Re: too many guns.

51
Dreamsinger wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:54 pm No, I think you're being rational and pragmatic. Too many guns is a slippery slope that's too easy to fall into. It's tough to get over the idea that you have to possess them to enjoy them. I pick the best guns for the situations I'm likely to encounter and do my best to be competent with each in it's appropriate context. "Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it!". While I wouldn't advise just one, the principal applies.
Beware the man with one gun? Barney Fife had one gun. I haven't ever known anyone with one gun who was proficient.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Re: too many guns.

52
Actually I can think of getting rid of a few handguns, but thinking about it and actually getting off of my dead arse and doing it is another matter. I could get rid of my 45SA plus my 44mag revolvers and then replace them with a Ruger flat top Bisley in 44 spec and have all I need in handguns. Seems like a lot of work though.

Re: too many guns.

53
for me the whole gun thing comes out of my interest in history. becoming a reenactor pushed it in the direction of hardware: rifling, ignition systems, metallic cartridges, single-shots, magazines. automatics full and semi. so i guess i would have been ok to stop with my first 2 "modern" guns, the garand and a 1911a1, both pivotal in terms of the technology, just happening to be www2 guns (yes, ok, ww1, korea, and vietnam too). but then there's the broadening of interest into the interaction of technology and doctrine, and the trapdoor, krag (ok, probably could have skipped that, but they are fine rifles within their limits.) m1917 (could just has easily have been an '03) and ar15 become relevant along with the little stories they have to tell. the .22s don't have the stories, nor does the shotgun, and the sks is not so much an american story.

the pistols, well that's another thing altogether. i have a bag of pistols. much more portable. i have a couple of duplicates, and some of them were bought in a quest for the ideal (for me) handgun. smaller than a 1911, bigger than a bauer .25, possibly even a revolver. maybe one day i'll want to be rid of the extras.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: too many guns.

54
K9s wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:27 pm
Dreamsinger wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:54 pm No, I think you're being rational and pragmatic. Too many guns is a slippery slope that's too easy to fall into. It's tough to get over the idea that you have to possess them to enjoy them. I pick the best guns for the situations I'm likely to encounter and do my best to be competent with each in it's appropriate context. "Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it!". While I wouldn't advise just one, the principal applies.
Beware the man with one gun? Barney Fife had one gun. I haven't ever known anyone with one gun who was proficient.
In high school I had one gun, a single shot Anschutz .22 I competed with. A few of us back then had one gun. I was quite proficient then. I'm still quite proficient with most of the guns in my measly 10 gun arsenal. A few of those just aren't worth the time to overcome their built in resistance to being shot well (To wit, a KelTec P11). The only reason I still have them is that they aren't worth the effort it would take to sell them. I RSO at my local range. There's a woman who shows up regularly with her SKS (her only gun) and shoots it exceptionally well. OTOH, I see shooters that I've never seen with the same gun twice that are doing well just to get it on paper. It seems pretty obvious to me that equating the quantity of guns owned with the quality of one's marksmanship is fallacious thinking at best.
"Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees" - Emiliano Zapata

Re: too many guns.

55
i've seen the same thing in myself. if i take a different gun every time, i'm always climbing the re-learning curve. if i take, say, the 1911 again and again, i get better and better with it. there's a point where i say "good enough (eight of eight on the paper plate) and take something else a couple of times, climb the curve, then the next one. i see those gorgeous tight little nearly all touching groups some of y'all post, and am jealous, but also know i'll never be that good at this rate. it's ok, eight of eight is good enough for me for now, but that's why i don't compete. as someone said, "dat's a dead plate". maybe if i only had 4 or 4 pistols..
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: too many guns.

