What are you going to do with your guns when you’re done?

[frkelly74]

My Wife asked me this very question not long ago. I hemmed and hawed a little with no real answer, and she said " So you're going to leave me a mess to deal with? ". However I am expressly prohibited from checking out first before she does. So I guess it's moot. I have a son who has broken off contact with us, a daughter who has a husband who recently got interested in owning guns and shooting them, not reloading though. Unfortunately he has come down with a nasty cancer that in all likelihood will get the better of him fairly soon. They have some kids and the older son has once expressed an interest in seeing how ammo is put together. I have not made any motion toward doing that and will wait till he shows some interest. We have an adopted son and daughter who are not afraid to shoot up my ammo. The son likes my Highpoint 995 and can make empties very efficiently. He also has a Ruger Bearcat, a High Standard 20 Ga that was my fatherinlaws that has not been shot in 40 years, and a Chinese m54 which he likes because of the folding bayonet. The daughter has her own Taurus G2C and her carry permit, She also has the 22 Crickett with the pink stock that we used to fend off hoards of balloons when they were coming to over run our position. Her husband has his own collection but seems to think the ammo I make is somehow inferior to factory stuff, He gives me his brass so I guess that's something. He did appreciate the 380 ammo when there wasn't any on any shelves though. I do recognize the need to get some organization established to prevent the leaving of a Mess for posterity. Perhaps it is time to get busy.

[Tall]

I want to make my estate sale interesting and long. My stuff will stay with me until I am gone.

[Ed K]

No interest from family or close friends so over the past year I have been parting with everything that is not getting used . I could probably live quite well with a number in the single digits. Yeah, the excess was fun for a few decades but I don't care to leave it for anyone else to have to deal with. Just did a job for a guy that had 300-400 pieces; many unfired Pythons, Colt SAA, some NFA stuff. Plans to leave the collection as is late into life and possibly for his widow to deal with. Doesn't seem smart to me. Who knows how hard this stuff could become to move in 5-10 years?

[justindad]

<snip>
They have some kids and the older son has once expressed an interest in seeing how ammo is put together. I have not made any motion toward doing that and will wait till he shows some interest.

Make the move. He might not want to impose upon you.

[MT Gianni]

Strange this thread showed up now.

I'm sure that we all have more "stuff" than guns. In my case it is books. I've got a ton. Many would be recognized by member here. Many are out of print and on the used book sites are valuable. Some may get dumped in a dumpster since I'm too ornery to "give" them away. Meantime, I'll try to sell most of them.

I recently decided to take some books to the gun show. I had many that were highly valued over the years. I checked Amazon for values and found that $40 and $50 books were now reprinted or selling for $7.99. I put them on the table as $8 each or 3 for $20 and I think I sold 6 of them. The number of the population that gets their information in print is few and aging rapidly.

[Divil]

My Sons are 10 and 8. I am only 49. I hope I don’t have to make that decision for a long time. That said, I think both have some degree of interest in firearms so hopefully most of mine will stay in the family.

[Winger Ed.]

My Sons are 10 and 8. I am only 49.

It's depressing to do,,,, but you might seriously think about estate planning now.
If ya need some encouragement-- walk through a cemetery and look at the dates.
There's a whole bunch folks in there that died WAY before their time.

[reloader X]

I'm selling what I can which is a challenge here due to a no private sales law. all of my gun stuff im leaving to my nephew. my own kids are libtards who think im a racist boomer. But here is the catch..if you die alone the cops will ransack the house & take all guns & ammo..not to mention what else they get their mitts on. and all in the name of safety. my wife is still alive but if she goes first im giving my **** to the nephew at warp speed. I know I wont know about it when im dead, but i know about it now & it bugs me.

[MrWolf]

I'm selling what I can which is a challenge here due to a no private sales law. all of my gun stuff im leaving to my nephew. my own kids are libtards who think im a racist boomer. But here is the catch..if you die alone the cops will ransack the house & take all guns & ammo..not to mention what else they get their mitts on. and all in the name of safety. my wife is still alive but if she goes first im giving my **** to the nephew at warp speed. I know I wont know about it when im dead, but i know about it now & it bugs me.

Make a secure, hidden space and only let a few folks know about it. Nothing illegal about that.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Tough subject-- hard to give a good answer. My experience, I had a very large collection. I thought about getting rid of most of it as far back as 10 years ago, but found the project daunting as it is about 84 miles to the nearest UPS and Fed-Ex hubs where they insist that you take firearms to ship them. If I listed them on Gunbroker and sold them individually, one here one there, it would involve many trips. Also, if you've ever looked into it, the packing problem is huge. Where do you find boxes of suitable strength and size to ship rifles/shotguns? Check out the price that Brownell's wants for a package of a few new boxes.
An alternative would be to ship them in the cheapie hard cases that most of them are stored in, but that's advertising to larcenous persons that "here's a gun". So I did nothing.

