Apexcarver said:I have only ever bought one gun, but due to relatives passing away and my brother having a history of psych stuff I have a lot more than one. With kid #2 on the way its a good time to curate my collection.
If one were looking to par down a collection, what is the best way to go about it without getting ripped off?
To get the best value for you I’d suggest finding a local gun guy. If you sell to a dealer either brick and mortar or gun show you won’t get anywhere near as much.
Wally (Forum Supporter) said:Another threadjack: What about shotguns? My brother and I have been doing more trap shooting. I currently have a very old, very cheap Remington. It works but if I'm going to do more of it I think I'd like something a little nicer and if possible isn't trying so hard to beat me up.
As Stampie said, shoot light target loads and use a recoil pad.
Yeah, the reason I asked was because I went to a gun shop a few years ago and was offered maybe 1/2 what I expected a reasonable price to be.
Finding a "gun guy" may be tough with the pandemic on and me simply not having gone shooting in the two years since my son was born.
In reply to Apexcarver :
I’ve never done it and don’t know how much a pain shipping would be but some of the online auction sites like gun brokers might be a way to get more money. Maybe others can chime in.
Apexcarver said:Yeah, the reason I asked was because I went to a gun shop a few years ago and was offered maybe 1/2 what I expected a reasonable price to be.
Finding a "gun guy" may be tough with the pandemic on and me simply not having gone shooting in the two years since my son was born.
Going to a gun store is like going to a car dealer and asking them to buy your car. Gunbroker works well; I have done that several times. PM me if you need help with that. You can also use Armslist for selling local.
pilotbraden said:Get a 308. They are great for anything except maybe squirrel hunting. I have a model 1909 Mauser Argentinian. A couple years ago I had it rebarreled in 308 I really like it. I have way too much money in the gun what is a beautiful piece. If you're going to hand load consider a 35 Whelen. It is a 30 ought 6 shell necked out to 35 caliber. Which makes it almost a straight wall cartridge. If you want versatility shooting different calibers get an AR. I have several friends that have them that shoot 5.56 by 45 and change the upper receiver to shoot 450 Bushmaster. The 450 Bushmaster gives you very similar ballistics to a 45-70. The use the same magazine you just change the follower I believe that if 13 round 450 Bushmaster magazine is exactly the same as a 30 round 5.56 by 45 magazine except for the follower
The 50 Beowulf uses the same magazine too, I've seriously considered one recently
Wally (Forum Supporter) said:Another threadjack: What about shotguns? My brother and I have been doing more trap shooting. I currently have a very old, very cheap Remington. It works but if I'm going to do more of it I think I'd like something a little nicer and if possible isn't trying so hard to beat me up.
I shot competitively in my youth with 4-H Shooting Sports. We were a sporting clays, .22 silhouettes, air rifle team. We finished 3rd place team in the state, I think my Junior year of high school, not much of that was me, we had some seriously talented kids on the team... and I was also there.
The organizers allowed 20 or 12 gauge. I was a scrawny kid, so I shot 20 Ga. I started out with a Mossberg 500, but as I progressed and developed my talent, I went to a 20 Ga. O/U Franchi. It wasn't a "trap" gun, I'm not sure I knew those existed back then, it was a "field grade" bird gun. I improved greatly with the Fanchi, lighter weight, easy to point, really fit me better.
So assuming you're shooting 12 Ga. maybe step down to 20 or 28 Ga. My uncle is a crack shot, and avid bird hunter, most of his Brownings & Berettas are either 410 or 28 Ga.
That's beating around the bush to say, get a 20 Ga or smaller O/U. You need to "try several on" shoulder them, point them, see what feels right to you. I'm going to sound a little elitist here, but avoid the Turkish made guns, stick with the Italian & Japanese made guns, you're going to pay more, often a lot more, but you're going to get a much better shotgun. As tempting as a cheap salt wood Browning might be, unless you're after a project, I'd avoid them too.
Apexcarver said:I have only ever bought one gun, but due to relatives passing away and my brother having a history of psych stuff I have a lot more than one. With kid #2 on the way its a good time to curate my collection.
If one were looking to par down a collection, what is the best way to go about it without getting ripped off?