56
Dreamsinger wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:45 am
K9s wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:27 pm
Dreamsinger wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:54 pm No, I think you're being rational and pragmatic. Too many guns is a slippery slope that's too easy to fall into. It's tough to get over the idea that you have to possess them to enjoy them. I pick the best guns for the situations I'm likely to encounter and do my best to be competent with each in it's appropriate context. "Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it!". While I wouldn't advise just one, the principal applies.
Beware the man with one gun? Barney Fife had one gun. I haven't ever known anyone with one gun who was proficient.
In high school I had one gun, a single shot Anschutz .22 I competed with. A few of us back then had one gun. I was quite proficient then. I'm still quite proficient with most of the guns in my measly 10 gun arsenal. A few of those just aren't worth the time to overcome their built in resistance to being shot well (To wit, a KelTec P11). The only reason I still have them is that they aren't worth the effort it would take to sell them. I RSO at my local range. There's a woman who shows up regularly with her SKS (her only gun) and shoots it exceptionally well. OTOH, I see shooters that I've never seen with the same gun twice that are doing well just to get it on paper. It seems pretty obvious to me that equating the quantity of guns owned with the quality of one's marksmanship is fallacious thinking at best.
OK, so I was mostly kidding. We grew up with a few hunting rifles. Never handguns. Of course, we were desperately poor and those rifles helped feed us. Handguns were something interesting, but we didn't have the money for them. I know that part of my reason for rarely selling a firearm is because the few we had while growing up were so precious. It's me, not you, Dreamsinger. :)
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Re: too many guns.

57
Dreamsinger wrote:
K9s wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:27 pm
Dreamsinger wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:54 pm No, I think you're being rational and pragmatic. Too many guns is a slippery slope that's too easy to fall into. It's tough to get over the idea that you have to possess them to enjoy them. I pick the best guns for the situations I'm likely to encounter and do my best to be competent with each in it's appropriate context. "Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it!". While I wouldn't advise just one, the principal applies.
Beware the man with one gun? Barney Fife had one gun. I haven't ever known anyone with one gun who was proficient.
In high school I had one gun, a single shot Anschutz .22 I competed with. A few of us back then had one gun. I was quite proficient then. I'm still quite proficient with most of the guns in my measly 10 gun arsenal. A few of those just aren't worth the time to overcome their built in resistance to being shot well (To wit, a KelTec P11). The only reason I still have them is that they aren't worth the effort it would take to sell them. I RSO at my local range. There's a woman who shows up regularly with her SKS (her only gun) and shoots it exceptionally well. OTOH, I see shooters that I've never seen with the same gun twice that are doing well just to get it on paper. It seems pretty obvious to me that equating the quantity of guns owned with the quality of one's marksmanship is fallacious thinking at best.
This is a big reason why I have decided to whittle down my handgun collection and focus my energy on getting as proficient as possible with one or two handguns and the rifle I hope to have in the not-too-distant future.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: too many guns.

59
bajajoaquin wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2019 11:54 am Late to the party, but it looks like you’re missing an M-14 series rifle. You should fix that with the space you’re making in your safe.
well, actually :whistle: (shuffles feet)...
i did recently get a polytech m14s chinese clone. there's a thread in hardware/rifles. still wrestling with the rear sight.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: too many guns.

63
lurker wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:34 pm well lets see. long guns:
there's the core collection: usgi main battle rifles
1861 springfield *
trapdoor
krag
----
m1917
garand
m14s (polytech) **
ar15
and then there's the stuff that sorta crept in around the edges: expendable
10/22
mossy 802 plinkster
chinese sks
sportsmans cleveland sxs 12 ga
maybe i should rehome the expendables and then think about how i feel about the matter.

eta: added 1861, m14s
I wouldn't give up any of those firearms besides maybe that Mossy 802

Re: too many guns.

64
Sable wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 6:24 pm
lurker wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:34 pm well lets see. long guns:
there's the core collection: usgi main battle rifles
1861 springfield *
trapdoor
krag
----
m1917
garand
m14s (polytech) **
ar15
and then there's the stuff that sorta crept in around the edges: expendable
10/22
mossy 802 plinkster
chinese sks
sportsmans cleveland sxs 12 ga
maybe i should rehome the expendables and then think about how i feel about the matter.

eta: added 1861, m14s
I wouldn't give up any of those firearms besides maybe that Mossy 802
And add some AK and SKS variants.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Re: too many guns.

65
I was thinking the very same thing, in fact I was looking for the buy sell trade forum when i ran across this. Quick introspection is making me think that perhaps incremental trading to get something that is newly fascinating is a better way to go than a sell off.

Re: too many guns.

