Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Reduce your collection or let the heirs handle it?


Go West

Recommended Posts

Have you thought about your gun collection as you have aged? Do you have any thoughts of reducing the size of it or just letting your heirs deal with it? Most of my family are not gun people and the wife probably won't "need" as many as I have. On the other hand, I have a hard time cutting it down and the safe keeps getting crowded. I have no plans on leaving early, but I just wondered if anyone else thought about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My '92 deer rifle I hunted with as a youth now belongs to my niece as her deer hunting gun.  Since it once belonged to her grandfather she cherishes it as a family heirloom.  My heirloom firearms will be handed down and not sold by my estate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’d be glad to change my alias to Tyrel Cody-West if you need an heir that will appreciate them...

 

I have a list with a value of each so if I kick the bucket they can sell them and hopefully not get ripped off too bad. There are 3 labeled priceless though and hopefully won’t be sold but passes on to relatives.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Absolutely. Been thinking about that very thing lately. On the other hand, my safe is too small so I ordered a safe from Snapsafe. It is a double door safe. Not their biggest but next to biggest one they sell. So while I've been considering what you posted, I bought a much bigger safe. Makes perfect sense to me. If anyone is interested in Snapsafe, it is great.  There are things to consider though, such as  inclined driveways etc.

Horace

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to be one that held on to every gun regardless of how I felt about it. No longer. I sell guns that were mistakes discovered after purchase or guns that just no longer trip my trigger, pun intended. I use the money for others that I want. 
 

Over the years I have given guns to family members that showed great gratitude and appreciation while I was standing there but I found later on to have put them away or given them away to others without even shooting them or utilizing them. That won’t happen again. One that irks me in particular is an Enfield No.1 Mk IV that I gave my brother. It languishes in a rusty gun cabinet somewhere in his house. I’ll be damned if he ever sees another one of my guns. 
 

I may will some of them to friends but I won’t leave them to family unless I know for sure they’ll appreciate them. As of right now there isn’t one member of my family that would receive any of my guns except for one niece that would inherit my two 30-30’s. She is a Pennsylvania deer hunter and a darn good one. My son-in-law would receive some of my handguns. They could do with them as they please as I will be dead and won’t care any more. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I keep an updated inventory with purchase price and current value. I expect I will be getting rid of many of them along with my militarism collection within the next year or so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thinned out a few that wasn't using.

Tough to see them go; a reminder I ain't gettin' any younger.

I left instructions on how and where to dispose of those left.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I keep an updated inventory with purchase price and current value. I expect I will be getting rid of many of them along with my militarism collection within the next year or so.

I do too, and I have sold about half of my "collection" (I'm not really a collector, more of an accumulator) since we decided to move to AZ.    I have the rest labelled and  bequeathed to specific people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been selling my accumulation, and giving a few to deserving individuals who I believe will give them a good home.

 

Duffield

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been thinning out the herd for awhile. I still have a nice collection which my sons will get but it's about half of what I had. I limit myself to guns that I will actually shoot and enjoy now!;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I turn 70 in 2 weeks. My kids have no interest. The market of people interested in buying guns is reducing each day. I already have sold some I hadn't shot in forever. This year I will cull the herd down to 1 set of cowboy and my long range guns.

 

Right behind that is my 55 and 69 Chevies. The younger people behind me have no interest in them. So I'll be selling those over the next few years.

Ike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is surprising and depressing how very few of my family have any interest in firearms.

I am slowly divesting myself of extra guns, beyond what I am shooting now.

 

An extra SKB just went.  I'm down to two.  I'm a BP shooter, I'm probably going to let my 97s go

I've given my gunsmith my original Winchester '92 and my first rifle, (a '92) to sell as well as a pair of nickel-plated 7-1/2" .45s

I think I have a buyer for my Lee-Enfield.

 

My safe is still full.  Letting go of the Colt's I've collected is going to hurt my heart.

I hope I have enough years left to enjoy all the calibers and types I have...

 

There's only so much room in the coffin for those I'm taking with me!  :lol:

  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have always been a sucker for wall hangers. Especially if they had a possibility to come back to life. Many were given to me and those that were purchased exchanged hands for less than $20.00. I figure I have about 30 years to figure out what to do with them. (I am 76 now).

I still have a J C Higgins single shot 22LR that I bought for $3.00 from a gunsmith I worked for when I was a yonker.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have 1 daughter, who likes to shoot.   Her husband LOVES to shoot, hunt, etc.....

 

I plan to leave her everything, although I will probably leave Red Knee the 97 he's never been able to beat..... :D

And any DQ gift cards I have will go to TN Williams..... :P

 

..........Widder

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my best toy store owners also buys collections and estates.   He will make appraisals of collections and estates.  He'll often make an offer that won't be excepted.  Then some weeks later they come back and make a deal.  Last year he bought a life long collection of some 400 guns from a man 94 years old.  

 

Last year we attended a special auction of several hundred guns owned by one elderly man who only had a daughter to leave his estate. She had no need for the collection.  

