Revolvers I have ruined.

I drive my antique cars and shoot all of my guns. If they can't drive me to work or go bang when I pull the trigger they are not paying their share of the rent and need to be repaired or gotten rid of.
 
And then there's Maurice - my Ruger New Vaquero converted to 9mmPara, 3.75" or so barrel, gas-powered shell ejector, magazine feeding (up to 14rd capacity with no reload), post-modern sights. My baby :). Possibly the most insanely modified revolver ever :).

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http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/03/03/maurice-frankenruger-magazine-fed-revolver/

It's "Maurice" because some people call it "the space cowboy"...
 
I don't see a single picture of one that is ornately adorned with gold inlays, and engraving. Ruining them as a gun, and making them an art object. So you haven't destroyed a thing. Just enjoyed some great guns.:D
 
Nothing wrong with buying unfired collector guns and shooting them if that's what floats your boat. Just makes the ones that are left worth even more!

Kind of like buying the Mona Lisa and scribbling your shopping lists all over it.

It's the American way - if you can afford it, great!

(Although I have to admit that it's pretty easy to make a gun look "unfired". :rolleyes:)
 
CajunBass said:
I used to think that way, but have come to the conclusion that it's just as easy for me to leave the pristine, unfired ones for a real collector, and find another one for me to shoot.
Exactly.

I have some shooters, and a couple of unfired guns that will remain unfired as long as I have them. I have no need to fire them -- I have shooters to shoot.

I have a friend in another state who absolutely will not own a gun that he doesn't shoot. And for that reason he refuses to buy any NIB, unfired firearm. He understands that the unfiredness is important to some people, and that once a gun has been fired it van never again be UNfired. So he is more than content to buy the ones that have already been fired and leave the safe queens to the collectors.

I agree with that approach. To me it makes no sense at all to buy a firearm that has been kept in unfired condition for ten, twenty years or more and immediately start shooting it.
 
Wow. You had me sweating until I realized there were no Colt Pythons in post. (After all there is only so much Python goodness in the world and when it's gone it will be, well, just gone.)

Nah. Just kidding. Most guns were made to be shot and not stored unused in glass cases. If you appreciated them while you were shooting them then what bad Karma can possibly come your way.

And although the Pythons may inevitably fade away, something else will undoubtedly rise to take their place.
 
The very first gun I bought was a Python with 6" barrel, in around 1979.
A looked up to the sky, and saw the Big-Kahunas thumbs upward.
There are things that NEVER fade away. My son used it, and sad he'll never gives it back to me, and I'm too poor to sue him.....:D:D
 
Buy them, shoot them, clean them, and don't kick them across the floor or drag them behind your truck and they'll last forever and still be worth something.
 
"I have...a couple of unfired guns that will remain unfired as long as I have them."

I don't get this. I wouldn't buy something I didn't plan to use. I don't make enough money to buy guns just to look at.

Pythons? I actually did break one many years ago. Sold it to a guy who was going to try to fix it. Don't know if he succeeded.

Haven't broken any of these...

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Some people buy art. Small sculpture, painting, etc. It sits somewhere and does nothing, but they can look at it and others can look at it and THAT seems to make sense to everyone.

I've got more than enough guns to keep me busy to shoot and clean and enjoy, so the idea of having something special that I wouldn't shoot doesn't seem so difficult to digest.

We can attach all the emotions to these inanimate objects that we can possibly muster with all of our passion and vigor. Even still, the object isn't going to "feel" it and the world -- for the most part -- won't even notice this hard line that anyone of us has taken on the subject.

I've never considered myself to be the most open-minded dude in any group, but this topic always seems to bring up a number of posts describing a complete loss of understanding as to why or how anyone might ever have the desire to purchase or own a firearm that they have no intention of shooting. Makes me chuckle.

It's like full auto guns...
I have zero desire for them, mostly because of their intrinsic cost/value, the way they eat ammo and the laws that disgust me which surround them. Even still, I can easily see how others are drawn to them and seeing some of the write-ups that a poster like Machineguntony put up are totally enjoyable to read. He chases them and you can read his passion when he writes on 'em and tacks up some pictures. Another example is engraving, especially really ornate and hardcore engraving on firearms. I just don't understand that, but I can look at it and see what's been accomplished with it.

I think it's odd for someone to see something like that and condemn it like it's pure lunacy simply because they wouldn't do it. Something as innocuous as owning or purchasing a firearm that *GULP* they would never shoot, ever. :confused:

Really, there are a slew of different hobbyist-type objects we could come up with that don't get put in to service use as they may have originally been intended, but it doesn't seem to generate wild commentary about how nutty the very idea is to own one for the pride or wonder of having it and not actually shooting it.
 
Exceedingly well said, Sevens.

Some people buy art. Small sculpture, painting, etc. It sits somewhere and does nothing, but they can look at it and others can look at it and THAT seems to make sense to everyone.

Yup.

I buy art. I also find certain handguns to be a kind of art, and I treat them with the same level of care. I shoot and I collect. I have a number of unfired collectibles that are going to stay as perfect as they were on the day I bought them as long as they're in my possession. Because I also like to shoot, I also seek out previously-fired duplicates of all of my collectibles to use as shooters.

