Anybody ever downsized the collection and regretted it?

[wbm]

Yes.

 

[shafter]

I've never gotten rid of anything. I'm in a place where it's easier to just for over money for what I want than dealing with regrets. Passing on a firearm to a young family member who would treasure it wouldn't be like letting it go though. It would be rewarding knowing the legacy will live on.

 

[Hanshi]

YES!

 

[jabram]

I've bought and sold a lot of firearms over the years, only maybe one or two I would like to have back. I had a beautiful blued SW 586 6" pre-lock I wish I had kept. Gun addiction causes me to continue a life long search for the perfect rifle, the perfect shotgun, the perfect handgun, etc. I know the "perfect" gun doesn't actually exist but the hunt for it is the fun part of the journey.

 

[EIB0879]

Yes. That is why I don't sell firearms anymore.

 

[vintovka]

Been down sizing last 8 years. My major concerns are a) did i sell too early for too little? and b) do i want to even continue to sell while inflation is rampant? The $ garnered is of little use if the cost of everything continues to go nuts. Sunk much of the $$ into subsidizing real estate so there's that. Know for a fact i will never be buying many guns anymore especially at ridiculous prices. I also know that right now physical objects are now worth MORE than the bucks they might sell for.

 

[Sniper66]

Always tough questions.........I've never regretted buying a gun but do regret selling some. I was helping my older brother downsize and sold several guns for him and lots of reloading components. At some point he stopped downsizing abruptly and says he regrets selling some of the guns. He's not sold another one since and doesn't talk about selling at all. It can be a really big deal.

 

[Waveski]

Now , getting out of gun handling , shooting and ownership altogether - willingly or unwillingly - would represent a significant change of lifestyle.

Parting with some guns , for whatever reason , is just a matter of managing "the herd". . Not a big deal , really. I keep what I want to keep and lose no sleep over the rest.
A twinge of regret now and then - sure , but that applies to numerous things in life. I'm 70 ... looking back - Sheesh!
You makes your decisions , you lives with the outcome. Life goes on.

 

[Barry the Bear]

Eventually I always regret selling guns, but sometimes bad times happen and guns are the most readily movable source to get income

 

[NC9mm]

Eventually I always regret selling guns, but sometimes bad times happen and guns are the most readily movable source to get income

Exactly, in my 20s after a divorce and little work I sold everything.
I don’t regret it, it was something I had to do to get by.
Now, 55 years later I have made up for that a hundred times over, creating a problem for someone when I’m gone!!

 

[Autodidactic]

In 2009 I was literally down to 2 guns---not counting my two sentimental guns a Sheridan air rifle I was given when I was 9 and a single shot .22 my grandfather bought for me when I was 6. Those 2 guns were a 10/22 and a Ruger P95(still have them)---everything else was sold off for medical bills and general financial problems.

Fast forward to today, where I'm thinking about getting rid of most of my cheaper guns to fund a higher end shotgun or rifle due to the safe being full and all the extras are winding up in closets or behind bedroom doors---sort of an upgrade in quality and to make room in the safe for a more manageable collection.

Sure I regret some of the ones I've got rid of but I'm also happy with what I have--so it all kind of works out.

I hear you on getting rid of a few cheaper guns and maybe consolidating into a higher end one.

 

[Autodidactic]

I’ve been toying with the idea of downsizing my rifle collection lately and maybe doing some cartridge consolidation. I’ve got several hunting rifles that I just don’t use with a bunch of use-overlap between them. Lately I’ve been thinking about buying an additional thermal scope along with maybe putting together a pair of hunting rigs (one long range, one short range) and sending some of my other hunting rifles to new homes.

Problem is, I post these guns for sale, but just don’t have the heart to let them go. They would all be difficult to replace. Some are no longer in production. Some just hold a soft spot in my heart. My brain knows that my needs would be better served if I moved some of these guns to a new home and used the cash for other purposes, but my heart is in a different place.

I know several of you have down-sized your collections over the past few years. Anybody regret those decisions?

I'm early in my gun ownership. But, I've sold two guns already, a Bersa 9mm that was reliable in function but not accuracy, and a Ruger LCP that was a jam-o-matic. However, I'm having a hard time deciding on getting rid of others, even if they are just fun and not highly functional (Bond Arms Derringer). Right now I don't need to so it's okay.

 

[Mogas]

What ever happened to the old truthful adage of " whoever dies with the most toys wins" downsizing is like reducing your status in heaven or hell which ever way you go. I think the rule is; If you are giving your guns to a family member, it will not reduce your count on "toys" you have accumulated. If you let your wife talk you into selling any of your toys , the count is reduce by double. If you sell a gun to a gun store, then buy it back at higher price than what they gave for it, you get double points in the toy count but get awarded 10X points in the Dumb@$$ list. Looking back at what I have sold, my dumb@$$ list is getting mighty big. Saving a non firing wall hanger and putting it back into firing condition can reduce the number of points on my dumb@$$ list but the lack of old gun parts is making this almost impossible. I am afraid that I may die as a record holder in this department...

 

[marksman13]

I appreciate all the responses so far. Let me see if I can explain where I’m at.

I’ve sold and traded probably a hundred guns in my life. I can only think of a couple that I’ve ever wished I had back. I don’t get too sentimentally attached to most guns, though there are a handful that will never leave my possession. If I do the math and figure up how much I have invested in guns, optics and ammo, I know I’ll find $100K in the 40 or so guns I own. I’ve traded off the stuff that isn’t as nice over the years in 2 for 1 trades until I have ended up with some really nice firearms.

I got on a Ruger No. 1 kick last year and ended up with nearly twenty of them before I started trading off and selling the ones that I wasn’t attached to. It was fun. I love the design, but a I decided I wanted some more practical stuff. Plus, I got tired of the wandering zero that seems to plague some No. 1s. I think I have five or six No. 1s now and a couple of those could be on the chopping block.

I also came to realize that there is a ton of overlap in my collection. A pair of rifles in 6.5x55, a pair of rifles in 30-06, a pair of rifles in 257 Weatherby Magnum, two ARs in 6.8 SPC as well as a 6.5 Grendel. I also have a pair of AR style 22LRs and a pair of precision bolt guns in 22LR.

Nothing wrong with redundancy, but I’ve found myself leaning more and more towards the idea of two main hunting rifles. I’d like both to be bolt actions with threaded barrels for suppressor use. I want one in 300 Win Mag and one in something a bit lighter. Maybe 6.5 PRC…maybe…

I thought about selling off roughly $12K worth of stuff I don’t really use and turning the profits into a new thermal scope and a couple of rifles I’d feel confident hunting all of North America with. I wouldn’t really be taking the money out of my gun collection, so much as I would be moving it around. So, I guess I’m not down-sizing as much a re-appropriating.

 

[PzGren]

I have bought and sold many firearms and do not regret selling any. I had bought mostly used guns to get the first hand experience with a certain firearm and sold it to further my experience to buy another gun from the proceeds, keeping only the ones I enjoyed shooting. In the last years I am selling less guns to keep my firearms accumulation manageable but give them to my sons, whom I had corrupted since their earliest childhood by hauling them to the gun range with me.
I had given my oldest son my SIG P210-4 when I had replaced it with a SIG P210-6 and later missed that gun, liking the service sights and trigger better. It did not take me long to replace the P210-4 with another P210-4 and to add a SIG P49. Overall I have reduced the number of firearms but increased the quality and enjoy the remaining ones more.

Most production guns are fairly easy to replace.

 

[Jimbo80]

I sold a gun once. I have regretted it ever since.

Same for me. I even have a hard time letting go of guns I picked up on the cheap specifically to use as trade bait.

 

[BlueHeelerFl]

In 2004 I lost a good job and ended up in a extended period of hard times. Because of that over several years I ended up selling most of the guns I owned. None of them were particularly rare but it hurt selling them.

The last few years have been a little better and I've bought several guns, some of which are replacements for guns I regretted selling.

Some I will probably never replace. The current costs of Yugo SKSs and Single Sixes are practical to replace.

 

[.308 Norma]

I sold a gun once. I have regretted it ever since.

To the best of my recollection, I've never sold a gun more than once.
On the other hand, I've sold, traded off, and given away a good many guns over the years, and I have no regrets about it. But then again, I've never considered any of my guns as part of a "collection."
My wife collects Hummel figurines, and I collect old, and/or oddball cartridge cases. But that's about as far as our "collecting" pursuits go. We use our guns, or in some cases have them just in case we need to use them. We don't collect guns.
Don't get me wrong though. I know that some folks DO collect guns. And that's fine. Collecting guns is just not my mug of beer.

 

[John Joseph]

Yes. Sometimes the things you own end up owning you. Then is the time to condense things.

 

[1eyeedshooter]

I let two go i miss every day a mod 81Rem and a 71win i will learn to live with it or not !!!

 

[Gus Chiggins]

I downsize sometimes. Then I replace them with a vengeance and end up with more than before and am happy.

 

[Deanimator]

The only times I've "downsized" my collection was when I couldn't pay the rent. The ONLY time I DIDN'T regret it was when I had to sell my Norinco M1911 just before Christmas one year. I liked the gun, but didn't have any emotional attachment to it. If they guy to whom I sold it still has it, I might yet buy it back, since I don't have another fixed sight M1911.

Not so with my 4" S&W Model 29-2. After I'd recovered financially, I spent the better part of ten years trying to get that gun back before I finally did.