What to do with it all?

[gbw]

Not to be morbid, but I'm getting older and I've accumulated more shooting stuff than I'll ever use. Some of you may be in the same boat. There's gonna be a lot left over.

The guns are ok - all are sellable, or their destination is designated after the world-shattering event of my passing.

But what about the other stuff? I keep all ammunition and reloading supplies locked in a large refrigerator out in the barn, and it is beyond full. Powders, primers, reloaded ammo, factory ammo, surplus ammo, etc. A LOT of it, accumulated over many decades.

My wife recently made a passing comment on what she'd do with it all if anything happened to me. Well of course sooner or later, something will.

I don't know.

I hate to tell her to trash it all, but I'm not comfortable telling her to sell or give away a lot of this stuff. Exceptions may be factory ammo clearly still in original packaging, and inert components (brass, bullets). But she'd still have to find anyone who wanted it, and could/should be trusted to own it.

Anyone else thought about this?

(Not to mention all the presses, dies, tools, molds, pots, & etc. & etc. in the shop!!)

 

[tark]

Take a few pictures of your belongings and start showing them to local sporting goods stores, gun shows, etc. Ask them if they would be interested on coming to your place and making an offer. Might dispose of it that way and make a little money. good luck.

 

[gbw]

Not a bad idea, but if it assumes the untimely event will occur fairly soon I didn't mean to give that impression.

I won't be going anytime soon and could be many years so far as I know, of course nobody knows for sure. At that point she'll have a lot to do along with worrying about all this stuff.

 

[Ks5shooter]

I have a shooting buddy who is 15 years younger than me. He is in my will to sell my guns at fair market value. Upon completion he gets a gun previously agreed upon by me and him. It is actually in my will,his name and the gun.As far as reloading components ,ammo ,equipment etc,he keeps what he wants and sells the rest giving my wife the proceeds. He is very trustworthy and will do the right thing for the Mrs. No guarantee that he will outlive me or me than him. But it is a plan nonetheless.

 

[Shaq]

Many people sell reloading accessories on "Calguns.com"

 

[hdbiker]

Advertize a Sportsman Thrift sale listing some of the best items, they'll come !!!!!!!!!!! hdbiker

 

[double bogey]

I have recently had a cancer diagnosis and major back surgery, and a kidney removed. I expect full recovery, but at 60 yrs. old next month I am looking at disbursing a lot of my collection to my grandchildren now. I don't have a huge collection but this would make it easier on my wife when I do go. As my father was facing his last days with lung cancer, I recommended he do the same and assisted him with it. Guns were not in his will, and it was pretty late to change it, so he gave each of us what he wanted us to have. No issues later.

Of course, I am expecting my 2 daughters and their husbands to hold these until the children are of age, as they are 10, 6, 3, and 17 months old. Not sure what my 3 yr. old granddaughter is going to do with an AR15, Ha Ha.

 

[danez71]

My thought is this......

My wife will never learn enough about all of it to know what's best.

And its almost impossible to have a real time list of everything with instructions for each item as they change.



However, there is a couple people that we can trust that she will be able to turn to. One is our BIL that is a LEO. Hes a gun guy and just a good guy in life. He'll know values and laws. The other is my friend of 30+ yrs. He likes guns but wouldn't know values or enough on the laws of transfers. However, he's a good guy. He knows how to keep out of trouble and enough to know where to get quality info about specifics.

The chances of me and those two dieing together is zero. If one of those two dies then we replace with another. If me and my wife die together then it's up to my daughter.... and she knows the same 2 people.

Both of those 2 people are less than a hour away by car. I think that important because if there was a 12 hr time difference, my wife has a lot less access to their help.

ETA: the above plan is if I died suddenly. If it was a slow death I'd disposition them myself before hand.

 

[huntsman]

You should shoot up the reloads, components/equipment are always saleable.

This is why I spend money on guns and factory ammo first and foremost and fight the urge to buy trinkets and gadgets.

 

[SSN Vet]

Kind of depends what your goal is. If it is to simply make sure it winds up in safe hands, that's relatively easy.

But if you want to maximize what is recouped financially for your estate, that's more difficult.

If your wife is left to liquidate your reloading and ammo stockpile, she will likely get 10 cents on the dollar (if she's lucky).

If you have a shooting buddy who appreciates the value of what's there, maybe you could pre-arrange for her to sell it to him. Then she might get 30 cents on the dollar.

IMO, your best bet is to go through it and start off loading what you don't anticipate you'll ever get around to using now.

 

[yugorpk]

My wifes friends husband died recently. His wife sold off everything that guy owned within 3 months. Tools ( Boeing machinist . Lots of high end stuff ) Motorcycles, cars , guns etc. It was a feeding frenzy around that place. Forget whatever you think will happen with your stuff when you die. I fully expect my wife of 20 years to sell all my crap at a garage sale for pennies on the dollar even the NFA stuff. Wills and trusts mean nothing when its gone. Give it to who you want it to while your alive.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have no wife or kids. I am having all of my stuff buried in a big hole.

 

[scaatylobo]

IF the friends are gone too

If all my go to friends are gone [ unlikely as many are younger ] then all she knows to do is call a few auctioniars and have them come and take it all.

Guns,knives,leather,ammunition = ALL !!!!.

Even if they are not totally fair with her,she will get a tidy sum to play with or donate.

That is my 00.02 cents

 

[Coyote3855]

I have paper tagged all my firearms with basic information and approximate value. My wife knows to contact our FFL guy with experience in estate liquidation as our kids are not interested. My concern is with several thousand rounds of reloaded ammunition. I should get busy and shoot it up.

