Streamlining Your Firearms "Collection"

I streamlined from 3 .40S&W service pistols down to 1. I've been adding some S&W revolvers recently since they are becoming harder to get. I like all of the ones I have now so that's all the streamlining I want or need.

I wasn't planning on streamlining, but my youngest daughter has decided that I need to downsize and has graciously decided to "help" me......by personally creating empty space in my gun cabinet.

My ammo stockpile is diminishing as well......:banghead:

"Streamlining" sounds like something my wife would say to get me to sell my stuff.

I am more of a "diversify" guy.

Yeah, to me "streamlining" conjures up images of fitting them all in one small neat envelope, with minimal variation and no gaps. I want my collection spikey. I want the .22 and the .44, the handguns lobbing 400gr at 1000fps and 40gr at 2000fps. Itty bitty guns that you can forget in a pocket, and rifles longer than some people are tall. Semi auto, revolver, single shot, muzzle loader, practical, aesthetic, utilitarian, elegant, I want my collection to at least hint at every extreme.

Every now and then I cull some things from the herd. It was all done with the requisite amount of thought...once I determine it can go, it'll go and I won't miss it. I don't regret selling anything.

Having said that...I've got a wide range of tastes, so I don't see myself ever trying to get things down to a minimum number of calibers. I load for 15+ calibers now...and that's also part of what I like about this stuff. I get to learn a lot about everything I reload for.

The biggest stuff I "stream lined" was the WWII stuff I bought. In the end they turned out to be old, ugly guns that I wasn't going to shoot because they were too valuable...so I sold a bunch of them.

I only sell one to make room to buy one.
I don't want more or less, just nicer.

So many guns...

So little time...

And even less money...

My goal is too own and enjoy whatever suits my fancy, especially those that Obama, Clinton and the rest of their crowd want to ban.

I have streamlined and removed my .45 acp three times in my lifetime. I am stupid.

I don't have many, but those I have reflect variety. I have no desire to streamline. Basically I have two that get carried often and anything else is for fun. That said, I don't shoot competitively and I don't depend on a sidearm as a standard tool or accessory for the way I make my living. If I did either, streamlining might make a lot of sense.

So, am I the only one that thinks this way or are others of you working on streamlining their firearms collection?

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It's a great idea that I was never very good at putting into practice .... LOL! Actually .45 ACP, .38/.357 mag. & .22 LR is as close as I have ever managed to get streamlined & then I found something else I really "Needed"!

I downsized the collection some years back----lately its been expanding with a couple more planned additions to come

Namely ---another G19 or possibly G23---another Colt 6920 or 6720 and a Colt or Ruger 1911

Why? Just get bigger safe.

Right, the one who dies with the most full safes (residential security containers) wins.

Just a little tongue in cheek thing...

I have been working on "streamlining" my inventory for most of my shooting life, which spans four decades. I am not a collector, but at times I kind of Jekyll-and-Hyde back and forth between shooter and collector. But at heart, I'm a shooter.

In the 80's I built what would now be considered an impressive collection of American double action revolvers, all Colt and S&W. It wasn't that I was a genius (as you will see), it's just that at time that's what was for sale in the gun shops and in the private market. Reloading, bullet casting, I was heavily involved.

As it turned out a couple of years later, too involved. I got married, Had kids. I was fortunate that I didn't have a money problem, but I did have a huge time problem. It bugged the hell out of me...them just sitting there. I sold 80% of them just because I couldn't use them.

Over the next decade and a half I continued to shoot but stuck with mostly .22 with some .38. Then it happened, the kids grew up and left, the wife decide to go to grad school, and I took it back up in earnest. Since then the inventory has gone up and down, and is just now stabilizing, where the comings and goings are less frequent.

I have come to some conclusions. If you're a collector at heart, buy away...it matters not. But if you are really a shooter it will drive you crazy having too many guns to shoot. How often do you shoot? If you have 52 guns, you'll get to shoot them once a year if you shoot weekly. That doesn't work for me. They are all so different, even ones that are seemingly extremely similar. Every gun I've owned has had it's own personality.

