What would make you get rid of a gun that had nothing wrong with it? (Kind of a random ramble)

I've gotten rid of a lot of guns that had nothing wrong with them. The number one reason was I needed cash, and in a hurry. Secondly, they were guns that I had bought and just never cared about, mostly polymer guns with striker fire mechanisms. And then there were the ones I just didn't like. And that left the ones with problems and there were a bunch of them in the later '70's to mid '80's. Cheap or expensive, it didn't matter, almost every new gun I bought in that period was a problem gun, and I got rid of all of them.

What would cause me to sell a gun?????? MY WIFE says that if I want to add to my collection, I have to sell something.
Just wait until she runs out of ideas to buy me for my birthday, anniversary, Christmas, etc. LOL

Thomasss said:

What would cause me to sell a gun?????? MY WIFE says that if I want to add to my collection, I have to sell something.
Just wait until she runs out of ideas to buy me for my birthday, anniversary, Christmas, etc. LOL

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When my wife got pregnant with our daughter in our younger 20s, she told me to look inside the gun safe and to sell everything I haven't shot in 6 months as likely, I won't shoot them in the next 6 months. She also asked me to sell our Kawasaki 250 and Yamaha 125 dirt bikes along with dune buggy and project classic car as I need to focus on raising our daughter. And chances are, we would be replacing the dirt bikes with quads to ride as a "family" and replacing 2 seater dune buggy/classic car with 4x4s that will accommodate the entire family of 4 (They were replaced with Yamaha quads, 4x4 truck, 4x4 suburban and C5 Z06).

While I vehemently disagreed with my wife (Letting go of some of the guns like NHM-91/P226, which I hadn't shot in 6 months not because I didn't like shooting them but I was "saving" them and shot SLR-95/Glocks instead) but in the end, I gave in to her "nesting" and sold off most of the gun safe content and all of the dirt bikes/dune buggy/classic car.

After our son/daughter were old enough to ride their own quads with "family friendly" suburban for me and Super Lifted 3/4 ton Chevy truck with 454 v8 and 35" tires for wife, when we were riding in the desert and shooting up the canyons, she told me she regretted "making me" sell off the guns as she realized how much I enjoyed shooting (I had been shooting USPSA matches for some years by then).

Wife and I agreed on a new contract. She won't question what guns I buy to restock the gun safe as long as she gets to spend double what I spent on my hobbies ... NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

So from time to time, wife would even suggest, "You haven't gone shooting in a while. Is it time for you to buy a new gun?"

One Christmas in year 2014, I go on a shopping spree (I was trying to get one of 250 Dan Wesson PM7 made for CA each year but just missed out while calling my wife for final OK as it sold within the 15 minute call and she suggested I get another 1911 and ended up getting railed Sig 1911 TacPac as consolation) and ended up spending over $7000 on gun stuff. When I told my wife, she beamed and said, "Oh, so I get to spend $14,000?" with a smile. We had just bought one of two retirement properties at our retirement location and she would simply tell me to pick up this and that for the house in terms of appliances, flooring, toilets, paint, etc. along with chickens, ducks, turkeys, goats and mini pigs (She sure tried for mini cow ... but it was a definite "NO" from me as I was the one who would be cleaning up the cow manure).

In the end, it would have been better had I not sold off the content of the gun safe decades earlier and I regret having sold off most of them.

After retirement, we sat down to tally up various spending for hobbies and were mildly surprised that over $180,000 were spent for guns/ammunition/shooting accessories/reloading components with over $160,000 going to ammunition/reloading components mostly for USPSA practice/match rounds with total over a million rounds of factory ammunition/pistol and rifle reloads and 22LR. So during lifetime, cost of guns gets smaller compared to ammunition cost, especially if you shoot a lot.

Moral of story is if you have guns you like but don't shoot them much, it may be better to keep them to appreciate them later than regret having sold them. But if you can sell/trade guns that you are not shooting for guns you would like better and shoot more often, then that may be a better thing.

I got rid of three guns with nothing wrong with them yesterday. What's the big deal?

Definitely not a big deal IMO. Although OP lives somewhere that doesn’t make it easy to buy new guns he says.

I find that most new guns bore the hell out of me. I went through a phase when I was newer at this were I bought all kinds of guns just to have "guns". Now I find myself unloading them as they just don't interest me. I'll take a vintage gun anyday over many of the modern offerings nowadays.

Bills.

I sold my Star PD to get myself some food and gasoline for the truck. In better times, I sold a handful of working and reliable handguns in order to fund my wife's Nighthawk. I've sold nothing since for want or need.

I did sell a pistol that supposedly had nothing wrong wit it.
I had bought a Ruger SR 40, it shot well but when I put in a new mag I could not thumb down the slide. I was going to make it my carry gun but if I have to take the time to grab the slide & pull it back to release the slide I don't want it. All of my other auto handguns can be thumbed down why does Ruger think they can be different.
I sent it back the the manufacturer two times & every time I got it back saying that there was nothing wrong with it. The last time it had a note with it saying that pulling back on the slide is the way Ruger guns work. Why do they even have a external thumb release if you have to pull the slide back?? I sold it off after only firing about one box of ammo through it for $150 less than I bout it for.

bannockburn said:

Had an early HK P7 that I just couldn't get use to the squeeze cocker mechanism. The gun itself was very well built, extremely reliable, and accurate too!
But it always felt awkward even when I got a decent grip on the gun and I was afraid that if I loosened or adjusted my hold just a little bit the gun would stop working altogether. Never could get use to it so down the road it went.

