Gonna thin the herd - permanently - .... I think

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Poper

Poper

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Like a lot of the older members here, I have been contemplating end of life scenarios. At age 66 I find none of my immediate kin are gun people. They hunt and fish and plink occasionally, but that's about it. I am the "gun guy" everybody peppers with their gun questions in hunting camp. I am the only one in hunting camp or my immediate family that loads his own ammo.

I have 4 rifles and 2 pistols in .22LR. (down from 7 rifles and 4 handguns at the peak)
The safe also contains 11 highpower rifles from .222 Rem. to .300WSM. multiple handguns (revolvers) in .38 Special, .357 Mag., .44 Special, .41 Mag., etc. and 3 shotguns - (2) 12ga, (1) 16ga.
I load for everything except the 16 ga. shotgun. The powder stock is more than I will shoot if I live to be 100, several thousand primers and brass coming out my ears. For .22lr, (after today) I am down to about 22,000 rounds. (4 full cases plus a few odds and ends bricks) :uhoh: Give or take a few boxes. Much more than I can possibly shoot in the time I probably have left. (I have nightmares about a fire or other incident that gathers media attention - I can see it now "The man's arsenal contained more than 30 firearms and in excess of 25 thousand rounds of ammunition and supplies to load several thousand more! :what::eek:o_O)

Soooooooooo, I am contemplating selling everything not .22LR, keeping 2 HP rifles (the Tikka .270 and a .243), one shotgun and 2 handguns. Well, maybe 3 handguns - 1 for the truck (.44 Special), 1 for cc (.38 Special) and one for fun (.38/.357).

Because I loath Gunbroker (we had a falling out a few year back AND the GB fees have become more than what I consider reasonable and fair), I think I will list most of the stuff I decide to sell here on THR. Some of you have odd tastes like I do and I might reach out to particular individuals with what I consider "discriminating taste" for a couple of those. :)

Any other ideas from folks on this board are very welcome, indeed. :thumbup:
 
Well my thoughts are simple. I have you by about 5 years in age. Like you I have enough loading components to shoot longer than I will likely live. I have no intensions of thinning the herd but that is just me. I figure it this way, your herd and your decision. My wife, kids and grandkids can figure things out when I check out but till then I have no reason to thin my herd and again you need to do what you feel is right for your herd. I won't be the one to sit here and tell you to thin your herd and later have you have second thoughts after doing it. :)

This sort of falls into the which rifle should I buy category if you know what I mean.

Ron
 
Sounds like a plan!

Im going to be liquidating a chunk of my Dads huge accumulation in the near future and will probably throw a bunch of them up here before renting a table at the gunshow to sell the rest.

Its gonna be hard picking the "stays" from the "gos"- hes got ALOT of nice stuff- but Ive already maxed out secure storage options for my own collection, so I can only keep the most meaningful pieces. :confused:
 
I'm in the same situation as the OP, except that I'm 10 years older. I have no desire to thin my collection. In fact I am adding to it, as the opportunity arises. The way I see it, giving up on the collection would be like giving up on life. I'm going to let my heirs dispose of the guns in any manner they see fit.
 
I'm going to let my heirs dispose of the guns in any manner they see fit.
Click to expand...

That often turns into a @#$^ show. I'm 63 and have already given my kids 6-8 guns each. I've kept some that have family history going back 2-3 generations that I will leave to grandkids. Stuff that doesn't have family history and doesn't get used regularly gets sold at this point. I still have 20-25 guns total, but that is about 1/2 what I had at one time.

Statistically I'll probably die before my wife and don't want for her to have to deal with trying to sell them and get a fair price. I'd rather do it now and use
 
If my firearms were a significant percentage of my estate I might do things differently.

As far as getting rid of your stuff before you die, now is a great time to sell guns and used vehicles. I hope you still have something to do with your time instead of waiting to die though.
 
Contact the family members and friends who might be interested in one or more of your firearms. Give them the chance to say, “ I have dreamed of owning this” before making your guns available to strangers.

I had an uncle die suddenly. His son sold a couple of Winchesters that I would have loved to own. When I asked him why he sold those rifles, he replied, I didn’t know anyone was interested.”

Sad.
 
I agree. Just sold my Pedersoli Rocky Mountain rifle and my Inland Mfg M1 carbine. Not enough time to enjoy everything I have so I’m also thinning the herd. Still plenty of goodies left to enjoy though. Still kinda sad to see my gun cabinet with more room in it.
 
Not sure i mentioned this before but a good friend had a bad stroke. We ( the 3 of us) had entered into a 25 year old agreement (aka tontine) that last ones standing would assist in safe liquidation of others "stuff'. His Daughters called us in a panic to remove everything he might harm himself with in his altered state. We did so and disposed of almost everything via net auctions with all proceeds to family. When he finally had to go into a "home" his $15K/mo caretaker outright stole everything of value before we could get there. Prolly over $100K of ammo, reloading stuff, tools, vehicles and namely, everything that wasn't nailed down or too heavy to lift w/o machinery was stripped from his property. He passed shortly thereafter as was aware of what had happened. Cops are working on it now but he did not keep records or inventory. My remaining friend and I now have a healthy fear of what may happen and are downsizing as fast as we can.
 