Then, about 2 years ago my water well went dry in the middle of the summer, due to a spell of light winters. The ground water is dependent on snow melt from the mountains, and it became a regional problem with over 400 dry wells in this and the adjoining county. Hauling in water, lacking a flush toilet, infrequent showers taken at a motel, etc. was a real "life experience" I can tell you, and not one to be willingly repeated. Happily, I found about a firearms auction company that will come to your home, catalog and photograph your guns, haul them away to the online auction house, sell them on Gunbroker, ship them, and send you a check. It was certainly an answer to a prayer, and I shipped out roughly 200 of them. I tried to confine the sales to those that I had duplicates (sometimes 4 or 5) of, and those which I had decided I never liked that much anyway.
The proceeds were far more than was needed for a productive new well. So, in a way, at that point, "two birds with one stone" as the saying goes.

Wishing to be objective and address this question with honesty, the online auction experience was not entirely satisfactory. I had a very large collection of Krag rifles, big pile of Mosin-Nagant rifles, bigger pile of Turk Mausers, and duplicates of some like Swedish Mausers and Lee Enfields. When the field agent picked up the rifles (and handguns) we talked about how the transaction was to take place and I was assured that all the specimens of any one kind would not be put on the same auction event so as to avoid competing with myself. Later, while waiting for a couple of weeks for my auction to come up on Gunbroker I communicated via e-mail with their office manager and expressed the same concern, and was reassured that it would not happen. It happened, and I lost quite a bit of potential money as they dumped them all onto the same auction. Some buyers got some really great bargains. Naturally I remonstrated with the auction company and their solution was to offer me a reduction in their fee from 10% to 8%, and to send me a check for the difference. The check was in the amount of several hundred dollars, but the loss several thousand dollars. Still, I was happy to get that, as legal action would have cost more than I would have recovered, lawyers being quite expensive and the loss probably being around $6,000 or so. There is that to consider--practicality. Of course they promised that it would never happen again, but.......? So to date, I have sent out no more firearms to auction. However, I still know of no other practical way to dispose of the remainder, which is now still 2/3rds of a large collection, and being a genuine "gun magnet" more have come my way. I have decided to dispose of many more, will use the auction, but will develop a strategy on which ones to send out when, and in what quantity.

Like some here, there are those firearms that I just can not dispose of, and which will be in my estate. Some have memories that come to mind whenever I examine them. My first .22 rifle, my first pistol, a memorable event or occasion in which this or that gun was involved. There is just no avoiding this "remainder" problem that I can discern. Although at present I enjoy relatively good health for an 80 year old guy, there were a couple of times in recent years when I fell very ill (once was advanced Lyme Disease) and I can tell you that I learned that under those circumstances you lose interest in all things, guns included. But with improved health the enjoyment rapidly returned; the point being that when you're near the end or at the end it just really doesn't matter if you kept them or not, because you just don't care any longer. I have sort of come to the opinion that the guns that you really want to keep are yours to enjoy right up to the end, and thereafter you either won't know or won't care. As for the others, you can turn them all into money and leave that for your heirs, something I'm sure they'll be interested in, but whether or not they're individually deserving of that enjoyment is strictly your opinion and your call.

This got pretty long, and I hope there is something in it for those concerned with the problem. Guns are (1) a source of great enjoyment to those for whom it has been a passion, hobby, or source of income, and (2) guns are another form of wealth, desirable items for recreational and self-defense purposes. (3) Life is temporary, and you can't take them with you. But they're yours to own and enjoy while you're still here.

DG

[Electrod47]

Quoting DG "This got pretty long, and I hope there is something in it for those concerned with the problem. Guns are (1) a source of great enjoyment to those for whom it has been a passion, hobby, or source of income, and (2) guns are another form of wealth, desirable items for recreational and self-defense purposes. (3) Life is temporary, and you can't take them with you. But they're yours to own and enjoy while you're still here."

DG

I like (3) the best..Thanks for your insight, I'm 76. Feeling great, so far so good.

[Wag]

Excellent post, DG.

My biggest concern is that I'll kick the bucket and my wife will have to deal with the guns. She's not exactly knowledgeable and I fear that some dirtbag will rip her off.

--Wag--

[wilecoyote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB0hg4_JH0I
'nuff said

[BamaNapper]

None of our kids are even remotely interested in shooting, so it'll be up to me to get rid of the guns. When the topic came up in front of one of the kids, the comment was made that they'd probably just turn them in to the local police. Nope, that ain't gonna happen.