I have found you can't really shoot more than six to eight. Granted I have maybe twice that, but the gross number includes some sentimental items, a house gun, and some others that should more likely be classified as experimental or curiosity which are likely temporary. Perhaps they will make it into the shooting rotation, if they do then something in it now shall have to go.

See sig line for my entire kit.
One gun each in three calibers:
9mm, .22, .30-30.

It's way easier this way.

Initially tried to acquire as many different handguns in as many different caliber as I could possibly afford however, my budget restrictions prevented me from keeping many of them. Collection now consists of 4 wheel guns:
S&W 586 4"
S&W mod 19 3"
Colt Python 4"
Rossi 2.5"
2 1911's
5" Wilson Combat CQB
4.5 Nighthawk T3
And
4" Kahr CT-9
Could not be more satisfied

Itching to grow mine a little, actually.

I'll need to get rid of some guns, I guess. OTOH, they might make good barter merchandise for SHTF.

I sold off a large number of guns a few years ago in a couple of batches about two years apart. I got rid of safe queens and collectibles, stuff that was valuable and really cool to own but seldom saw the light of day. I turned them into cash and turned the cash into a classic car and 1911 dream build and a couple of other guns that I had been wanting for a while. Owning those guns was neat but I'm enjoying the things I bought with the money from them far more than I enjoyed have them in my safe.

Since then I have managed to keep the numbers down and focus on higher quality and custom stuff. Other than family guns that I don't count since they're permanent fixtures, I've got half a dozen 1911s, a few revolvers, and a few long guns in what I consider my "personal" stash. I carry and shoot my best guns and I'm not pining away for anything. I won't pass up a good deal when I come across one, but there's nothing I'm wanting for at this point.

You guys that have downsized larger collection, how did you dispose of your guns?


I'm thinking of downsizing my C&R collection, but I'm not sure about how to go about it.

Trunk Monkey said:

When I first started buying guns I bounced around a lot and bought a lot of different types of handguns in a lot of different calibers.

After a while I realized that it cost a lot of money to stock on different calibers of ammunition and different types of magazines and accessories.
Not that we plan to have some huge number of magazines, IMO 12 per gun would be enough to last long past the end of our lifetime.

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Guess I don't see much difference in the cost of ammo/components for most of the calibers I shoot. Instead of having 20,000 rounds of one caliber, I have 4000 rounds each of 5 calibers. Since I shoot mostly revolvers, I don't need 36 mags for 3 guns, 4 apiece for my bottom feeders is enough, especially since they are readily available for my firearms if I need more.

It's obvious that you are only involved with one aspect of shooting...SD/HD. Thus sticking to a single platform, single caliber is easy. Many of us hunt different species of animals with handguns, and enjoy shooting a varying distances at the range(20-150yds) with our handguns. This is hard to do when one only owns a 9mm.

Gun ownership, for most of us, is as personal and individual as anything in life. We all have different needs, whims and desires. Some folks shoot 50 rounds a month while some shoot 5000 rounds a month. What either of them feels is necessary or minimal, will be different.

DMK said:

You guys that have downsized larger collection, how did you dispose of your guns?


I'm thinking of downsizing my C&R collection, but I'm not sure about how to go about it.

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I started thinning out my collection of C&R's and any gun that hadn't been fired in over 3 years (44 Redhawk and 3 45's). I used Gun Trader, Classifieds on THR, Local Gun Store (consignment) and my Brother (Brother gets first dibs) to get rid of the ones I can't or don't shoot. Reminds me that I still need to cull a few more Swiss K-31's (+ any other rifle that doesn't have a scope). My brother is only a couple of years younger than me but at least he can pass them down to his kids and grand kids (mine live over in the land of Nogunfun (England).

Streamline, yeah right. I need yet another safe. Always told myself I didn't need a 40 cal handgun. And I was right. Which is why I bought a 10mm instead Then there are all the 327 Federal revolvers that keep showing up at my house.

The firearms are always the cheap part for me. I reload and cast as well. So any new cartridge requires; dies, mold(s), sizing dies, brass and top punch at a minimum. Then there is the potential for different powder, primers, lube, press conversion kits and gas checks. I know I'm forgetting something. Figure $200 minimum to set up for a new cartridge. Molds happen to be like firearms, they multiply