anyone here downsize their collection out of choice?

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In the last year I've reduced my long gun total by half but doubled my handgun total, as a minimalist I own less than 12 guns total.
 
I've been careful NOT to buy stuff that I don't need, or to sell it off soon after realizing that it'll do nothing particularly unique.
 
I've pared down some by choice but it was to fund better guns. I sold 2-$400 guns and bought a really nice HK P7. I sold a few more mid priced guns and got a near new Kimber Gold Combat pre-series II, etc. Sometimes less is more. If I haven't shot it in a year, I begin to think what I can get that is better and make a move. 2 for 1 or 3 for 1. It doesn't hurt as much if you have a nicer, newer toy that is a keeper for life.
 
I have. I have, for the present, divested of Milsurps...and do not have any regrets. I had all non-US things and except for the commie stuff, ammo was always a problem...find it, pay for it, it is or is not corrosive, it is or is not 50 years old (and for that matter 50 years old is or is not a problem)...etc. Just a big hassle. Will I ever go back to Milsurp...maybe. Lots of love for the Garand with lots of good reason. But even there, ammo issues...bend your op rod etc. I think if I found a really nice model of 1917 in 30-'06 I would go for it. I passed on a well-done bubba of a Springfield and probably shouldn't have.

I have also divested of some handguns usually to trade toward something that I desired more.

I also divested of guns under "finanacial duress" that I wish I had not but now, having replaced them, the sting has passed.
 
I was kinda the same way with mil-surps. They're made specifically for battle and military use. Since I don't see myself doing battle any time soon, they're gone. There's a reason sporting guns are significantly different from most battle type rifles. If that's your thing, knock yourself out. Just not for me. FWIW, I do have three AR's.

Out of all the guns I've sold, there are very few I regret selling. What I do regret is not having shot more.
 
I have never sold off part of my collection but I have decided that once I buy 2 or 3 (probably 2) more guns my collection will be complete. I just don't need a ton of the same type of thing and I will have a nice example of almost every type of gun I really want to own.
 
I prune things from the collection from time to time. Things that do not get shot get sold for things that might get shot. In the end life is too short to hold on to things I am not going to use and too short for regrets.... YMMV
 
I have a 9 shot revolver in 22lr and a savage 22lr left hand bolt action that I have been considering putting in the market. I have a custom 10/22 ruger and working on another, a 52C winchester and a Remington 513T that I will keep. I would like to sell my Savage 110c, but I can't my wife bought that one so I gotta keep it. Might just change the barrel and stock and consider it a new rifle.
 
I have. Each time I look to getting another gun safe (whatever number that puts me at). Before jumping, I look at every gun and run it through the... Have I shot it, handled it or referenced it fondly recently. Also, if I had lost it or had it been stolen would I have lamented it to the point of trying to replace it. After that, I slide some off to the side for moving on down the road and forestal the next safe for a little bit longer.
 
I ought to pare down my collection, a couple of rifles I never shoot anymore, one I haven't shot in 20 years. One was my first good hunting rifle, but I haven't hunted elk in years, needs to go. The others were my Pop's rifles, they will be passed on when I'm gone, won't sell them. 3 .22 rifles and 3 .22 revolver/pistols, how many does a guy need? Sentimental reasons for keeping some, others not so much. Need to get busy.
 
Things that do not get shot get sold for things that might get shot. In the end life is too short to hold on to things I am not going to use and too short for regrets.... YMMV
Click to expand...
That has been my theory for 35 years. Now that I look back, I am really trying to subscribe to the "too short for regrets." Things I have sold include, a Butch Searcy double rifle with exhibition grade English walnut that I bought in his early years when I thought I wanted to go to Africa, a Dakota 76 with exhibition grade English walnut, a Mannlicher Schoenauer 1952 rifle in mint condition, a couple of Merkle shotguns, a pre-64 minty Winchester model 70 in .257 Roberts with a low four digit serial number, and the list goes on...
 
My set of long arms has been carefully assembled over several decades starting with my first firearm when I was in the eighth grade (Marlin 80DL .22 bolt action repeater). One here, one there for specific purposes, needs or wants.

If I do any changeouts at this point (safe can no longer be added to in the long gun department), it would be to hand down an older gun to one of my kids and replace it with a much higher quality version. The 80DL comes to mind, I would like to have a top quality .22 bolt action repeater some day. Two of my three adult kids have nice .22 repeaters, third does not.

