Does every gun you own have a reason to justify its purchase?

hawg said:

I'm lucky, my wife is into guns as much as I am. She drags me kicking and screaming to the gun store.

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Excellent! I'm lucky in that same way. The only thing is, as I've said before, my wife and I are out of room in this house for more guns and gun safes. I can't think of any better things to fill up extra space in a house with though.

No but it doesn't stop me!

No, not remotely. Not a legitimate one anyway.

Not really. Not anymore.

Simple - I see, I want, I buy

No, not even close to it.

same here

The only justification is "I Want It".

Reason: I want it and have the money for it.

Every firearm that I have purchased had reason for the addition. Most of them were for the fun of owning them.

I will add that many of the buys did add something that I didn't have with my previous tool.

Examples: My first deer rifle was a Winchester Model 94 30-30. I limited myself to 100 yard shots. Open sights and limited energy cartridge makes it at best 150 yard rifle. I upgraded to a model 700 BDL 30-06 at 20 years old. I could have stopped there, but I started to look for the ideal rifle for the terrain and specific game.

Lever action woods walk rifle.
Bolt action woods stand rifle.
Reach out and touch them rifle.
Rainy day rifle.
What the heck rifle.

I think you can understand

I justify all my Gun purchases with the current state and federal laws on the books. I remind my wife that it is illegal to shoot a elk with a deer rifle so I would need a new rifle of the proper caliber to go elk hunting. Same with bear.. Must have a new bear gun as the elk rifle and deer rifle are (by law) illegal to use to hunt bear. I remind her of people needing a "squirrel" gun to shoot squirrels. In my state it has become the law to use a doe rifle, a button buck rifle and a buck rifle if you are to hunt either of these animals. Also, it is only being responsible to have "Back Up" rifles these days because if any one of my rifles breaks, it is impossible to find parts. A bird hunter needs to know that he would need a separate duck gun, dove gun, pheasant gun and even a pigeon gun to be a good and legal bird hunter. Also, once you put a scope on a rifle, by law, you cannot remove it without a state and federal permit. The scope , once put on a rifle , becomes a permanent part of the rifle. Therefore, I will have to buy a different scope for each rifle I own. I don't make these laws but a responsible hunter will be law abiding! Also, in my state of Arkansas, there is talk of opening up panther and buffalo hunting because it is getting too dangerous in the woods with so many of these animals roaming closer to neighborhoods. I think it is only prudent that I have a new panther rifle and a new Buffalo rifle to protect the family.. I mean, just think of the Children! They depend on us for their safety. Did anyone here realize that when you go hunting you need to have (by law) a sidearm of the proper caliber with you along with your rifle? If you are caught hunting without THE PROPER SIDEARM. The fines are huge and you could be facing jail time. I think it is about time people here and all over the country start obeying the gun laws as they pertain to hunting!

Only 1 reason needed. I want it. As long as I can afford it, that's all the reason I need.

Not even close. 95% I buy just because I like them. IMHO: Guns & Knives = Man jewelry

Obviously I don't have to justify having a specific gun to anyone else. But yeah, most of my guns have to "earn their keep" so to speak. As a guy that's firmly in the 99.9% I don't have tens of thousands of dollars of mad money every year for guns, and everything I buy comes at the expense of something else. So when contemplating adding something to my stable I consider what role it will fill. Sometimes that role is just something fun to plink with, but in that case I'd rather not have it cost $2k. Most of my firearms were purchased because I love guns but also to fill some defensive role. If I'm being 100% honest a person probably doesn't need a large arsenal for self defense; probably just a couple handguns, a couple rifles and a shotgun (with some spares/redundancy in case of a breakdown). Still, I tend to pick guns that have some kind of martial purpose. For the same reason I kind of try to stick mostly to 9mm/5.56/12ga along with a .22LR and an oddball or two (like the one .40 I have, not a huge fan of the round but really loved the particular sample/variant of the pistol).

That said if I won the lottery tomorrow I'd probably be on Gunbroker Monday morning buying a few dozen more!

I still remember when my uncle came to pick me up from class and drove "old Red" ( a 70's model 4wd 3/4 ton pick up with two rifles on the rifle rack in the back window.) One of my classmates decided to show how socially conscious he was an ask the old man why he felt the need to "advertise" deadly weapons on campus. My uncle laughed at him, patted him on the head and told him when he grew up he wouldn't feel the need to question matters that didn't really concern him. The conversation went downhill from there.

Yes, I have to justify each gun I buy. But only to myself. Wife is not an issue, and has several herself. I just don't want a bunch of guns sitting around in the safe I don't shoot or shoot rarely. So I don't get much satisfaction out of buying something I'm not going to use a lot. We tend to sell off the guns we are not using.

Upon more reflection, Changing interests were enough. When the Bug only began at age 52, you have Lots to catch up on.

First Mosins- then Enfields plus Mauser, then Ruger “Minis”, SKS , Garands etc.

Handguns interest started about age 56, with a single Sauer 38H- liberated “from a German nurse in WW2” . Now…. That transfer of ownership required No Justification, by any definition .

The word “justification” , regarding the other guns in my situation , is without any practical meaning.

My buddy summed it up best...God, gold and guns with a silver lining. No reason to justify any of them....

Most of the guns that I have bought were milsurps or other significant historical items that were in danger of falling into the hands of Bubba.
That's reason enough.

When I first read the OP, I thought that most of what I owned were used for some purpose. The more I thought, though, there were quite a few I bought for various non-logical reasons: my 4th M1, 4th AR15, second K31, and probably a couple others.

But the kicker was when I bought my first 1911 pistol, something that I've always wanted. Once I had it in my hands, I needed a reason to shoot it, and went to my first bullseye pistol match. Once I started into that, came a second 1911, a 22/45, High Standard Victor, and a Marvel conversion. I'm now looking into a S&W M52.

Will it ever end?

MikeInOr said:

I had never heard a 13.2 TuF before. It sounds kind of wimpy for a WWII tank gun. Maybe more appropriate for a WWI tank?

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Was developed during WWI.
But, until about 40-41 or so, many vehicles only had 20-25mm of armor, and that most-of 50bmg (0.519") would punch through that.
And, almost as importantly, the unit commander was often in a thin-skin truck, half-track, or similar armored car. And many of those barely had 10-15mm of armor.

Now, if a person had one of those rifles, they'd need some specialist arbors to reload-talk about "justification" []

Laphroaig said:

Will it ever end?

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Naw. It probably won't end until your survivors are trying to figure out what to do with your guns. And before anyone jumps on me about leaving a burden for my wife to worry about, remember this: I've said many time that MY wife has as many guns as I do, maybe more, and she's almost as old as I am. So that "burden" y'all are concerned about could just as easily be mine. I'm not going to worry about it either way.

.308 Norma said:

Naw. It probably won't end until your survivors are trying to figure out what to do with your guns. And before anyone jumps on me about leaving a burden for my wife to worry about, remember this: I've said many time that MY wife has as many guns as I do, maybe more, and she's almost as old as I am. So that "burden" y'all are concerned about could just as easily be mine. I'm not going to worry about it either way.

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That doesn't sound like a burden. Sounds like an unexpected burst of new firearms in your collection. All my wife will leave me is closets full of cloths, shoes, pocketbooks and some jewelry. I'd rather she was into gun like your wife!!!

Though all things being equal I hope nothing like that happens for you or me for a VERY long period of time!!!1

I want it, I like it, I have the cash, there is room in the safe. Nuff reasons for me.