Do more people own longguns vs. handguns? Personal Observation.

[wannabeagunsmith]

I own one shotgun. I would be over-the-top joyful to own a handgun, espcially in 9mm or larger. FTR, my dad owns a few rifles and only 1 handgun, so yep. I love handguns I find them to be more enjoyable to shoot, that's just me. I guess it is the cost that is stopping me from getting one but in the future I plan on getting several, if not more than long guns.

 

[Sauer Grapes]

I own considerably more rifles/shotguns than I do handguns. This also holds true with my friends and associates. I didn't even own a centerfire handgun until I was 27 years old, that's a 17 year spread from the time I had my own shotgun. Personally, I just never really had a "need" for pistols growing up. In my family firearms are used for hunting 1st and besides practice punching paper was a distant 2nd. We didn't have concealed carry back then and with no real interest in handgun hunting pistols just were not a priority.

I grew up never owning or shooting anything but rifles and shotguns. At the age of 26 I bought a used mod 28 revolver and never fired it for 10 years!
Times change though, now I don't hunt anymore and shoot mainly sporting clays and USPSA and club level steel matches.
Now my handguns have a 2 to 1 majority over my long guns. {mostly shotguns}

It's funny, if I'm on the pistol range, most guys own more handguns. If I'm shooting clays, almost everybody owns 6 or 8 shotguns and rifles and maybe one or two handguns.

 

[itchy1]

I have twice as many handguns as long guns. This wasn't the case a few years back but lately I've been bitten hard by the sidearm bug.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

My long arms outnumber my pistols by a 6 to 1 ratio with one just over legal 12 ga pump shotgun.

 

[RFMan]

Hum. Had to check the list

Long gun to handgun ratio is about 2:1 here. But that's mainly because almost half of my long guns are 22LR and are therefore less expensive than their handgun bretheren...and I did sell a couple of handguns recently in the name of caliber consolidation. I strongly prefer to shoot what I own, and I can only shoot so many different ones with any kind of regularity.

 

[Checkman]

Chief38

It's been my observation that most who own handguns almost always but have long guns as well, but those who own rifles & shotguns don't necessarily own handguns. I would say I know more people who have long guns. Personally I probably own more handguns than long guns.

I asked the same question over on the Smith & Wesson forum. I got several excellent posts there and here. But this one by Chief38 hit the nail on the head. At least as far as I'm concerned. I just didn't manage to say it as succinctly.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

I own roughly three times as many handguns as rifles or shotguns. Starting to lean more towards rifles now since I have the necessary pistols already.

 

[Tcruse]

Very regional. For new shooters, SD is the driving factor. So, I think the ratio is changing toward the smaller semi-automatic. Compact Glock, S&W M&P, XDm, and Ruger SR9c seem to out sell everything else to new shooters. 9mm is most popular, next is .45ACP. .40SW seems to be slipping but I suspect not a long term trend. Second gun seems to usually be a semi-automatic 22, like Ruger 22/45 or sr22.
I have assumed that at some point I would add an AR15, mainly for a tactical league locally. Not sure with the current attacks from our government.

 

[Guy de Loimbard]

I own six times as many pistols as I do rifles, currently. Except for when I only owned 1 gun, (my first gun, which was an AR-15) I have always owned more pistols than rifles.

 

[joecil]

I'm 66 years old and shot my first gun at 8 years old, grandfather was a LEO in Miami Florida. Now I've owned a lot of guns since I turned 18 years old most of which I sold or traded. I now own 3 groups of guns, 3 semi auto pistols one of which my wife carries, one I carry and a third I just love to shoot at the range. Now I own 3 revolvers all SAA 45 Colts that I use for Cowboy Action events. I also own a lever action 45 colt rifle that I use for hunting and cowboy action as well as a side by side 12 ga and 20 ga. My last gun is a modern lever action 45-70 for the bigger things to hunt that my 45 Colt won't. I've not bought a gun now other than the 45-70 in well over 5 years with nothing on my wish list any more. I've actually owned most of them at one time or other. I've have owned and shot both AR and AK platform guns but not really my kind of long gun, the same with pump shotguns for me. I just don't have the need for them in my small collection. Besides on not a collector and if I don't shoot it then it soon gets sold.

I've actually gotten into reloading only in the last 2 years which has become as much fun as shooting has.

 

[smalls]

I grew up shooting rifles and shotguns, but own neither. I own 2 handguns.

Most gun owning friends of mine own 1-2 handguns, and only a few own a shotgun or rifle.

 

[justice06rr]

Personally I own more long guns than pistols. People I know usually have more long guns than handguns.

 

[hemiram]

I've personally owned about a hundred handguns over the last 35 years, and in that time, I've owned 3 long guns. One of them was a Nylon 66 that I sold a long time ago. I currently have my other two, a Kel-Tec Sub2000 9mm that takes Beretta 92 mags, and the S&W AR I just bought. Only long guns I plan on buying anytime soon is some sort of .22LR rifle and a .357 lever action.

 

[TRX]

Okay, I fall into that demographic. Maybe a dozen rifles, two pistols.

Each rifle has a specific task - target, hunting, plinking. Big bore, medium bore, small bore. Sporting, mulsurp, assault. Et cetera.

For the pistols... the 1911 fills all my "pistol" needs other than CCW.

My take: pistols are more versatile, so I don't need as many pistols as I do rifles.

 

[scotjute]

I'm balanced! Exact same number of rifles as handguns. The shotguns however tip the scale so that I have slightly more long-guns than hand guns.