I think you hit the nail on the head TIMC. And thats the answer to my question I think right there.
You old timers have the guns AND the ammo. And the training / experiance.
You are very correct with that statement. As one of the old timers I can say I believe we were raised different in our thoughts about gun ownership and colecting. My lessons learned over the years were; Collect what you want but finish each one before moving on to the next. than means buy the gun, do what ever modifications you want and stock an ample supply of ammo.
As an example; the K-98 I bought with the intention of just keeping it as a collectable has close to 1000 rounds of ammo I bought for it. I never bought it to be a shooter but I have put a few rounds through it and will always be able to shoot it if I want. Without ammo I might as well just bought a picture of a K-98.