Buy more guns or improve the ones I have?

CraigC said:
It depends. It always depends. Everybody needs a few nice ones. Whether it's high end brands, engraving, fancy finishes, fancy woods, whatever blows your skirt up. I've done that. Now I'm kinda in the cheap fun, "let's try something weird" phase. Don't care about bragging rights (what's that?), competition, obsessing about tiny groups, clinging to stuff or taking things too seriously.




What means this??? :rofl:
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oooh yeah! Love some
strange guns like 70’s PPC .38’s with fancy bling … like this coming soon

IMG_5015.jpeg IMG_5014.jpeg IMG_5013.jpeg
 
Well you didn't say all the guns you have. So you may have some that are very collectable "as is" without messing with them and damage value "improving". You may have some that will appreciate from "improving". Or just some that "improving" can go either way. IMO over 50 years of messing with guns factory original seems to be best. Unless your setting up special type targe rifles that others will appreciate. But many shooters might not want something "improved". Like me.
 
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Mark_Mark said:
I’m going to shoot what I have for now. But I know I’ll add a few eventually. 50 Desert Eagle, Contender Set, Another X frame S&W, Tech 9, Micro Uzi, Draco, All the Hi-Points. that’s all really. Unless a SMOKING deal comes my way, U’m pretty much done buying too

I do have future plans on transferable Full Auto in the distant future
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I still need a .50AE Desert Eagle to use that .44 barrel conversion I bought for an early .41 that it didn't fit. :rofl:
 
We share similarities but at a different scale and I found myself with alot of guns that were just a duplicate of a duplicate or just served me no real practical purpose and I decided to consolidate and be "reasonable".

I had a number of guns that just had a whatever brand WML, optic, irons, etc... I decided that I wanted to have quality over quantity and to be honest, when I'm being a pragmatic, I don't want 50+ guns that never get shot that just look cool on my wall or safe. Sure its nice if you have lots of zeroes on your checks, but that's not my situation.

I'm definitely not the advice guy, especially on here (dont listen to me) but I would do exactly as you put it in your OP, Glass those babies up, get Surefire scout lights and MaTech irons, Geissele Triggers and SGT/ Vang Comp mods on your scatterguns and buy quality support gear to outfit fewer guns to make them higher quality and more purpose driven rather than just stacking up a dizzying array of different earth toned long/hand guns. Unless you're trying to arm the neighborhood...... There's no saying you have to be practical at all though, for some its a hobby/collection pursuit with less emphasis on need, for some it's a survival/defensive pursuit. For me and most people though I think its different degrees of both.

Also, ammo. If there was a truck that had pallets of guns on one side and pallets of ammo on the other and they were passing them out, I'd be grabbing the ammo.
 
Since you seem to have the funds, why not arm relatives, friends, neighbors that cannot afford nicer firearms, make them range buddies, more fun that way.
 
Put me in the "YES!" group.

I tend to do both at the same time.
I dont think ive ever had a firearm ive been 100% happy with right out of the gate....some are close, and im still looking, but i dont think i own any that i havent done something to.
I also dont hold onto most guns for all that long,
 
vanfunk said:
Hi All:

So I’ve spent the last couple of years re-amassing a large collection of firearms. I say re-amassing because 20 years ago, I had a broad collection but ended up selling off most of it when life got “busy.” I’ve bought back copies of many guns I used to own and love, and frankly I am pretty happy with what I have (again!). With that said, there’s always the allure of the shiny new penny and I just love “new gun day” as much as anyone.

But now that I have three safes full of pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns, I am thinking about pausing my purchasing and perhaps refining my collection with ancillaries. Examples: my LWRC REPR .308 is underglassed right now for the range it’s capable of. Instead of buying another gun, how ‘bout splurging on a Leupold Mark 4 or 5 (or equivalent) for it? I love my HK P30L and thought about getting another (probably LEM) but maybe I should make this one better with an optic cut from Wright Armory. Maybe my Glocks need Johnny Glock triggers? Get where I am coming from?

I guess what I am trying to ask the collective is whether I should continue to purchase new guns and expand the collection, or satisfy myself that I have lots of nice things that I could make “nicer?”

Thanks for sharing your insight!
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I think it largely depends on your age and health.

I'm a cancer survivor in my mid 70s now. I've accumulated many more firearms than I regularly shoot these days, so I'm at the point where I'm going to start selling off quite a few. But of course I'll be holding onto my favorites. My son isn't interested in any of them as he has a 38 snub that he's satisfied with and his wife is anti-gun.

In my case, it'll be quality over quantity. The ones remaining will be fewer, but favored.
 
Thanks everyone! There’s a strong consensus on “improvement” so I am going to embrace that sentiment for now! Scopes (lots of scopes!) maybe play around with some more threaded barrels and compensators, new grips, grab a couple of Trijicon SROs… this will be fun.

Thanks all!

Vanfunk
 
vanfunk said:
Thanks everyone! There’s a strong consensus on “improvement” so I am going to embrace that sentiment for now! Scopes (lots of scopes!) maybe play around with some more threaded barrels and compensators, new grips, grab a couple of Trijicon SROs… this will be fun.

