Why dont people like trading in their guns every few years?

In a very few years, the self-driving automobile is going to be on our streets, just after the autonomous cargo trucks and delivery vehicles, and I guarantee you that being a car salesman as a career choice is going to be the equivalent of a typewriter repairman. People are going to buy or even rent just one family vehicle for vacations and such, and use on-demand vehicles for commuting and local errands. Our cars are going to last 20 years just by being used on the weekends. Seniors are going to be able to live at home for years longer than they are now, given no need to drive themselves.

So if you want to consider technology and all that, start thinking about your employment, and not whether we should be trading firearms like cars.
 
Crap guys. My truck is 14 years old and I was thinking I could keep her on the road for at least another ten. I was just looking at front hitches to carry a cooler or such when camping. You guys have me rethinking the whole thing now.

US car companies marketed cars as disposable when they didn't have any competition. They built them for 3-5 years with average use.
Then the Japanese companies started building them for ten years use.
I wouldn't buy a car now if I didn't expect it to make at least 200,000 miles.

OTOH, police departments, where guns are generally worn daily and rarely maintained as they should be, often change guns pretty regularly. That may be closer to what most people do with cars.

IWI seems to be adopting the car sales model though!

Autonomous cars are really going to change things anyways. You ever judged the model year of someones yellow cab?
 
You'll have to explain to all of us the benefit of trading a gun in every 2-3 years.

If you trade in a 2013 model gun for a 2016 model of the same gun - you have the same gun, not a "new improved version' and you've lost 50% of your money by trading it in.

The new gun won't work any better, shoot any better, the only thing it MIGHT have is less wear showing on the exterior finish if you carry it a lot and regularly draw it from a holster.

The cosmetic wear is inconsequential as doesn't affect how the gun functions.

I have 50 year old guns. They look exactly the same as the day I purchased them because they've been lightly used and well taken care of. They all work exactly as they did when new.

Exactly what would the benefit be in trading in guns every 2-3 years? You'll have to very carefully explain why I would want to do that.

From my experience, there is no benefit.

Don't care about automobiles - the comparison isn't valid.
 
In a very few years, the self-driving automobile is going to be on our streets, just after the autonomous cargo trucks and delivery vehicles, and I guarantee you that being a car salesman as a career choice is going to be the equivalent of a typewriter repairman. People are going to buy or even rent just one family vehicle for vacations and such, and use on-demand vehicles for commuting and local errands. Our cars are going to last 20 years just by being used on the weekends. Seniors are going to be able to live at home for years longer than they are now, given no need to drive themselves.

So if you want to consider technology and all that, start thinking about your employment, and not whether we should be trading firearms like cars.
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The good thing about being in a sales based career is that it is very easy to change what you sell while still being good at it (the basics never change regardless of what you are selling). Over the years I have been a travel agent (that went away after people started buying tickets from Expedia and Orbitz), I sold insurance for a short while and later was making good money as a Realtor until I became a stock broker and now I am in the car business in the last few years mainly because of the benefits that I get by being employed by a Fortune 500 company like health care, 401k, etc. I can see the auto industry falling onto itself from the inside and its only a matter of time until it does. What Uber did to the Taxi business is what I think Tesla will do to the traditional car dealership format. Luckily for me there are always going to be products (Insurance, Real Estate, Stocks, Etc) I can sell and make nice commissions on... :)
 
US car companies marketed cars as disposable when they didn't have any competition.
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That's an Internet meme that's taken on a life of its own and people quote it as "fact."

Foreign competition had nothing to do with it. The buyer demographic at the time was to trade-in, or get a new automobile every 2-3 years. The cars were thought of as disposable by the people buying the cars. The buyers WANTED a new car every 2-3 years.

The other thing is that people rarely did regular preventive maintenance on the vehicles because they were going to get a new one in 2-3 years. There was no incentive to do regular preventive maintenance (PM). The result is that the cars didn't last as long as they could have.

I had a neighbor with a 1985 Ford Econoline. He changed the oil once a year, and did no other PM on the vehicle because, according to him, "It didn't need it."

The truck ran for 245,000 miles until it dropped a rod through the block. The failure had nothing to do with the quality of the vehicle, and everything to do with lack of PM.

