I need to clean out my gun room

[Titan6]

Getting near the moving time again (only two more moves to go till I retire) and I want to drop some weight and clear out some space in the safe for the new ones when I retire.

Where to begin?

The gun safe is crowded. I want to sell some old starter/ inherited guns that I don't shoot anymore, but I don't much like the guns myself so I don't want to sell them. Should I bury them for a rainy day? Donate them to Goodwill? We are not talking about any kind of high dollar, great shooting guns here. We are talking about middle of the road choices made as compromises until better guns could be afforded. Now the better guns are in hand but we still have the old ones. The nice ones we hang on to for the kids, even if we don't shoot them much.

The ammo closet is pretty full. We shot a bit this year, but not as much as expected. We have about 800 pounds worth of ammo, not including reloading components. Ammo does not go bad, but it is a pain to move from place to place, plus the movers won't move it. That and the dog take up a whole car when we move. I have not bought but a couple of boxes in the last three years. I shake my head sometimes when I look at the boxes with the old price tags and wonder how we got to such a state. I could sell some at a profit? But I am not really interested in selling, Me or my kids or wife will likely shoot it all someday. Wish there was an ammo bank somewhere where we could deposit the ammo here and pick it up again wherever we end up.

Parts and all kinds of junk everywhere. What do you do with all that? Factory Stocks that were upgraded, slings, scopes, magazines, lights, lasers and whatnot of all description.

I guess I am an incurable pack rat? Please excuse the rambling...

 

[HarleyFixer]

Why don't you offer to give some of the stuff you don't want and won't sell. I am sure you will have plenty of takers.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

We are talking about middle of the road choices made as compromises until better guns could be afforded. Now the better guns are in hand but we still have the old ones.

Somebody else may be looking for "compromises until better guns can be afforded". You may be doing some people a big favor by selling the guns reasonably and letting somebody else get a start in the lifestyle.

Ditto with the ammo. Sell it at market or slightly below, locally, and then replace in when you get settled. Cash is easier to move than ammo.

 

[hammerklavier]

Sell it on gunbroker! or on THR's sell or trade forum. Definately sell off those lower quality guns, they'll sell alright, if they aren't broken.

For the equipment, you can bundle all the related stuff and sell as a group.

 

[mptrimshop]

alot of the guns that you feel you shouldn't sell because you don't like them, might be a good choice for someone else .....as long as you don't lie about something ....ya might be doing someone a favor by selling them at a fair price.........imagine how happy you would have been to get a deal on them when you bought them....................that being said......PM me with what ya got and what your looking to get for it

 

[david_the_greek]

I agree, PM me or put them up. I'm looking for things myself and I'm sure a little extra $ would be nice for the move. If you put things up a cheap prices everything will sell quick, you won't have clutter, and you'll have made someones day with a nice find!!! Any AR stocks in there?!

 

[Claude Clay]

delivery should be easy as you need but click your heels 3 times....

 

[mgkdrgn]

Your "junk" will be anothers treasure. The trick is to find a way to get a way for those folks to find your stuff w/o loosing your shirt on listing fees and shipping.

One suggestion would be to make up a list, get it all gathered together in one place, and offer the entire kit and kaboodle at a single price. That knocks you down to one transaction, and will make YOUR life a whole lot simpler.

The obvious target audience for that kaboodle would be the FFL's in your area ... maybe not the "big" ones, but for sure the medium to small ones. If you have one you do business with on a regular basis, I'd start there.

 

[FiremanBob]

Any profit from selling that old ammunition would be illusory. The real cost of inventory is the replacement cost, not the historical cost. That's why businesses use last-in-first-out cost accounting (LIFO) and why "profit" on the historical cost of oil reserves isn't really relevant for oil companies who must plow that money back into new exploration or invention of alternative technologies.

So unless you need to convert some to cash or have some you'll never use, you might well consider keeping it.

