles. Great old school European wood and steel. Enjoyed them, fired them, hunted with them. Time for someone else do the same.

taliv said:

I used to collect all kinds of things like 400 yo japanese swords and interesting guns and sandwiches.

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Out of curiosity. How does one collect “sandwiches”
My personal favorite is a BMT, I’ve had many but they wind up the next day as only a memory.

I went through a phase where I bought any gun that struck me as a "good deal" which is how I wound up with several Hi Points, a Jennings, and some 9x18s with the worst trigger pull in history. I actually like the Hi Points. They are what they are. I currently have 23 scoped "deer rifles" and I hunt with 2 of them.
During downturns in the economy it is common for people to be short of cash so guns can be had at a good price. I picked up a S&W Model 10-6 and a BAR 30-06, both mint, together for $450 a couple of years ago. I have also inherited quite a few guns over the years since I am the main gun nut in my family.
All told I own well over 100 guns and probably regularly shoot about 10 of them. I need to sell some but...that ain't gonna happen. None of my 4 kids are particularly crazy about guns though they all have killed deer and know their way around a 9mm.

I enjoy all the firearms I own. Many are part of a collection (1st World War rifles, Art Deco period 7.65mm pistols) and I don't shoot them so much.
I do have several hunting arms in excess of what may be called "needs". But many are works of art. How many Rembrants are 'needed'?

kinda, when I was younger I had grand visions of a collection that had a little bit of everything and I was impatient in getting there, and for cost reasons I cut some corners. I kinda wish I had fewer but nicer guns now. for instance I have many, shotguns, some I have never shot I have lusted over a browning citori for over a decade but could never choke down the 2K+ price tag, but over there years I have spent that. and more. some I like a lot but some were just cheap placeholders that just sit there,

I have a lot of guns that I don't shoot much & it's getting to be a game to find where I put a certain one. I try to clean & re-oil every one at least once a year but with everything going on in my life, I get behind every now & then. I will spend hours searching all the cabinets, safes & closets I have them stored in. Every time I pull one out of it's storage place it gives me many memory's of past shooting events or hunts I have been in.
You don't have to shoot a gun to enjoy it, there are many other ways.

I own so many fiery-arms that if I went to the range once a week with two different guns,,,
It would take over 30 weeks to get through my collection.

Some say that's a good reason to "thin the herd".

I'm in no hurry to do so,,,
I'm like Old King Cole counting his money.

I enjoy owning them and if it's a year between shoots,,,
So what.

I do have a core group of guns that I shoot much more often than the rest,,,
But again there are no "rules" for gun ownership.

Aarond

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RavenTai said:

kinda, when I was younger I had grand visions of a collection that had a little bit of everything and I was impatient in getting there, and for cost reasons I cut some corners. I kinda wish I had fewer but nicer guns now. for instance I have many, shotguns, some I have never shot I have lusted over a browning citori for over a decade but could never choke down the 2K+ price tag, but over there years I have spent that. and more. some I like a lot but some were just cheap placeholders that just sit there,

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I understand that. Purpose of ownership helps me define that, and as I got older, decided that as far as gun ownership goes, Stalin's quote about 'Quantity has a quality all it's own' doesn't apply. I had a collection of his battle rifle, Mosins, but it was not concentrated on any theme. It what I could find when I had the money. I still have some, but it's down to my1916 Sestoroyetsk, the 1930 Tula M91/30, and FrankenTula™, my 1937 Tula that was sporterized commercially; I bought it as a barreled action and trigger assy., put it in a Hungarian M44 stock from eBay, and will never get rid of it. I can appreciate a Hi-Point for what it is, but taking my Trap shooting as an example, while I have shot many 25's with a stock 870 or 1100, I found it much easier to do so with my 1100 Competition, and more so with my Ljutic Mono Gun. There is a factor where other guys drool over my guns at the range, particularly the Ljutic, but that is not why I bought them. Well, ME drooling over someone else's Ljutic 40 years ago, and the results I got when he let me shoot it, did. This is why I let anyone who expresses interest in it at the range try it. Once they see that it makes shooting higher scores easier, (for most), they see past the "ooh" factor. The 1100 Competition was a result of applying my past experience logically to the requirements for trapshooting. I started Trapshooting with an 1100, and went to an 870 when I could legally buy one. I traded an 870 toward the 1100 Competition. The 1100 Competition has an adjustable comb, something a Trap gun should have. It has a recoil reducer, which helps with shooting several hundred rounds a day. The barrel is back bored, plus the choke selection is (almost) complete, lacking only the Improved Modified in the set that comes with the gun.

