Who buys guns and hangs onto them?

[Spats McGee]

I'll also add that when I buy from, or sell to, my good friends, it's often done with the seller keeping what I call the "Right of First Refusal." If I sell a gun to one of that group, it's usually with the understanding that if he decides to sell the gun down the road, I get the first call to see if I want to buy it back.

 

[Ethan Verity]

Yes, once I get a gun I like, I'll pretty much keep it forever (or until it wears out)... but that's how I am with most things.
My car is 17 years old, but it keeps working so I keep driving it. All the TVs in my house are the old CRT style, but they never break and still have a good picture. My phone is 6 years old, which based on the reactions it gets is apparently old for a cell phone, but unless it's broken I see no need to replace it with the latest... it all does what I need it to do.

 

[Choctaw]

I like to try the "latest and greatest" so I buy and sell quite a bit. Not every gun "fits" nor are they all good shooters. I am not storing junk till I die.

Totally agree. If I like a gun then I will keep it but I have no problem whatsoever moving them down the road.

 

[CraigC]

It probably comes off as bragging but I don't care, it's easier to use the actual numbers. Out of the 261 guns that I've bought or received, I've sold or traded 28 and gifted 29. Selling and trading the guns that no longer have a place here is a skill I've had to learn through experience. I can't keep them all, nor do I want to. I also don't understand the idea that you have to keep them all. Tastes and preferences evolve over time, so should the guns we own. While many of them have value beyond their dollar amount, they're still just inanimate objects. They're not going to change your life and there's not a single gun I've sold or traded that I could not find on Gunbroker right now, if I regretted it bad enough. There's some I miss but it's a funny thing, I've never gone back and replaced one previously disposed of.

 

[tubeshooter]

"I don't have room for them all - so only 200 can stay!"




(This is completely in jest; no offense intended whatsoever. Congrats on what I am sure is a fine collection!)

 

[Rule3]

In some cases. Now I have lots of guns that see little if any use.

Same here.
All the guns I bought, I did so for a reason with a lot of research.

Now when it's time to thin them out, I have a hard time, not just because I still like them, but I hate getting "nothing" for them at the LGS.

The shop I used to go to is gone and he was fair. (I know they need to resell them) but now the shops left don't pay enough. As bad as a pawn shop,

I really, really hate haggling over prices. I am not greedy, buy lets be fair! and places like GB are a PITA with the pictures, transfer, questions etc.

 

[FL-NC]

Same here.
All the guns I bought, I did so for a reason with a lot of research.

Now when it's time to thin them out, I have a hard time, not just because I still like them, but I hate getting "nothing" for them at the LGS.

The shop I used to go to is gone and he was fair. (I know they need to resell them) but now the shops left don't pay enough. As bad as a pawn shop,

I really, really hate haggling over prices. I am not greedy, buy lets be fair! and places like GB are a PITA with the pictures, transfer, questions etc.

Agree. In the past when I sold guns, it was usually private sales, usually to friends, and always just 1 or 2 guns. When I do a larger liquidation in the future, I will pay the $100 table fee and do a 1-time gun show operation.

 

[Rule3]

Only reason I want to sell them is so my Wife is not stuck with them should I get hit by a bus.
She will outlive me no doubt about it,

It is really stressing me out, so I may die sooner, just because of it! Easy to buy them , hard to sell them!

 

[trackskippy]

Same here.
All the guns I bought, I did so for a reason with a lot of research.

Now when it's time to thin them out, I have a hard time, not just because I still like them, but I hate getting "nothing" for them at the LGS.

The shop I used to go to is gone and he was fair. (I know they need to resell them) but now the shops left don't pay enough. As bad as a pawn shop,

I really, really hate haggling over prices. I am not greedy, buy lets be fair! and places like GB are a PITA with the pictures, transfer, questions etc.

Consignment takes a lot of the pain out of this and basically all the work. You do a lot better than you would trying to sell to the dealers outright, and even with trades.

