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Thread: A Farewell to "Collecting" Arms

  1. #1
    Vending Machine Operator
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    A Farewell to "Collecting" Arms

    When I first joined this forum, I was an accumulator. I had just graduated law school, found a job, and for the first time in my life had a sizable paycheck and, with the end of a long-term relationship, nobody to criticize how I spent it. The result was that for about two years I accumulated guns like flypaper grabs flies. Every sale I saw I found a way to justify. In the space of three years my collection grew from 7 guns, give or take (gifts and those bought from high school and college jobs) to around 25.

    I never envisoned my collection shrinking. Why would it? I grabbed everything under the sun. At one point, I had no fewer than 6 (Beretta 92FS, 92A1, 92S, Glock 17, HK VP9, Sig P226) 9mm full-size duty-style guns. Different triggers and actions, no rhythm or rhyme to training, no consistency to carry or ammo selection.

    When I started posting on pistol-forum, the experienced regulars told me to knock off the accumulating and start shooting, to pick my favorites, buy duplicates, and put rounds downrange. To me that sounded so boring. Guns were my fun thing, not work! I kept accumulating.

    Until this year, when I read a Dave Ramsay book, crossed from my 20s into my 30s, and realized I was, in fact, aging and money is, in fact, finite. Much more importantly, time is finite.

    I reluctantly shelved my DA/SA guns after consistently better shooting with striker-fired guns with no external safety. I standardized ammo. I gave up years of dogged defense of .40 S&W and standardized to 9mm with an occasional dalliance in .45. I sold 10 guns. I spent more range time. This year, for the first time ever, I saw a substantial increase in my shooting skills. Not only was I maintaining my skills, I was appreciably improving. My most recent range trip last week was one of the best thrills of my shooting life. I was only there to function test guns, not even shooting for accuracy or slow-firing, and I found myself shooting consistently well at longer ranges than I used to be comfortable with.

    Most importantly, and this is why I am posting this thread, for other newer shooters, newly employed younger folks, or anyone still stuck in the accumulating phase....I realized that there is nothing special about accumulating.

    The ten guns I sold? I didn't miss eight of them. The two I missed? They were easy to re-acquire in newer and better form. My Sig P220R made me miss having a non-1911 .45 in a modern duty style. My Smith M&P 2.0 .45 4.6" gives me almost the same accuracy, better durability, lighter weight, higher capacity, and better magazines. My 2.0 4'" Compact gave me an affordable stand in for the Glock 19 Gen4 I regretted selling and more time to weigh another one versus the 19 Gen5.

    It wasn't hard to get more guns. At all. It took a swipe of my debit card (no more credit, cash only, courtesy Mr. Ramsay). I had more choice than ever.

    The hard thing wasn't buying stuff. The hard thing was realizing buying stuff isn't a crutch for the ACTUAL hard stuff. Practice, consistency, and discipline. Just like diet, work, love, or anything else worth doing right.

    There is a reason they tell you to pick a 9mm, a holster, snap caps, a few crates of ammo, and practice. It works. You'll be better. You'll have the one thing money can't buy: a honed and developed skill.

    This was something of a late night ramble that distills to a Pistol-Forum classic: buy less, shoot more. Trust me on this one.
    State Government Attorney | Beretta, Glock, CZ & S&W Fan

  2. #2
    Site Supporter rob_s's Avatar
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    Great post, and my story froma similar age was pretty similar.

    The thing is, and I’ve only just come to realize this in the past couple of years, people have to learn for themselves. What I’ve discovered is, trying to get someone who is mid MOAR to calm down and go to the range, take a class, shoot a match, etc. is pretty futile. It’s a process that everyone has to go through for themselves, and accumulation is something most people never grow out of.

    The best remedy, I’ve found, is convincing people to go shoot a match. Either bynencouraging them online on forums like this, or actuallyntaking someone with you locally. While you can’t snap someone out of the cycle, what you can do is speed it up a bit by getting them to come to the realization that guns serve a purpose, guns aren’t the purposes, all on their own.

  3. #3
    Four String Fumbler Joe in PNG's Avatar
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    While I haven't totally shed my accumulator ways, I have sold off a few of the more superfluous guns from the collection, and have tried to stick to 9mm TDA/DAO autos in the pistol department.

    I've also traded up into a couple of K Frames, but that's never a bad thing.

