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One of the joys of never getting rid of the things you have moved on from is having your offspring discover an interest in those very things.

You get to revisit the good times while introducing them to what you have learned, and they discover that Dad actually knows something! ;)
 
My personal policy: I only acquire firearms, I never sell them.


My current "obsession" is enduro type dirt-bike riding.... and yes, I carry a CCW on my person while tearing it up on my CRF450R, LOL!

A buddy let me take a spin on his 2019 Crf450rx and it just about blew my mind. I've had 450s in the past as well as a cr500, but that particular bike was a brute! A crazy mid-range that never let up. It would be great Baja bike, but it was a handful on the tight single track.
 
Before this sb941 bubblegum show came to be, part of the fun of gun ownership for me was horse trading.

This is ( was ) so true.
Before the BGC for private sales...I too used to do a lot of horse trading.
Find a abused or neglected rifle or shotgun....spend some time researching and fixing it up , shoot it awhile , then trade it off for a new project gun.
This was an excellent way to practice "gun smithing"* , gain knowledge of different firearms and action types , learn some skills and limitations of the same.

Now with the need of a BGC and its associated fees buying a fixer upper or low end firearm is huge PITA both time wise ( the time of finding a FFL and meet up ) and money wise.

*"gun smithing" as in fixing or replacing small parts...stock refinish or repair , "prettying up" buggered up screws , overall cleaning , etc.....Not actual Gun Smithing like on the order of Velzey.
I would never equate my skill / knowledge with his.
Andy
 
Before this sb941 bubblegum show came to be, part of the fun of gun ownership for me was horse trading.
Ditto this!

I used to average probably 5 + guns a year due to 'horsetrading' and sometimes guns were not the only thing 'traded' but were typically part of a deal.

Typically I would try to stick to dealing with guns only in the calibers I reload for but occasionally I would acquire something different and most of the time I got lucky and the deal included some factory ammo to try it out but the bottom line is SB 941 really took the 'wind out of my sails' out of what was a fun 'hobby' aspect to being a gun enthusiast.
 
I have switched gears on some specific firearms because of circumstances; e.g., I sold/traded my Valmets in 7.62x51, because of the AWB - parts and mags for those rifles became expensive unobtanium and I did not have the foresight to get the mags/parts before they became unobtanium, so I got some generic "evil guns" that shared parts/mags/ammo (with few exceptions) with more common rifles.

Also, I dumped an expensive and rare M1A bullpup (AWC G2A) because I felt I could not really use a 12 pound sniper rifle - instead I bought a 35 pound .50 BMG rifle, which was dumb, and sold that and its ammo this year, without ever shooting it (not even once). That was the one thing I "got out of" that I was into in a big $ way. Decided I was getting too old and decrepit to haul around a 35 pound rifle that was almost as tall as I am.

Otherwise, I have more or less not made major changes, and I have more or less kept what I had - and I will.

But decades back, when I only had a rifle and a handgun or two, I did make some changes; went from 7mm RM to .308 Win and I went from 1911 to Glock. That was back when I decided to stick with the more mainstream cartridges - .308/.223/.45/9mm/etc., for prepping purposes, and mostly have since then. I have diversified - I don't switch from .45 to 9mm, I got both. Last year or so, I also got .40 S&W.

I tend to hoard things - to the point that I forget that I have them, and even where they are. That is my goal for the near future; inventory and organize.
 
Yep use to love horse trading. One of the most memorable was with a guy who bought foreclosed storage units. It involved a large fuel storage tank, construction tools, a large caliber rem 700 and a sweet sw 686.
 
I tend to keep most things in my life that represent a "snapshot" of moments or days or the particular company I kept when I got it. When I was young , if you received a gun , it was from a parent or family member (often on Christmas or a birthday) who simply said "I love you, this is now yours" you accepted it gracefully and excitedly and tried to be proficient with it as much to show respect to the giver as to simply become better at it.

I still have all of those. Except that I've done the same with a few to my grandsons. But when I got older , and periodically had the means, I'd read and research (this took months because the internet was science fiction) and finally plop down hard earned cash to purchase some new present to myself. Maybe a new Job (like flying in Alaska) or a company bonus would allow the purchase of some new shiny thing that I really did "need" . I still have all those.