Uhh, hello? Here! There's obviously quite a few gun nuts here, what are you wanting to part with? 
For pricing, if you have a Gunbroker account, you can search finished auctions, to get an idea of what some stuff is selling for.
There's also a blue book for guns. I pick a new one of these up about every 5 years. My most current version is from 2017. Like most blue books, it's not a hard and fast pricing guide, but does give you a range based on condition, and an idea of value.
A lot of gun shops sell stuff on consignment too, so once you get an idea for pricing, talk to them and see what their commission is, it might be worth letting someone else deal with the public.
If you want to sell to an individual it varies state-to-state, in AR I can buy from or sell to any individual I want. Shipping firearms isn't really that much more difficult than shipping anything else. In AR again, I personally can ship a firearm to a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder, however most FFL's don't want to accept firearms from non FFL holders for liability reasons. So, on your end as the seller, you'd find an FFL to ship the firearm on your behalf to another FFL for the buyer. The FFL will charge you a transfer fee in addition to whatever it costs to ship the package. Around here FFL transfer fees ranges from $20-$50, and the buyer will probably pay a transfer fee on their end too.
Wally (Forum Supporter) said:Another threadjack: What about shotguns? My brother and I have been doing more trap shooting. I currently have a very old, very cheap Remington. It works but if I'm going to do more of it I think I'd like something a little nicer and if possible isn't trying so hard to beat me up.
The best thing you can do for recoil is to get a slip on limbsaver for the stock, if that doesn't work, light or low recoil loads would be the next step. I have a couple auto-5 brownings and when they're set up correctly they have a nice smooth recoil impulse especially compared to a pump or o/u.
Apexcarver said:Yeah, the reason I asked was because I went to a gun shop a few years ago and was offered maybe 1/2 what I expected a reasonable price to be.
Finding a "gun guy" may be tough with the pandemic on and me simply not having gone shooting in the two years since my son was born.
There's a shop in Houston called collectors firearms that will buy whole collections. They get the good end of the deal but if you call them up and ask most of the time they'll probably give you an idea of what retail might be for some of what you're looking to let go of. Right now is the best time in a while to be a seller of guns.
Also - why all the talk and no pics?
my .308 savage:
Not sure if its ok on here (mods-delete if its not OK, please), but at the very least I am looking at getting rid of
Its hard deciding on others, the whole heirloom aspect, those are the solid starting list.
I'm going to echo the others and say the .308 is a good choice. I'll also say you picked exactly the wrong time to try and buy anything. Prices are way up on everything when you can find them.
Even if you don't reload, KEEP YOUR BRASS. It will help if you look at each empty cartridge like a quarter. You'll run into somebody that does reload who will buy it from you, or you can sell it on one of the sites.
There is a TON of opinion presented as fact, paid positive reviews, elitism, operator syndrome, sniper delusions and a bunch of other ways to be misled in the world of shooting sports. There are a bunch of people who don't realize a good shooter with basic equipment will do better than a terrible shooter with the best equipment and spend 5000 on a rifle that they don't need. It's a lot like the car world- people buy a Ferrari to have a Ferrari, when they'd be better buying a Miata and spending the money they save on practice. The same applies here. Just keep that in mind.
(opinion)
In reply to Apexcarver :
I have a modest collection of Marlins I'm always looking to add to...
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Forum Patrón) :
I agree with most of that, Mini-14s earned their reputation though, and I'm a Ruger fan, so I'd probably qualify that under rated bullet point.
My first trip to the Tulsa Arms Show, I was with the uncle I mentioned earlier, and a friend of his. They're both petroleum industry pensioners, invested well, and have very comfortable retirements. We were on the search for a Belgian Browning BAR in .308 grade III or better... BAR = $$$ Grade III+ =$$$$ and .308 was one of the fewest produced so =$$$$$$. In the entire 11 acres and 4,200 booths at the Tulsa gun show, we found exactly two .308 BARs, one grade II and one grade IV. The grade IV is beautiful, hand engraving, immaculate wood, and my uncle's friend happily gave almost $4K for it. That was my first look into a whole other level of firearms collecting.