    One thing I've learned in our little local matches is that a carbine/ braced pistol with RDS beats a handgun any day.
    "You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
    "I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI

  4. #4
    Site Supporter
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    The thrill of shooting better has surpassed the thrill of trying out a new pistol.

    The thrill of pursuing improved skills has surpassed the thrill of trying out a new pistol.

  5. #5
    Member
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    Rochester Hills, MI
    I guess I’m fortunate enough to have never had the budget to really be a collector. I have exactly 5 guns specifically for “collection” purposes, but even they have some sort of pragmatic or sentimental role they fulfill. The rest have a reason to be there because they have a purpose.

    I’m invested enough in 9mm Glocks that I won’t move away from them. I’m dabbling in TDA platforms again because I see the benefit to them and I think I’ve made a choice on which direction to go there. Everything else (AR - everyone needs a carbine, 10/22 - everyone needs a .22LR rifle, Mossberg 500 - everyone needs a shotgun, T3x - bolt action helps put food on the table, M&P pistols - the wife has her preferences) has a purpose.

    As much as I like handling and seeing the cool shiny new stuff that’s out there I’ve always had the burning desire to be a better shooter than I am right now. As a result, I’ve always spent more money on ammo than guns. It’s just now that I’ve found this forum and learned of people that have shown me just how far you can push technical skill, that ammo budget has only gone up.


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  6. #6
    Member
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    Columbus Ohio Area

    A Farewell to "Collecting" Arms

    25 guns makes you an American, not a collector. A collector is like: “Yeah, that piece is over in C wing.”

    Here’s a tip from a friend who is also on the forum.

    1 is none, 2 is 1, 3 is for parts for #1, 4 is for the wife, 5 is for the guest, 6 is to try a weird optics setup, 7 is the suppressed setup, 8 and 9 so your kids can find spare parts when you pass them down one day. So, having 9 of each type of firearm is perfectly reasonable.


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    Last edited by Josh Runkle; 08-09-2018 at 07:21 AM.

  7. #7
    My divorce made me simplify my life dramatically.. not much a man can’t protect with a couple Glock 19s, a Glock 43, and a general purpose carbine..

  8. #8
    Member BCG's Avatar
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    Colorado
    Quote Originally Posted by LockedBreech View Post
    The result was that for about two years I accumulated guns like flypaper grabs flies. Every sale I saw I found a way to justify. In the space of three years my collection grew from 7 guns, give or take (gifts and those bought from high school and college jobs) to around 25.

    I never envisoned my collection shrinking. Why would it? I grabbed everything under the sun. At one point, I had no fewer than 6 (Beretta 92FS, 92A1, 92S, Glock 17, HK VP9, Sig P226) 9mm full-size duty-style guns. Different triggers and actions, no rhythm or rhyme to training, no consistency to carry or ammo selection.

    When I started posting on pistol-forum, the experienced regulars told me to knock off the accumulating and start shooting, to pick my favorites, buy duplicates, and put rounds downrange.
    Oh yes, I've been through that phase. A few times. And not just guns; I'm past the point in my life where I'm interested in collecting things simply for the sake of collecting and go through the regular uncluttering and purging phases (e.g., recently I finally sold off my comic book collection, which I hadn't read in years, and turned out to be worth keeping for the past 25+ years. And don't get me started on the boxes of old computer parts I had saved because I used to fix everybody else's computers). If I didn't have so much crap to start with, I would have been done years ago.

    Of course, the influences of things like my friends, various gun forums, and movies and TV don't help when it comes to still wanting to buy guns. But at this point in life, I'm more likely to get something just to try it and then quickly sell/trade it if I don't like it or need it, rather than keeping it "just because" for another 20 or so years.

    You're definitely not alone in your line of thinking. More than a few of us have had similar thoughts, judging by the "Priorities and minimalization" discussion here a few years ago.
    Priorities And Minimalization

    #1 08-31-2015 09:20 AM
    ASH556

    This thought has been kicking around in my head more and more lately and in some ways, it ties into the thoughts in the "knowing you'll never win" thread [ link ]. I'm 32 years old, have been married to my wife for 8 years and we currently have 2.5 year and 9 month old boys. I just started a new job . . . Theoretically that puts me in a place to shoot more (more time and more available funds) but to be honest, I find my priorities shifting, probably as a result of less stress and more time at home. I'm finding that I'd rather put my time and money into family time . . . The biggest glut in my life is firearms. Part of this comes from having worked in a gun shop (catering to "tactical", LE, Mil) for the last 14 years . . . