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Thinning the herd

Married my last wife at 52, now at 65 she has two sons, golfers, not hunters, and I have no one to leave my many firearms to, I watched my father and mother pack up everything in their house and move to their last home. It was difficult for them. I am not going to leave a problem for my Wife sons, I too have to get off my *** and thin the herd
Feel free to adopt me. I have been adopted before so I know how it goes if this helps. lol
 
IT's easier to, "Thin the herd", IF, you have, a few Grandsons that, like to, shoot / Hunt !
In the last few years, I have given away, several pistols, rifles and, shotguns ( Plus Ammo for them ) and I still have, enough chit, to, "play with" !
My 14 y/o, "Lefty" grandson, is "Hogging" most of, the good, L-H, Tikka's, Plus I gave him, 9 or, 10 Pounds of Powder and, 700-800 Boolitz !
I really enjoy watching my grandsons shoot ( Ring Steel ) and, Hunt ! THIS makes, giving them away, MUCH easier, IMO
Those 4 Boys, are "Fixed" and, I got, 3 Smaller Ones, coming down, the Pike @ 2, 3 and 5 y/o that will want .22's and 20 gauges,.. soon !
My "red Neck" daughter and son in Law, will be on me for some more Guns for, those 3 boys,.. LOL !
 
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We run an auction house and specialize in estate liquidations. We see this all the time, widows or children with entire reloading set ups or gun collections without a clue as to their value or how to dispose. Unfortunately, I too have had to go into one my friend's home and help his family go through everything. I'm in the process of helping a friend's wife now, he just passed. He was drafted for Vietnam, got shot. Then volunteered two more times until the draft was over so his little brother didn't have to go. I knew him over 40 years and it is tough digging through his collection and packing it up for auction. I grew up with him. But at least I know that we will get his family every cent we can, and they won't be taken advantage of. My sons and I have had this talk. I have a knife collection of over 500 pieces, firearms, antiques, reloading, etc. They don't really want all that nor do they know it's value. I too will have to "thin the herd" before it is too late and put the $ in a trust or something for them after I'm gone.
Long story short, think about it before it's too late. We help families all the time that are clueless what to do with the "stuff" all while trying to deal with grief, loss and the bureaucracy of it all.
Good on you all for helping those in this situation.
Merry Christmas & God Bless!
 
For the die-hard reloading group - virtually no one outside of our world would have a clue as to what we have, what it's used for, or what it's worth. That stuff will be sold off in bulk at pennies on a dollar or less.

If you give up handloading, sell your equipment as soon as you can. Put the stuff in the classifieds here at a cut rate and watch it go. Put the money in a jar for the grandkids.
 
Now that I've had plenty of time to think about all of this, I've come to recognize that I'm aging out of hunting to the extent that I have done in the past. No more frozen Snow Goose hunts, probably won't be climbing mountains or hiking for miles, not looking to hunt dangerous game, and won't be chasing dogs after elusive game animals. I'll probably always hunt and shoot but I'll be doing things at a more gentleman like pace.
Me too.....
My avatar pic is quite old, those grand-kids are now grown and neither is very interested in guns or hunting. I live in the thick of great hunting, western Wyoming, but for the life of me I can't muster the energy to hit the hills hard as I used to. Hunting will be the way I used to poke fun at others for....easy, road hunting with a little hiking.
I don't want to leave a mess for my family to clean up. I'll keep some guns but sell most of them in the next few years.
 
I wish my grandfather would have done this. Not with just his guns but the farm equipment and land also. All he had is daughters that moved off to the city after they graduated high school. I'll be lucky if I even get the chance to buy any of it lol. Those girls are nuts. Wish he woulda just just sold out to me a long time ago to keep that ground in the family. I'm the only one that farms or hunts.
 
I have never sold a firearm in my life. Not real sure I could bring myself to do it. My son has assured me that they will never be sold as long as he has anything to say about it.

I wish I had kids who were interested in the guns to leave them to, but it just isn't in the cards. I'm not selling anything for the money. I just don't my wife to deal with more problems then she can cope with when I do check out.

Stay health everyone and have a Merry Christmas.
 
I wish I had kids who were interested in the guns to leave them to, but it just isn't in the cards. I'm not selling anything for the money. I just don't my wife to deal with more problems then she can cope with when I do check out.

Stay health everyone and have a Merry Christmas.
I completely understand. You got me to really thinking. I really can't tell you why my firearm collection means so much to me. I really do enjoy them but at the end of the day they are nothing but a bunch of scrap metal mixed in with various other (wood, fiberglass, carbon, plastic, etc). Maybe it's all the great times my son, grandsons, brothers have spent hunting, camping, shooting and just plain talking about firearms and reloading. Kind of like they are old friends. Anyway you got my attention.

And yes hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas.
 
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