testtest

Selling & Trading Guns

wmg1299

wmg1299

Professional
I’ve decided to add an M1A Scout Squad to my collection. I have the cash, but my safe is getting a little crowded and I was thinking of trying to trade some of my guns for credit toward the purchase. I have a scoped Remington 770 that I purchased years ago for a hunting trip that got cancelled. I also have a scoped Savage 64 FXP that I bought for my sons during the post Sandy Hook shortage. I was able to find two Ruger 10/22’s a few weeks later, which my kids fell in love with, and we never fired either the 770 or the FXP. I also have a few semi-auto handguns that I just never really developed any attachment to.

I have only traded or sold one gun in my lifetime. My entire academy class purchased Glock 27’s as backups because we were issued Glock 22’s as duty weapons. I traded away the 27 when the department switched to 9mm years later, and occasionally find myself missing that gun (mainly because I can find 40 S&W ammo a lot easier than 9mm).

I was advised many years ago to never sell or trade a gun, but I’m getting tempted to give it another shot. Do those of you who have traded guns in the past usually end up missing what you traded away, or are you mostly satisfied with the trades?
 
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There are very few guns that I’ve traded/sold that I’ve missed; I’m talking single digits among the dozens I’ve moved over the years.

If you’ve had them that long, and haven’t shot them...you’re not going to miss them...and the models you’ve mentioned? All easily replaced if you decide you do.

Get yourself a new G27, for that matter...if you truly miss it, it’s a pretty easy piece to replace.
 
I sold a couple to pay for school years ago. I missed them frequently. Replacing them was one of the first things I did when I landed a good gig. I won't be selling any guns in the future unless I lose faith in them, as I did with my P320 earlier this year after reading about the continued safety problems. I traded it in on a S&W 686 and have no regrets about that one.
 
I've only regreted selling only about two overall. Recenly, I've sold several in the last 12 months that either weren't working for me based on their design, and/or were extras in the inventory. None of the sales compromised my operational needs so there's no regret there, but provided some extra funds which have helped me fill in gaps in other needs.
 
wmg1299 said:
I’ve decided to add an M1A Scout Squad to my collection. I have the cash, but my safe is getting a little crowded and I was thinking of trying to trade some of my guns for credit toward the purchase. I have a scoped Remington 770 that I purchased years ago for a hunting trip that got cancelled. I also have a scoped Savage 64 FXP that I bought for my sons during the post Sandy Hook shortage. I was able to find two Ruger 10/22’s a few weeks later, which my kids fell in love with, and we never fired either the 770 or the FXP. I also have a few semi-auto handguns that I just never really developed any attachment to.

I have only traded or sold one gun in my lifetime. My entire academy class purchased Glock 27’s as backups because we were issued Glock 22’s as duty weapons. I traded away the 27 when the department switched to 9mm years later, and occasionally find myself missing that gun (mainly because I can find 40 S&W ammo a lot easier than 9mm).

I was advised many years ago to never sell or trade a gun, but I’m getting tempted to give it another shot. Do those of you who have traded guns in the past usually end up missing what you traded away, or are you mostly satisfied with the trades?
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For many years I would have never traded or sold a gun. I was also fortunate to never be in a situation where I needed more money than I was earning which made it easy to take that kind of stand.

Some guns I ended up not liking very much, and some I liked less when something "better" came out. Still I kept them and just ended up buying more safes. Years ago I fell in love with Colt snake guns and ended up buying Cobras, Diamondbacks in both .22LR and .38 special in both 4" and 6", Pythons in 2 1/2", 4", 6" and 8" in both blue and stainless, and the Anacondas. Frankly, I had more fun looking at them and cleaning them than shooting them so into a safe they went.

Some guns like my Marlin 39s mostly were heavily used but then they became worth so much they also went into the safe and I started shooting my Ruger bolt action stainless steel rifles instead. Some handguns went into the safe because something better came along. My Detonics Combat Master and Auto Nine were replaced by smaller and lighter ones (Glock 30 and Glock 36) that were eventually replaced themselves by SA XDs .45 and a Bond Arms Bullpup which is now replaced with a SA Hellcat.