 

Our youngest son is a "gun nut" and has bought a number of my guns.  We just "transferred" one this weekend.  Deal done, he squeezed out a set of dies,  a couple hundred brass,  200 primers and a pound of Unique.   I couldn't find bullets. 

 

The thing that concerns me is the guns modified for Cowboy Action Shooting with transfer bars removed and other modifications that make them unsafe to turn loose in the general public.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have often thought of consolidating my eclectic “collection” replacing a lot of run of the mill guns with a few really good ones but the idea passes.

My son has a complete list of all my guns with notes on which are important to keep as heirlooms including the gold filled Vaqueros that are to go to my four year old twin grandsons at their high school graduation.

 The rest are to be auctioned off 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My father gave away all his old guns a few years before he died, along with some of his Air Corps stuff. I asked about some of it before he died and he said "it was just some of my old stuff" and figured I didn't need or want it. He was very wrong. I will not do that to my kids. I need to go through my safes and make an up to date list, and I will do it with them while they are still at home(17 son and 18 yr old daughter, I am 64) Both shoot SASS for now and enjoy it. I will tell them where I got each gun and why I bought it so maybe they will be more interested in them. If they have no interest at all in some of them then I might sell them, can always use the money for other family activities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No relatives with any interest in my stuff.  I was thinking about culling out some of the modern stuff I haven't shot in years, but the virus thing has closed down all of the gun shows (even the major collectors' show in May), so I will have to wait until things open up.  Although I will turn 78 in a few days, I am not planning on checking out for quit a while.  Folks both made it to 98, and I intend to see if the B-52's are retired in 2050!   If necessary, I guess the wife and/or relatives will just have to deal with it, with the help of the local collector's club.

Stay well, Pards!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What guns?   :huh:   :rolleyes:

 

I have one kid.  He gets everything I have.  This works well; his interests mirror my own.   ;)

 

As a side note, all my motor vehicles and boats are registered "TOD" with his name.  This means "Transfer On Death" of the registered owner (me) to the designated transferee (the Kid).  Greatly simplifies that part of the deal.  

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I inherited about fifteen guns in 2008-2012.

Cleaned up thirteen and gave lessons, guns and ammo to niece's and nephews.

I kept the Chikom Type 51 that my Dad brought back from Hue and carried daily and a single-barrel 12 gage that is not safe to shoot.

By the age that I inherited these guns, I had plenty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be prepared but enjoy what time you have.  There are the plenty of other things you can get rid of to make estate dispersal easier, like the vacuum or ugly Christmas sweaters.

 

A clipboard with instructions on spoken for pieces.  Value estimates and details/modifications listed on the others.  Contact information of local trustworthy club members who would help.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Horace Patootie, SASS #35798 said:

Absolutely. Been thinking about that very thing lately. On the other hand, my safe is too small so I ordered a safe from Snapsafe. It is a double door safe. Not their biggest but next to biggest one they sell. So while I've been considering what you posted, I bought a much bigger safe. Makes perfect sense to me. If anyone is interested in Snapsafe, it is great.  There are things to consider though, such as  inclined driveways etc.

Horace

When the safe is so big one gas to consider the slope of the driveway for unloading?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My driveway is pretty steep and the palletized safe was 700 pounds.  The guy just had a pallet jack.  I figured he would have something motorized. I guess not.

Horace.

https://www.snapsafe.com/modular-safes/super-titan-double-door

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have mostly bought firearms, over the years...but I have sold a few, now and again.  Every time, without fail, I have regretted selling.  So, I decided to keep what I have, perhaps add to it, and leave it all to my kid. 

 

If we all don't vote this year, our heirs, may not be able to buy what we can buy today...so, that said, I am keeping what I have to hand down. 

 

No paperwork, no background check, no nosey government involved....(well, so far).  After I kick the bucket, my son  just backs his 3/4 ton pickup, up to my door, and loads up, and takes them to his place, to eventually pass down to my grandson...while the undertaker tries to wipe the smile off my face.     

Take that...Nancy!

 

W.K. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a novel thought...

In your WILL, donate to the SASS Club of your choice to be given either individually or as a package to new members.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm hoping I'm around to utilize what I have for some time to come, but the thought has been on my mind of late. Most of my guns have some sentimental value to me, but a few don't have much at all, and are just fun shooters. Neither of my daughters is married, but my oldest enjoys shooting some. My youngest not so much, although she isn't adverse to it.   I would like to pass down some of my father-in-law's finer guns to them, as equitably as possible. I want to talk to them about that in the near future, but with one daughter an hour away, it gets challenging.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly enough I only had daughters and none of them care for the biggest part of my collection. There's a few they'll take, there's a few the wife will keep but the bulk of them will be sold to cover my final expenses if the insurance company doesnt cut the check quick enough. I've debated on having my main match set raffled off or donated to a new shooter at my home club. Hopefully i've got many more years of enjoying them though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been thinking of this subject and will make a few of my cowboy friends very happy this fall.  I have a select few that I will give some of my better guns just because they are my friends and have supported me during my last year and a half of problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.