To the older guys…

[user 61881]

I past retirement age. My son lives 2500 miles away in AZ. He never really had interest in firearms. So i have my pistols. 3 BP uberti, and two modern single actions. I really got no one to pass to that will appreciate as much as I love my pistols.
So my morbid question is, what you intend to do with them as you get to old to use them? Sell on GB? Looking for ideas.

Have a church raffle and give the money to a specific group in the church.

 

[FLTaft1948]

You do know what called these in WW2? Ever watch Combat?
View attachment 264578

Oh, and yea I know what that was called but I didn't have to watch a TV show to find out. Plenty of the greatest generation were around to give me first hand accounts of WWII, that, and Bill Mauldin signed a copy of Up Front with Willy and Joe for me.
But tell me, was a "Bouncing Betty" a reference to a young woman with ill-fitting underthings??
I like your style, really, I do!

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

I'm 74 today and am still buying and working on them as I feel up to it.
I believe our gifting and love for things of this world that have benefit to humanity are actually programed into our being before we were sent to earth to be born.
I have always loved guns and have the mechanical ability to make (assemble components, some self fabricate) and work on them. It took me many years of following the precepts of the bible to begin to recognize the personality of our creator and how he made us to accomplish a destiny driven by choice. Once I realized he is actually very personal and loving and nothing like religion has cast him, I could relate to and have fellowship with him, it brought peace and joy to my being , removing the fear of death.
The fact that guns and people that go with them are very much in and on my heart means that Father, Son and Holy Ghost made it so before I was ! You and me, unique to the Universe with individual destiny, was his plan, along with the choice to do good or evil with it.
Yes ,your love of Guns came from God and when you bless others with this gift it both glorifies and blesses our creator.
I'm going to make a catalog of my guns, a brief history of how they were made or altered and their value so my family can keep or sell them . I have always realized I'm just the current care taker of them.
I know we go on and our bodies go back to the earth for a time but will eventually be reunited with our spirit and soul at the resurrection when time is no more, because it is written .

agree 100% with you.never heard it said like that.

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

Been blessed with a son who is as knee deep into it as I am and probably more so now. He'll get the keys to everything once I move on.

you are blessed sir

 

[Omahkapi'si]

All kidding aside, I would like my son and his son to have some stuff. That's a good idea writing down what they mean to you. Mine are time machines, not firearms. That's the stuff family would remember, not so much if one is a better shooter than the other.

 

[Billy Boy]

So my equally morbid presumption is that you mean before you're dead. Not too far from that myself. Not the dead part, I don't think, anyway ... the other one.

I think I'll just keep them and take them out to be admired and cleaned from time to time, I suppose. Unless and until I reach the point where I really need the money. I'm a good customer at a local mom 'n pop gunsmith/gun shop business and they're already sold a number of guns I didn't want or need on consignment for me, so I suppose I'll mostly go that route. Though I don't know what their expertise is wrt black powder muzzleloaders, so I might revisit that plan.

GB is a real pain in the you-know-what for the seller, unless you intend to get into selling multiple firearms, which these days is going to be pretty sketchy vis-a-vis the ATF if you sell and make a profit on your guns, and if you don't have an FFL, you might find yourself up on a felony charge.

I don't care what happens to them when I'm dead and gone. My estate can have the pleasures of dealing with that. Read: sarcasm.

So I guess base line my answer to your question is find yourself a reputable local gunsmith/gun shop, establish yourself as a repeat customer, and employ them to sell on consignment. If you just try to sell outright to a big-box sporting goods chain or to a pawn shop, you're only likely to realize 50% of current market value, whereas on a consignment you're more likely to realize 80% - 90%, depending on your agent's commission terms.

Taking mine with me, can’t be too sure where

You do know what called these in WW2? Ever watch Combat?
View attachment 264578

Potato masher

 

[Campbell]

I am still young(ish) at 57.
I have a lot of firearms.
Whenever a family/extended family member expresses interest in a firearm, I usually give it to them.
It’s nice to see them enjoy a gift instead of passing them on when I’m dead.

 

[wiscoaster]

...
I have a lot of firearms.
Whenever a family/extended family member expresses interest in a firearm, I usually give it to them.
It’s nice to see them enjoy a gift instead of passing them on when I’m dead.

Bravo!!!

 

[JeffG]

I past retirement age. My son lives 2500 miles away in AZ. He never really had interest in firearms. So i have my pistols. 3 BP uberti, and two modern single actions. I really got no one to pass to that will appreciate as much as I love my pistols.
So my morbid question is, what you intend to do with them as you get to old to use them? Sell on GB? Looking for ideas.

I'm soon going to be 69, and nobody in my family or friends care for firearms, blackpowder or not. I'm going to a gun show November 11th, and put 5 modern single actions on a buddy's table, along with an apparently unsellable coehorn mortar. If I get my price, fine, I'll have some folding money and less guns to clean. If I don't, I get to spend the day with my buddies. My wife is on the other half of the show selling baked goods with her buddies, so it looks like a good day coming.

 

[D.Summers]

I reckon I might be kinda lucky. I'm only 62, and I have six kids, four of them boys, and I have five nephews. Most of them are crazy about the guns I have in my house. Some, I'm going to leave to certain kids. Others I might leave up to my sister, or my ex wife to disperse. But every one of them, I hope, will get a gun/rifle/ pistol that might bring up the memory of dad/uncle, each time they load it up! Just like when I would load up my dad's old Model 36 Marlin lever action 30.30 before a whitetail hunt. It was a visceral thing, remembering him as I fed the cartridges into the gate!