What's interesting is the PM schedule setup by foreign car manufacturers on their vehicles in order to keep them running. I know on my Volvos, and BMWs it was quite extensive, with regular replacement of key parts. Preventive maintenance is the key variable in keeping a car running.

Any automobile built today can go for whatever mileage you choose to keep it as long as you do regular PM on the vehicle - regardless of who manufactured the vehicle.
 
30 years ago almost anybody could work on a chevy or ford. You could stand between the motor and the bumper and reach around the to get to any part of the motor you wanted. Now you have to be an electrician, a computer guru, ant man, and have lots of other talents to even see or work on parts of your vehicle. When you take it to someone to have it worked on they plug it into a computer to find out what's wrong with it.

With a gun just clean it oil it and wide it down. I've enjoyed these guns for 40 years I bet my kids and grandkids will too.
 
If I like it I keep it.
If I grow tired or it's very profitable to sell then I sell it.
I've sold three in 3 guns and in 20 years and drive a14 year old truck because I like it.
 
I have a colt detective special that is 48 years old....My Dodge is 48 years old and a sportorized Remington Model 1917 that is 98 years old....all 3 function great
 
That's an Internet meme that's taken on a life of its own and people quote it as "fact."
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I was told that in person by a frustrated Chrysler dealership owner. The internet had been invented, but I think I was connecting to AOL at ?14,400? during that period of time. 9.6 KB/S maybe.
You think people bought a foreign car and instantly started changing their oil more reliably?
I've been involved in the manufacture of car parts for almost every major US and Asian brand of car. I know what level of junk the various manufacturers will accept from their suppliers.

Now you have to be an electrician, a computer guru, ant man, and have lots of other talents to even see or work on parts of your vehicle. When you take it to someone to have it worked on they plug it into a computer to find out what's wrong with it.
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Wait until they cram smart guns down our throats. Remember many of those changes in cars were forced by safety and environmental regulations.

I just can't wait for my electric autonomous cab. The end of oil changes for me.
 
Add another voice to the "Why trade a 2-3 year old gun?" chorus. The 15 year old Gen3 Glock 17 I sold to a friend still worked just like the brand new Gen 4 Glock 19 I replaced it with. My 33-year old S&W K and L frame revolvers (they're older than me... ;) ) work exactly like my friend's brand new 617. Come to think of it, my couple year old Colt 6920 carbine operates EXACTLY like the '70s vintage Colt SP-1 my dad had when I was a teenager.

There just haven't been any significant leaps in firearms technology in the last 4-5 decades. We've changed the way they look, but a modern flat-top M4gery is functionally identical to an early Armalite AR-15. If you can take one apart, you'll be right at home working on the other. Same with shooting and using them.

Which makes me cringe and laugh when I see the "gun of the month" on the latest installment of a print gun magazine these days. Advertising and sales demand that the newest SIG, H&K, Glock, Ruger or whatever must be pronounced with superlatives as "the next revolution". Instead what you're getting is a new paint job and a fancy badge put on whatever proven platform the manufacturer uses. OK, the Ruger American Pistol was a new model, but it's still just a polymer framed 9mm or .45 ACP pistol, whose purpose it to launch little bits of metal to put holes in things. In practical terms it doesn't do anything a WWI P-08 Luger or 1911 doesn't do.

As for cars, technology and time DO in fact march on. My last car was a 10-year old Toyota Corolla I bought brand new in 2006. My new car is a 2016 Subaru Impreza. The new car has backup camera, 4-wheel disc brakes (with ABS), more airbags than a Congressional sub-committee, Bluetooth interface (this is probably my favorite feature), AWD with traction control and still gets 30+ mpg. It is a significant improvement to MY driving experience and I plan to keep this car at least 10-years/150k miles like I did the last one. Yes, I'm one of those "fools" who will buy a brand new car off the lot while completely ignoring the depreciation hit, because I'm planning to stick with it until the sales guys don't think I have money or credit based on what I drove up in.
 