Depending on your dealer and you're relationship with them, the fee can be as low as 10%, with 15%-20% being about the average, around here anyway. They usually know what the market will bear, and price the guns more realistically, and have an incentive to get the most they can for it, as the more they get, the more they make. They also do all the work, and have the traffic to get your gun exposed, and you dont have to do a thing, and just collect the check.

 

[Rule3]

Consignment takes a lot of the pain out of this and basically all the work. You do a lot better than you would trying to sell to the dealers outright, and even with trades.

Depending on your dealer and you're relationship with them, the fee can be as low as 10%, with 15%-20% being about the average, around here anyway. They usually know what the market will bear, and price the guns more realistically, and have an incentive to get the most they can for it, as the more they get, the more they make. They also do all the work, and have the traffic to get your gun exposed, and you don't have to do a thing, and just collect the check.

Yes, I have been at this game for a long time,LGS around here don't like consignment either. Which is 20% They would rather not deal with it.
Depends on the gun market in the area. Even though this is the Gun Shine State my area is not the best for gun sales.

 

[trackskippy]

I guess it depends on the shop. Around here, many will take them in that capacity. I mostly deal with two, one for consignments and one for trades.

The shop I use for consignments usually has a bunch of them there in that capacity, and maybe 25% of whats on the shelves/racks are guns on consignment. Hes a high volume shop and even when things are slow or short, as its been in the recent past, he's always got a pretty nice assortment of nice guns on the shelves. He only charges me 10% on the consignments, which is a pretty good deal, but Ive know him a long time and sold a lot of stuff through him. Ive also bought a lot there too.

The other boy I deal with a lot doesn't do consignments, but does accept trades, and is very fair/generous in his prices in that respect. Hes also a high volume shop, a lot of it is nice, used guns, and hes willing to work with you. Ive done a lot of business with him as well.

Most of the other shops around here will only offer you half or less of what the going wholesale price is on things and dont usually budge. If they have something you really want at a decent price, you're just better off buying it outright than trying to dicker with them.

If you're lucky enough timing wise too, you can get some good deals out in the parking lots of those places after theyve insulted the people coming in wanting to sell their guns and offering them nothing. Ive got a couple of good deals on some nice guns following them out.

 

[Mosin77]

I agree that guns that don’t have a place should go down the road. The issue is, I’m a pretty picky guy and if I bought a gun, you can bet it was for a good reason and was probably on my “list” for a good long while first. This means there are very few impulse buys and so if I ever think of selling one, I’m also aware of all its strong points, and it probably doesn’t have many downsides for me otherwise I’d not have bought it.

I’d not be opposed to trading up for a better example or buying one and moving the other along. For example I have a stainless 1911 that I like well enough, but I’d rather have a parkerized or blued example. If I happened into a nicer one I’d probably be happy to sell the stainless, but I’m also not actively looking, so there’s a distinct chance the stainless will be with me for decades to come. And that one stainless gun could turn into 3 if I let it… a WW2 example, a Colt with blued finish, and maybe something tricked out with great sights for the range. So on balance I’m better off not going down that rabbithole and being content with my stainless GI clone.

 

[RA40]

A similar thought to my project car. I have a well maintained complete sample with known history that has been in storage. I was offered $9K for it but passed. If I were to sell it and try to find one later, it would be difficult. With firearms mine are pretty common so I've seen LNIB samples out there with obvious prices to match. User level ones pretty common. Still reluctant to sell.

 

[.308 Norma]

My phone is 6 years old, which based on the reactions it gets is apparently old for a cell phone, but unless it's broken I see no need to replace it with the latest... it all does what I need it to do.

I agree wholeheartedly. However, I recently had to replace my "old" cell phone because it was only a "3G" (whatever that means) and the cell phone company said I had to have at least a "4G" phone because "3G" phones were going to stop working come the end of this year.
I'm sure glad guns are not subject to those kinds of technological "advancements" - at least not yet. I mean, my old Smith .22 rimfire revolver has been working for probably 40 years now, and I'll bet it will still be working long after I'm gone (IF this ammo shortage ever lets up) regardless of whether or not "technology" has the ammunition manufacturers building "better" .22 rimfire ammo by that time.