 

[armoredman]

Good time to set up a young person/couple with something to help them out, maybe?

 

[jhco50]

Normally I would not make this offer. Our Straightshaving.com site has a free auction. We don't charge to use it for sellers or buyers. We are a straight razor site, but my partner has been running an RSS for "the armed citizen" and we have a lot of lurkers reading them.

You would have to sign up for the auction and then have at it. I would sign up for the main site as well so you can announce the auctions you set up. Let Sixshooter know what you are doing so I can let my partner know what is going on.

Good luck.

 

[danez71]

Any profit from selling that old ammunition would be illusory. The real cost of inventory is the replacement cost, not the historical cost. That's why businesses use last-in-first-out cost accounting (LIFO) and why "profit" on the historical cost of oil reserves isn't really relevant for oil companies who must plow that money back into new exploration or invention of alternative technologies.

So unless you need to convert some to cash or have some you'll never use, you might well consider keeping it

A little off topic but I'll get there....
Actually, many businesses use FIFO (first in first out) because there IS a cost to carry that inventory. In the business world, they get taxed on inventory yr over yr; hence part of the reason companies have to take physical inverntory every yr and want to run their inventory "lean". Generally speaking, if the increase in % cost is less than the tax % rate, it makes more sense to use FIFO especially if date codes/expiration dates/self life plays a part.

In his case, it is literally a "carrying" cost as he literally has to carry it.


Anyways, I agree with most in the sense that the OP could be doing some one else some good by gettng rid of them. You may be able to donate them to a charitable organization and take a tax deduction if you itemize. Maybe the Boy Scouts?

I recently got rid of my Colt 1911 Govt (please dont burn me at the stake). Low low round count. I loved the gun but I didnt like to shoot it much. I really prefered my BHP. So I traded in on a new SW MP9c (with manual safety) since I want to have something more concealable and a fairly consistant platform. I may even get rid of my Marlin 30-30 and Mini 14 because I just dont shoot them and dont need them (especialy the 30-30)

I thought I might regret the decision but I dont.

The point is.....I really hope someone is getting more use out of it than I did.

 

[gigante]

Make somebody's day. Don't tell me about it though, I'm going back to school and can't even afford good deals right now.

 

[Titan6]

I went back and looked in the gun room and despite my inaction nothing has changed. I think I will cut loose some of the ammo right away. I have some homes in mind for some of the other stuff. I don't need the money but some of these guns need a home where people will at least shoot them and Christmas is coming up .

Dane- I like the boy scout idea but the scouts only shoot .22 and shotgun and I am hanging on to all the .22s and probably all the shotguns as well. I agree about the inventory cost. For example I have boxes of .30-30 170 gr soft points that I will likely never, ever shoot. Some of it I have had since the 90s at least, but when I bought other guns it never moved (other than the half dozens times it has gone from one end of the country to the other).

Anyway thanks for the pokes and prods, I need it.

Quick question. How much is Surplus Lake City M2 .30-06 going for these days? I can't seem to find it listed anywhere. I thought I would let loose of a couple of cans.

 

[Mp7]

Put it all up on i.e gunbroker as a bundle package.

Then donate the money to a good charity cause.

 

[meytind]

I would be willing to take some of that ammo off your hands if you decide to sell.

 

[Titan6]

Alright, I posted the ammo that I know needs to go off the top of my head. I'll do some more inventory before we move and see what else needs to go.

I priced it a dollar or two cheaper than I could find it at the cheapest price on the net. I could not find the LC M2 ammo anywhere so I posted it at the American Eagle price (-)$1. If nobody buys it I can always take it with me.

Mods if you can close this I would appreciate it.

 

[MarineOne]

Keep it in the THR family if you can. If it were my stuff, I'd offer it up here on THR. There is more than likely someone on here that could/would use it, or know someone that would be in the same boat.

Besides, I'm sure someone here would offer a fair price and you wouldn't have the hassle of auctioning it off on GB.



Kris