Super expensive guns and "Safe Queens"

[kdunn]

I have never been able to understand why anyone would buy a $3000+ gun and then want to keep a low round count on it or just keep it as a "safe queen." If I buy a custom made/expensive gun (Wilson Combat, etc.) I'm gonna shoot the hell out of it. I'm gonna keep it in pristine condition and clean and polish it every chance I get, but I'm gonna shoot the hell out of it.

I understand if you're buying some sort of collector's item and gonna keep it in unfired condition to sell it for more money at a later date, but other than that, why buy a gun if you're not going to shoot it?

 

[mgmorden]

Think about the number of people that buy paintings that just sit on the wall.

Some people appreciate a gun as a piece of art. To them, to take it out and shoot it is damaging that art.

Now I personally wouldn't spend that much on a gun that I didn't use, but I can understand their though process.

I personally collect little statues of comic book and video game characters. Most of them are over $100 each and the most expensive I've ever bought was $400. They're just for looks and I do display them but I know others who buy them and - for a "display item" - refuse to even take them out of the box.

Art is art, and some guns are art .

 

[joem1945]

I guess I have a few safe queens that I will never shoot. One is a museum quality M1941 Johnson w/ bayonet. Another is a fully engraved Colt .357 unfired, a S&W mod 25 unturned cylinder. I have more to keep be busy shooting and reloading.

 

[jlr1962]

I think those folks would be considered collectors. I am sure you know people that own more guns than they could conveniently shoot on a regular basis. I don't like transporting more than a few pistols or rifles to the range at a time.

 

[MarshallDodge]

Threads on this subject come up about a dozen times a year.

I have guns that I shoot once every couple years and guns that I shoot 500 rounds a month through. Some have nostalgic or sentimental value and others are tools.

I have more of an issue with people that own guns, especially ones that carry a gun, and only get out and shoot a couple times a year. Maybe they are awesome, natural shooters but I doubt it based on the targets I see at the range.

 

[dogmush]

My collection is split into two parts.
What I call "working guns", that I shoot, carry, buy and sell and generally use hard. I'm not sentimental about them, and they all tend to have round counts at least in 5 digits.

Then there's the "collection". Guns that are old, hard or impossible to get parts for, or I am sentimental about. The first pistol I ever shot, a 112 year old colt, a WWII Garand, a 95 year old FN. I own these because I like owning machines and history, and especially historical machines. I shoot them ocasionally. But just owning them, and taking them and seeing the lives intrinsically tied to them is as satisfying.

Others are just neat designs that I want to own as samples of awesome engineering. One of my Grail guns is a Mateba Utica 6. It'll cost several thousand if I ever find one when I have the cash, and I won't shoot it much but I still just want to own one.

"Safe Queens" tend to be more about owning then shooting. Sometimes it's nice just to have something cool.

 

[another pake]

People buy, sell and collect all kinds of things for all kinds of different reasons. Many times the use of those items isn't even a consideration. Sometimes cost or resale aren't considerations either.

A neighbor, since deceased, started collecting steam driven threshing machines. He parked one on every hilltop on his farm and he had a lot of hill tops. When he died there were dozens of threshing machines scattered about the rolling hills of western Minnesota. They provided a pleasant diversion and conversation piece to passers-by on the highway.

 

[huntsman]

Art(paintings) is made to hang on the wall, can guns be art? Not in my book, they're made to be shot. So shooting a gun shouldn't be an issue, highend guns as well.

Abuse of a finely made firearm is sacrilege, abuse of a common gun is just foolishness.

 

[deadin]

can guns be art? Not in my book

You obviously have no taste...

 

[kdunn]

Art(paintings) is made to hang on the wall, can guns be art? Not in my book, they're made to be shot. So shooting a gun shouldn't be an issue, highend guns as well.



Abuse of a finely made firearm is sacrilege, abuse of a common gun is just foolishness.

I agree with almost everything you say here huntsman.

When I graduated from Sam Houston (mascot is the Bearcats) my parents bought me a stainless Ruger Bearcat. It has a lot of sentimental value to me and I hang it under my diploma on the wall. I'd never sell it and keep it great condition - looks like it's just out of the box. But I've still put thousands of rounds through it take it to the range a few times every year. While I know this is nowhere near the cost or rarity of a 100 year old 1911 or WWII Garand, all 3 are guns of intrinsic value and I would love to own and shoot all 3 as much as I do a carry/duty guns

 

[kdunn]

You obviously have no taste...

Deadin,

I am not saying guns cannot be art. I have seen some amazingly beautiful guns that would definitely be considered works of art, but I'd still love to take me to the range, then clean and polish the hell out of them afterwards.

I guess I'm just so meticulous with my guns, that even after 1000s of rounds through them they still all look brand new. Guess who treat their guns a little harder and don't clean and polish em like I do may not want to shoot certain guns for the fear of messing them up. Idk. I just can't see the point in owning a gun and never intending to fire it.

 

[CraigC]

If I buy a custom made/expensive gun (Wilson Combat, etc.) I'm gonna shoot the hell out of it. I'm gonna keep it in pristine condition and clean and polish it every chance I get, but I'm gonna shoot the hell out of it.

Me too!!!

For me, the enjoyment is not in just owning fine guns but in using them too. I'd much rather take to the field with something fine than something utilitarian.

 

[tarosean]

Reality is once you get to a certain point in a collection it gets harder and harder to shoot em all. Ive got some rifles/shotguns/handguns I haven't shot in years. Not that they are collectors pieces or anything of the sort. Just havent made it to the range with em.

