Regarding safe queens.....

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BLACKHAWKNJ

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....my champion is my M1898 purchased in 1972-have yet to put a round through. Bought it as a collectible, as I did my M1896 Krag rifle and carbine. Don't feel deprived, some guns are for shooting, some are for owning. A friend has a nice collection of 1930s vintage radios, there's something about those wooden cabinets, the fabric covered speakers, watching the tubes start to glow. But you can't tune in 1937. I once kidded him that he might end up like the character in The Twilight Zone story "Static". Come to think of it, I might take my M1896 Krag or M1888 45-70 to the range one day and find myself at the foot of San Juan Hill.....
 
I have a safe queen (very rare Vaquero configuration) that I have been on the fence about shooting or selling. I buy them to shoot, really, but I completely understand the just owning them satisfaction. I have a 1895 vintage Winchester 1892 that I shoot once in a while, but I like just owning it better.
 
The closest thing I have to a safe queen is a late 1943 production Remington Rand 1911-A1 that doesn't appear to ever have been re-arsenaled. All parts period and mfg correct, similar minimal wear, everything checks out. I figure that wherever it went, it's seen the service and fulfilled it's intended purpose, and has earned it's retirement. While I can't say whether it went in on D-Day, based on the serial number, it's at least suggestive to me of where it was supposed to be headed. Probably a little bit of fanciful nostalgia on my part, but it gets a few rounds of target ball on June 6 every year in memory of the battle begun on that date, the men who fought and the men who never came home.
 
No safe queens in my safe. If it loses it’s luster for me it goes “bye-bye”.
Now I do have a couple long guns that haven’t been fired in a while but they will be used soon. I don’t consider them safe queens. I moved to Southern California a couple of years ago and haven’t found a decent rifle range yet. Two that I know of turn me off. I have some others to check out.
 
The real question should be- is my safe for security or is it a private museum?
 
I don't know why people use the term "safe queen" for unused guns. That presupposes that all guns are stored in safes. In some cases that just isn't practical, for example, when the collection is too large.
 
I inherited a nice 1943 Remington 03A3 from my uncle. He shot it. His son carried it on his motorcycle and shot deer and elk with it in Colorado. I have not shot it yet. I had a trusted gunsmith check the headspace, perfect he said. He also commented that he he wished his was as nice.

Perhaps it is a warrior on furlough, not a safe queen.


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This past year I have made it a point to pull some nice old guns out of the safe and have some fun. Loaded up some low pressure loads for my 1890 38-40 mod 73, first time shooting it in maybe 20 years. Bought a no-drill scope mount for a 1938 Savage 99 G from Mike Watson, and that 250 grouped like it did when I had younger eyes. Ordered another for my 1926 vintage 303. Played around with my 07 Win 351, carried it on a couple coyote hunts, but no luck. Put 40 rounds thru my 81 Rem 300 Sav, and a couple of boxes thru my late Dads flat gate Single Six. Got a couple more "safe queens" that need some fresh air, but everythings getting shot.
 
30-40 Krags have been mentioned a couple of times in this thread. While they are by no means fantastic rifles, that's why a short service life, they are one of the most fantastic bolt rifles to shoot. I have never shot a bolt rifle that I enjoyed more just for the sake of shooting. If you have one, you owe it to yourself to shoot it even just once.
 
Not all safe queens have to be expensive to be valued. The firearm I shoot the least isn't worth much, a Para GI Expert 1911. It is a unit commemorative model that I have taken out shooting only once. And may take out on rare occasions for the rest of my life. Eventually my grandfather will pass and leave me his Marlin 36 and Winchester 190. As he is one of the few other firearm owners in my family, these will have an honored place in my safe as well.
 
I’ve got a Browning High Power I bought new in the mid 80s that I’ve never shot but have an identical one that I do shoot.
 

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All my guns are "safe queens," since I haven't gone shooting in years. Age will do that to you.

Ditto.
Combine that with a lack of an outdoor public range in this area, shooting becomes even harder. That being said, none of my guns were bought with the intention of them becoming "queens". One that I inherited has become that as the ammo is harder to find in factory loads (.32-20) and this particular revolvers value (according to the book) is such that I don't want to diminish it more than I have already done by shooting it when I got it.
 
To echo another poster, all my guns are, right now, "de facto" safe queens (My bucket list is to eventually shoot most of the guns I own, if not all). That being said, I do have a couple guns that are, most likely, going to remain safe queens. One of those is an unissued Gustloff Werke 98K, never fired, taken by my father as a war trophy. There's a sentimental attachment there. Even my dad never planned on shooting it, and he was a completely practical man when it came to firearms (they're tools, and if he didn't need it he would sell it off). This rifle was the exception. Another is a nearly pristine, all numbers matching "Black Widow" Mauser P08 -- although, who knows, I might be open to changing my mind on that. Now, my .44 Auto Mag will probably be a safe queen for a long time because I don't currently handload and ammo has never been cheap or easy to find... but when I do, a queen it will be no more!
 
1952 Model 70, Great Uncle's Krag, another Great Uncles CSShattuck 10 ga market gun, 29-2, 1851 Colt, H.Leman (real) Lancaster 38 cal caplock. There are others I don't shoot (and I have shot all these) but these are kept scrupulously clean and oiled for my kids someday.
 
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I have a Glock Gen 1 17 that I've never shot (it's been fired, just not by me). Bought it just because I had never seen another one. It will be sold or traded soon.
 
I only have one rifle I’ll never shoot... my Dad gave me a spotless, unfired Rem 700 BDL 7mm Rem Mag. It’s a left hand model, but no one in my house is left handed. I already have a Win 70 7mm RM so I have one to shoot should a 7-Mag be needed.

He never shot the gun, I don’t have any reason to shoot it, either.

All my other guns are in play. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Involuntary safe queens? Does that count?
I still wonder why an outdoor range in Florida, with industrial sized fans blowing the mosquitos down range, has to worry about tiny strands of DNA encased in protein?
 
Not all safe queens have to be expensive to be valued. The firearm I shoot the least isn't worth much, a Para GI Expert 1911. It is a unit commemorative model that I have taken out shooting only once. And may take out on rare occasions for the rest of my life. Eventually my grandfather will pass and leave me his Marlin 36 and Winchester 190. As he is one of the few other firearm owners in my family, these will have an honored place in my safe as well.
Definitely take the Para out and shoot it. These are very underrated. Never seen a commemorative. Got pics.
 
I have a few that came from my father that I have never shot, or at least not in my adult life. I’ve had them for 10 years, and I doubt that any of them except the two .22s have been shot in the past 30 years.
All of my rifles have been shot in the past couple years, and most in the past 12 months. My pistols get the most use and all of them have been shot in the last 6 months.

Jeff
 
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