Thanks all!

Vanfunk
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Suppressor!

you are already a hand loader and they were made for us tinkerers
 
Still downsizing a little bit at a time. Not planning on buying any more guns, but there are still a few that I would buy if I came across one and the condition & price were good. Got some plans for what's still here, like a better picatinny rail for my 10/22, and perhaps a decent red dot for it. Along with a better trigger for my 30-30 Marlin lever gun. I'm sick of that 7.5 pound factory trigger. So mostly it's just improving what's here and what I shoot the most.
 
My "collector" phase is decades in the rear view mirror. At the time, I really wanted to try out every gun ever made, and it got to the point that the things were stacked up in the corners and disappearing to who-knows-where. From this perspective, it now strikes me as just nuts, but it seemed perfectly legitimate at the time - and it may have been exactly what I needed to get to this point where I recognize that guns tend to all do pretty much the same thing.

So I slashed the collection to a relative handful of guns that are either very useful to me (my trap gun, my CCW guns), of great sentimental value (my father's and great-grandfather's guns) or simply too pretty or too enjoyable to let go.

So my vote in general is to cut the collection and perfect what remains - but I acknowledge that there was a time in my life when that would have been terrible advice for me to follow. The fact that the OP is thinking about it says that the time may well be approaching, but I suppose my actual advice would be to keep mulling it over until you are sure that time has arrived.
 
Based on your title I say buy more guns and use what you already have as spare parts.
 
I went through 2 eras of accumulation in my life - I've tried a lot of weird stuff, tried a lot of historical stuff, a lot of cutting edge stuff, but then I found myself sitting around with a bunch of stuff I liked but didn't love. So I purged. And then unfortunately did it again...

I'm still regularly accumulating stuff, different firearms, but I generally try to keep my growth focused in nicer quality, higher performing stuff, and/or stuff I can use heavily.

I did adopt a "convertible" philosophy over the last ~15 years. I feel better about having fewer firearms, but with multiple barrels or uppers for them so I can swap around to do different tasks with the same tool. Kind of like having a ratchet handle for a socket set, instead of a whole bunch of ratcheting box wrenches (yes, I know, slightly different tools). Multiple barrels, multiple bolts, multiple uppers... Some of my stuff stays dedicated to its regular use, but some gets warped into multiple forms for different uses throughout the year(s).

Admittedly, I still have a few oddballs that I'd probably rather not have on hand, practically, but some aren't worth enough for me to decide to sell them, and some are just whimsically fun or unique enough for me to keep around. But everything else is largely focused on some purpose for me.
 
vanfunk said:
Thanks everyone! There’s a strong consensus on “improvement” so I am going to embrace that sentiment for now! Scopes (lots of scopes!) maybe play around with some more threaded barrels and compensators, new grips, grab a couple of Trijicon SROs… this will be fun.

Thanks all!

Vanfunk
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Let’s get Serious and start a “No Buy” Pack! WHO in????

we can start with 1 month!!! Who’s In???

Hurry, before I buy this Ruger .44 DearStalker
 
tws3b2 said:
I think the last thing I would do is go out and ask a bunch of strangers on the internet what I should do. If old enough to own a gun. Like me, I decided on my very own that I would rather have a pair of purple dotted underwear than pink dotted.
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That brings up the question of brief vs thong.... Wait, that's a more contentious discussion than 9mm vs 45 acp for PD. Better leave it alone.
 
vanfunk said:
Hi All:

So I’ve spent the last couple of years re-amassing a large collection of firearms. I say re-amassing because 20 years ago, I had a broad collection but ended up selling off most of it when life got “busy.” I’ve bought back copies of many guns I used to own and love, and frankly I am pretty happy with what I have (again!). With that said, there’s always the allure of the shiny new penny and I just love “new gun day” as much as anyone.

But now that I have three safes full of pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns, I am thinking about pausing my purchasing and perhaps refining my collection with ancillaries. Examples: my LWRC REPR .308 is underglassed right now for the range it’s capable of. Instead of buying another gun, how ‘bout splurging on a Leupold Mark 4 or 5 (or equivalent) for it? I love my HK P30L and thought about getting another (probably LEM) but maybe I should make this one better with an optic cut from Wright Armory. Maybe my Glocks need Johnny Glock triggers? Get where I am coming from?

I guess what I am trying to ask the collective is whether I should continue to purchase new guns and expand the collection, or satisfy myself that I have lots of nice things that I could make “nicer?”

Thanks for sharing your insight!
Click to expand...
Hello Vanfunk, I completely understand your point, I had a huge collection at one point and had to start all over again. Now I do plan on getting some of the guns I had but I came to the conclusion that the money I spent on duplicate or overlapping guns is better spend on ammo and training. Having the ability to run 5 guns to its fullest far outweigh having 10 guns in a safe and hardly using them. Collection are nice and of collecting is your thing fire away. But again, having 2 hunting rifles and going hunting 10 times a year to be is better than having 10 rifles and going hunting once a year. Get a few of your guns train with them and see what's needs upgrades and what can stay how they are.
 
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