doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Managing a Collection

I am not sure an accumulation counts as a collection. As others have said, all are shooters. I try to stay within reason, when I found the last one that I really wanted, my wife was with me, as I walked out of the shop with it under my arm, my wife asked where it was going, I said "in the safe, why"

She laughed and said she was just surprised there was room.

I finally bought a second safe. Hey with the economy down now is the time to buy those guns!!!

Age is a factor. Managing involves making decisions in the face of uncertainty. Younger, we buy almost indiscriminately. Older, possessions become a burden. We look at them differently. We winnow (manage) them with greater certainty. Wisdom is the first stage of happiness. Giving now is more pleasurable than acquiring. The final measure is what we have contributed to those around us.

King Brown
Well said.

Wait, guns can be sold. When did they change the rules?

Well truth is that I have sold guns in the last year. About 15% of my accumulation is gone. Not a bunch of high dollar guns but many nice shooters and a few decent collectables. This year I am going to sell more, a lot more. I had intended to sell half of my guns in two or three years to help defray two kids in Ivy League schools. I just started early. Worse than selling my guns I sold my D8. I miss that big yellow Cat. I hat growing up and worse doing the right thing, what ever that is. You know what I mean.

I was married to a D-8H for two years and I know what you mean. I weep.

I owned a John Deere 350 for two years,one of the happiest days of my life was when I watched it leave!

One of my childhood memories is visiting my Great Uncle's plantation near Charleston and seeing his gun room with guns all the way around the walls. My goal is to have such a room myself

My accumulation is getting trimmed. Most of them haven't been fired in years. I turned 56 yesterday and I'm coming to the realization that hunting with my dogs and good people in great locations is more important to me than having a large pile of guns. So, it's getting trimmed to a small pile.

An interesting thread. Being a bottom feeder, most of the guns I�ve purchased over the years have needed freshening up or have been unique in some way (like the Lafaucheux I had and shot for a while). I got into .410�s when I was training my dog and grew tired of gunning down pen-raised poultry with my 12 gauge. It gets boring when you almost never miss, using a .410 and later a 36 gauge muzzle loader both put the challenge back into it. Over the past 12 years I�ve owned a total of about 20 shotguns. In 2011 for economic reasons I had to sell most of the guns I considered to be my keepers, such as my 36 gauge ML and a .410 hammer gun I loved. I was down to just a few guns such as a nearly worthless 12 gauge 870 Express (it had been bubba-philed with camo spray paint), my 16 gauge SXS French guild gun (just how many 5 lb 16�s are out there?), and a 12 gauge Pedersoli ML that I�d extensively modified to fit me and shoot well to POI. I�m having fun now gradually rebuilding my collection. The big difference I�ve noticed is that now I know what to buy and what not to buy. Since I�ve begun taking steps to find and purchase a class A motorhome to live in (my �Escape Plan�), my future gun collection will have to be limited by necessity.

When all is said and done I think Chuck said it best.


Steve