Handguns are a different story. Since my wife and I have CCW's, we are constantly making minor changes to our defensive posture. I have added duplicates of certain handguns in order to have guns located strategically around the property and in our vehicles rather than moving one around to several places.

I always have room for more handguns in the safe. I don't have enough Glocks for one thing. There are some vacant notches here and there (I'm looking, unsuccessfully to date, for a Ruger SP-101 in .22).

So, no downsizing in the future, just potential hand-downs to the kids and upsizing the handgun collection.

Dan
 
I sold off about 3/4ths of my guns in a big downsize some years ago. Just kept what I really used on a weekly basis out at the range. Felt totally liberating. The better half did the same. When we got done downsizing the guns, we did the same with the rest of our stuff. Felt like an iron ball was freed from out leg.

Gave some of them to the kids and grandkids, sold the rest. Now we just have what we had when we were married 41 years ago. A couple rifles, a couple handguns, and one set of fishing gear for each of us. Extra tools went too. I don't need 3 drills and 2 or three of everything. Now the house is so uncluttered and organized, we can find anything in a few minutes. We should have done it years ago.

Carl.
 
Here's the long term study: In the 80's (I was in my mid-late 20's) I built a collection of American revolvers, Colt, Dan Wesson, Smith & Wesson. I shot them all on a regular basis. As I recall I had 14. By the time the 90's rolled around it just got to be too much, between casting and reloading I was spending many hours in prep for every hour shooting. I got married, had a couple of kids, a house, I just couldn't do it anymore. I loaded up all my .38 brass, kept just 4 (two .22's and two .38's) so I'd still have something to shoot if I wanted, and sold off everything, guns, presses, linotype stash, the works.

Now: Kids are grown, wife went back to school, I needed something to keep me busy. I got bored and the wife's not around for company much, and I need to get out of the house so she can study. I shoot up the last of my ammo stash in the Model 15 I kept. I buy a press just like my old dillon (an RL450). Start reloading. Decided the Model 15 I had kept as a house gun wasn't a good range gun, bought a 6" Model 66. Bought a 586 to rotate with the 66. Bought a High Standard .22 to go with the one I had kept. Bought a holster for the 66 on eBay. Didn't fit. Bought a Colt OP to fit the holster. Had a belt custom made to match the holster. Bought a second RL450. Bought a 9mm. Got a CHL, bought a .380. Bought a snub to back up the .380 so I wouldn't beat up the Colt Agent I had kept. Bought a bigger .380 for a range gun.

It's like riding a bicycle. Regrets? a couple. I could go buy whatever but I'm suffering from sticker shock. I should have kept one of the Pythons. And I miss my Model 25 in .45 ACP.
 
Yeah, I downsized. I was not desperate for money but I realized I don't use half the guns I had. So I sold them- I'd rather have guns that I use than guns that just sit around and literally do nothing.
 
Yes!

Over the past couple of years I've sold off most all of the safe queens.
Down from over 60 to about 20, with more to go. BHO has made selling easier.
I've made up my mind that if there are more than I can carry there are too many.
One good hurricane and I would have been in trouble evacuating with all that?
 
Yes, and absolutely by choice. If I am not shooting it with any regularity, I consider selling it. I cut some slack for a couple of special guns, but I'm starting to move my $$$ toward starting (actually, restarting) to reload.

If they were intended for me to just look at, they would have a picture hook on them so I could hang them on the wall.
 
Yep. Moved to a small apt where space is at premium. Found myself shooting less so keeping just my good stuff and only buying what I'll use vs past habit of getting anything interesting.

Down to a bolt gun, an AR and a few handguns. I think I could be happy with an AR and a carry gun but I have some sentimental value with my bolt gun and 1911 even though both are for punching paper.
 
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Depends on your definition of "choice". Given the choice to expand my family, I've made the choice to pare down my collection to repurpose cash into reducing a few debts, and to clear out needed space in what was my "gun room" ... now general storage space. For those that don't have the pleasure of raising a tribe yet, kids are (1) more expensive than you think and (2) take up much more of your space than you think.

So, I'm essentially trading Mosin's for Mickey Mouse, and Tokarevs for tu-tus.
 
Sold several milsurp pistols that I didn't shoot. Kind of liberating, also sold some other stuff (tools, furniture).

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
 
I'm on the verge....

I started buying firearms in the early 80's, when I started working 60 plus hours a week.
I 'm late 40's, and got married for the first and only time 5 years ago...My current collection numbers about 80ish, although for about the last 7 years or so, I only shoot 4, or 5. My FA subguns would be the first to go, for sure....
 
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