I think 6.5 Creedmoor is ubiquitous enough to no longer be considered a boutique anymore. Everyone makes a 6.5, most make several, even the budget bolt guns like the Savage Axis & Ruger American are available in 6.5, and ammo is (was) as available as most of the usual hunting cartridges.
When you get started reloading, you can get a pretty good out of the box starting load from Dan Newberry's Optimal Charge Weight recipes. He has a couple of federal gold medal match "clone" loads that are a great starting point in most rifles. with all new loads, start low and work your way up.
http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/ocw-load-recipes/4533485759
bigdaddylee82 said:I agree with most of that, Mini-14s earned their reputation though, and I'm a Ruger fan, so I'd probably qualify that under rated bullet point.
I think 6.5 Creedmoor is ubiquitous enough to no longer be considered a boutique anymore. Everyone makes a 6.5, most make several, even the budget bolt guns like the Savage Axis & Ruger American are available in 6.5, and ammo is (was) as available as most of the usual hunting cartridges.
I see your points on 6.5 Creedmoor. They're still not as inexpensive or as common as mil-surp FMJ 7.62x51, so if I was going to have one rifle, I'd stick with .308
As for Min-14s being under-rated, there is a fairly common perception that they're useless garbage. They're not. They are over priced, and the old ones had some issues that have been improved upon, if not fully solved, with the newer design. Out to 100 yards, they'll get the job done, and they're legal in states where other rifles aren't, and with some modification and aftermarket parts, they'll run steel cased ammo well enough. Full disclosure: I owned a series 1 Mini-14 that I bought new when I lived in NY, and I sold it since I hadn't shot it in 10 years, having moved somewhere else. I kind of want to pick up a Mini-30 or another Mini-14 chambered in either .300 Blackout or 6.8 SPC (hard to find), but if I was limited to one rifle, they probably wouldn't be my first choice.
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I hadn't even heard of 6.5 creedmoore until about two months ago. But, I'm no expert, and not exactly even an enthusiast. From what I understand it is newer tech with a bit more grunt and much better ballistic characteristics. Still too expensive for what I'm after and it's overkill anyway. Same with 30-06. It's just more than I'm after. For now anyway.
barefootskater said:I hadn't even heard of 6.5 creedmoore until about two months ago. But, I'm no expert, and not exactly even an enthusiast. From what I understand it is newer tech with a bit more grunt and much better ballistic characteristics. Still too expensive for what I'm after and it's overkill anyway. Same with 30-06. It's just more than I'm after. For now anyway.
(My opinion, based on facts, but still opinion)
A lot of people jumped on the 6.5 bandwagon because it was the new hotness, but they never have a chance to shoot much past 100 meters, where the difference between it and .308 are minimal. You live in one of the few states where you can go out on public land and shoot at the ranges 6.5 was designed for. That said, I still wouldn't pick 6.5 over .308 for my only rifle.
As long as we're sharing pictures.
Here's my coyote/deer/target rifle. It's a Howa 6mm Creedmoore barreled action in a KRG chassis. The 6 Creedmoore is a necked down 6.5, with a barrel that's twisted for use with the heavier higher BC 6mm bullets. It's like a laser out to 3-400 yards, but i'm exicted to take it out further.
If all your doing is range plinking, then I agree that a semi auto in 308 would be fun. But i'd like to add that a lever gun in a pistol caliber is quite fun, and then you can get a revolver to match.
In reply to NBraun :
If I'm ever in a situation to collect, I've always wanted a big 45colt 6 gun and a Henry lever in the same chamber. Also twin nickel/m.o.p. .38s. For reasons. Not sure why twin pistols. I once unloaded two 1911 .45s at the same time. That was a religious experience even though I didn't hit anything.
Vera
Vera and her Romanian cousin.
PTR-91, it can't be an evil black rifle if it's mostly green right?
My Combine.
I didn't know I could get lighter loads, I'll have to look for that. A 20 ga might be a good idea too. My brother is still a tough guy and we did laps around the place last time. I had a bruise the size of a dinner plate trying to keep up.
Silly question, you squaring it up good and firmly?
I'm a bony lightweight, but do well with a 12ga and alrightish with my 10ga. Most friends who bruise have it looser on the shoulder from what I've seen.
In reply to NBraun :
You put that gun in a good chassis...
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