 

[texasred]

Luckily I've been able to get my nieces and nephew into guns. Even more i got them to appreciate classic style of wood and metal. So hopefully they will get good use.
On the sader side, if im to old to use them, I'm to old to be here. No matter what, I'm taking a couple with me. If my family didn't want them I'd put a fair price on them so they wouldn't get screwed. If i had no family, maybe donate somehow that would help the sport.

And for fun, cement one in my headstone with the inscription "ye who pulls gun from stone shall be king". Booby trap my coffin with one for the guy that hears i was buried with guns and wants to rob me🍻.

LOL great ideas.

 

[necchi]

92 posts to the topic. And at least 50 of them can't recognize the 1st,,,

Welcome to 2023 @CaptainVane ,,,,

 

[TFoley]

Owning guns here in UK can be a real PITA when your widow has to deal with them. We are advised to make arrangements with a local dealer, if possible, since the widow will otherwise be in illegal possession of x-number of firearms for which she has no authorisation....a very serious criminal offence.

 

[ernbar]

At our local range, i am usually (aka the only) BP shooter, but when I start smoking up the firing line most of the older guys will come over and ask questions. II notice the young guys just think my smoke is annoying as they blow thru a brick of 9mm and leave within half an hour. Yunguns got no patience for BP.

Same here. A couple of days back I had a younger dude next to me blow thru several hundred rounds of 9 thru his Mattel framed semi auto while I shot 50 paper cartridges in my 1851 pistol. Thank God for the clear plastic partition that kept off the brass rain from hitting me lol.
He did inquire about my paper cartridges and called them "cool”.

 

[DimWitworth]

I past retirement age. My son lives 2500 miles away in AZ. He never really had interest in firearms. So i have my pistols. 3 BP uberti, and two modern single actions. I really got no one to pass to that will appreciate as much as I love my pistols.
So my morbid question is, what you intend to do with them as you get to old to use them? Sell on GB? Looking for ideas.

Thinking about what will happen to your guns if you leave them for a family member. This may help you with your decision. Possibly will them to someone of an organization that is gun friendly. Find a young person interested and make them a good deal. I would think the NSSA would have a donation program to give a gun to young people getting started in the hobby.

 

[DimWitworth]

Owning guns here in UK can be a real PITA when your widow has to deal with them. We are advised to make arrangements with a local dealer, if possible, since the widow will otherwise be in illegal possession of x-number of firearms for which she has no authorisation....a very serious criminal offence.

You would think law makers would have made some accommodations for the situation.

 

[Boatncamp]

Owning guns here in UK can be a real PITA when your widow has to deal with them. We are advised to make arrangements with a local dealer, if possible, since the widow will otherwise be in illegal possession of x-number of firearms for which she has no authorisation....a very serious criminal offence.

I made my wife get her pistol permit 40+ years ago just to avoid that situation. While I haven't cross registered my collection it will be a simple thing to happen should I pass.
Back in 2017 I had some major health issues that required surgery that took over 8 hours. Before hand I made a list of my guns and which son and grandson was to get what. I update it periodically. My thoughts regarding the most treasured family heirlooms are to gift them to my grandsons at some point in time in the near future, I am thinking their 10th birthday, so that I can explain the guns history to them and show them pictures of the relatives that purchased them originally.
I also have plans to assemble two Kiblers for them before the 250th anniversary. I may sell off a couple of other black powder guns to fund that project.
As for other unmentionables, I am considering using Rock Island Auctions. They seem to get some pretty good prices at their sales. I do have a local auction house that once a year takes consignments. I have too many that my sons would be overwhelmed with them. And my older son already has his own collection with no one other than his brother and nephews to leave those too.
I hope that my grandsons will develop a love of shooting and be interested in this. My son took them shooting this summer when they visited and they seemed interested. I was not able to go due to sciatica that week. I was very disappointed. They only come for a couple of days maybe once a year.
My thoughts for the original post would be to decide which gun you love shooting the most and keep it. Then sell off the rest and take the trip that you always wanted to do but never felt that you had the money to take and enjoy!

 

[Rifleman1776]

I past retirement age. My son lives 2500 miles away in AZ. He never really had interest in firearms. So i have my pistols. 3 BP uberti, and two modern single actions. I really got no one to pass to that will appreciate as much as I love my pistols.
So my morbid question is, what you intend to do with them as you get to old to use them? Sell on GB? Looking for ideas.

I'm way past retirement age and most guys with my years are already pushing up daisies. My kids have no interest in my guns either. Except for one my son wants (my flint longrifle) for sentimental reasons, I have been selling everything, modern and ml. A few I keep for self defense purposes (I live alone in an isolated location) all will be sold soon. I've had enough friends and relatives pass whose estates I had to settle to understand the our beloved belongings become just 'stuff' once we are under six feet of dirt. Best to turn into cash now rather than get sold for pennies on the dollar by someone else after your are gone. Thems the sad facts of life.........and death.

 

[Mike in FL]

My dad had 4 sons, no daughters. He died at 54. I spent many days with him hunting. He had some nice guns. But when he learned he was dying, he sold them. They were not mine, not my brothers but his and he had every right to do with them as he pleased. I'm ashamed to say it didn't set right with me. Not that I needed or wanted them to use, but I always figured a father leaves his guns to his sons as a way for them to hold on to those happy times a'field. But he didn't. Sold them to a dealer. I can't imagine that small amount of money made a difference to my mom. In fact, she left her four son's a good bit of money. Anyway, don't sell. Even if your kids have no interest in guns and hunting, they should have them.

 

[Mike in FL]

BTW, I'm 76 with no diminished interest in guns, archery, fishing, hunting, banjo, and writing. My opinion is, don't think about leaving. Think about NOW. Get right and stay right with your Maker because actually, nothing else really matters.