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difference between gun buyers

8K views 67 replies 59 participants last post by  ShooterGranny 
#1 ·
What is the difference between the types of gunbuyers. My take is when I buy one she is with me for the rest of my days. Others are often floating guns in and then back out, kinda a constant trading going on. What makes for these differences in the gunners? Anyone got any comparisons? Myself and my best friend are exact opposites.
 
#32 ·
I generally dont sell my guns because each one of mine has its purpose. But if someone makes me an offer i cant refuse ill gladly hand you what you want.

Case in point. I was at my local gun store looking for a new gun when one of the clerks said "oh Nes has one of those" The owner asks me about my XDM 45 5.5 and offers me 400 more than I paid for it new. After some wheeling and dealing we ended up 500 more than I paid for it plus he'll buy any of my .45 ammo at his retail price.

However, I have been offered 4 grand for my fathers colt python and its a hell no. That gun will not be sold as long as im the owner.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 
#33 ·
I bought my first gun from the Sears Christmas catalog in 1962 when I was sixteen. It was a Lee-Enfield British .303 select grade surplus rifle. The mailman dropped it off on our front porch. I sold it when I went in the Navy in 1964.

I have bought and sold several hundred guns since then. In 2010, I decided to downsize. Since then I have twelve more guns than when I started downsizing.
 
#34 ·
Being relatively new to guns, as a hobby, I tend to get excited about researching whatever gun is put in front of me. At 19 I purchased an army surplus IBM M1 carbine from a gun shop in San Jose for $89.00 at my grandfather's direction and later that year also bought a 10/22. He said I should learn how to disassemble and work on a rifle with the M1 and the 10/22 would be a good rifle to learn to shoot with. 23 years later my wife and I decide to purchase a few key rifles before we no longer can. To get the ball rolling I decide to see what I could get for the M1 . . . ended up selling to a friend of a friend for $500. Regret that now but the sale DID start a passionate hobby for me. There is only one gun that I currently have that I know for sure will never leave my collection, my grandfathers Python (which was the first gun I ever fired). Anyway, being so excited about the hobby I talk about it ALOT. This has led to many opportunities to purchase guns from private parties. I love to do the research to know that I'm getting a nice deal, buy the gun, shoot it, learn to take it down and clean it and on lots of occasions sell it for a modest profit. This approach HAS left me short when something has come along that I have really wanted . . . so it is not a logical or strategic system I have going on right now, but I'm having a blast!
Btw-still have the 10/22.
 
#35 ·
I am in the buy and keep camp. I have had to sell guns in the past for various reasons and I regret every one I had to let go. I would be considered a collector, but I shoot them all. I consider them to be the birthright of my kids. Who knows what will be available to them when I am dead and gone. My two year old already has an affinity for guns. I have videos of him running up to the safe and trying to get in it with the cutest "it's locked" that you have ever heard. He is also already reloading. Got a great video of that that I show to anyone who will watch it. I hope #2 will feel the same way, I'll let you know in October.
 
#36 ·
I've never been in the buy and sell camp....you usually end up loosing. I have only sold two firearms in my life, one I wish I had back. I own two that I purchased in 1990 and two from 1995 that I have yet to run a round down the tube, at this point I doubt I ever will. All four are unique and hard to find, so I guess they'll go to my son down the road and he'll never sell them either, (per my will, lol).

Now I'm into long range shooting and hunting, so I'm buying different firearms than I was 10 years ago. Some folks are driven to buy and sell, I'm happy right where I'm at.


Here Kitty Kitty
 
#37 · (Edited)
I have learned the hard way not to sell any more of my guns. In almost every single case I ended up regretting it and I know that I am far from alone based on the number of posts I am seeing from others who've made the same mistakes I have.

The only exceptions where I would sell is if it were a gun that I truly despised who's very presence makes me sick to my stomach (I haven't owned a gun that bad yet), was something too old, worn out or unusual to be put into useful service or if someone "made me an offer I can't refuse" to quote a famous Mafia film.
 
#38 ·
Never sold a firearm until the doctor said no more shotguns or highpower. It wasn't so much the collecting as taking the loss on a used gun, dealing with the buyer's legality in the pre-CCW days, and the space wasn't an issue. When the doctor said that, I decided that someone should enjoy them instead of relegate them to safe queen status. Once the cherry was popped it wasn't that hard.

