What's with all the guns?

Like anything else we aquire what pleases us.

Click to expand...

That's it. My brother has zero interest in firearms, but he must have 12 guitars of various types, which he treats with utmost care (When he goes on vacation, he brings them over to our house for safe keeping). To me, a guitar is a guitar, but to him they are all completely individual and unique, and fulfill an entirely different niche. I had a friend many years ago who was into cycling. Most of the walls of his home were covered with racked bicycles. I can't get into his head and figure that out, but it seems that they made him happy, and he saw them all as unique and useful in their own way. To me a bike is a bike, what on earth do you want with more than one? Whatever becomes your "thing" is going to occupy your mind, and the more you learn about it, the more you will realize that the world of that thing is much bigger and more complex than you ever imagined before it became your fascination. The topic of "Guns" is far more complex and potentially interesting (objectively speaking) than bicycles or guitars, so while a real bike freak might have 20 bikes, and a real guitar freak might have 12 guitars, a real gun nut can end up with over a hundred, and still feel that he has not yet acquired all he wants. The deeper you go into it, the bigger the world of guns becomes to you, and the less you think of "a gun" as just another gun. It becomes sort of like saying to a mechanic, "Why on earth do you have more than just one wrench? Couldn't you just get one good adjustable wrench that you could use for everything?" He will look at you like you're from Mars, and rightly so.

Of all the things out there to collect and "get into" -- at least the guns will be around for a long long time. I used to buy up every tech gadget out there but they become outdated pretty quickly and eventually stop working. My firearms should very well last my life and my children's lives if not longer.

Heck, I just bought a rifle made in 1938 yesterday. You wouldn't know it's that old by looking at the condition the important parts are in though!

What's a car from 1838 look like? With the original engine? All original parts?

When a person buys a gun he is often buying a piece of a dream.

Every time he picks up his .458, or the double rifle his friends thought he was crazy to buy, he is on that safari he'll never make.

With his Pre-War M70, he's sitting around a campfire in Colorado, on an elk hunt with old friends now dead.

He's winning the Wimbledon Cup or some other match with his long range target rifle that he seldom shoots any more, but the last time he did, it put five shots under a nickel at 200 yards, and he can see that target just as well as if he were holding it.

He's shooting next to Rob Leatham (and beating him) with the high-dollar racegun he bought but hasn't fired yet.

All of a sudden he's on a horse in Wyoming with his $1,500 custom Linebaugh .475 in a flap holster, instead of thinking about how he's going to swing the $15,000 new kitchen his wife wants.

This is why you so often hear a man say "I never should have sold that gun." He sold it because he hadn't shot it in years, it was just sitting in the safe, and his wife wanted new appliances.

He didn't realize the tremendous power it had to bring his dreams closer.

JR

Dang, John, that was beautiful! You should write a book or something.

Like sm said:

I'm sure my birth certificate said " collect the whole set"....


I must have been born this way, I can never remember "having" to
make the decision "......to own alotta guns...."

Check my sig below. Two were given to me. The rest I bought for various reasons. I picked up my Mossberg 500 for $100. Sometimes you can't pass up a deal. Tyler

"What's with all the shoes?"
"What's with all the scarves?"
" What's with all the books?"
" What's with all the dishes?"
"What's with all the tools?"

See the trend? Legal products used legally, no worries. Dinna fash what I have in me safe, cupboard, tool cabinet, closet, or bookshelves.
Does anyone wonder at the antique car collector, even though vehicles kill far more people than firearms? Background checks for alcohol? Waiting periods for kitchen knives?
Sorry, soapbox.

. For one, I had heard that you were more likely to accidentally injure or kill a family member with the gun than a badguy, and I just couldn't overcome that consideration.

Click to expand...

Training and getting every family member familiar with firearms will go a long way to pushing that to 0%. Be Safe, Always.

On the off chance you've never seen these before...

I considered a M1 Garand and a Colt 1911. Something about all those war movies... and the "chinggg!" the metal clip makes when it ejects from the rifle, their histories unparaleled.

Click to expand...

I agree. There is a tremendous history behind each of these, you can feel it when you pick one up. I own both for that reason.

As for my responce to your original question; This is my hobby. I really enjoy shooting, it's just what I like to do.

Nick

I'm kind of hoping that the one gun I get will suffice.

Click to expand...

Kind'a like one potato chip.

John Ross nailed it for me. Example:

Every time I cock an old model ruger, I'm stepping back in time to when men were men, women were women, and your word meant something.