I also invest, but I don't buy collectible firearms as investments. Any appreciation in value is incidental to my purpose in collecting, which is simply to obtain and appreciate pristine masterworks of firearms engineering and craftsmanship and to preserve these specimens in the like-new condition in which I found them. Maybe one or more of my children (all but one presently unborn) will appreciate them in the same way I do. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just sell them off when I've reached a ripe old age and add the proceeds to their inheritance. At the same time, even though I don't collect firearms as investments, it seems rather stupid and wasteful to me to fire a few rounds through certain guns when the effect is to knock $500 or $1,000 off of their value. I'd rather just locate another copy that has already seen range use than simply flush money down the toilet.

I've never considered myself to be the most open-minded dude in any group, but this topic always seems to bring up a number of posts describing a complete loss of understanding as to why or how anyone might ever have the desire to purchase or own a firearm that they have no intention of shooting. Makes me chuckle.

Same. You have to laugh, really. I've never understood what was so difficult to comprehend about the concept.

It's like full auto guns...
I have zero desire for them, mostly because of their intrinsic cost/value, the way they eat ammo and the laws that disgust me which surround them. Even still, I can easily see how others are drawn to them and seeing some of the write-ups that a poster like Machineguntony put up are totally enjoyable to read. He chases them and you can read his passion when he writes on 'em and tacks up some pictures. Another example is engraving, especially really ornate and hardcore engraving on firearms. I just don't understand that, but I can look at it and see what's been accomplished with it.

Exactly. There's nothing about engraved guns that appeals to me, but I can appreciate someone's collection of finely-engraved handguns, shotguns, etc., and their excitement in putting it together. Most commemorative editions of guns do nothing at all for me, but I can certainly appreciate and understand someone's enthusiasm in assembling a collection of every single variation of Colt Python or Luger or Colt 1911 or Beretta 92 or SIG P210 or CZ 75 or whatever, even if many of those individual variants don't appeal to me personally.

I think it's odd for someone to see something like that and condemn it like it's pure lunacy simply because they wouldn't do it. Something as innocuous as owning or purchasing a firearm that *GULP* they would never shoot, ever.

Really, there are a slew of different hobbyist-type objects we could come up with that don't get put in to service use as they may have originally been intended, but it doesn't seem to generate wild commentary about how nutty the very idea is to own one for the pride or wonder of having it and not actually shooting it.

Agreed. It's odd, but it's amusing. The thing I get the biggest kick out of is reading those certain posts that insinuate some kind of moral condemnation to go along with the failure of comprehension regarding the motivation to collect. Works for me if that's how people feel about it. The fewer people who understand it, the less competition I have in acquiring the things I want. :D
 
I'm an art history professor. I understand collecting and appreciating art.

Guns aren't art. They are functional and were meant to be used. If people want to treat them like art that's up to them. Like I said, I don't make that kind of money.
 
Guns aren't art. They are functional and were meant to be used.

The analogy need not be a perfect one in order to sustain the general point.

Postage stamps were also meant to be "used," but lo and behold, for some set of enthusiasts they now have a purpose and nature that transcends the original and much more nearly approaches that of art qua art. For some, children's toys from, say, the 1930s are certainly not things to be purchased and turned over to some young child for him or her to beat on. An 1804 silver dollar was meant to be exchanged as legal tender, nothing more, but you'd be rather foolish to insist on hewing to its original use today. (I don't believe Duchamp's "Fountain" is serving its original function, either. Nor some number of da Vinci's mechanical inventions. Etc., etc.)

And so on. Any number of objects with time (and limited supply) acquire uses/purposes not implied in their original designs.
 
I understand the collector angle

There is serious money tied up in it.
Not for me. Not shooting a gun seems kind of a sin.
 
I don't understand having a gun that has never been fired. How would I know that it worked properly? Wouldn't you hate to have a gun for decades and then find out there was a manufacturing problem with it.

How would you feel if you had a gun like the Remington R51 that was a problem from day one and you found out decades later. I have 2 guns with a lifetime warranty but the others had a one year warranty. Also, what good would a lifetime warranty be if the company goes out of business?
 
I have not ruined any revolver so far. I use them for their intended purpose and absolutely agree with Saxon Pig; they are not art. They are built for my pleasure and for me to appreciate shooting them.

I needed to fix a few S&W revolvers when they developped issues and have put some wear on a Colt Python and some of my Korths.

Korths are great shooters and it is sad that most of them end up in some dark safe. Last week end I fed one of my Korths some .357 Mag loads that I would not dare shooting in my S&W M19s:).

I finally have improved my cast bullets with gas checks and found a decent load to perform well at 25 meters. My thumb still hurts from recoil and I know how to grip the beast.

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Metalboy,

we have only one life to live, we should enjoy the things we have.

I feel priviledged owning many fine wheelguns and try to justify owning the "best" by trying to put them to good use.
 
[QUOTEI don't understand having a gun that has never been fired. How would I know that it worked properly? Wouldn't you hate to have a gun for decades and then find out there was a manufacturing problem with it.

How would you feel if you had a gun like the Remington R51 that was a problem from day one and you found out decades later. I have 2 guns with a lifetime warranty but the others had a one year warranty. Also, what good would a lifetime warranty be if the company goes out of business?][/QUOTE]

No human weakness is beyond my comprehension. If you pour $4,600 into a new Korth, one serious scratch can cost you more than many people have invested in their entire little collection. It vexed me when I did let someone shoot my Korth and he added a neat scratch ejectong the brass and letting the extractor star ride over the recoil shield.

Saxon Pig has an appreciation of fine wheel guns that not many share or really appreciate enough to dig deep enough in their pockets for.
 
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