Les Jones

Guns > Buying and Selling Guns

Gun Gun used to say he'd never sell his guns, but he had to that recently:

But my recent financial circumstances changed all that, and my beloved guns became just a commodity. When we needed the money to pay bills until we could start earning again, I thought about taking all of them to Collector’s, and selling them as a complete “set”, if you will. Ultimately, of course, I decided not to do that, but rather sell them to all my friends and Readers.

I’ve fired an enormous number of guns in my life, and owned a pretty fair number too. Now, when I look at another gun, I get a feeling of “been there, done that” instead of “oh wow!”, which I’d always felt in the past.

There had been a hint of that earlier, when I thought what guns I would acquire once my circumstances returned to normal and I could buy guns again. I finally came to realize that my passion has changed to dispassion, and I probably won’t buy many guns, or at least that many, ever again.

We'll see. Somehow I don't think he's seen the last of his gun buying. He probably won't replace all of the ones he sold, because part of the fun is seeking something out and trying something new, but I have the feeling he'll get the fever again once his finances recover.

Chris Byrne and Tamara have thoughts on the subject of selling guns. Tamara's advice:

I'll be told constantly by folks on the various gun boards how horrible it is to sell a gun, and how they've never sold one of theirs; I try to politely refrain from explaining the differences in viewpoint of someone who owns ten guns, and someone who may have owned half a thousand, but really has no idea what her total is.

They're just guns, folks; easy come, easy go. Unless you're talking about an heirloom, historical artifact, or rare out-of-production piece, they're easy to replace. And even those are easier to replace than a kidney, or the roof over your kid's heads. Don't lose perspective.

That's the way I feel. Last year I bought an early model, pinned and recessed S&W Model 63 that was just lovely. Thing is, it was a less accurate .22 than my Browning Buckmark, and I couldn't think of a thing I'd use it for other than taking it out of the safe now and then to admire, so I sold it, but it was fun to have for a while.