Every time I set off the old flintlock, I'm on the Lewis & Clark expedition.

Regarding the "more likely to kill a family member than a criminal," take a look at these:

http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdgaga.html
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel013101.shtml

Damn you John Ross you made me misty eyed.

Most of what you said is true.

i have 14 guns. 2 ar-15 rifles. 1 ak-47, 1 winchester m1894 in .357 mag, 1 smith and wesson model 27 .357 mag, 1 rossi 971 .357 mag, 1 smith and wesson 686-5 snumbie .357, 1 makarov .380, 1 remington apache 77, 1 remington 582, 1 smith and wesson 22a, 1 6.5x55 swedish mauser, 1 8mm yugo mauser, 1 walther p22.

the 1st ar-15 is done up to look like the original m16. no forward assist. when i shoot it i imagine my dad as a 19 yld kid in the airforce shooting one in basic.

the second one is the poop hit the fan rifle. it looks and operates like an m16a2 just no FA
the ak-47 is for when i am feeling veit congish
the winnie is the worst of my nostalgia rifles. my uncle had a rossi m92 pump in .357 when i was a kid. i will never forget those days out by the county line on his property shooting it.

that bigh smith and wesson reminds me of Eastwood's thumping model 29. its weight makes full .357 loads pussy cats
the rossi was part of my x-mas bonus
the 686 is intended for carry
the makarov is my 1st pistol. i shot my 1st bullseye with that gun, a winchester primer, winchester 231, and a rainer 90 grn bullet.
the smith 22a is my cheap blasting pistol $140 otd!
everytime i pick that old swede imagine myself shooting the largest big game animals with that long lean bullet or sniping NAZIs from across a Fjord.
The yugo shoots cheap ammo and is accurate.
the 582 is my colibri gun. it makes a brick of .22 last along time.
the apache was my 1st gun. got alot of memories with that one.

the walther is my contribution to save the second admendment. tomorrow i will take it out and shoot it. i'll fire 400-1000 rounds of ammo through it. then in 3 weeks it will be given to a young lady as her birthday present. I'm making a new gun owner.

Because there are just so many interesting ways to all do one thing...send a piece(s) of lead(copper, steel, etc) down a tube to strike a target.

The history of the firearm is a history of mechanical engineering. It is a history of the industrial revolution. It is a history of defense. It is a history of human survival.

Firearms are also a record of many cultures from around the world that display in full glory the arts and sciences of those cultures. From the most crude of early Phillipine rifles to the most ornate silver inlaid Russian shotguns to the intricately damascened Turkish rifles or the delicately engraved rifles of England. All made with the most exotic and finest materials made at the time. Pearls, silver, gold, coral, ivory, ebony, ruby and much more have all ended up on firearms.

Beyond the history and aesthetics there are some very practical purposes for owning many different firearms. Foremost is finding the caliber and platform that work best for you. What works for me or anyone else here or elsewhere on the web may not work for you. I'm very finicky about what firearms are best suited to me. Some folks like some flavor of 9mm or .38. I prefer something larger. However, I would most likely have not reached that conclusion had I not shot thousands of rounds of 9mm/.38/.357 through bunches of different firearms both wheel guns and autoloaders. I prefer .40S&W/10mm/.45ACP. And these I have shot on many different platforms with many different loads. Right now for defensive purposes the 10mm has just a slight edge over the .45. However, this is my choice. This my current judgment and what works best for me according to my criteria. I wouldn't dare suggest or say that these will work best for you.

For longarms it's basically the same process. I have settled on a 7.62x51 Nato in an FAL platform as my defensive longarm. For a pump action shotgun an Ithaca 37 is my choice. For sporting purposes, anything goes. BB, pellets, crossbow, bolt action, break action, auto-loaders in any caliber and configuration. I don't hunt but, I do slaughter pop cans, plastic bottles and jugs and I am ever at war with paper. I'm not some big time shooter or competitive shooter. I only shoot between 5K and 10K rounds/ year. I probably spend more time admiring and caressing my guns than I do shooting them. And yes. I have hugged my guns today.


Chipper

I'm kind of hoping that the one gun I get will suffice.

Click to expand...

Heh!! So was I! Somehow it just doesn't work out that way. Every time I buy I gun I tell myself, OK, this is the last gun I'm going to buy for a while, but 3 weeks later I find a deal too sweet to pass up. The next thing you know I'm trying to explain to my wife how the new gun fills a niche in my collection. Its like toys when you were a kid. If you had a Darth Vader figure and a Luke Skywalker figure you didn't really need any more, but a Stormtrooper and Obi Wan would always be nice.

