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Why Do You Collect Guns?
RancheroPaul
Member Posts: 1,459 ✭✭✭✭✭
Years ago, as a young man starting out in life I found it extremely difficult and most of the time impossible to save any money. Not that it was due to the fact that I had a "real crappy job" and a Wife and Child. It was that I just had a "crappy job." Hahahahaha!
Somehow or another, I found I could "layaway" a gun at the local Gunshop, pay on it each payday, and finally take it home. When we needed money, I could take it to the Pawn Shop and get a loan. In the meantime, I was able to enjoy owning something I enjoyed using in my spare time. As income increased over the years, (partially due to getting rid of the crappy job), I no longer pawned my gun(s), but I still continued to "layaway" on a regular basis. Of course, there were more expenses as time went on; more calibers of ammo, gun cases, gun safe, etc. End result after quite a few years.....nice collection! How about you? Why do you, or Why did you start collecting guns?
Fish Shudder at the sound of my Name!
Somehow or another, I found I could "layaway" a gun at the local Gunshop, pay on it each payday, and finally take it home. When we needed money, I could take it to the Pawn Shop and get a loan. In the meantime, I was able to enjoy owning something I enjoyed using in my spare time. As income increased over the years, (partially due to getting rid of the crappy job), I no longer pawned my gun(s), but I still continued to "layaway" on a regular basis. Of course, there were more expenses as time went on; more calibers of ammo, gun cases, gun safe, etc. End result after quite a few years.....nice collection! How about you? Why do you, or Why did you start collecting guns?
Fish Shudder at the sound of my Name!
Comments
We gotta have stuff! (With a nod to George Carlin.)
Might as well be stuff with historic, political, and personal signifigance.
IMHO
PaBooger was here!
When I proposed to my wife I told her the ONLY mistress I'd ever have would be my guns and hunting...if she could live with that, her lipstick would be all she'd ever find on me (that was 28 yrs ago). Now she has several of her own and looks each piece I bring home over to see how she likes them (I created a monster)!
Over the years, I've bought, sold some to pay bills, bought others and now am thinking about buying a bunch more - if I can sell my old harley - but thats' another whole story.
I like the mechanics of good wood and metal work, I enjoy a good fit that is accurate, I like the recoil and report of a BIG caliber and I enjoy tearing them down and using cotton swabs to clean even the smallest little recess and I enjoy rolling my own.
I'm just another individual who enjoys the finer things in life!
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
Get a bigger house, I have a couple here! Love to wake up the neighbors at 2 in the morning, with a big boom. Nothin like the smell of black powder in the morning!!![:D][:D]
PaBooger was here!
I really prefer older guns, I see/feel stories in the dents and dings. The worn wood where the hands fit, knowing they were carried in the heat as well as cold.
Nothing wrong with shiny, those NIB's are pretty too. But repeatedly say, virgin guns are like old maids except the guns are prettier to look at.
Black Powder in the Morning?
You can't even get up early enough to make Black Coffee let alone Black Powder! [:D][8D][:D][8D][^]
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.<BR>
Michael
Paranoid keeps you alive, worry just gives you stomach problems.Politics- From the words poly, meaning many, and tics, which are just little blood suckers.
If "con" is the opposite of "pro," then what is the opposite of progress?
In truth I guess it all started with the first song bird at age 9. It's life ended with the ssssssst of my Red Rider. Whatever the reason, I love those guns.
HALT! CEASE! NO MORE! JUST JOKING HERE FBI. JUST A LITTLE CIA HUMOR AND NOTHING ELSE. It did all start with my dad's Crossman that shot BB's, pellets, and these red flumed darts.
"Save the Whalers, they need jobs too."
No plans to someday sell or cash them in.....probably just pass them down to the boys as intangable assets.
I've made up for that now. I also like the old guns and would like to know their history. There is some kind of a good feeling to shoot a well kept 80-100 year old gun.
Now why I have bought some of the mil-surp that I have, I have no idea?
....................
Old? First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to pull your zipper up; then you forget to pull your zipper down.
