Why do you sell a gun

My modest collection tends to grow over time as I pick up good deals here and there. I eventually wake to the fact that I have one or more that I don't shoot, and have no plans to. Those I sell. I will also buy something just to "check it out." If it doesn't float my boat, it will get flipped fairly quickly ... like the SA 1911 I sold two years ago.

I have more than I need, and I'm not emotionally attached to any of them, so easy come, easy go.
 
I live paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to just straight out buy a new gun everytime something new comes out I wanna try so I'll sell one or trade one off for it. It's a way for me to try a bunch of different firearms without going completely broke all the time.
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Same here for the most part, although of the 2 that I have sold or traded, #1 (KT P3AT) just didn't fit - couldn't get enough hand on it to prevent "limp wristing" no matter how hard I gripped it. Traded for #2 (RIA CS) with some serious factory machining issues, tore up jackets on the ramp, wrecked brass with the extractor, and failed to go to battery 50% of the time.

There are two I will never sell (if possible, that is) - Beretta 92 (my first and favorite) and GP100 (2nd fav & the one I traded the RIA off on)
 
I don't sell guns and I don't have a vast collection. I've only owned one gun that I don't still own and that was an 11-87 slug gun which I never liked and only owned because rifles aren't allowed where I hunt. After I got my Encore handgun I no longer needed the 11-87 so I traded it for a 270WSM, which I don't "need" either but at least I don't hate it.
Looks like maybe rifles will be allowed soon where I hunt so the 270 might suddenly be "needed".:)
 
^^^+1^^^

Don't sell them either.

But then again, after many years of collecting the little that I have, I just don't buy guns at the rate I used to.

There are a few on the 'like to have' list..and will most likely make room for them by giving a few away to family members.

I sold a few over the years including a Zouave I sold in my late teens or early 20's. Regret selling it still today. I've found that my interests in cartridge, BP guns as well as bows is revolving so when I get tired of shooting one thing I can switch up for awhile.
 
I've had three phases in my life-

-Sell them to pay bills/put food on the table
-Sell/trade for the next "gotta have" gun
-Buy and keep, I don't have many but they all serve a purpose and accomplish it well

In the first phase I was a cash strapped young man with a family in the military
In the second phase I was solvent and trying to find the gun
In my final phase I've figured out what works for me
 
RamItOne said:
I personally am very happy with all of my firearms, I usually spend a good deal of time debating on guns. Maybe I've just gotten lucky with my buys. But I can't see selling one to fund another purchase or because I got bored with it...
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I traded up twice in a row. I bought an inexpensive new .22 semi-auto rifle and traded it in toward what I thought was a more desirable used .22 lever action. But after shooting each of them for a while, I found that neither of them really met my needs.
So I traded in the .22 lever action toward a much more desirable center fire rifle that was a limited production and which I still own today many years later. Even though there was a small monetary loss on each of the 1st two trade in's, I wouldn't have been able to come up with the cash for the last gun as easily as by simply trading in a gun which I wasn't totally thrilled with the performance of anyway.
Now I've also reaquired the same 1st model of .22 semi-auto again, which I did have a particular use for a short period of time. But I don't use it that much and I now have other .22's that are more suitable for the purpose. So I may keep it for occasional use, or let my kids have it some day, or sell it if I think that there's another gun that I want more.
People keep what they really want to keep and they sell the guns that may not really care much about either way. If that's considered to be boredom then so be it. But I tend to think that keeping a gun is more about weighing its current suitability and usefulness against buying another gun or using the money from the sale for something else altogether. :)
 
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Never sold one, have given one away to Brother-in-law, Have more than I really need and plan on keeping them for the rest of my life, then they will be passed on to Children and Grandchildren . (Not to soon I hope :D)
 
Howdy, new guy here.
I love my guns, I think they're beautiful from a purely mechanical point of view. I have as much fun disassembling and cleaning them as I do shooting them.
Every time I sell one I regret it for a few days or years. Well, except for an SKS I owned once. Oh, and a CAI Tantal Sporter. One was ugly, and the other was a POS.
Not long ago, I acquired then sold a stainless Ruger MkII Government Competition model. I called the guy and told him I'd give him a piece of reloading equipment if he brought it back. That gun was just too pretty to let go.
 
