What a FFL dealer told me about the buying tendencies of older shooters...

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Hokkmike

Hokkmike

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I was out in the field doing some survey work and came upon a "grizzly" of a man. He was tall, well fed, had a long grey hair and beard and was decked out in kind of an old fashioned leather-fringed great coat and a big bushy hat. He was up in the Pennsylvania mountains enjoying some late season black powder deer hunting. Did I mention that he was exceedingly friendly? Yeah, he was.

Anyway, turns out he was a gun dealer. Has a shop somewhere by Allentown. I mentioned to him that I hunted this year with my 1953 Model 94 in 32WC in lieu of my usual scope topped 6.5x55 SAKO. I also said that I was looking for a Winchester made in my birth year, 1949. He said that a lot of his older customers are doing that. He mentioned that many older gents seek to replace or copy the first guns that they owned as hunters or shooters when they first started out. He said that a lot of guys tend to specialize, going military, cowboy, or brand specific.

He left his wife at home and said that he enjoys spending quiet days at his cabin shooting and hunting. I WAS envious. It was a nice little 2 room cabin with the chimney smoking away. It had a great view of a draw heading down the mountain. There was NOBODY else within miles.

As for my interests I shooting, I am definitely going cowboy. I want to pick up an 1873 to go with my lever action. I also have a bead on maybe a 39A .22 rifle. I own one AR which tragically fell off my boat into a bottomless lake... I have my CC which is a Glock and would like to acquire a classic 22 handgun.

It will be sooner than I think that the kids will be deciding what to do with me. So I need to enjoy these things while I can. That is one of the reasons I am here. YOU all add enjoyment to shooting, hunting, and gun owning.

So, let me end with this, for you older guys... (younger guys - my advice is not to trade away or sell any of your guns as I have done) How is aging affecting what you are shooting and buying? Hey, thanks for your answers!
 
Let's say FDR was still president when I was born. Over the last few decades I've found I have been moving away from my revolvers (but not very far away) and towards my small caliber semi-automatics. In fact it's been quite awhile since I carried anything larger than a 32acp and the one real constant has been having a 25acp in my pocket. All of the long guns have gone to forever homes. I still have the 9mm semis and the 380 semis but I have more 32acp semiautomatics than 380 and 9mm Parabellum combined.
 
Lately my trend is buy as much as I can, whenever I can. I’ll walk that back a step; I buy what I feel might be otherwise unavailable to my kids in the coming years, for my kids, so they’ll have what they should by rights, and I’m desperately trying to cobble together enough gear and other firearms for each of them to enjoy should they choose.

The clock struck 47 for me last week so I know what I want isn’t nearly as practical as it might have been years ago. I may still seek out a few but I’ve made my peace with what I have and enjoy helping the next generation cultivate their interests. Don’t think me selfless, just a bit more pragmatic than I used to be.
 
Jimmy Carter was president when I was born so I don't like guns or a good economy.

I used to have some of everything,cowboy, milsurp, revolvers, etc but I caught an anti-materialism bug in my mid 30's and stripped down my rather small (compared to thr) collection to the absolute basics. Rifle, pistol. I don't even have a shotgun though my old lady does. I moved often for work. Moving guns and ammo is a pain. Much of what I had wasn't really battle worthy or was collection oriented. I focused more on practical, serviceable, quality built weapons and ammo. Lots of ammo and components. Plenty of lead. Once people know you like lead you accumulate a lot of it. They think it's poisonous and want rid of it. I haven't bought a gun since 2012. In the market for new pistol now, rifle later. Basic calibers either that I already own or have reloading supplies for them. 12 gauge, 7.62x39, 7.62x51, 44 special, 38 special, 9mm, .45 acp. I will never be a collector I have a rich ffl friend who does that so I get plenty of feedback from him as we both like a lot of the same stuff. If I like a gun, he buys four or five of them, I just get one or two!
 
I kept my mom from voting for FDRs fourth term , being born on election day. My dad influenced my tastes. While I have a few plastic fantastics, I mainly use levers, single actions, and single shots. First book I remember paging through was a 1940 something Gun Digest featuring Ned Roberts "Shooting the Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle". I have the digest and Roberts book. Shot black powder extensively from mid sixties til mid eighties and still have an original Leman half stock, a Belgian double and a few of the 13 I made, none from a kit. I am kind of a Luddite about my guns but I will, if I have to, use something Cerakoted and synthetic.
 
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Have had what will work well for long time. What change is the insanity of cost to do the things they do well in. Whats changed is those that endure that cost, their loss of sanity and pleasures that make what's right, not.
 
I'm 60 and lately most of my firearm purchases is related to my grand kids. 2 pink savage rascals , then a 10/22 build for so a 45 pound 8 year old girl can shoot steel challenge. Last was a 9mm pcc so the 12 year old can shoot pcc steel challenge, and uspsa.
 