Because I look at each handgun or rifle as a work of art?
or
Because I just like it when they go bang?
You guys choose!
Michael
Paranoid keeps you alive, worry just gives you stomach problems.Politics- From the words poly, meaning many, and tics, which are just little blood suckers.
If "con" is the opposite of "pro," then what is the opposite of progress?
Many fun answers to your question. I had to wait for a collection. My oldest son would have killed my wife and I if I would have had anything in the house. This isn't a joke. Those days (years) have passed now. I've always had an interest. Anything mechanical is an interest to me. I startd reading mags about 5 years ago. I started buying about 3 years ago. I'm into obscure pieces as well as the more common. I have a large (for me) collection by now and love it. Some day, I hope, if I have purchased right, my youngest son will have something somewhat valuable. I consider this a hobby. My wife calls it an obsession!
cbxjeffIt's too late for me, save yourself.
SGT RRG
Abilene Regional Director
Armed Females of America
Gun Control is Hitting Your Target!
**It is your right to posess a firearm. In case of questions, please refer to amendment 2, United States Constitution.**
But since I grew up doing a LOT of shooting, hunting and reloading with my brother and father, I kind of like the idea of having a few firearms that I enjoy shooting and taking hunting when I get a chance. I've enjoyed introducing some others to hunting and shooting.
Also, this hobby puts me into contact with people (like y'al [8D]) which is what I really enjoy![:D]
Ken
The attraction to firearms is a mix of love of mechanical things--I love nearly all tools--and a "defensive mindset".
Being "picked-on" by bullies in grade school taught me that there are some "just plain mean" people in this world.
I get a feeling of "safety" in owning firearms; I know I don't have to rely on "brute physical strength" to protect myself from those who might try to take away my life, property, or liberty.
And that's why I'm always extemely concerned about those who attempt to restrict or prohibit my ownership/possession of guns. I'm left wondering, exactly what is it that that they want to do to me that they want me unarmed?
.
i was peripheraly aware of the firearms in the house, but had little or no intrest in them. i had been to the range a few times with my father, but it made no impression. when i joined the scouts, our troop went to camp lenape. it was there that i shot with my father, did well, and was hooked for life.
at 9 years old there was a singlt stoke, break open hi score pellet gun under the x-mas tree. my father taught me safe gun handling, and we worked through the NRA shooting program and i graduley climbed the ladder of achievment.
i joined the NRA junior program at our local range( www.delranjuniormarkman.com ) and found that i had a natural ability to shoot almost any rifle. i graduated from 5 and 10 meter air rifle to 50yd and 100yd smallbore rifle. i tried my hand at air rifle sillouette, and smallboer sillouette. i moved up to DCM/CMP shoots, and highpower rifle matches.
i copeted at the local, state, regional, national, and international level. i spent some time at the UNITED STATES OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER. were i was out of my leauge.
i attended NRA conventions and gunshows with my father. we collected cartridges, and other shooting ephemera together. i became an NRA CERTIFIED INSTUCTOR in about 10 disciplines. i became a range officer and board member at the gun club. i earned awards and accolades.
i now shoot mostly for fun. i try to pass on what i know to the kids at our range. i work part time a the local gun store (WALTS RELOADING) were i find "great buys" all the time. i post items for sale on GB.
shooting sports, and firearms are an important part of my life. i hope to pass these skills, and this lifestyle/heritage to my childern one day(i have no kids).
i still have that old hi-score pellet gun in my collection. i will never part with it.
What other dungeon is so dark as ones own heart, what jailer so inexorable as ones own mind.
"Protect the Right to Protect yourself"
When the Ruger Single Six came out, I wanted one because it looked like a "Cowboy Revolver" and for a Marlin 39A Mountie because it looked like a "Cowboy Rifle." (I knew that I could not afford to shoot a centerfire and would have to have a rimfire to do any amount of shooting. I also associated any "big" gun with the recoil of my grandfather's L. C. Smith 12-guage when I first fired it as a young boy and got a badly brused cheek bone. I was afraid of "big" guns for years thereafter. I think I still flinch from that experience!) I earned both in due time.
