So im thinking of selling out.

[rci2950]

Giving serious consideration to downsizing my collection to a couple hunting rifles and shotguns, my AR and my Glock 17. With two kids i now feel like i don't have the time to even properly maintain this stuff. Besides i feel like my kids are going to blab to their friends as kids do and invite home invaders when i am at sea. If all i got is the standard hunting stuff then thats not a very big attraction. But handguns and military semi autos are. Most of this stuff i dont even shoot. It sits in a rack and collects dust. Sometime down the road when the kids are grown i can always buy more guns if they are even interested. Time to focus on family and make the house more family oriented.

Tell me I'm not crazy,

[mrkalashnikov]

I did the same thing when my kids were young. I pretty much got out of the sport for around 12 years during that time while working on my corporate career and being a father. After starting my own business in 2000 though I jumped back in...you do what you have to do when you're supporting a wife & kids on one income.

[rci2950]

These are the words i want to hear. I have this feeling like i will regret it but i dont even shoot this stuff. I mostly deer hunt. And plink at the gun club with my father. Gun club is AR and Ruger 10/22 We both have one of each. Thats all we bring to play with. I will sleep on it and probably begin slowly selling in the morning. Im not planning on taking a loss on anything. I am going to make money on all of it or it stays.

[ltorlo64]

If you plan on rebuying the stuff when your children leave then just invest in a good safe and don't give out the key or combination. If you want to change your collection then selling now will provide room later. When I was younger I didn't have the money to start collecting, it was not until my daughter was older that I had the money to start investing. I am glad, though, that I did not sell off what little I had.

BTW, if you are going to keep some of what you have, it looks like you are making a good choice with what you plan to keep.

One last thing, don't forget that politics, especially in Canada, is fickle. What you own now may not be available later, and even illegal if not already owned.

[rci2950]

These are all good points. my main concern isn't the kids getting into it and hurting themselves so much as burglers or worse, home invaders finding out and coming to get them, Everything is adequately locked up to keep the kids from gaining access but if my wife was forced to unlock things then... well you know. There are a number of things rolling around in my head right now. I think i just need a distraction. I been home on paternity leave since October and i think i am going stir crazy.

I think I will let this play out until I see how the kids act around it in a few years. Never know, maybe they will be able to keep a secret.

[l921428x]

If you do not need the money PLEASE do not sell. It is just wood and steel. Sold 25 and I miss em all.
But I was desperate.

[Krupski]

If you plan on rebuying the stuff when your children leave then just invest in a good safe and don't give out the key or combination. If you want to change your collection then selling now will provide room later. When I was younger I didn't have the money to start collecting, it was not until my daughter was older that I had the money to start investing. I am glad, though, that I did not sell off what little I had.

BTW, if you are going to keep some of what you have, it looks like you are making a good choice with what you plan to keep.

One last thing, don't forget that politics, especially in Canada, is fickle. What you own now may not be available later, and even illegal if not already owned.

This is excellent advice. If I ever sold off any of the stuff I have, I'd NEVER be able to get it back without spending probably 5 times as much or more (if it was even legal to buy anymore).

Plus, with all of the "gun ban" insanity going around, the LAST thing I want to do is disarm myself.

I think buying a safe and securely storing the stuff you don't plan to use at the moment is a MUCH better idea than selling it.

Another thing... just tell your kids to keep quiet about gun stuff. I never tell anyone that I don't know well about my stuff... and when the family doctor asks I just say "Oh God no I don't own guns... they're dangerous".

It's none of anyone's business.

[Krupski]

If you do not need the money PLEASE do not sell. It is just wood and steel. Sold 25 and I miss em all.
But I was desperate.

It's just iron and wood... but nowadays it costs a LOT more (if it's even legal anymore).

[FunkyPertwee]

I grew up in the south with my own guns and ammo in my room so when I read this it seems kind of alien to me. No way I would ever sell my fighting guns as that's what I use to enforce my personal and familial sovereignty.

[FunkyPertwee]

Also you're going to like the idea of having a shit ton of guns to give your kids as they grow up.

[l921428x]

It's just iron and wood... but nowadays it costs a LOT more (if it's even legal anymore).

Tell Australia

[Altarboy]

Don't.

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Giving serious consideration to downsizing my collection to a couple hunting rifles and shotguns, my AR and my Glock 17. With two kids i now feel like i don't have the time to even properly maintain this stuff. Besides i feel like my kids are going to blab to their friends as kids do and invite home invaders when i am at sea. If all i got is the standard hunting stuff then thats not a very big attraction. But handguns and military semi autos are. Most of this stuff i dont even shoot. It sits in a rack and collects dust. Sometime down the road when the kids are grown i can always buy more guns if they are even interested. Time to focus on family and make the house more family oriented.

Tell me I'm not crazy,

Don't you have to pretty much inform the police when and what route you are traveling to even go to a range with your handguns? You're in Canada right?

[Schuetzenman]

Sorry don't have time to read all this, got to get to bed. However, my advise is to NOT sell off your stuff. Better to get a big vault, put all your stuff inside. Bolt it to the floor. Don't let your kids see what's in it until you can trust them. This stuff has gone up and down over the years. Replacement in 10 to 20 years could be massively higher. Ammo in particular has gotten much more expensive. in early 2005 5.56 and 7.62x39 and 7.62 NATO were in order; 17.5 cents, 9 cents and 17 cents a round. Check your points of sale for what it all costs now and you'll get my point. My ammo stockpile has proven worth while when I look at what it is worth now vs. what I paid for it. Makes me wish I'd never shot any of it.

[rci2950]

So what I have decided is to just thin the herd. I am keeping my AR and Famae, 4 hunting rifles, two shotguns a couple .22s and my most collectable milsurps. The handguns are staying because they are in a heavy duty safe. And no patriot I don't have to tell them where and when I am going. I have a collector license and a perminant authorisation to transport. I am getting rid of the norinco junk and the other hunting rifles/shotguns I don't use. Like all the savage stuff etc. I'm getting the number down to about 15 long guns. That will be easier to manage then what I'm looking at now. Also if anything happens it is a number small enough that my brother in law could keep them all for me at his place. I won't show my kids the handguns until they are old enough. There is no chance of anyone opening the safe they are in. It's a proper Sergent & Greenleaf military safe i got from being in the right place at the right time. It's the one the captain locks his handgun and documents in.

Basically the milsurps in the keep pile are my M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, German K98 and my Swiss K31... I actually shoot the K31 quite regularly so would be stupid to sell that one off.

The money i get from the sell off is going into the money we have invested for our kids education. So I can guilt them into not wasting that money letter

[mrkalashnikov]

Sounds like a good plan, especially holding on to the old wood & steel milsurp which has skyrocketed in value in recent years. My M1 Carbine, Garand, and K98 Mauser are all keepers as well.