Do you ever feel like your gun interests are just too varied to be healthy?

When I buy a gun, I say to my self that is $$$$ the nursing home will not get.

It helps when a guy has sold about half of his guns and (6,000 rds.) unused M2 Ball and 8 mm Mauser Ammo... to have 80-100% of the cash for other purchases.
The pretty consistent number has been about ten rifles, with six handguns.

.Using Armslist I sold the Unconverted 7.62x39 Saiga yesterday in a parking lot. Still have five rifles in 7.62x39 and seven others.
The OP seems to describe only a Net increase in the total gun quantity.

460Shooter said:

... nor do I know that my home has adequate space to store them all properly. ...

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Buy a good safe. That is how to store your guns " properly" and safely.

L.W.

I got gun-started late in life so no, I have less time available to enjoy the full experience than most folks, I plan to make every day I have left a gun day.

If you are not damaging the budget or shorting yourself/family then what is the problem? Actually for a lot of years I was a member of the gun of the month club. Try adding two zeros at the back of the 11. I tried to buy six long guns and six handguns a year at least. Also I was able to invest heavily into reloading at the same time as well. So I drove an older used car and did not eat out a lot but I purchased whatever I wanted. I had already put away enough that the last 8 years I did not need to even buy anything to keep shooting at my present rates. These days my earning power has dropped slightly so I stay within my "spare change" budget for firearms related purchases. I find that all of the stuff I bought in the past has at least kept up with inflation and that it has been an OK investment in that respect. I have them stored in more than one location and a duplicate reloading setup as well. Should I need money I can start selling things off and pretty much get my money back if I am in a hurry, or wait some to advertise then sell and probably profit some more. In the mean time I can shoot a really large variety of firearms that I own. YMMV

Got handguns, go shotties, got rifles, I'm happy. I did start out with auto's in handguns, later on drifted back firmly in the revolver camp but kept my auto's. For shotguns I bought for pure utility, hunting, home defense. Rifles hunting, defense and a touch in the old military rifles just like the historical significance of them. However, for first time in years not looking for any piece to buy, I have a son getting married this summer and a daughter having a baby, so my funds are spoken for in the near term.

No.

900F

Yes. But I was never one to let that stop me..........

Leanwolf said:

Buy a good safe. That is how to store your guns " properly" and safely.

L.W.

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Not one, but several. Guns safes (residential security devices) never hold the advertised number.

460Shooter said:

Do you ever feel like your gun buying habits and interests are just kind of getting away from you? I mean I do control myself. I'm not buying several guns a year and just running up my credit cards, but I'm starting to question WHY I want all these different guns.

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I'm fortunate in that I can indulge in my interest in firearms. I'm enjoying looking for and collecting S&W Model numbered K frames at present. If things change, my gun buying habits will change as well.

I'm not worrying about the "Why" at the present.

My problem is, I'm far too practical nowadays. I've owned many 'a rare firearms but right now I only have a few different calibers in the safe.

After all this time I find my interest and fascination for all things firearms still going strong. Granted I don't buy as many as I use to and don't go shooting as much as I would like to but then again there's nothing wrong with adding some new guns to the collection. There remain a few handguns that I would like to have (mainly revolvers), and I also continue to look for those that serve a specific purpose, like concealed carry or home defense.

No not really... My collection definitely tended to wax and wane over the last few decades. Now-a-days I am just not interested in the majority of new guns offered so there are little, if any, "wants".

Realizing that held value and/or appreciation depends on desirable pieces bought at fair prices I only pick up the good stuff. My latest find was like new Remington 1100 16ga with shot barrel. I'm doing very very well.

I like a video Colin Noir did where he said, "You tell yourself this gun will only go up in value, but deep down you know you'd sell off your house before your guns."

Whenever someone asks me my favorite gun or favorite beer I always have the same answer, "The Next One."

I always figured having one of everything would be a good idea then again it's nice to have a backup if for nothing other than spare parts.

I go from 50 BMG down to BB's, from rifle caliber pistols to pistol caliber rifles. The things I do that are not healthy don't involve firearms.

What sort of answer would help you? Enthusiast forums can be enabling echo chambers so you are far more likely to get encouragement to press on than anything else.

I think a lot of this comes down to personality. I have varied interests in general because that's how my mind works. It's a core personality trait. Other people focus down on a single thing, or a very narrow range of things, and that's fulfilling to them because that's how their minds work.

I had to come to terms with that long ago. Many people started...oh...playing cello at age 8...most gave up music altogether. A few spent every minute they could on building skill to a high level and will still be working to improve their cello playing until they are physically unable to do so. I went on to play guitar, keyboard, wind instruments, fix cars, sail, program computers, shoot, metalwork, camp, fly, on and on and on. I can play a few instruments but I can also do a lot of other things. If you compare me to someone who focused and kept building skill in a narrow range you'll find we don't necessarily have different total amounts of skill, but the distribution is very different.

I don't know if there are any tricks in any of this, but I do think people should recognize what sort of personality they have and compare themselves fairly. If you are a narrow-focus-fulfilled person who loves to do a few things really well but you compare yourself to wide-focus-fulfilled people who do a million different things and have a very diverse collection of guns (and skills, and everything else) you are not doing yourself any favors. The same is true in the other direction as well. Especially if you have a competitive streak you can end up in a sort of one-sided (they may not even realize it is happening) competition with people who are doing what makes them happy even though that's the wrong direction for you.

All of which could have been said with "know thyself" and "don't try to keep up with the Joneses", but, again, personality.

460Shooter said:

... I mean I just don't know if my wallet can support this many interests in guns, ...

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Looking at this again thru my Lens, the Good News is you have not been bitten by the Milsurp or Vintage or Kit-Rebuild Bugs ... yet.

Garand-itis is a terrible "disease".

460Shooter said:

... As if living a little and enjoying my hobby makes me financially irresponsible and materialistic. I guess that is silly though since I buy guns to shoot, not to just have them, ...

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Nothing wrong with buying them just to have them.

cfullgraf said:

Garand-itis is a terrible "disease".

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WHEW! Tell me 'bout it ... before I finally "got over it" there were 16 in my Collection/Accumulation. I realized that that was a ridiculous number of M1s to own ... so I sold one. 15. Much better.

Just remember that each piece of hardware is a tangible investment, usually in the long run, appreciating rather than depreciating. It is relatively easy to liquidate but in the short run will likely cost you from purchase price (depending on the item / gun politics). I've found that shooting interests meander, ebb and flow and it's not out of the possibility that you may loose interest in a firearms niche only to return to it a decade or so later and be glad that you didn't liquidate years prior to fund another purchase at a net loss. Whether you are of a utilitarian or hobbyist / collectors ilk you'll probably be glad that you don't get rid of what you deem to be superfluous or uninteresting at the time.