Ranger99 said:
" That ALWAYS turns into a @#$^ show "
fixed that ^ for you
Click to expand...

I'm more inclined to agree with you than not, but when my grandfather died the discussion of his extensive gun collection went something like "No, you really should take it." "No, I couldn't. I'm sure he would have wanted you to have it." etc. The only hitch was the crazy uncle who is forbidden by law (and common sense) from possessing a firearm. He pestered all of us and was universally ignored.
 
Beyond that, I will say that I agree with the OP entirely. No one in my family seems particularly interested in firearms, and I have found that my curiosity about them has been almost entirely satisfied. I now have sold off (or given away) everything but the treasures, which will remain with me until I fall off my perch. Afterwards, those guns engraved with my initials - which are shared by my youngest - will be given to him. The rest, as specified by my will, will be either given to my survivors as they wish, or sold with the proceeds to be divided equally among them. I expect the latter case will come to pass, and as I will be dead, I doubt it will upset me overmuch.
 
Ranger99 said:
It's truly a shame that people let their
greed interfere with their relationships
with friends and family
BTDT myself starting when my father died
Click to expand...
Agreed, especially with a large family. After my mom died my only brother told me "we're going to have problems(with each other) because of the money involved. I told him working through the probate can bring us closer together or drive us apart. We came out of it closer than we'd been in our adult lives. Afterward he told me he really didn't know me before we spent two years working through probate together.
 
Finally - I am more-or-less waist deep in martinis, so forgive my wordiness - I will say that it seems to me that firearms enthusiasm tends to skip a generation. My grandfather was wealthy and also a gun nut. As a small child I was shown his gun room - which was the entirety of his basement in a "log castle" which he had built on 140 acres in Missouri - and the memory still is striking. My father, on the other hand, told stories of hunting and shooting in his youth but had little interest in firearms and left me entirely alone to discover them for myself.

I ended up being the looniest of gun loonies and devoted a great portion of my life to them. When the time came I made sure to introduce my own children to guns, as I believe that no education is complete without a thorough knowledge of them. The result was predictable: they know everything they need to and find them about as interesting as the furniture.

So I assume that they will have little use for my guns. The best I can hope for is that they will set aside a few of them, along with various writings on the subject which I value, and pass them along to their own children - who, if the pattern holds, will be fanatical about guns. I know how much I would have treasured such a thing, decades ago...
 
Nothing wrong with thinning the herd.

I did this a few years back to fund a business venture which netted me more money in a few weeks than what I sold them for. Even replaced a few of them since then. Some I am better off without.

Just another example of how it is not always better to leave them in the safe.
 
There’s a time to hold on to stuff and a time to downsize and let it go. Stuff can weigh you down. On the other hand it’s nice to have options and choices, too. If the guns are really valuable it might make sense to sell them sooner, rather than they end up at a pawnshop for a few hundred bucks. On the other hand if they don’t make up much of your estate, percentage wise, why not keep them and enjoy them, even if only to look at? Provided of course that it’s an enjoyment and not a burden.
 
Interesting thoughts. At 67 and having myself survived a Triple Bi-pass, an Aorta Bi-Femoral Bi-pass, 12 stents and an aneurysm in my left leg that almost ruptured. I'm still feeling pretty good. Now I have also lost both of my elder brothers already. I have two sons that are also both restricted from gun ownership so they will be inheriting nothing there.

Some grandsons that also have zero interest so they get squat also. One granddaughter that is showing signs so there is hope there but other than that I have a ledger with everything listed in it and the approximate values so hopefully that allows my wife some insight as to what they are worth should she decide to sell them. Sadly, or maybe not, she is not as sentimental towards these material things as some of us get.

I may sell of some of the guns that are more common or that I just don't care to shoot but at the same time I am still adding and starting a build with a Savage model 11 that I am going to build a stock for.
 
When it rains it pours. We are in an nearly unprecedented (in US) inflationary period. Guns and housing prices are way up and demand for both are at record levels. We are also facing massive material and product shortages. If the shortages extend to food (as predicted) i think interest in guns may increase for some reason.
 
stonebuster said:
Agreed, especially with a large family. After my mom died my only brother told me "we're going to have problems(with each other) because of the money involved. I told him working through the probate can bring us closer together or drive us apart. We came out of it closer than we'd been in our adult lives. Afterward he told me he really didn't know me before we spent two years working through probate together.
Click to expand...
I have 1 sister (2 years older) and 1 brother (2.5 years younger) and recently had the job of finding and placing our mother in assisted living, selling her home, disposiong of everything she couldn't take with her and setting up her new residence. Because she is 86 and totally blind, it was a real chore. Both Sis and Bro are out of state and 1500 miles away, so they were of limited help and Sis is in the later stages of MS to boot. Whatever money Mom has is in a bank account that I manage through durable power of attorney. We have agreed that when Mom passes, if there is anything left it is split equally. Also, if she needs assistance, we share those expenses equally. None of us are wealthy, though none of us are destitute, either. So far, all is well.
 
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