 

[Jimbo80]

[QUOTE="RA40, post: ]My enjoyment is in use otherwise it is sitting $ that can go towards something else.

I enjoy owning more than using.

I can't take them with me when I go

Why not?

Came across a video of Japanese minimalism living along with Feng Shui and the simplistic means does have some appeal not only in clutter but mental inventory.

Mental inventory of my collection gives me incredible solace and peace.

 

[Anchorite]

There was a time in life when I cycled through, now days I keep what I buy.

I also used to impulse buy, I don’t do that anymore either. I buy stuff I really want or have wanted for a long time, sometimes keeping an eye out for something rare or a deal for a year or two. I buy less often but spend more money, almost never sell. Probably haven’t sold a gun in nearly a decade.

I’m the exact same way.

 

[johnjohn]

All the guns I have bought from individuals have been family members and normally come with "if you decide to get rid of it,they get right of first shot at it". Needless to say I still got 'em all.

 

[roval]

i generally hang onto them but i have had to sell trade guns to offset the purchase price of a new gun and to keep the number of guns stable.

i often see posts of people buying and trading guns off quickly or churning through new guns. how does that work out? i lose money compared to what i purchased things for even not counting for inflation. more so when taking into account replacement cost ( but then why wpuld you trade it in), only a couple of times was the price unchanged or slightly above( these were for used guns where i had a margin of safety in my original purchase price). unless the gun is truly unusable or horrible( but why buy it in the first place), are most people ok getting back 45-50 cents(typical) or 60 cents (generous in my lgs) on the dollar for a fairly new gun and to keep repeating the process.

if the gun has been in my possesion for several years i don't mind the depreciated trade in value as i consider it as the price of owning that firearm for those years but for people that cycle through the new guns i can't figure it out.

 

[tubeshooter]

I don't know... but there is a guy at my LGS that does just that and I have snagged quite a few items that were anywhere from lightly used to literally unfired because of him.

Oftentimes I will go in there and say "Did [so-and-so] trade in anything lately?". I guess some people just like cycling them out like that and don't mind the financial hit.


Then again my LGS is fairly generous on trades. He does anywhere from 60% to 80%, with 70% being common.

 

[JoeHenry]

I tend to keep steel, and aluminum with wood grips. I have only two that are plastic. A Sig P365 that I carry and for some reason a butt ugly Glock 17. I dearly love 1911’s, Browning HP’s and S&W revolvers, without the Hillary hole.

 

[Jimbo80]

Oftentimes I will go in there and say "Did [so-and-so] trade in anything lately?"..

if I were you I would introduce myself to so-and-so.

 

[DeepSouth]

i generally hang onto them but i have had to sell trade guns to offset the purchase price of a new gun and to keep the number of guns stable.

i often see posts of people buying and trading guns off quickly or churning through new guns. how does that work out? i lose money compared to what i purchased things for even not counting for inflation. more so when taking into account replacement cost ( but then why wpuld you trade it in), only a couple of times was the price unchanged or slightly above( these were for used guns where i had a margin of safety in my original purchase price). unless the gun is truly unusable or horrible( but why buy it in the first place), are most people ok getting back 45-50 cents(typical) or 60 cents (generous in my lgs) on the dollar for a fairly new gun and to keep repeating the process.

if the gun has been in my possesion for several years i don't mind the depreciated trade in value as i consider it as the price of owning that firearm for those years but for people that cycle through the new guns i can't figure it out.

It’s really quit simple, they’re buying low and/or selling high.
Having broke friends who manage money poorly is a help, if you don’t mind low balling someone that’s already in a bind.

 

[SDGlock23]

It depends. Sadly I've let guns go I shouldn't have, some for no good reason and some because I didnt really see me using it in any way, despite being nice. These days if it's steel and wood I'm probably hanging on to it, if it's a plastic fantastic, I may or may not but their so common that their easily replaceable.

 

[3Crows]

The only guns I have sold or traded I regretted so long ago I quit doing that. Once I buy a gun it will not part my company until I am deceased or nearly so.

3C

 

[W.E.G.]

Since the 60's