There are two parts to it...
(at least for me)

The first part is that while pretty much all guns do the same thing, they are each individually more suited for a specific task. A Tiny Kel-Tec P32 is good for carry when carry is difficult. A Beretta 92/96, Glock17, Walther P99, S&W 686, etc are good for carry when carry is easy. A Walther P22 or Ruger 22/45 is fun to shoot, cheap to feed, and good for starting a new shooter. A scoped .44Mag, 454 Casul or .50 S&W are good for handgun hunting. And this list just partially covers handguns!

The second part... why to have more than one of the same thing. Partly to have a ready spare, but partly because I just adore multiple copies of the same things. A box of ammo with all the bullets lined up perfectly just makes me smile. Some people are naturally Inquisitive... In this regard, I'm Aquisitive <ok, so maybe it's not a word - yet...>

I'm kind of hoping that the one gun I get will suffice.

Click to expand...

Well, it will, for a while.

It's like any hobby. You start off with one gun, and the minimum amount of supplies -- "Three boxes of ammo? Why would I need three boxes?" -- and then if you use it on a regular basis, you begin to notice differences between guns, and you want to try out different things, maybe something "bigger and better" and you buy more supplies...and then more supplies...

And pretty soon guns stop subliminally "feeling" like dangerous objects that might just bite if not watched very carefully, and turn into respected but beautiful and functional collectable tools that you desire because they are well-crafted and enjoyable - and you suddenly find that you have quite a few of them.

...Or at least that's more or less how it went with my wife and I when we got into shooting five or so years ago.

Good luck with your new purchase: Have fun, be careful.

Dex

Well...for most there is a very real practical side. Whether that being different tools for different jobs or perhaps collecting or perhaps competition type shooting...etc. For me:

My name is Richard..Hello..I have a gun buying problem. Driven by the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Fueled vigoursly with posts that I read on this very board everyday. Any explanation I may give you for a new purchase is merely a sound and reasonable argument in order to convince you that this new purchase can be justified.

But that applies to me. Not anyone else here. And there is a gun show tomorrow. I have hidden my ATM and Visa card (but I really know where they are). I don't know how to get there (but I've got a map). I plan on sleeping in very late so that by the time I do get up it will be too late to go (but I won't). I don't have enough gas in the car (but the gas stations are open). ..... yeah, I am getting a pretty good handle on this affliction though.

I'm kind of hoping that the one gun I get will suffice.

Click to expand...

Last time I had just one was nearly 30 years ago.

Guns are like shoes: they accumulate in the closet.

I think mine are breeding. Sometimes, I look in the safe and I find a new one--brand new, shiney, and usually with a holster. It's just amazing how it happens...I have no idea how, but it does! Occasionally, I'll even find some extra magazines and a brochure or two in there!!!

I think mine are breeding. Sometimes, I look in the safe and I find a new one--brand new, shiney, and usually with a holster. It's just amazing how it happens...I have no idea how, but it does! Occasionally, I'll even find some extra magazines and a brochure or two in there!!!

Click to expand...

I guess you never heard of the gun safe fairy.

Two words -- we're guys. Guys like toys. If most cars also cost under $1,000 I'd have a Ferrari, Mercedes, Corvette, Jaguar, Hummer, Viper...

Ask yourself if you had an unlimited amount of money -- unlimited -- how many houses would you have? Maybe one or two on the US west coast, one or two on the east coast, one in Hawaii and one in the Carribean, a villa in Italy, one on the French Riviera...

Well, you get the point. I'd have a whole buncha cars and vacation homes if I was financially able to. Don't need 'em. Just want 'em. Same as my guns except I can afford the guns.

For guns & cars, a few are needed to cover the various applications. Those are tools. Above & beyond are just toys that are STILL tools. They get used. Often. They aren't paintings on the wall or some collectible in the attic. They get used often.

All my guns are toys that are tools that get used often cause I'm a guy. Any other questions?

When I started shooting seven months ago, I thought one pistol would suffice as well. Now I've got one in every major caliber that interests me -- .22LR, 9mm, .45ACP, .357Sig and .40S&W.

And even after all that, don't think I still wouldn't like a .357Mag revolver, a 10mm autoloader and...well, I think you get the drift.

Other posters before have explained it well, so I won't belabor their points. Just know that when it happens to you -- and it will -- you're in good company.