Now it is more of a space issue. In my current place, there is only suitable room for one small safe. So if a new one comes home, something else has to go. Sometimes it is the one that just came home and it did not to live up to expectations. Or maybe it was a bit of a curiosity/impulse buy where there was more money in the pocket than slots in the safe.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Just as with any other hobby I find myself in the beginning trying to figure out what exactly it is that I like and what works best for me. I have no issue and actually would rather not hang onto things that don't work out. However once I determine what it is that works I tend to make little if any mistakes. For me it's a journey but along the way I try to identify as early as possible what all is out there, and what actually ends up working best for me. If I can do this without making too many mistakes it will tend to cost me less and when I find those gems I will enjoy myself more.
 
#41 ·
Thanks for starting the thread



Interesting question thanks for posting it. The follow on forum comments were/are interesting.

We tend to buy deliberately and hang onto weapons, just like our vehicles that stay around a very long time. If we win a "random" weapon in a raffle, where choice is limited, we may sell that weapon and hold/use the proceeds toward another weapon on our wish list.

We've tried (with somewhat limited success) to limit the diversity of calibers in the gun safe, but like vehicles, calibers/guns have specific capabilities and uses ;)
 
#44 ·
I have only gotten rid of 3 guns, a Colt Pony .380, a Model 15 S&W and a flat top 3 screw .44 mag Ruger. I sold the .380 o a neighbor, for protection for his wife. I gave the .38 special Combat Masterpiece to my daughter, for protection, against predators, both 2 and 4 legged, at her U.P Michigan cabin and the .44 was stolen from a hunting camp in Florida. Keep yer powder dry..…..robin























rugrr
 
#46 ·
You might ask that question about the way men deal with women.

- Some will marry their high school sweetheart and stay married until they die;
- Some will marry multiple times often losing money each time;
- Some will never marry, but have lots of FWB until their older years;
- Some will never find any girl they really want to keep;
- Others will never be able to afford a girlfriend let alone a wife.

:cool:
 
#48 ·
Of those I have bought I am missing two and both went to a son. Every three or four years I will shoot a gun again to see if still don't like it. Then I will set it aside again and try it later.. years later. I have tried to trade some, just never did
 
#49 ·
I have bought some I didn't like as well as I thought I would, but most, until recently, are guns I never thought I would sell. Things changed only because my son is an MD teaching at Stanford and California and the University frown on gun owners. He recently told me he was not able to inherit any guns because of California and the University attitudes, and did not even want his own guns which I had been storing for him.

Things change. Until late last year, I thought that all the guns I owned now were going to stay with me until I died. Only one new gun on my horizon - a Remington V3 TAC 13 and I want two of those - one for me and one for my wife.
 
#51 ·
Buyer Types

Many many years ago, I lived in a kingdom where unbeknownst to me included still dating in our marriage vows. Coming from More money (better lawyer), my practice wife was vindictive in resolution of assesses. I only had two guns and was proud of them both. A 700 BDL in .270 and a 1100 trap shotgun. She couldn't touch them legally but she left me so poor from lawyer bills, I had to sell them. Since then I've waited for bargains , to me at least and have kept all but the worst of what I've gotten in trades. I reckon giving one up is like losing again. On the plus side I have 4 children who all love guns and a farm for them to hunt or shoot on. I got the best of the deal. Ask husbands 2 thru 6. Number 7 is too new to have an opinion
 
#53 ·
I am a hoarder and builder both. I have allowed my wife to trade a S&W SD9 VE that she loved to hold, hated to shoot for a G-17, that she is still in love with. I myself have tried some new, got in a promotion, shotguns that were way excess for me, toward a G-20. I already had twice the shotguns I needed (All two of them)
 
#55 ·
About 30 years ago I was going thru a divorce and sold most of my guns, to be able to handle what I needed to financially.

I guess due to that (and having to get rid of some nice firearms that are/were hard to replace) I rarely sell/trade anything these days, and when I do it is likely to a friend.

I guess I have never understood the whole buy/trade/sell as quickly as you get it routine with firearms, it makes absolutely no sense to me.

I can now afford most of what I want, and I know what it is that I want (usually older revolvers, most likely P&R S&W's).

So when I do buy something (firearm) these days, it is very likely to stay with me until I die.
 
#56 ·
As an accumulator I got attached to most of my guns, Selling a few I thought was discipline. The ones I sold, I miss the most are Browning BL22 Grade II Nicest wood I've ever seen. ( The first new gun I ever purchased) I bought 50th Anniversary Ruger #1. It really didn't fit my lever action theme, still I wish I would have kept it.

Over the years I have become a collector, we'll see how much discipline I have when my non-heirloom guns become retirement income.
 
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