Signs of an economic downturn.

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scythefwd

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Today while browsing the classified, I ran into this add.


Garand M1
Brittish proofmarks, great condidtion. Serious inquiries only.


1. That would be my last to go (and I do have one and it is my favorite shooter even if it isn't my most accurate shooter).

2. I don't have the money to help this guy out of his M1 (my side of the down turn :( )

So here is my question,
During the last national UAW walkout with catapillar, my old man sold several guns that he now regrets getting rid of so we could eat. He had others that I don't believe he would miss like his hi-standard .22lr pistol (he has offered to buy it back several times at more than what it is worth). What would be your first to go if you had to sell so you could eat? Mine would be my sks, then my 30-30, and then I have a .32h&R mag that I would consider. Remember, this is to put food in your mouth(s), not because you want to get rid of them. Would you even take this option over say selling your kidney on the black market?
 
Sold guns to pay essential household bills before, sure I'll do it in the future if necessary.

I'm not letting the people that matter to me starve, not receive medical care, etc. for an inanimate object, especially when I have more than one of them.

If it was my 'last' gun or one of a select few I'd have to think long and hard about it, but the fact is that even still, I'm not going to fail to provide over a piece of metal.
 
I was thinking the same thing bdickens. As far as food having grown up in the South I learned early that when cash is low you just go get a big bag of corn meal, dried beans & ham hides -you can live on beans & cornbread. Now making the house payment might be another matter but I don't think I'd get enough out of my guns to make a significant difference with that anyway.
 
I was asked recently why I don't carry a cell phone, my answer was: "because I carry a gun and I can get a phone if I really need one". I worked at a Caterpillar dealership in the west during that strike and I'm here to tell you that the Union strike hurt a lot of non union people and generated a lot of resentment that will take generations to pass.
 
I would sell them and be happy to do it to feed my family. There are a few that I would try to keep, but I honestly don't favor one over another under normal circumstances.

Most likely I would end up keeping my 4" GP100 .357, an 870 pump gun, my SKS Paratrooper and my dad's 30-30 that he gave me. It was the first gun he ever bought. I would like to keep my Winchester 94 trapper in .357... But again, I would do what I had to.
 
MMC,
During that walkout, we received death threats after my old man crossed the line. That was the first and only time I was ordered to go house sit my grand parents house and was told to stay armed (I was a HS student and couldn't legally own a handgun, but that didn't stop me in this case and that arm is now in mine). It was also the first time I saw my old man go into home defense mode.... didn't know we had most of the stuff he had out and loaded.

I think I could sell my arms, no problem. I would probably sell my other car first though. The garand is probably one I wouldn't sell.

bdickens,
in VA, you get caught doing that, you go to jail and your family still starves. If you don't reload and already have the gear, primers, brass, powder, and projectiles... it still isn't cheap to feed a garand when you are already in debt. Using modern rounds isn't exactly going to leave you with a usable arm for long (oprod anyone). I know about surplus, but it will still run you a bit and when you are facing a no food situation, you are also facing a no home situation (think about it, if you can't afford food, you can't afford rent or your mortgage either since food is the greater need).
 
I've got a good idea of what I'd sell first--either the weird things, or the stuff that easily replaced. It'd still suck, though.

Even though I have an AR and a lot of other cool things......I'd be hard pressed to part with my M1 Garand--a 1942 SA. But, for matters of economy, the AR might be the last to stay around (since I could also make it a .22 for cheap hunting, etc). I'd rather not think about it too much.

There's things I'd sell with little reservation, and then there's things I'd much rather hold onto; hopefully I just don't get into that situation.
 
That's a tough one...... I could sell all the long guns first, I would have to keep the .40 pistol for defense. I have a Ruger M77 that was my dads(rest his soul) that has a lot of sentimental value mostly, that one would really be hard to let go.
 
I would explore a lot of options before selling my guns. The camper trailer, the boat, vehicles - things that would bring in more money.

Not faulting anyone for what they would do or have done, have been there before and that's what I did.
 
The only ones I'd part with are some excess 22 rifles, and they wouldn't bring enough to make much difference.

I could spare a tractor or some other toys before I would sell any guns. (Old John Deeres are a better investment than even guns.)
 
I already considered it.

I shopped my M1A and the mags (12) and over 2,000 rds of SA .308 to see how much I might get for it. I'd sure hate to give it up, but it'd beat being homeless.:barf:
 
Yeah...I got two boats and some other toys I would sell way before the guns, and would bring much more money. I thought we were speaking of guns only.
 
grassman, the question was more on the lines of would you sell your guns first, or would you wait until they were the only thing left (the kidney on the black market joke was to give an example in this case).
 
lightningstrike,
seeing a lot of those too, but I didn't think that needed to be in the thread.
Click to expand...

Good point scythefwd. To put it more in line with OP, I would sell other things before I got to my guns.

BUT, I would sell them before I started in on organs. :)
 
I believe my guns would be the very last thing to go. I could do better by selling the boats and such.
 
I would survive. What I sold would depend on the market and how fast I needed to raise the capital.

I was asked recently why I don't carry a cell phone, my answer was: "because I carry a gun and I can get a phone if I really need one".
Click to expand...

This comment infers that you'd take a cell phone at gun point. Enough said, but I disagree strongly.
 
I sold a CETME battle rifle and a matched pair of SS Ruger Vaqueros in 45 (one regular and one bird's head) to pay for some wedding expenses long long ago. You have no idea how many times I've regretted letting those cowboy guns go.

I don't think I'll be selling any weapons to make bills or anything. I'll just start hunting wild hogs on a very regular basis to cut down the food bills.

But if I had to let one go first ... probably my Calico M-100 in 22.
 
The money it would cost in SCUBA gear and lessons to retrieve them all from that unfortunate boating accident would be far more than what I could then sell them for. Especially in their current condition. ;)
 
Its just a gun, sell it in second if came down to it.

The heirlooms would be tough, but again...my grandfather would much rather me feed my family than have an old gun of his. That I do know.

When times get better, go gun shopping again.

LOL
 
thing is most gunstores will sell you a 1911 with 80% bluding for 1000 and claim it was carried at the beaches of normandy. yet when you try to sell it back to them, its a worseless piece of junk thats barely worth 300 pesos.
 
I'd sell a lot of things for food before I'd sell a gun I wanted to keep.

But I've never, and I mean never, met a person who had to sell anything for food.

They always panicked and sold stuff to make a payment on a stupid car or truck, or to pay their cable or cellphone bill so it wouldn't get shut off, or to pay for underwater basketweaving lessons for their son the Ritalin chugger, or to make yet another payment on a huge house they couldn't afford, or to pay its property taxes or heating bill.

Dead losses, all.

But I admit I've picked quite a few keepers through my pal the pawnbroker that way.
 
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