I've seen where a couple other guys have had their collections auctioned off at a local gun club. I sort of like that idea. Yes, it gets an FFL involved, but the guns are going to other shooters in the club.

[FergusonTO35]

If you have a big collection and/or have NFA stuff, form a trust. My mom owns alot of property and every bit of it is in a trust that will be professionally managed upon her death. That's not to say the kids won't get an inheritance, but it's structured so nobody can try to hoodwink anyone else and also avoid tax issues as much as possible.

[schutzen-jager]

Excellent post, DG.

My biggest concern is that I'll kick the bucket and my wife will have to deal with the guns. She's not exactly knowledgeable and I fear that some dirtbag will rip her off.

--Wag--

one of my old employers was a state champ trap shooter - kind of scared of his second spouse - purchased a midas grade o/u Browning w/ extra barrels, told wife he paid $100.00 for it, a few weeks after his burial one of his so called friends bought it for $200.00 !

[OS OK]

" There is a list in the safe of who gets what."
Is that list legally binding? Perhaps it's also listed in your will?

I have made a point to list in my will who gets what.

My wife's word is all I need. Her word has been good in 47 years of marriage, I haven't any reason to doubt it now.

[dverna]

My experience using GunBroker to sell rifles and shotguns has been very positive. DG is incorrect. Rifles and shotguns can be shipped USPS. No need to deal with UPS or FedEx. I have my FFL handle shipment of handguns. An FFL might charge $30 so it is not too bad. I list the FFL fees in the ad and the buyer must pay them.

I have sold a couple of guns here but it is not a good venue. Too few buyers plus too many old guys who are looking for deals. BTW, look at all the guys posting about selling stuff...telling. I moved my sales to GB as a result.

I envy those who have kids and grandkids that are interested in the sport. Makes things a lot easier.

[Thin Man]

How odd that I found this thread to read. Tell you why... I target shot and hunted with my father until he passed. I was 10 at the time, so no more shooting until I was able to buy my own arms from friends before I reached adult age of 21 (that was long ago). From then until now I have been a recreational shooter, hunter, firearm gatherer, reloader and caster. My hobby shop resembles a retail market. Still have the love for for the game but the years and various medical challenges have slowed me greatly. Over the passing years a friend and I held an FFL for our own benefits. I started doing firearm repair work while working 34 years at our police department, on my own for the next 13 years. The medical issues grew worse and the end could be any time. The one thing I learned was that even close "friends" will buy everything left behind if the price is right, meaning cheap. I have seen survivors absolutely destroyed with low dollar sales. That makes me more than angry as I wanted the sales of my toys to bring funds to the wife, not smiles to the buyers. Now it starts.

We have 3 daughters. The first already has her share of firearms I have provided to her. The second is physically unable to use any firearm, also no interest. The third is growing in her interest in recreational shooting and her husband is now hunting with me and showing much more interest, but not yet for reloading and casting. This 3rd pair have their handguns
and I have saved out the rifles and shotguns they can use any time and will go to them when I am gone. As for the rest, read on.

I decided to sell off the bulk (saved enough for my hunting needs) of my firearms by auction. Our local auctioneers ask 15% commission and let the seller deliver the merchandise to the auction site. I located an out-of-state auctioneer who holds several "firearm" auctions every year, to include related materials, ammo, etc. in his sales. His operating costs are reasonable considering the amount of advertising he spreads and his commission on the proceeds of the auctions is only 5%. The catalog describing his sales items is written by someone who knows more about the firearms than most people who think they "know it all". This vendor drove just under 4 hours from his site to me, packaged and loaded everything, drove it back to his site for ZERO additional cost. In fact, it was only YESTERDAY that he arrived and loaded my 270 firearms along with around 400 pounds of factory ammo along with rifle and spotting scopes, chronograph, knives and all other "stuff" to transport to his site, NO additional fees for this pick-up activity. I provided lunch and felt like I should have done more for him and his helpers. My final goal is to provide the best cash benefit for my family with no interference from those who would take advantage of an estate environment. The auction should occur in about 45-60 days out with final payment within 10 days of closing. May take longer as this will be a 2-day sale. I'm OK with that, just so long as more items sell than not due to my "reserve" prices on certain firearms. I'm already feeling better knowing the wife will not have to deal with this volume of merchandise.

[scattershot]

I am slowly downsizing, so my wife won’t have to deal with it when I’m gone.


I’m 76, and don’t hunt any more, so there are some guns that I just don’t shoot any more. Of course, these are the ones left after the boating accident.