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I wish I would've been the lucky dog who bought that from you. I love me a P7 and wish H&K would make them again. I wonder if they capitalized on modern technology if they could get something akin to a P7M13 in a smaller, lighter package, possibly with 15 round capacity. Fixed barrel accuracy, longer barrel for size than a locked breech design, and very safe for carry.

I’ve sold exactly one gun in my life, a Ruger model 77 in 338 Win Mag. I used it when I was stationed in Alaska and sold it when I left as no one in my family had need for it in Texas.

I’ve given many guns away when I no longer wanted them - a S&W 9 mm to my youngest son, a Henry 22 rifle to my grandson, a S&W 357 to my soon to be ex-wife back in the 90s.

I’ve armed most of the family over the years. It just seemed easier to gift them than go through the ordeal of selling them. Most of them were fine weapons, but a couple had faults that I made sure the recipient knew about before they took the gun.

That doesn’t mean I’d keep a gun that I didn’t like or shoot well. I have Springfield XD-S in 9 mm that is definitely harder to shoot well with its 3.3” barrel. It took a few months of regular range time to master it sufficiently enough for it to serve its purpose as an EDC. I would have gotten rid of it had I not been able to figure out how to shoot it.

I’d learn to shoot that 9mm or get rid of it by selling it, trading it or giving it away.

WVGunman said:

Please note: I am deliberately NOT mentioning a brand name here, because that will immediately sidetrack all discussion into arguments about that and other brand names. This is about personal tastes and aesthetics, which are not unique matters to any particular make, market niche, or model.

So, I fired my small 9mm handgun at the range the other day for the first time in a long time, and ... lets just say I'm not sure why I'm keeping this thing around. It IS very small, (though not the smallest) and it HAS been 100% reliable, with several hundred rounds since I bought it without a single failure of any kind.
But ...

The short barrel on this thing means it's loud. I mean, LOUD. But even worse, I can't hit the broad side of a barn with it, and I'm starting to think it's not just me. From about 10 yards I fired 8 shots at a 4-inch circle, and not only didn't hit the circle, but only two shots even hit the 2' x 2' paper the circle was on. (!) This gun has never been a tack driver, but with the muzzle blast and inaccuracy, I'm struggling with why I should keep it. One does that saw "never sell a gun" meant to be ignored?

Background: I now live in a state where I would have to get a license just to buy another handgun at all, but bought this gun before I moved here. I do not currently carry, nor do I really plan to do so, but I think a basic 9mm should be part of everyone's personal battery.

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I have exactly same experience with small 9 mm gun. No issue with the gun itself, just not for me.

life's too short for dogs that don't hunt. cars that don't work, and guns that don't make you happy when you shoot.

Unless it's got sentimental value. sell it and move on.

I have probably owned over 100 handguns in my lifetime. I have also owned exactly 100 motorcycles (and always on the lookout for the next one). Motorcycles take up a lot more space, have higher entry fees, and higher recurring costs (registration, insurance, depreciation, maintenance) so having 3-4 at any given time is about the practical limit (for me). Handguns, I can afford to have 10-15 at any given time.

Why do I sell any of them (bikes or handguns)?

Because I want something else, and I can't afford to own them all...not at once, anyway
If I want a new one (usually used, "new to me") I can find something to sell.

Do I regret it? Actually, for the most part, I have always moved up and moved on, so no. Of course, there are a few that I reminisce about (several P7s, including an M10 and an M13, several S&W revolvers like M57, M25, and so on...). But in reality, I am pretty happy with what I have, and I can't find time to shoot them all (once I'm retired a year from now, that may change, and I hope my health holds out...)

If I had adhered to the "never sell anything" mindset, I would have never been able to own and experience 3/4 of those handguns or bikes, and my life would have been much poorer for that.

Life is short. Buy what you want, sell what you need to, keep what you really like.

If the gun shoots and functions fine, I keep it. I may want to shoot it in the future and may not be able to replace it.

If the gun has some function or reliability issues, I've sent it down the road. That has happened only with one gun, a Springfield P9C sub compact in 40 S&W. It would hit the slide stop lever and bend the shaft so that it could not be removed. I kept several replacements on hand but Springfield orphaned the gun so parts got a but difficult to obtained.

I still have an original Remington R51. Mine shoots well and reliability. I saw no need to send my example back to Remington and get another piece of junk.

Boredom.

Different strokes for different folks!
I am not a firearm gatherer to buy and sell. I have only sold one firearm to a friend that needed a shotgun for a really good deal. I almost gave it to him !
Other than that I would have to be in dire straights to sell any of the others I have. Some I shoot more than others but I just don't think of selling them!
Of course that is just my stroke on things