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

[lightman]

Mine and my Wife's are in our will to go to our Sons and Grandsons. I have already gifted a few of them.

[Electrod47]

Thin Man, I know that must have been tough...Bless you brother. Some guys just know how to suck it up. I'm 76 and I need to suck it up.

[Jtarm]

DGs story reminds me of an old gun writer I knew as a young man.

I visited his house a few times when he was asked to liquidate the collection of a deceased friend.

His wife once commented that “every time someone we know dies, Dick ends up with all their guns!”

I don’t think I ever saw more than a fraction of his collection, which was rumored to be well over 500 guns.

A lot were displayed throughout his house. I once accompanied him to a walk-in closet that looked big enough to house Imelda Marcos’ shoe collection. There were long guns leaning roughly four-deep against every wall.

[Winger Ed.]

he was asked to liquidate the collection of a deceased friend..

My long time friend and local gun store owner had a customer like that who died suddenly.
Every few weeks his widow would bring in an armload of really nice guns to sell on consignment.
He didn't have the storage space to take them all in at once.
He even 'upgraded' and got a Class III license to sell a few of the collection.

[waylonrocks]

I am very fortunate that my 3 sons enjoy guns and live nearby. They each have a large safe filled with guns, as do I. We have made a concerted effort to avoid buying the same exact guns, so when one of us buys a gun, everyone else gets to shoot it and experience it as well. In this fashion, I get to enjoy a Desert Eagle, a Ruger No. 1, a 500 S & W, etc. As far as my guns, we had a drawing for handguns and one for rifles. In essence, the one with the longest straw gets first pick of my handguns, the medium straw picks the next one, etc. After each has a gun, we redraw again and repeat until each gun is spoken for. They are free to trade amongst themselves any time they wish. The main drawback is anytime I go to enjoy one of my guns, the kid cautions me to take good care of "his" gun! LOL My kids are savvy enough on gun values, so I am confident that my modest collection won't be disposed of for pennies on the dollar.

[Jedman]

I am disposing some of my guns right now and have done this several times in the past. I have to force myself not to buy more when I find a good deal and tell myself I don’t NEED it.
I sold 11 long guns back in Feb. at a small gun show with only 1 table but was selling for a lot less than the others that have tables at every show.
I also sold 4 on Gunbroker in the past months and they are much more difficult to work with than they were a few years ago. I also have one of my more valuable rifles at a LGS for sale on consignment and so far they have not sold it so I am not sure that is a good option either.
I have a lot of guns and some are wildcat calibers that I built and have the die sets and think I had better start selling them to people on the several gun forums I post on.
I have told my wife if I pass first ( most likely ) she should take them all to a local auction house and let them take care of the selling but I find people at auctions don’t seem to be handloaders and almost all my guns have dies and components that are specific to individual guns and the auction house doesn’t sell guns with reloading items to go with them , must be to much to keep track of ?
I hope to have another 10 years of hunting , shooting and playing with project guns that I have acquired. I have a lot of projects and it seems there is never enough time to get much done on them as keeping up a house and 4 vehicles is almost a full time job. I have always done everything myself but at some point I will need to pay someone else to do most of these things but that hard to do for me.

So for me I need to stop buying guns first , and start getting rid of the oddballs that I own while I can explain what they are and how to load for them ect.
That’s just the guns, then there is a lot of wood working stuff, metal working stuff, welders, a camper, boat , canoes , play cars ………
Jedman

[BNE]

At 53 I hope to have a grandchild or two that are “in to it”. If not, then I hope to find a kid that wants to learn. I am sentimental about the guns I buy, but I don’t want to burden my kids or anyone else with my sentimentality unless they share my desires for gun stuff.
BNE

[Frank V]

When I’m done, I usually bring it home & clean it

[Texas by God]

I don’t like to have more guns than I can use.
I’m kind of reaching that point at 64 years old.
The unique “custom rifles” will be given to my grown kids, as well as the two that my father passed down to me.
Others will be given to friends, then I’ll sell the rest.
This plan will work unless I die in the middle of doing it.
My odds are even. Either I will or I won’t.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shooting on a shoestring]

Frank V for the win!
Good shot!

[Thin Man]

Electrod47, you are right on target. Over my days I have had several health challenges that should have been the end of me. Didn't happen, yet... It was about 2 years ago when I realized I had to dump all of those things that were a threat to my wife and daughters - financially, of course. Sold off our few rental houses, closed and liquidated the FFL activities, sold off the hunting camp property (with destitute mobile home on it) all to get the best financial recovery for my survivors. For my entire 53 years of marriage I have lived a "family first" experience that stays with me even now. Last December I had a bad fall on an escalator at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, busted my head really good. Even now at 6 months out the doctors tell me my brain is still leaking blood. Not a good thing, but at least a sign that my end may be sooner than later. As my firearm auction is on contract I can expect those proceeds to go to SWMBO. This is the last of the chores I needed finished while I still had the ability to get it done. Maybe that fall was the "nudge" I needed to go ahead and do what I could before I became unable. Do I miss my auction toys? You better believe it. This is almost as painful as having to put down your favorite dog. My memories of these is clear and I can smile about the fun we had together. I bit the boolit and let them go to help take care of the family. Now that this is finished I can relax and enjoy family time.

[JoeJames]

I've been thinning my herd over the last few years, by selling, or in the case of old family firearms giving them to a cousin. My wife's family is just not much into guns. I have taken steps to handle all my real property without the need for a will. I have done such for some of my clients who I dissuaded for doing wills. As far as personal property like guns, a list in the safe with who gets what is not particularly legal, but should have sufficient moral force to work just fine. Generally speaking if the bulk of the real and financial property has been taken care, few kinfolks would be willing to pony up attorney's fees over probating just personal property.