Who buys guns and hangs onto them?

I bought and sold a lot of guns when I was younger. I had a family to take care of on a limited budget, if I could make a few bucks on a sale, down the road it went.

I also liked to try a lot of different guns, but if one came in, one had to go out. I never got into just keeping guns for the sake of expanding a collection. Living in apartments in NYC with kids and limited space was a big consideration.

Being of a certain age, I've now pared my inventory down to just a few core guns that take care of my needs, and I'm fine with that.

There was a time in life when I cycled through, now days I keep what I buy.

I also used to impulse buy, I don’t do that anymore either. I buy stuff I really want or have wanted for a long time, sometimes keeping an eye out for something rare or a deal for a year or two. I buy less often but spend more money, almost never sell. Probably haven’t sold a gun in nearly a decade.

I didn't end up keeping most of the stuff I'd picked up over the years. I've never sold anything with sentimental attachment and I've kept a few that I adored. Everything I own currently I love for one reason or another and have never kept anything I didn't love. Not for very long anyway. Then there are a few I was in long term relationships with, but things went cold and I sent them packing.

I don't make impulse buys so the guns I have were researched a bit and fit a mission need. Thus, I haven't sold anything.
I'm now in a little better to splurge, so this may change. I'm considering a trade of my LC9s for a Max 9.

I have been accumulating firearms since I was a teenager.
Now at the age of 67, I have only sold a few and that was back in the 1989-92 time frame when I was dealing with a divorce.
No intention of selling any of mine...they are earmarked to be inherited by my son when I die.
He has been referring to my guns as his since he learned to shoot around the age of 8 or 9...he is 28 now and owns a fair number of guns himself.

OrangePwrx9 said:

Who buys guns and hangs onto them?

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<hand raised>

The guns I have bought fall into 2 categories:

1. Those I really like and went. I save money, search for exactly what I want and buy it. Chances are, i will never sell.
2. They were found it a great price. I play with them bit and trade or sell them. A few I have kept for a long while, then sold them.

I used to think that too. My enjoyment is in use otherwise it is sitting $ that can go towards something else. I don't have many yet in the past 2 years have sold 3 and more will follow. The discussions about if you could only have X guns what would they be brought that thought on. I can't take them with me when I go so might as well do some thinning along the way.

Came across a video of Japanese minimalism living along with Feng Shui and the simplistic means does have some appeal not only in clutter but mental inventory.

Not me...they come and they go!

I keep them. I’m afraid that I might regret sending one down the road.

In my younger days I use to wheel and deal and trade in a lot of guns. Some were keepers but quite a few of them were new and something I wanted to experience and if I liked them they stayed; if didn't care that much for them they were sold or traded in on a gun that caught my eye. The only time I really had to sell some of them (usually two or three of pretty much the same gun only from different manufacturers) was to pay for school. Other than that I haven't sold or traded a gun in the last 30+ years.

I have all that I’ve owned since my youth with one exception, a Marlin chambered in .357 that I bought from a friend who needed to fund another gun purchase. At one point he told me he really regretted parting with it so I returned it to him. I’m not opposed to selling and have a few I no longer shoot, but so far have turned down offers at 40-50% of retail. I do understand that resellers need to make a profit and that I’m going to reach a point where I age out of the sport and have to sell the ones I don’t plan to pass down.

Some of both. I have guns I bought 50 years ago and some made in the 1800's with family history. But I've bought/sold/traded a bunch. I tended to buy the best I could afford at the time and have no issue flipping them for something better when I was able to afford to do so.

Still have, or my kids & grandkids do, about 90% of all the guns I ever bought over the past 63 years including the first one....

I'm also in the keep 'em crowd. Theres a few that I got rid of in trade or out of necessity. And I regret most of that. But ill hold on to as many as I can. I have a few that get shot maybe once a year if that and I'll hold on to those as much as a weekly shooter.

With a couple or so impulsive exceptions, I don't buy guns on a whim; I buy them because I really wanted them and likely had wanted them for a long time before acquisition and so I tend to keep them. And I've kept a lot of them over the past half century.

Jonesy814 said:

I only sell a gun to help fund a better gun.

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Me too-and those have always been the "deals" I've regretted most.

Aye

I don’t get rid of any gats . Traded a browning hp for a s&w stainless 44mag to a friend 5 years later traded back.

I pretty much try to buy anything I buy
as if I'll have have it until my passing.
I find I'm a lot happier overall that way.
I have sold some firearms, but they'd just
sat unused and I don't like to do that.
If I'm going to stockpile anything, it'll
be ammunition for what I do keep

I always thought that if you sell a gun you no longer have the gun, and soon the money is gone as well.

tarosean said:

I like to try the "latest and greatest" so I buy and sell quite a bit. Not every gun "fits" nor are they all good shooters. I am not storing junk till I die.

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Exactly. I sell them when I get bored with them and want something new.

I've got guns I'd never sell unless the offer was obscene. The reality is that I could do with 5 guns and no more, I'm not a collector but I have purposes for these other firearms that are not every day tasks . if I sell my 410 shotgun I'm likely to have use for it a week later, so I sit on what I like even if i don't use it much.

For me it’s the perceived hassle and wallet pain if I decide I want that kind of gun again.

Example: I have a gorgeous CZ-452. It’s nominally one of my favorite .22 rifles. But I’ve only shot it a handful of times because other guns call when I have time to go to the range. I’m in it, I think, about $250. I could probably sell it today and double my money or even more, without even trying, just due to the fickleness of the gun market. On the other hand the second I sell it I’d suddenly get a hankering to shoot this type of gun (a crisp, light trigger, smooth throw .22 mag fed bolt action) and if I wanted to buy another I’d have to spend hours combing the internet for a suitable gun, I’d still probably end up paying $600+some transfer and tax fees, and it’s an open question whether my new toy would be as accurate and nice as my known-good example I currently own. And my gun costs me nothing to keep, so I may as well hold onto it in case my life changes and my range time goes up significantly (or I find myself financially pressed and actually needing to sell, God forbid.)

I suspect this logic, whether consciously thought out or no, is why many of us end up with quite a lot of guns even though rationally many don’t get shot as much as we could wish.