Reasons for keeping "safe queens"?

Only have a few that haven't been fired for a couple years.

1 - my first shotgun I've had since I was 12. Its a bird gun and the birds all went away. Shot skeet a few times with it but the insides are about worn out from all the shooting when I was kid. I keep it cause it's mine

2 - a S&W 32swl that has been in the family since the 30s when it was a duty gun before being replaced with a 38spl duty gun. Guys bought the 32s when phased out and put in their sock drawers at home.

3 - have a barrel burner that only gets used for hunts. It will be used again just haven't had the need for the last several years.

Need to thin the herd but it wont be any of those that go away.

AlexanderA said:

At this point in my life (I'm 79 years old), all my guns are "safe queens." I haven't been shooting in years -- I no longer have the time or the desire.

Just because I don't have a utilitarian purpose for the guns, does that mean I should get rid of them?

No. I still enjoy having and admiring the guns. In fact, I'll still selectively buy more.

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Same here - I could have written that verbatim.
Plus am just getting lazy in my old age.
But this “safe queen” is going to finally be shot next Texas Independence Day if I haven’t shuffled off by then.

Only two firearms I consider true safe queens. One handgun isn't worth much but holds a lot of sentimental value. Have only fired 50 rounds through it. The other holds sentimental and monetary value. Insurance values it at 5K and no ammo has gone through it. Ironically enough, it isn't in my safe. But on a display rack in my locked home office.

I never had a safe. I've got a couple of lockable handgun cases, though.

I've got a Model 10 in pristine condition that I don't want to subjecft to wear and tear afield... and besides, if I want to carry something that physically big, it will be a .357.

There were some guns I kept around with the thin "excuse" that I could arm my neighbors with them if the city's cancer cells spread to the 'burbs. But I recognized that as just an excuse.

I made a list of all my arms and distributed it to my sons so they could pick and choose who would get what between themselves, then distributed most of them accordingly. So now I have a couple of basic SD and HD guns and that's that.

No "safe" needed any more.

Terry, 230RN

silicosys4 said:

So I'm curious, if you do have guns you do not shoot or only rarely, what are your reasons?

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Probably the same reasons people by art, or collect things. A rare stamp retains the most value when its remains unused, same for other stuff. Heck just look at what some people pay for original boxes for rare firearms.

Other stuff I have will mean nothing to anyone else alive except me but are not great shooters so they sit, those won't make much sense to people when I'm gone but I won't be around to worry about it.

I'm not really sure exactly how to answer. There's really nothing in the safe that I won't shoot, some are heirlooms, some are collectibles and many are just shooters. But there in lies the rub I have a lot of shooters and nothing that really gets shot a lot. Even my LCR that gets carried quite a bit isn't exactly a high round count gun

My champion "safe queen"-my M1898 Krag, manufactured in 1902. My first Krag. Bought in 1972, still haven't fired it. I have an M1914 Mauser and CZ-27, last fired them in 1985. In recent years I have fired 22LR firearms almost exclusively. Easier on the shoulders, budget, the shooting skills carry over to centerfire.

I generally don't own anything I won't shoot. I try not to put undue wear on a gun, such as dings and scratches. But honest wear like holster or scabbard wear, or wear from years of handling, that appeals to me.

I had lacquer put on my new manufactured Turnbull finished Winchester 1892 so that the case colors would wear commensurate to the rest of the gun. I want my heirs to have a gun that looks like a 100 year old Winchester does now.

I have a S&W 1076 that I don’t shoot often because it’s hard to find people to work on it and it’s hard to find cheap parts for it. It’s not an FBI issue so arguably it doesn’t deserve “safe queen” status but idc I like this gun.