66
Part of my motivation to pare down has to do with getting older. My KSG is a younger man''s run&gun CQB tool and I don't run worth a hoot any more. After a few years of tweaking my M1A SOCOM to where it can actually hit the proverbial broad side of a barn, I find that it's a real brick that I can't picture carrying for any length of time. My AR in 300HAMR is set up like a scout rifle and covers a lot of what the SOCOM would have but it's much lighter and way more accurate. Sentimentality has been the roadblock to parting with it in the past. Duplication is something I've tried to avoid with mixed success. I traded one of my P14's for a P12 only to run across an alloy frame P12 the next week. I wound up putting the steel P12 under a MechTech carbine conversion unit but when it became apparent that .45acp carbine didn't check as many boxes as a 300BO pistol, the MechTech and the the spare P12 went on the block. A Taurus Ultralight .22mag revolver that my wife's arthritic hands couldn't deal with went away too. None of this stopped me from acquiring more guns. After decades of sneering at Glocks as only an old 1911 guy can, I went to the dark side and got a G17L for "any other centerfire" Bullseye. A Ruger MkIV Hunter for the .22 string followed. I topped it off by building a Glock 43 from the factory frame up which has become my EDC. While I firmly believe one can have too many guns, the flip side seems to suggest a bottom floor that going beneath triggers the "nature abhors a vacuum" response.
"Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees" - Emiliano Zapata

Re: too many guns.

67
yes, i've become aware of the weight, and the stoner platform begins to make more sense. i'm not the strong young buck i used to be, and the temptation to hang more "stuff" (scope and bipod so far) on my favorite rifles isn't helping. i think should SHTF there will be more bugging in than bugging out.

i've sold the 10/22 and am on the verge of re-homing the SKS. preference is being given to LGC members, the more local the better. after that the solution may be another gun cabinet, i'm not in a hurry. handguns are so much easier, just throw em in the tool bag.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: too many guns.

68
lurker wrote:yes, i've become aware of the weight, and the stoner platform begins to make more sense. i'm not the strong young buck i used to be, and the temptation to hang more "stuff" (scope and bipod so far) on my favorite rifles isn't helping. i think should SHTF there will be more bugging in than bugging out.

i've sold the 10/22 and am on the verge of re-homing the SKS. preference is being given to LGC members, the more local the better. after that the solution may be another gun cabinet, i'm not in a hurry. handguns are so much easier, just throw em in the tool bag.
So odd to see the concepts SHTF, bugging out, and getting RID of an SKS in the same post...

Re: too many guns.

69
DamnYankee wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 10:42 am So odd to see the concepts SHTF, bugging out, and getting RID of an SKS in the same post...
how many guns can you carry? don't forget ammo. sure, the sks would be a good candidate, but it doesn't check off my other hoplophile boxes. i'll stick with the m1, the m14 and the AR, thanks i think that's plenty.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: too many guns.

70
i might be interested in the SKS. I don't need it, I have a 7.63x39 AR and a CZ 527 in the same caliber but I want an SKS for some reason. If only I'd bought one when they were $129. :wall:
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

Re: too many guns.

73
I am thinning the collection. I am getting old and I don't need to go off and leave my wife with a mess of guns to have to deal with. I have been doing some swapping of my military surplus firearms for modern guns that will be easier to sell in a hurry. I took five handguns for consignment last week and picked up the cash for two of them this morning. Now that I have a pocket full of cash, I want to go gun shopping.......The sickness never ends.....

I recently gave my son a 1911 that I carried for years and claimed that it would be the last gun I ever got rid of. Guns are like sex, the older you get the less you need.

If anyone is looking for Mosins, I have them in all flavors, but I ain't giving them away.

Re: too many guns.

74
K9s wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:27 pm
Dreamsinger wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:54 pm No, I think you're being rational and pragmatic. Too many guns is a slippery slope that's too easy to fall into. It's tough to get over the idea that you have to possess them to enjoy them. I pick the best guns for the situations I'm likely to encounter and do my best to be competent with each in it's appropriate context. "Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it!". While I wouldn't advise just one, the principal applies.
Beware the man with one gun? Barney Fife had one gun. I haven't ever known anyone with one gun who was proficient.
I think that the man with one gun tale is bogus. The techniques you learn to shoot well, especially with pistols or revolvers, are transferable to any firearm. Once you figure where the sights are hitting, you should be good to go. I shoot several pistols and revolvers on a regular basis, and though I am not a great shot, I won't embarrass myself shooting any of them with anyone.

I shoot a lot of different things because variety is the spice of life. I self identify as a 1911 guy, but this morning my brother and I shot 100 year old revolvers and I enjoyed every minute of it. I do tend to shoot 1911s better, because when I get in the groove the old guns do the work for me.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests