Memories

[MachIVshooter]

Another thread got me thinking about this, and how firearms are unique among the things we purchase, inherit or receive as gifts. I believe most of us can remember a lot of details surrounding major purchases like houses and cars, but I suspect very few can recall so much of the minutia related to their big screen television or so many other relatively expensive but not exactly major items. Firearms are different somehow.

I'm not going to disclose exactly how many I own, but the collection is substantial. After posting in that thread, I walked into my gun room, looked at each gun, and confirmed that I can remember not only where and when I bought it, and how much I paid, but also who I was with, who I was dating at the time, where I was working, the vehicle I drove to the location where I bought it, and countless other insignificant details. I find it strange how I can literally relive the time of acquisition, sometimes including vivid memories of the hours and even days before and after. Granted, I'm only 31, but I have very lucid recollection of the day I got my first BB gun in 1988 at the age of 6; it's a much more detailed memory than my first day of kindergarten just a few months prior, or my first bicycle weeks later.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[Fremmer]

Yup I've got one that I was so excited about buying that I hit a concrete pole pulling out of the shops parking lot in my girlfriends car. Oops.

 

[22-rimfire]

I can't remember even what I own totally although if I look at my "list", I can generally remember the purchase but not the price with any degree of accuracy. I have a number of duplicates and they all pretty much look alike. It is one of the reasons that I could have lost them in a boating accident as I might not even know for a year or more.

Added: But I understand how you would remember firearm purchases over things like TVs depending on how many you have purchased over the years. The same applies to cars and trucks, although I remember the first ones I purchased quite well. I look back with fond memories on my gun purchases overall and have had a great time accumulating the things I like. I do remember my first BB gun which I saved my allowance for months to buy. That was a big day when that Daisy BB gun arrived in the mail.

 

[MachIVshooter]

But I understand how you would remember firearm purchases over things like TVs depending on how many you have purchased over the years. The same applies to cars and trucks

I had to think for a few and write them down, but I have owned 169 firearms in my lifetime, not counting home made guns or bb/pellet guns. I recall every acquisition and disposition, though not the names of all buyers & sellers.

Cars & trucks? I've had 17, still own 6

My brain works in strange ways. I'm horrible with putting names to faces, but I'll remember darn near every repair I've ever done on one of my customer's cars as soon as I see it.

 

[Lex Luthier]

Excellent topic.

I remember magical moments spotting guns, guitars, etc. hanging on a wall and the feeling how that particular object found us. We cannot take any of it with us, but our stuff makes for a more interesting life.

 

[oldbear]

If I think about it, I have two revolvers that are special to me. Number 1 is my M 19 - 3, as it went to work with me every day for 27 years. Second is my 6" M-27. This was a gift from my wife who has no interest is firearms or shooting but understands that I do. I don't shoot either one much any more but both are well maintained and are ready to be used if the need arises.

 

[MachIVshooter]

If I think about it, I have two revolvers that are special to me

There are always the ones that are extra-special, but then, that applies to other objects as well. What I'm referring to is, at least for me, a strange ability to remember more about the details of my life in the chronological proximity of purchase/receipt as compared to other expensive items.

For instance, I buy a lot of very high dollar tools as a professional mechanic. However, I can scarcely recall the conversations leading up to or the actual transaction for my $3,400 MIG welder or one of my multi-thousand dollar scanners, nor can I even recall the YEAR I bought them without really, really thinking about it. Yet with the guns, those minutia are generally quite clear.

 

[22-rimfire]

MachIV, you've been doing a lot of buying (and selling) in a fairly short time and it is remarkable that you remember them individually. I do remember the purchases but often the actual gun is fuzzy. I remember the early ones very precisely but when you start going to shows and buying three or four firearms in one day, my memory starts to cloud a bit. I still remember them. Truthfully, I remember the purchases well but not the selling so much as it really doesn't mean much to me once I decide to sell.

Shows aren't what they used to be.... sad. Now you're competing with some unknown internet buyer that purchased one like it a month ago and the seller thinks he can get the same price or more....

Work stuff is ... work stuff and is there because you usually need it. Guns are a little different and you seldom fondle your arc welder 6-months after you bought it.

 

[captain awesome]

Same here. I remember almost all the details on all of them. I know the price I paid for each, where I got it, and who I did the transfer through if bought online, or by catalog in a few cases..
I even remember the ones I sold in detail, and the ones that I wanted to buy but didn't have the cash or was to slow on the draw, and they got away.