Gun Collections left in passing.......

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My grandmother was a notorious pack rat and would have been a feature on the "Hoarders" show if was on when she was alive. Our first trip to the landfill was 800 pounds, just cleaning out her freezer. In her case, I am quite glad she didn't have a firearms collection. I could only imagine the condition they would be left in for me to find, as I am one of the few pro gun members of the family.

Side note. While no firearms she did have a brass tube as a paperweight. As far as I know it is part of a Korean or Vietnam mortar shell, with no explosive. With very few military members, its a wild guess where she found it.
 
We are of the same mind. I think when I turn 60 (7 years) I will start downsizing too, by converting some of these things into $.
 
I am downsizing now at 54. I will keep what I shoot. As I go through my collection I look at what I have not shot in years and downsize accordingly. My kids aren't shooters sooooo....they get one handgun one shotgun and one rifle. Friend ,a close friend will make sure all are sold for proper money for my wife. In return he gets all my loading equipment components etc.
 
I’ve seen too much ugliness around this issue to not have it squared away when I go.

honestly, guns or not, anything worth handing down or giving away will be itemized by person. Big ticket items like house or other property will not be left for the kids to fight over.
 
Shipping kills me on selling/downsizing. A member made a quite reasonable offer on a C&R handgun and I was going to sell until I found that shipping was about one third of the sales price.
 
I don’t plan of checking out any time soon, but with retirement a few months away I have started going through my surplus gun collection. I’ve already traded off to Carcanos for one Enfield, that’s downsizing right.
I’ve put three guns on consignment at the local gun shop and about to put two more. I still have a lot to go through.
My friend Matt will be coming down to visit next month and we plan to inventory and tag all my guns. Will most likely pick out a few more to put on consignment.
 
I don't have too many firearms, just two rifles, 3 shotguns and a half dozen semi automatic handguns of various calibers and two revolvers. They all fit in one fairly large safe. I have a typed page in our Will and Trust folder saying who gets what. The two rifles and one shotgun are family heirlooms and I am giving them to the family members who will appreciate them. The handguns and the other shotguns I'm just divying them up amongst the kids and grandkids. They can sort out who wants what between them on those firearms.
 
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I’m just getting into it at my mid-fifties. My dad was a farmer and a hunter but nothing more. His few guns were tools just like everything he owned, There was a specific use for everything. I’ve finally gotten to a point in the last 5-10 years where I can have a couple wants and get them even if it’s not a need. My collection is not large, but I am having fun and it’s still growing.
Jeff
 
Good post. I mentioned in another one that guns aren't as high priority as the once were. I'll be 60 this year and to be honest I maybe have 20 or less guns I regularly take to the range. I have way more than that in the collection. I need to get together with my son and daughter to see what they would like. Then pick my favorites and cash in on the rest. Having 3,4,5 or more of the same model doesn't work. I have many I haven't shot. I should do this on the Covidcation before I get back to work.
 
It is funny to me the thought of having “things in order” at my passing concerning my hobby. My heirs will inherit quite a chunk of (mostly liquid investment) wealth that will inevitably help them have an easier life for quite some time. I enjoy my guns (especially at my age and in my retirement) and I have no intention of liquidating my hobby for the sake of some effort by my heirs - I will generously take care of them at my passing and I have no qualms about asking a favor of them - sell my hobby and oh by the way, keep that substantial money also. It is not that big of a deal to ask for that favor at my passing and they will gladly do that favor for me - win/ win for all - I don’t get the inconvenience or guilt stuff.
 
I did an inventory of my guns and let the kids pick what they want along with 500 rounds of ammo per gun. This way they get what they want and I have the peace of mind that hopefully there will be no squabbling over anything else.
 