I dry-fired the Single Six ("fast" draw!) so much, the hammer spur fell off! (Ruger sent a replacement and I installed it, one of my first "gunsmithing" jobs.) The Marlin would break its firing pin if dry-fired, which was another 'smithing job. Then I thought a Ruger Mark I 5 1/4-inch looked a lot like my sister's father-in-law's Luger (even sounded the same) so I earned one of those. Then I thought a High Standard Sentinel looked a lot like a "real" gun the local law had, and did not cost much even then, so I earned one of those. Then I wanted a semi-automatic that would shoot shorts, so earned a Remington M552. Then I needed a 12-guage shotgun and the Remington Model 58 caught my eye. By age 13 or so, I already had a "collection." I continued to add to it the rest of my life, and I now have quite a few.
I had a WWII M1911A1 for a number of years before I decided I should look into commercial Colts. I then developed an expanded interest in Colts when I discovered just how incredible the variety of Pre-War guns is, and how well they are made. Then I realized Smith & Wessons have even more Pre-War and Post-War variety and I just could not resist them. Still, somehow, I have about twice as many Colts as Smiths.
As a poor college student, I could not afford any new guns, but when I got into the Army and began to earn some money, I began to buy. (I bought a Second Generation Single Action Army 4 3/4-inch at the PX in Fort Lee, Virginia, for a little over $100 as I recall. [TDY money!] I have never fired it.) When I got out of the Army, I continued to buy. I have not always been able to afford it, but I have tried to follow the law of "one gun a month." Oh, that is not what that law means? Sorry.
A big part of the attraction of guns has to be the power they give you. It is God-like to be able to point your finger (the gun) at something far away and "smite" it. It is also part of the attraction that some do not want us to have them. We all want what we cannot have. That is why we like Pre-Ban "assault rifles" more than the almost identical "Post-Ban" rifles.
We justify our addiction by saying our guns appreciate, which they do, but that is usually not why we buy. As an investment, some (like a new SAA for around $100) have been good investments, outpacing inflation. Others, particularly new guns, have not. Still, the value of the pleasure makes even those depreciating new guns worthwhile.
I have always liked machines of all kinds. (And I think they like me!) My mother had a time with me from a very young age of taking things apart. Guns, cars, boats, airplanes, tractors, machinery of all kinds, etc.. I love it all.
All collectors of anything probably share the same attraction of accumulating something, often based on an attraction that began in childhood. The search, the find, the study, the education, the bargain, the mistake, the missed bargain, the regretted sale, the good trade, the bad trade, etc., all are part of the addiction of collecting.
Meeting like-minded gun lovers on these boards has added to the enjoyment I get from guns. For that, I thank you all.
I guess the only answer I can give is that I just like them. (And I think they like me!)
AlleninAlaska
He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
-- Thomas Paine
gun that never fails or a beautifully machined dud of a gun with fatal flaws.
It's funny how we go back and acquire the guns we admired as kids.I got em all except a Daisy Red Ryder saddle ring carbine with leather thong on the ring.
To quote a a gun show dealer who turned me on to Remington 25s: "This gun collecting thing is a desease." When I see todays' values on some of the guns I sold or traded off I become sicker.
Why do I collect, if these two guns are indeed a collection?
Cuz I hate those damn liberals who try to steal me guns, and I hate animal rights people. Anything to make those two groups mad is fun for me.
________________
Heston for prez.
Let's change the laws and quit bickering about them. One man CAN change the status quo.
4 guns-an inherited .22, a 6mm Remington, an 1100 and a Ruger .41 Mag.
Everytime I bought something, something else had to sell to finance. Thankfully, I no longer need to do that and over the last few years have greatly increased my collection. However, I feel I have all my bases covered right now (at least after this morning's auction win). So I still sell some of my guns if I feel like they are not being used enough. I then roll the money into something I think that I will use.
KC
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