the pains of downsizing

[s&w 24]

My wife and I got moved into our new home last week in the 118 degree weather. We went from a 2 bedroom,full dining room duplex to a smallish one bedroom apartment. Part of the moving included my workbench,reloading press's,components,gunlocker and over half of my guns finding a new home away from my own. with limited space and budget I'm not going to be able to collect odd ball sporting guns and military stuff for a long while and I'm stumped on what to collect now. First thought was ammo boxes but I don't have the room,next came cartriges but it just seems dull to me. I thought maybe miltary pistols but I don't have the spare room to hide them anymore.

have:CETME
rem 870 (12)
SIG 225
SIG 226
Dan Wesson 44 8"
short list: Taurus 905(on layaway)
Dan Wesson 22
NEF rifle in 22 hornet

 

[1 old 0311]

I downsized a few years ago. I went through my safe and cleaned out what I didn't shoot in the last year. I am down to a few now, and getting VERY good with what I do have.

 

[22-rimfire]

My first thought is why would you move into a one-bedroom apartment smaller than what you had unless you are planning on buying a house soon? As far as storage goes, I would look at renting a small storage unit in the short term for the big stuff that does not fit anymore or sell it. If the list on your response is an indication of the number of firearms you have, I would have no problem what so ever fitting them into a one-bedroom.

What is important to you?

I will probably down size as I age. I figure 70 would be a good point to start thinking about it! I don't accumulate firearms for profit, but eventually I will sell most of them and I hope to make a little money when I do it.

 

[PlayTheAces]

I figure 70 would be a good point to start

70 guns or 70 years old?

I'll be 54 the end of the year and I've finally started the downsizing process. I'm thinking to eventually get down to around a dozen or so, though I'm in no hurry and may actually pick up a couple I don't have but want in the process.

cleaned out what I didn't shoot in the last year

I'm basically using Kevin's criteria - if I don't shoot it (or fondle it at least monthly), why am I keeping it?

If you don't have a lot of room, you might look at simply upgrading. Sell a couple of your moderately priced guns, and buy that luger you always wanted.

 

[Majic]

If you downsized your gun collection because you now just don't have the room then where are you planning to put the guns you are considering buying?

 

[s&w 24]

I had to move because the rental property we were at was sold and the new landlord gave us the boot. We couldn't find anything the same size in our price range and were staying in the city at minimum untill my wife and I are done with school at wich time we should have enough savings to think about buying a home.

Most of my extra gun stuff is at S&W the seniors waiting for me to stop by and sort thru but thats 1 1/2 hrs away. After we get are new home orginized I'm getting a small pistol safe to store my hanguns I'm not carrying at the time and I'm still woking out a way to store my long guns. The list I posted is a shorter list than what I have been keeping about and most of the stuff on my purchase list have been on there for a good amount of time ( now if I can keep those darn milsurp guns from finding me) and come about from a careful look at what I realy use on a frequent basis.

The 870 is a given for me. I've not been without one since I bought my first one at a local gas station in college. The two sig's are my main ccw guns. the soon to be mine tau 905 will be my BUG. The CETME I go back and forth on It may just stay at S&W the seniors house. The two DW revolvers cover all the hunting I do with ease and in a pinch I could ccw the 44 with a 4" bbl installed. The NEF can be disasembled and stored in a very small space. I almost chose a sav 110 because it's simple to switch calibers but in the end the NEF is more compact and you can switch bbl's with a screwdriver.

 

[s&w 24]

after going to the range last week the list may be getting smaller. I shot both sig's and the 870 and I'm trying real hard to see were they are lacking for a defensive battery in the big city. If I'm honest with myself the likelyhood of a catrina type event in MPLS are very very slim. That just leaves the hunting guns and I think I'll stick with the dan wesson 44 and go dig up a dan wesson 22 unless I can find some one who just has to have my DW and will give me a ruger hunter model in any flavor and a 22 hunter model to boot.

 

[Magnumite]

This line: "I thought maybe miltary pistols but I don't have the spare room to hide them anymore." was similar to the topic at summer camp one day.

I guess a thread could be..."how do you get newly acquired articles into your house without their being detected?" That would be a hot one.

 

[Zen21Tao]

I also know the pains of downsizing. In my case it has always been selling off a few medium valued guns to buy one more expensive one. That ultimate effect just seems to shift the base line for future gun purchases. For example, instead of 20 $300-$400 guns I end up with 20 $600-$1000 guns. :banghead:

 

[s&w 24]

Zen21Tao

you mean like when I traded two taurus revolvers for a sig 226? Or a beater 870 for a CETME?

 

[Zen21Tao]

Exactly s&w 24. My first downsizing was when I traded in a Rossi 357 magnum and Astra .45ACP towards a brand new HK USP about 8-10 years ago.