Course I guess it depends on your version of super expensive???

to me, this is an expensive gun. (and a work of art too)

 

[Old Fuff]

Art(paintings) is made to hang on the wall, can guns be art? Not in my book, they're made to be shot. So shooting a gun shouldn't be an issue, highend guns as well.

This may come as a shock, but some guns are intended to not be fired.

Of course most of them can be, but that isn't the intention behind them.

For example some manufacturers offer limited (and therefore more expensive) guns that commemorate a specific historical event or person. Others a particular organization.

Others may be engraved with extraordinary stocks made from figured wood, ivory, or pearl. At one time the owner's manual that came with Colt's Single Action Army revolvers specifically stated that they were not made to be shot, and a serious reduction of value would occur if they were.

Of course this didn't stop some owners from shooting them, as doing so was a matter of choice. But any statement saying or implying that, "they must be shot" simply isn't true.

 

[tarosean]

When I graduated from Sam Houston

Hey you're just down the road from me.

 

[herrwalther]

They are making an investment. High dollar or rare firearms will not lose value as readily as something run of the mill production. An old boss of mine had several old and very collectible firearms, including a British .303 from WWI. He planned to have them restored and stored in case his farming business ever went under. Unfortunately all his collections were lost in a house fire.

Other safe queens are for sentimental value. I have a commemorative 1911 that probably will never be shot again. Nothing high dollar, just a PARA GI Expert. I also have a Marlin 36 in my safe that was owned by my great grandfather. That one will probably get a box or two fed through it but not much more.

 

[deadin]

Look at it this way...... I have a number of pistols and rifles. (Last count was over 50) (I can't speak for shotguns because they've never "rung my bells")
Anyway, in each category of guns ( Target, SD, HD, Hunting, etc.) there is one gun that stands out above the others in terms of how well I can shoot it. These are the ones I tend to shoot. I can't see wasting my time shooting the others as they will not out perform the ones I do shoot. Therefore, as you suggest, I should get rid of all the others because I don't use them. Unfortunately, I enjoy the others because of age, history, function, beauty and such, so they are also "keepers" just not shooters. If they won't do better than my regulars, shooting a gun more than as a function test seems to be a waste of my time and of ammo.

None of my guns are "unfired", but I may not have been the last person to fire them. I'm not a condition freak but I have several I will not shoot, even to check function, because of age and value.

 

[cat_IT_guy]

To each their own. I buy guns I want to shoot. Art in the traditional sense doesnt have much value to me (ask my wife, the crafty photographer....). Functional art is ok with me, but I dont like to spend money on things that are only meant to be looked at. Again, just my opinion.

 

[Teachu2]

If someone wants to spend big bucks on safe queens, good for them. I don't, but there may be a time that I will. Their money, their guns - their business.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I have four categories of guns. Shooters, fancy shooters, collectors grade occasional shooters, and too dang old to be safe or to find ammo for.

Shooters:
Ruger SP101 in 22 lr
S&W 3" 686+
Ruger SP101 in 357
S&W 460V
S&W E Series 1911
HK45
XDs in 45
Remington Nylon 66

Fancy Shooters:
S&W 686 PC Competitor
Wilson Combat Beretta 92 Brigadier Tactical

Collector's Grade Occasional Shooters:
S&W Regulation Police in beautiful shape (bought to commemorate my GF passing)
St. Etienne MLE 1892 8mm Lebel from 1912 (bought as a piece of history)
Ruger No. 1 in S&W 460 Magnum (bought because it's unusual and I've always wanted one)

Too Dang Old:
1860's Belgian Pinfire

Why did I buy the last 4 if I'm not going to shoot them a lot? Because I could.

As far as new production expensive guns go, yeah, I'd shoot them.

 

[morcey2]

I believe that guns can be art just the same way that a finely crafted guitar can also be art. That's not going to keep me from shooting the gun or playing the guitar though. They generally aren't "art for art's sake."

Matt

 

[swiftak]

I shoot all of my guns. Some fairly expensive, some not. I can't afford the guns that I would not shoot.

 

[ku4hx]

As strange as it may seem, I know people who like guns but aren't particularly interested in shooting.

I have a relative who had five safes the last time I counted and essentially a bunker full of ammunition. He hunts, but that amounts to dove hunting maybe a half dozen times a year and an Elk hunt every few years. He just like guns. It's like the guys on TV you see who have a hundred cars. They drive them occasionally, but not on a rotating continuing basis. They just like cars.

Something needs to be said about expensive guns. Certainly a $3,000 gun is not cheap. But have you looked at really nice shotguns? I mean really nice ones? Some of those things cost as much as a really nice car, or truck. Some more than most people's houses and everything in them. I have no idea if he's shot his, but if they were mine they'd be true "safe queens".

 

[Styx]

Their gun, so their free to do with it as they please. What do I care? There's nothing wrong with purchasing a gun for hunting, recreation, or protection, or purchasing one for the purposes of collecting. Anything can be turned into a collectors item or a heirloom. Heck, there are people that collect money and coins. Just because it's not something you would pursonally do, does not mean theres no logic behind doing it.

 

[kdunn]

Therefore, as you suggest, I should get rid of all the others because I don't use them.

DeadIn,

I never suggested doing anything with them. I was just saying I don't know why anyone would purchase a gun without intending to ever use it. I have 2 guns that I rarely use myself, my deer rifle and my grandfathers old British .303, but I still use them both to hunt and take them both to the range every now and then.

And I understand that collections get large and it's impractical to haul them all to the range to shoot every time. I'm not talking about that, hopefully I'll have that problem one day [emoji1]

What I'm talking about is buying a gun with the intention of keeping it locked up in a safe. Just seems pointless and useless.

Guns to me are tools, and as beautifully and artfully crafted as they can be, should be used.