"Never sell a gun"

Status
Not open for further replies.

ChronoCube

Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2008
Messages
403
Location
California
A lot of people online say from experience that you should never sell a gun if it is in working condition. They seem to regret selling their firearms.

Please provide your thoughts and comments on this.
 
The only gun i have sold i dont regret selling it one bit. It didnt work correctly and I didnt like it. That said, all of my guns that I like and work well will never be sold unless someone with a ton of money comes by and wants it. Why, because you will always get a craving to shoot it again someday. Without fail.
 
The only reason I have sold working guns was financial difficulty, meaning, when I was young and stupid and couldn't keep my finances straight from one week to the next. Buy a $1000 precision rifle one month, and sell it the next month at a horrible loss to make my car payment.

Now that I'm more stable, I've leveled out a lot. I still fall in instant lust with guns, but I don't buy them JUST because I'm in lust with them.

The ones I will never sell include heirlooms like my grandfather's 1917 Enfield and M-1 Carbine. I had a great Remington 700 VS I still miss, but....it's not like I can't get another one either.
 
I won't. I don't buy my stuff on whims. I research pretty extensively so that I end up with the precise meld between the quality I'm looking for and the price I'm willing to pay.

Every single one is a keeper.
 
I have sold and bought a lot of guns since I was 21..the only 2 I ever regret offloading were 2 of my 1911s, one a Pristine Norinco..the other a NRM Colt..my first Colt actually. I was a dumb college student.
 
My guns that I like and that work properly I won't sell.

I do have 1-2 guns that I bought and for whatever reason they didn't live up to my expectations (like my kel-tec P3AT which isn't very reliable) that I'm willing to sell.
 
For the most part that is true. There were a couple that weren't very good that I sold and don't miss. But I sorely miss four that I sold because I had to pay bills and put 4 kids through college...simultaneously.

  • GP100 - I cry every night and am fixing to buy a new one.
  • Mini-14 - Fun gun I got a good deal on and miss, 5-round mag or not.
  • Savage Model 24j - 22mag over 20 ga - Gun shop guy's eyes lit up on that one...and I'll never see another one of those.
  • S&W Model 40 lemon squeezer - I now have a 642 but I wish I had sold that to my buddy who collects old S&Ws and still doesn't have one of these.
So selling a gun hurts but you can never say never.

In my case, I have purchased 4 guns anew since the troubled times that caused me to sell these.
 
I've never sold any, but I have traded one for another. The gun I traded just wasn't for me but I took some time shooting it to figure that out. That said I don't buy any that I don't really like or plan on keeping because one day I hope to have a "vast collection" of firearms that I like and suit me.
 
I regret selling the guns that I've sold and trading guns that I've traded but I'm only talking about 4 guns, (three Walthers and a mini 30). I don't really miss the Ruger but I wish that I had those 3 Walthers back.
 
I've bought and sold a bunch of firearms over the years. I only get attached to a small number. I regret some of the prices I sold some at, but that's about it. If I have more than a half dozen firearms at any time they become an encumbrance. They're tools for doing things with. Why would I have 100 hammers in a big chest?

My vintage typewriter collection, OTOH...
 
I have gun equity... it grows, over the years but guns come and go. I get rid of one gun to partially fund a better one. Eventually I will have all of my "dream" guns but I have to work my way up there.
 
I believe that's mostly right.

The only handguns I ever sold that I didn't regret, were two j-frame snubbie revolvers (even with the lightest .38 sp loads they were still too painful to shoot), and a Glock 34 (though they're fine pistols, they're just not for me).
 
I've bought and sold many over the years. Try not to do either on a whim. Mostly don't regret my decisions, but there are a couple I regret letting go. That said, none of the guns I sold were "rare" to the extent that I couldn't replace them if I wanted to spend the money again. I'm with Cosmoline: they are tools, and I don't get particularly attached to them.

In a related vein, I've watched with interest as one of my older relatives has begun to cull his modest collection. He's in his late 70's, and still hunts regularly. But he "shoots" less. He's probably reduced the number by half, and doesn't seem to regret giving up any--especially those he's given to younger relatives. In the end, you can't take 'em with you.
 
Never sell a gun if you like it, it's in good working condition, and you don't absolutely have to. Like several prior posters I parted with 3 in my foolish younger days that I wish I could have back.
 
I've sold several over the last few years... I only regret one of them, and only because I could have gotten a much better price if I'd held on to it for a few more months.
 
As an all-ecompassing, without-exceptions rule? I think it's silly, personally.

I would guess that folks who spout that out so dogmatically haven't owned multiple hundreds of firearms over the years. Even the most obsessive accumulator :eek: will eventually realize the need to move some along.

I've sold/traded more guns over the years than most individuals will ever own. I regret a few, of course (and one or two deeply), but most of them I don't miss one bit. YMMV.
 
I hold pretty true to that maxim. That said, sometimes ya buy a dud. When that happens, or if you just feel like selling, try to make sure that the money from the sale goes back into firearms. Sell a few old Mosin's? Buy a reloading press. Sell a few AR lowers? Buy a FN-FAL.

Never sell a gun to buy something non gun related. I know a guy who traded 2 RRA LAR-8's for a jetski...... a freaking JETSKI.


insanity.
 
They(GUNS) are just machinery. Some people won't trade or sell an inherited gun, but the good shape, always garaged '49 Studebaker goes to market as fast as possible. I understand sentimental value, I have inherited guns, but why is it so different for guns, tools, houses, cars. That I've never understood.
 
"Never sell a gun"

That is true. You will miss it.Two first handgun's I bought was a Taurus PT-908 and my S&W 66. The Taurus was a very bad for FTF and FTE. I considered myself lucky if I got through one 8 round mag that this didn't happen. I paid $300 and dumped it off at a local pawn shop for $200 and never went back for it. Even after reading that the PT-908 was notorious for FTF and FTE which mine constantly did. I wish at times I still had it. Why, I'm not exactly sure other than it was my first pistol.

Bought a Bubba'd cut down (22" barrel) lions head Mauser. Guy had installed a Lyman peep sight and refinished the stock, it was a nice looking gun. But after I bought it, never fired it because after I got it I kept hearing how important it was to check the headspace on these guns. Never got around to checking the headspace and got hard up for money and sold it on a local forum. About a month later I started getting sellers remorse. I asked the guy who bought it if he fired it yet and he said he did, shot good but kicked like a mule. Said he doesn't shoot it very much. I'm hoping that one day he will decide to sell it and I will be able to get it back ;) I miss it because simply it was a nice looking gun.

About the only thing I don't miss is a single shot Norinco 12ga with a 2 3/4 chamber that I sold to an old co-worker. Gun had a bad firing pin and would only fire 3/4 times and I didn't like it because it had the 2 3/4 chamber.

I would suggest anyone who is going to sell their gun(s), think long and hard about it. You will more than likely regret it.
 
Last edited:
If possessions no longer fits one's life circumstances, they should be disposed of ... why tie up money and physic energy in unproductive assets? If those circumstances subsequently change, you can always replace the possessions (as MMCSRET says, firearms are merely fungible pieces of machinery).
 
I don't really regret selling them as much as I just kind of miss having them around. There's always going to be a void in the safe, decide where you're comfortable having it and fill the space around it.
 
I've sold a bunch of my personal collection and never regretted it. I've got a few with sentimental value, but other than that if I don't shoot them enough they get sold. I never understand when people say to never sell a gun . . . for the right price almost any item I own is available for sale.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top