 

[larryh1108]

It sounds like it's time to go thru everything you own and make a decision:
1) I'll use it or want to keep it
2) I haven't used it in years and I doubt I will in the near future.

Once you have a pile of stuff you don't need any more, find the best way to sell it off and to get top dollar.

If you only shoot 1 or 2 calibers and still reload, keep those components and sell the rest. Otherwise, sell off your components for top $$.

If you have enough reloaded ammo ready to go and won't need to reload for a few years, make a decision to sell it (all reloading related stuff) to get top $$ for it now. You can buy more if you need it but it sounds like you may be set.

Bottom line, it's up to you to sell your stuff now for top $$. If money isn't an issue then let it go to your survivors and I'm sure they'll dump it as fast as they can for as cheap as they can. There are vultures out there who will gladly take it off the hands of your survivors. I'm sure you'll net 10% of their true value.

It isn't fair to your survivors to deal with something, with so many laws and nuances, that may involve a lot of work to dispose of. Of course they'll take the first offer for the whole batch. Why wouldn't they?

 

[BSA1]

Timing is everything to get top dollar.

If the Republican Party makes good on it's threat to deny the nomination to Trump and Cruz we will be seeing another panic later this year. It will be a big one as folks loose all faith on the Republicans and expect hard left President and Supreme Court.

The question for you will be if you want to sell out.

 

[gbran]

I too have a lot of G&A stuff and am getting older.

I have 4 kids, 2 boys, 2 girls. None of my kids are into guns. My son in law is. In another few years I'm going to sell and give away a lot of my stuff. The balance I'll will to my son in law and a few others.

 

[Twiki357]

Good timing. I was just going through my will today to update it as necessary. Everything is pretty cut and dried other than my gun collection. It’s all between my son and daughter. Neither my daughter nor her husband are interested in guns other than for home defense. My son lives in California so he gets his pick of three CA legal guns (most are not) and the reloading equipment and supplies. The rest of my 50+ collection goes to my daughter to be sold off or put on consignment. I wish I could convince myself to leave all my guns to my son, but they mean a lot to me and I’m just too afraid of them ending up being destroyed if they are moved to CA, and a number of them are illegal in CA anyway.

 

[caribou]

My nephew is a gunnut, I gave him all my parts, pieces, spare this and thats, and all my good books (on long lone) info to "learn" with when he old enough to enroll in a home schooling course

 

[Ironicaintit]

I think the biggest favor you could do for your survivors (as far as helping them handle your belongings) is to have all of your stuff clearly identified. Like, have your stuff organized by type and labeled somehow.

When my dad passed, we had a heck of a time sorting through stuff, determining what was what. Everything was a chaotic mess, with a nice mix of trash and treasures to sift through. My mom wanted to rent a roll off dumpster and pitch it all out! I halted that... But it took years to go through it all. I guess I learned a lot....but it was not a good time.


With firearm and reloading stocks and supplies, you could make an itemized list, with photos, and leave directions that they be sold at a place like THR. I'd like to think selling stuff here would keep it honest, and so your family would be most likely to get a fair value for it.

 

[mag1911]

I've done this for friend's families a couple times. Couple things that would have made it a lot easier:

Show them what you have and where you have it. One friend squirreled away stuff all over the place and we were still finding some of it a year later. Rather than one big sale it dragged out over a couple years and his wife had to deal with it many, many times.

Tell them about what it's worth and to not let anyone but immediate family in the place. Even keep an eye on some of them. One time "friends" came over and talked the wife out of all the high end stuff before the sale. I truly believe we could have got the wife two or maybe even three times more if we'd had all of it. I'm talking the difference between $4k and $8-12k and she could have used the money.

 

[bikerdoc]

Have you thought about selling it here on THR when the time comes?

 

[k2man]

If you don't have kids that want it, I'd give it to one of my buddies that shoot. If you don't have any close friends that shoot, give it to any decent person you know that shoots. Definitely don't throw stuff away - that's wasting resources.

 

[huntsman]

When my dad passed, we had a heck of a time sorting through stuff, determining what was what. Everything was a chaotic mess, with a nice mix of trash and treasures to sift through. My mom wanted to rent a roll off dumpster and pitch it all out! I halted that... But it took years to go through it all. I guess I learned a lot....but it was not a good time.

I'm in no way condemning your father but sometimes I believe us guys give into the selfish little boy when it comes to our toys. I'm of the belief that it's the non-tangibles we leave behind that carry the greatest value.

 

[jmace57]

I have about 120 firearms and am 59. I presume that I will continue to collect for the next 10-15 years. I will likely then sell most of what I have.

In the meantime, should something happen to me, like others I have an up-to-date listing of all of the firearms, serial number, description, even picture in the gun safe with an estimated value of each.

I have identified the 5 or 6 firearms that have family ties that I want to keep in the family, and who I'd like for them to go to. There is one I plan to donate to a museum. My son is not interested in guns, but is interested in family history, and history in general, so he will get several of the guns. My daughter has made "dibs" on a pretty nice 1903 Colt (although she lives in Chicago).

If my brother in law survives me, I have asked that he help my wife dispose of the guns...if not, I have asked his son to do so.

Regarding the "other" stuff - I have lots of parts and grips/stocks/magazines that are of some considerable value. I have made note of the items - that they are not just worth a few dollars - some of my older S&W stocks are worth $200+/pair. I have noted my ammunition (factory) and about what it is worth. I keep up with it fairly regularly.