Then, In the boredom of mid-life, and trying to get that same 8 year old on Christmas morning feeling I'd do this way too often:
-Hey, percussion revolvers are cool! -got a half dozen
-Hey, I can shoot BP target for 2cents a round and dress like some kind of urban cowboy hipster/1800's trapper and no-one will make fun, when I'm looking at least. better get a Sharps and a Hawken , and a brown Bess....
-Hey, I can shoot pellets in the basement- got a half-dozen olympic grade P-guns (note here that REALLY nice P-guns are more expensive than firearms)
-Hey, wondernines are cool! got a half dozen of those, I was right , they are cool!
-Hey I just saw a movie with a "insert cool gun here" in it- got one of those (about 10 movies)
-Hey, the FBI and delta and the Alphabet agencies say 10MM is the bomb, and spent millions deciding this---better get on the wagon, then they figured out, as I did, that these break, kick, and mis-feed as well as being very difficult to shoot well. 1 year later this would happen again with .40 then again with .45 ACP of all things...Stupid FBI. I'd like all of my taxpayer money back please so you can decide that the FBI needs a "NEW" .45 ACP service weapon.
-Hey, all my gunsmiths are crap-Learned gunsmithing from a periodic apprenticeship with a master old-timer in Alaska. This really started the avalanche of trading / buying
-Hey, Ammo is getting expensive--learned reloading and spent more than what a lifetime supply of every caliber would have cost on equipment.
-Hey, Pocket nines are the thing if I'm going to carry everyday -probably took 20 guns and 30 years to figure out that this is a seriously complex issue, and the real solutions are only a couple of years or months old. If it really is any better than .380 or .32 in which case, If it's really not, the solution is 50-100 years old.
-Hey, my eyes are going to bubblegum- tried optics on every type (except the black powder)
-Hey, I can see with my new contacts again-had to get new guns out of excitement!

I need to stop, listing my whims, not buying guns...

I still have maybe half of the mid-life guns. Some were pure junk despite being the current darling of the firearm press. I only kept the really good ones.

Now , If I buy something It had better be something really special, or something I need to train others, or an unbelievable bargain, or a sick orphan I can make well again.

I stopped subscribing to the press about 20 years ago, that helped, then came you tube. (insert third paragraph here).

I don't think there is really any advice here...except that it's all a lot of fun and the relationships, experiences and broadening of my own expertise has been a very life-enriching experience, bad decisions included.
Can count the times I actually lost money on a gun on one hand...so from a financial standpoint , it's sort of been free, or even profitable If I haven't made my daily, wildly optimistic, rationalization yet.

-JK
 
With regard to the original question however I only got 'out of' a particular gun and/or caliber due to what was zero interest in one or both due to a variety of reasons.

One was with a 7MM Mag rifle. Great rifle (a Remington 700 'Classic') very accurate, but nothing I wanted to shoot on a regular basis due to cost of reloading and recoil. Another was an SKS I bought on an impulse, but was completely out of my circle of interest in guns. Another was a Maadi AK (which came to me free gratis') but nonetheless something I was not interested in - like the SKS just junky, clunky guns I had no interest in. Another was a .380 pistol I once had. Older Bersa, all steel and great gun but terribly inaccurate and 9mm is where I draw the line on 'size' of ammo I want to reload.

So I stick to what I enjoy and appreciate, and what I prefer to load and shoot.
 
I had several "bump stocks". Then overnight......they became classified as "machineguns".

With this election......my AR15s could be next. Awww $#^*........just hit the button.

easy-button.png

And/or buy a bigger boat.

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Aloha, Mark
 
A buddy let me take a spin on his 2019 Crf450rx and it just about blew my mind. I've had 450s in the past as well as a cr500, but that particular bike was a brute! A crazy mid-range that never let up. It would be great Baja bike, but it was a handful on the tight single track.

Yeah, 4-stokes required a lotta clutch work at slow speeds in technical terrain.... I'm going to drop in a Hinson weighed clutch basket (instead of a weighted flywheel) when I replace the clutch-pack. The added inertia should help mitigate flame-out potential during technical terrain.

;)
 
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I tend to prefer pistol shooting, and lately have been eschewing capacity for ease of target acquisition and concealability. I do prefer to carry a full or med size pistol when I don't need to worry about concealability. Have been considering liquidation of a couple of glocks to purchase a sig p938 that's in the classified ads.
 
Remember when Orwell used to be fiction?

Condolences, tac! :(

About six million of us here in UK live with it. Mostly shotgunnists, it must be said. But when there are security guards around the 25m range where the UK Team GB pistol Squad is now allowed to train with REAL BANG FIRE BULLET GUNS in UK, you have to ask why any of the rest of us bother at all.
 
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