I go through different "gun phases" just like most people.

Phase 1 - cheap revolvers
Phase 2 - Varmint Rifles
Phase 3 - Semi-auto 9mm's
Phase 4 - Assault Pistols (semi-auto; late '80's)
Phase 5 - Military Style Rifles
Phase 6 - High Capacity handguns and anything "banned"
Phase 7 - Machinegun
Phase 8 - O/U Shotguns
Phase 9 - small carry guns
Phase 10 - The "Classics" - Pythons & 1st Gen Colts.

I'm sort of entering into a new phase - becoming interested limited production high-quality semi-autos. I'm still in the acquiring mode for the classics, military style rifles, and carry guns. Every now and then I'll purge the things that are just taking up space and don't "do it" for me anymore. Here's a short list of things I've sold in the past:

1960's S&W Model 10;
INA knock-off of a S&W snub-nose .38;
Remington 700 22-250;
'50's Chinese SKS;
Closed Bolt Ingram M10;
Open Bolt Cobray M10 Carbine;
Taurus PT-99; Ruger 10-22

I'm sure there were others, but that's all I can recall for now. Of those, I don't really regret selling any of them - well, maybe I wouldn't mind still having that Model 10 - it was a great shooter. But, the money acquired from selling these guns went back into buying higher quality firearms. I think I may be ready to purge a few more things, but before I do, I want to have something "earmarked" for acquisition.
 
I like buying and selling guns. If I see a good deal on something that I am maybe only moderately interested in, I'll buy it if I know I can make money. Then I take it out and shoot it. Sometimes I love the gun and keep it, sometimes it goes on the chopping block next time I see something I know I want. Sometimes I buy something I think I want and it ends up not living up to expectations. I have no trouble selling something I don't care for, or if I want something else more. Unless it's something I really want though, I'm buying at prices that I can at least break even on. Most of the time I make $50-$100 on resale.
 
I've never sold a gun for any reason than to fund another gun. I sold four guns in 2010, to buy a gun that was supposed to be introduced that year, but am still waiting. I've been tempted a few times to spend the money on my car.
 
You sell because you realize you bought a gun that doesnt go bang every time you pull the trigger AND you have eliminated the possibility that the ammo is at fault. - see Taurus

or

You realize you bought a gun to be a mall ninja and now you have matured. - See Glock
 
I think most long time gun owners go through a normal evolutionary process as their needs and wants change over time. For me it started with (aside from the obligatory .22) heavy caliber revolvers as my main focus was big game hunting. After that I mostly gave up hunting and also served as a LEO. At this point the long barreled revolvers left in favor of mid-caliber 9mm, .40 S&W double action autoloaders. Finally, thirty years later, I use handguns for SD in the great outdoors and informal target shooting. The four that I currently own will, I think, remain with me for the rest of my life without any change. They are: 1. Ruger mkIII .22lr
2. S&W bodyguard .38spl+P
3. RIA 1911A1 match .45acp
4. Ruger Blackhawk .45 colt
 
I've sold them in the past to buy a different one and learn/experience a different platform/brand. I'd really would've loved to keep them all, but i'm not made of money.
 
As other have said, I usually sell guns to fund purchasing different guns.

I am not a collector. If I have multiple guns that fill the same roll I sell one.

I'd rather have one gun really tuned to my specifications than have a bunch of off the rack rifles.
 
If I sell a gun, it's generally cause I don't shoot it, AND it has no sentimental value. The reason I don't shoot it may be because I don't like it, or because it is of a platform than I don't need. Guns are just tools, and useless tools have no place in my life. Tools passed down or given to me by ancestors or friends are cherished, regardless of their worth.
 
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