I don't travel, have no bills other than taxes and comestables, so it would appear there are two choices: sit and stare at my bank books and broker statements or enjoy the firearms that I find interesting until the end. I already sold off most of my collection back around 2005 and this past March my broker managed to loose all of that money in addition to several hundred-thousand more. I have no family. I have explained to my one close friend that everything goes to her except the guns which go to her two nephews, both of whom seem to have an interest in firearms. They can do with them as they please -- keep, sell, whatever. I'd sort of like to be there to see what happens, but that would only be possible if I sold the guns and gave them the cash now, so I asked each of them "do you want the cash or the guns" and they both quickly said "the guns!" So I guess I just sit around with my guns, acquiring another one every once in while so I can continue to learn and explore the topics within the field of gun collecting that interest me.
 
It's not just guns. My great aunt left behind a large collection of antique glass decanters. Somehow my mom ended it up with it. It was all in barrels. Then my mom passed, and I ended up with it. I tried hard to find a new owner. No one in the family wanted it. No antique shop wanted it, even for free. No takers on Craigslist, and I didn't have time to sell it all on eBay. As it all went to the county landfill, all I could think was "This was very important to someone; it was part of someone's life. Now it is so much trash. A very unfitting end." Then I realized that someday, someone will throw away everything that was once important to me.
 
My father passed in 2018 and left a property that my mother cannot maintain, with a massive hoard of junk spanning 3 generations of estates from both sides of the family that took me 3 days and two 30 yard dumpsters to empty. And that's just the garage. Many things of value were destroyed in storage. Some were lost or thrown out by mistake. I nearly cried at the condition of furniture and keepsakes that survived a journey from the old country only to meet their end by my hands. I understand that is not what my father wished for his family but it was a good lesson for me to begin the process of dividing, labeling, and willing things appropriately before someone is left with the burden. I have started letting my wife know which firearms are "family" firearms to be kept for my son or given away to friends, and which are commodities to get rid of. The same with certain books, instruments, and jewelry.

It's not just guns. My great aunt left behind a large collection of antique glass decanters. Somehow my mom ended it up with it. It was all in barrels. Then my mom passed, and I ended up with it. I tried hard to find a new owner. No one in the family wanted it. No antique shop wanted it, even for free. No takers on Craigslist, and I didn't have time to sell it all on eBay. As it all went to the county landfill, all I could think was "This was very important to someone; it was part of someone's life. Now it is so much trash. A very unfitting end." Then I realized that someday, someone will throw away everything that was once important to me.

This reminds me of my grandmother who recently sold her longtime home and moved into a retirement home. For decades she kept beautiful cabinets of Waterford crystal and case upon case of music boxes. We took one for ourselves. There was zero interest from buyers and no one was willing to auction them in perpetuity. The rest, as far as I know, failed to sell for pennies at the estate sale. Much like the antique spinning wheel I was never allowed to touch growing up and the grandfather clock that I can still hear in my dreams. The spinning wheel sold for $15 and the grandfather clock for $50 on the last day.
 
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Maybe I'd worry more about "putting it all in order", if I were going to be coming back for it, later. When I pass on, it
won't be like I'm going on a fishing trip to Maine, or something ... (although I can think of worse ways, to pass Eternity)
 
Sell some around age 60 ?? That's when my handgun interest Began (four years ago), and about a year after the "AKM bug" bit, now AKM and VZ-58, a very permanent condition.

My son (only child) is not interested in guns, and my brother would not keep anything I own, except maybe a .22 handgun.

About two years ago my wife came Very close to having to decide what to do with them.
As the Widowmaker "heart artery" closed up 100%, I had never told her about getting short of breath, -- noticed consciously only during exercize --(kidded myself).

She would have literally given them away for nothing, and would have been widowed for the second time.
 
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My great aunt left behind a large collection of antique glass decanters

Being a whiskey lover, this pains me greatly that they had to be thrown away. I keep a bottle of one of my favorite scotches in a crystal decanter made in Dublin sometime in the 1960s on my mini bar. It is great to look at and pour from. I often use decanters instead of the original bottles, as the design patterns are easier for me to grip with problematic hands. The comfort of items is the joy we get when we are alive, for many of us that is firearms.
 
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