Go out and find that Citori, you'll thank yourself when you do. If you want to save a few bucks, used Citoris can be found under $1000, particularly older ones with fixed chokes. Get a Mod/Full if you want to shoot Trap or hunt pheasant, or a IC/Mod for Skeet or dove/quail/grouse.

I don't because I can't afford to spend money on things I can't enjoy. I would have to be pretty rich to willing to buy things I won't ever use.

I have a modest collection, with a couple that haven’t been shot in 10-15- years, some of those were my fathers and the only reason they haven’t been shot is there in the back of the safe and I’m too lazy to dig them out. I shoot shotguns year around…skeet league, 5-stand and some sporting, the rest is pistols with rifles at the very end, if I had to break it down it would be 80% shotgun, 15% pistol and rest rifle. I cannot count the number of times I’ve looked in the safe and thought I could sell that and get “X” shotgun or pistol…maybe I’m getting older (aren’t we all), but when I go now it’s only things I want to shoot, where it used to be hey, let’s take this and run a magazine through it, get home them have to clean 10-15 guns…what a PITA.

How can it even be possible to have so many guns you couldn't enjoy them all?? ???

Trunk Monkey said:

I'm asking a question that is completely outside of my experience. So I might not ask it right.
I don't have a large gun "collection" actually less than ten. Actually my guns it's five. The rest of them are my wife's and I don't shoot them.
Even then I've caught myself opening the safe and thinking "I haven't shot this in a couple of years."
Earlier this year I decided to "rotate" through all of my guns when I go to the range.
I always take my LC9 as a pocket gun and I take another of my defensive guns each time. So I get to fire each of them a few times each year.
What do you guys who have hundreds of gun do? How do you enjoy one gun out hundreds or even tens.

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Tank - some posters here may be in the same boat as me - lack of access to a "public" range. My collection is a little over a dozen but one is hard to get ammo (.32-20) and is valuable enough that I don't wish to wear it out any more. Another is a century old with a worn out barrel (a .32 ACP), a .25 ACP that I keep handy in a drawer, and an AK, a .243, .357s, and assorted .22s. I just don't have a good place to shoot anything larger than the .22s.

Before I had children I had my highest count was 24 about evenly split between handguns and long guns. All my handguns with exception of three of them were 45s. Depending on who was with me when I went to the range I would bring at least 10 handguns with 100 rounds for each. I would maybe bring home 150 rounds home. If the ar came out I would blow through 500 rounds a range session. Sorry for the rabbit trail. The simple answer is I enjoy every one of the many firearms I currently own and hope to add more as the years go by. And just like my dad when I'm gone I hope that my passion runs off on my boys.

That was what it was like with my dad's collection.

I think I’m right around 50 guns and there are a couple that have not been shot in years, but they’ve at least been fondled regularly. I go through spells where I only want to shoot ARs. Then I’ll get on a bolt action kick. Lately it’s been Ruger No. 1s. Eventually I’ll get back into pistols. I sell stuff that I don’t shoot much other than my dad’s old guns. Been on the fence about selling off some of his stuff, but I know I’ll regret it someday, so I’m sure they’ll just keep collecting dust in the safe.

Tommygunn said:

How can it even be possible to have so many guns you couldn't enjoy them all?? ???

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Have a friend, now in his later 70s, with 2 browning 52 gun safes - both full and another 2 dozen in some form of display where the safes are. He shoots maybe 4 of them regularly; his safari heavy hitters haven't been shot in over a decade and his waterfowl guns haven't been shot in over 2.