The end result was a whole lot of guns that are never being used. My son now lives in California and works in a field where guns and gun owners are hated. So, since last year (2019) I have been selling guns and selling guns. Some, like the snake guns, turned into super investments, others not so much. I would have sold even more of them but COVID got in the way. If things let up later this year, I will continue to sell anything I'm not actually using.

So, what is my advice to you? You should end up doing what feels right for you.
 
Well, over the past 20-30 yrs I've only bought one new gun .... my Hellcat about a year ago, and have sold none in that time. However, before that when I was much more active with hunting and shooting sports I bought and sold fairly regularly. And I can honestly say I've regretted selling every single one I sold, regardless of the reason for selling.

Making it somewhat easier to see them go was the fact that I never, not even once sold any gun to anyone I didn't know personally as a responsible, law-abiding gun owner. That's right, of the probably several dozen I sold over the years, not one was sold to someone I didn't know personally. I'm not necessarily saying there's anything wrong with selling to an unknown buyer, just that it's always been a pet peev and personal priority for me not to.

And even those guns I rarely used for hunting and/or competitions, afterwards I was always sorry to some extent that I had sold them. But very few of them did I ever 'replace' just to continue to rarely use them. Y'all know what I mean?
 
KLGunner said:
Word to the wise especially in this day and age. Never sell or trade your firearms. The trace always starts with the first purchaser. Learned this the hard way with a Ruger pistol I pawned when I was in a rough time several years back.
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Yeah they may come to you asking what happened to the gun, but it's not your responsibility after you sell it. I have a couple of guns I bought from cops for cash. My advice is to do your due diligence though. Only sell or trade with people you know or else do it through a FFL. The only legal issue that could hang you up is if you sell to a felon and they can somehow prove you knew they were a felon. It's much easier not to get involved in that kind of a mess though.
 
Bassbob said:
Yeah they may come to you asking what happened to the gun, but it's not your responsibility after you sell it. I have a couple of guns I bought from cops for cash. My advice is to do your due diligence though. Only sell or trade with people you know or else do it through a FFL. The only legal issue that could hang you up is if you sell to a felon and they can somehow prove you knew they were a felon. It's much easier not to get involved in that kind of a mess though.
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I have kept information on everyone I’ve sold to, anyone has questions let them ask.
 
I have 3 lingering regrets. A Colt match target H-Bar II, a Benelli M4 and my first generation Mossberg 590. I let them go thinking," they're currently in production, I'll replace them no problem. " man, was I wrong. Colt stopped production, and Benelli and Mossberg are near impossible to find.
Aside from those 3, all others, couldn't care less. I have transfer records for all within the last 10 years, that's it. When the deal reaches 10 years I destroy the records. (Illinois law to maintain for 10)
 
Bassbob said:
Yeah they may come to you asking what happened to the gun, but it's not your responsibility after you sell it. I have a couple of guns I bought from cops for cash. My advice is to do your due diligence though. Only sell or trade with people you know or else do it through a FFL. The only legal issue that could hang you up is if you sell to a felon and they can somehow prove you knew they were a felon. It's much easier not to get involved in that kind of a mess though.
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Many of the guns I’ve sold/traded have gone to friends; of the ones that didn’t, Minnesota requires a “permit to purchase” handguns or “assault weapons”—it’s basically a background check your local sheriff/PD runs on you before you can buy a handgun or “aw” from a dealer (a carry permit acts as a permit to purchase as well). Whenever I sold a gun to someone I didn’t know, I required them to have either a carry permit or permit to purchase for any gun (not just handguns/AW’s)...or else I would require having an FFL do the transfer.

Some people didn’t like it, but that didn’t bother me.
 
HansGruber said:
Many of the guns I’ve sold/traded have gone to friends; of the ones that didn’t, Minnesota requires a “permit to purchase” handguns or “assault weapons”—it’s basically a background check your local sheriff/PD runs on you before you can buy a handgun or “aw” from a dealer (a carry permit acts as a permit to purchase as well). Whenever I sold a gun to someone I didn’t know, I required them to have either a carry permit or permit to purchase for any gun (not just handguns/AW’s)...or else I would require having an FFL do the transfer.

Some people didn’t like it, but that didn’t bother me.
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No laws like that here. If I was dealing with someone I didn’t know I’d do it through a FFL though.
 
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