Gun technology changes extremely slowly. My favorite hunting rifle is a JC Higgins Model 50, sold by Sears for $100 in 1950. It uses an FN Mauser action and a High Standard chrome lined barrel. I would have to pay over $1000 to buy a new gun anywhere near as good and would have to shop hard to find one. Even though it's old enough to qualify for Medicare, it's still nowhere near worn out and will still be quite usable in another 66 years.

So why trade it in?
 
With the exception of a mid-life crisis truck purchase that Toyota bailed me out of with the frame recall I always pay cash for reliable vehicles with around 100k miles. Those vehicles have depreciated way faster than the used guns that I've purchased.
 
What I would love to see in terms of gun development. Sure a lot of people will say it CANT be done but historically that has been proven wrong time and time again with a lot of things.

1. Guns with no/low recoil regardless of caliber.
2. Factory silent guns without a suppressor
3. Ammo that can instantly stop an attacker by releasing a chemical in their body that will make them stop (somewhat like a Tazer) regardless of where the projectile hits.
4. Gun that dont need cleaning ever or years before you have to clean them.

Sure. It sounds like science fiction right now but I do think with the right research and development weapons like that can be a reality.
 
The part about nostalgia most people forget is inflation. I had a bunch of 55'-57' Chevys. What would it cost to manufacture (An exact replica) one today? I think when a company does bring back a line of guns, they are not nearly as inflated as an auto would be, yet few people buy them. Guns can be manufactured way better than 60-100 years ago, but people will not pay the price. I certainly would not run out and buy a brand new 57' Chevy. I remember the wipers stopping when going up a hill, no heat in the back until you were a block from home, installing a hand choke, tube tires......
 
Some people do, but you're not likely to find them on this forum unless they're more enticed by the trading and acquisition of firearms than the actual ownership and use (would be an oddity here). You will get biased answers about it on a firearms forum where people are inherently sentimental. If you go to a guitar forum and ask why people trade in guitars all the time, you will probably get similar answers to what you get here.

There are new guns I want. There are guns I have that I haven't shot in a year that I could likely sell to buy the new guns. I like the guns I have regardless of not shooting them often. They are not likely to wear out, not likely to devalue (and could significantly increase in value in the right political climate), and there is sentiment attached to them.

I personally do know people who trade guns all the time. They just like shooting different guns and trade them often. Personally, I would want my carry gun and hunting rifle to stay pretty consistent, as well as any specialty guns (competition rifles etc.) whereas I could see guns being changed out often if they are being kept in a tackle box when fishing or bought as investments or to beat up for a hunting season and then pawn for Christmas money at the end of the yar.
 
I personally do know people who trade guns all the time. They just like shooting different guns and trade them often.
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I know people like that, I've been people like that. If you want to see real gun trading going on, its done between the vendors who have tables at guns shows, BEFORE the show opens. (and not just the FFL dealers)

We don't trade guns in at gunshops (autodealers), we trade them between each other, often with little or no cash involved.

And no, we don't trade our good carry gun or favorite hunting rifle, we trade the OTHER guns in our collections, the ones that we got just to check them out, and see what/how they were, and now, having done that, are ready to trade them for the next thing on the wish list.
 
Nothing wrong with people who do want to trade guns. I could see getting to a point where one day I pick up a gun to use it for a while and see what's up with it and trade it for something else.

Right now I'm still at the point where I have to really want every one I get which makes it really hard to want to trade any of mine
 
Sometimes you find a really good deal on a gun you don't really want. Too good of a deal to pass up. The little red man on your shoulder tells you to get it, it will be good trading material later.
 
I certainly would not run out and buy a brand new 57' Chevy. I remember the wipers stopping when going up a hill, no heat in the back until you were a block from home, installing a hand choke, tube tires......
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In the car business I have seen the older dinosaurs talk about their muscle cars from the 60s and 70s like they could run 10 second quarter miles straight from the dealership and were so much better than the muscle cars of today. In reality those older cars were heavy as tanks, overheated, god forbid you get into an accident without any of the safety features of today and drank gas like crazy. A modern V8 Camaro, Mustang or Challenger will give you all the power, reliability and the safety features while giving you close to 30mpg on the highway. Its human nature that we forget the bad while remembering the good.
 
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