I am 75 and my taste in guns hasn't changed over the years. I have always been a blued walnut stocked rifle and I have always preferred 870 Wingmaster shotguns. I bought my last gun in 2007 and I don't plan on buying anymore. I bought the ones I wanted when I was younger and now I have what I want and have no desire for anything new.
 
I can relate!!!;) Don't get me wrong I still like my 'newer' guns that shoot fast, accurate, and hit at long ranges, but since I moved to Bama 12 years ago I have developed a taste for the Marlin 336 in 35 Remington and do A LOT of my deer and hog hunting with them. And I still use and recommend revolvers for civilian SD. And I am 71 going on 21!!:D
 
We transitioned to semi-auto service guns, and I sold my revolvers. Fast forward to being retired for 10 years and I decided to buy one of the police turn in revolvers from AIM.

When I go to my weekly range session it's what I bring, leaving all the tactical Tupperware guns home. I'm enjoying the heck out of it!
 
PapaG said:
I kept my mom from voting for FDRs fourth term , being born on election day.
Click to expand...
I kept my Mom from voting AGAINST Ike's re-election
Dad screwed up in the Marines and couldn't legally own a gun, but he favored heavy carry guns like BARs or at least M-1s - odd choices for a long, skinny Alabama boy that was usually packing a massive forward observer's radio. I guess that it makes sense, though, as he often wound up being used as a sniper... .
Anyway, I buy what intrigues me at the time - and I don't sell.
This didn't used to be a problem, as we moved over fifty times over the years and I lost almost everything each time. Stuff just went away.
Now stuff accumulates - I'm expecting the delivery of a new gun safe today.
This is a problem that doesn't bother me at all.
 
Early 60s, so I guess I qualify for "older guy." I don't know that my tastes have radically changed over the years, but they have definitely settled.

I prefer scoped bolt-action rifles to all others, both blued and walnut and more modern synthetic and coated. My most recent acquisition has a walnut stock and a cerakoted barreled action. I have had several pump and lever action rifles over the years, but no longer. I still have an AR, but it doesn't see much use. I do like a nice single shot.
While I train with and regularly carry and shoot semiautomatic pistols, I prefer revolvers for field carry, hunting, and general range use.
My shotguns are strictly utilitarian: Mossberg 500s in 12 and 20 gauge.

Over the next couple of years, I expect to cull my modest collection further.
 
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So, let me end with this, for you older guys... (younger guys - my advice is not to trade away or sell any of your guns as I have done) How is aging affecting what you are shooting and buying? Hey, thanks for your answers!
Click to expand...
I am starting the process of downsizing. I have guns I no longer shoot for one reason or another that I bought when first starting out shooting in the 70s and 80s. So why keep them gathering dust when someone now could put them to good use?
Since my gun passion is shotguns for clays and birds, I want to whittle those down, get rid of hunting rifles I don't use and then I'll start on the handguns
 
I like some of the newer guns. I don't have to always carry a single action Colt. Sometimes it can be a New Service, a Smith & Wesson hand ejector, or even a 1911.

Bolt guns are relatively new. After World War I, they found a place in the American rifleman's heart and stayed. I use the Springfield and the Model 70, but my heart is with the '86 Winchester.

When I was young, I was curious about any kind of gun I could get my hands on. Somewhere down the line I seem to have lost that, and I want the comfort of the familiar.
 
Instead of just getting guns for "want" or "cool" factors, now that I'm older, I generally tend to look to
fill a need with a firearm type. So later acquisitions are far more purpose-driven, than mere "wanna-buys".
 
Hokkmike said:
I was out in the field doing some survey work and came upon a "grizzly" of a man. He was tall, well fed, had a long grey hair and beard and was decked out in kind of an old fashioned leather-fringed great coat and a big bushy hat. He was up in the Pennsylvania mountains enjoying some late season black powder deer hunting. Did I mention that he was exceedingly friendly? Yeah, he was.

He left his wife at home and said that he enjoys spending quiet days at his cabin shooting and hunting. I WAS envious. It was a nice little 2 room cabin with the chimney smoking away. It had a great view of a draw heading down the mountain. There was NOBODY else within miles.
Click to expand...
Love to meet that man and set on the porch of his cabin and share a jug. Sounds like my kind of people.

So, let me end with this, for you older guys... (younger guys - my advice is not to trade away or sell any of your guns as I have done) How is aging affecting what you are shooting and buying? Hey, thanks for your answers!
Click to expand...
Sage advice about parting with at least some of those first purchases. Like a first love, you'll find yourself daydreaming about them someday.

I mostly shoot my .22's, have a couple of semis and a revolver in short guns and a couple of long guns too. I wish I could shoot my black powder more often but the only outdoor range around leaves something to be desired.
 
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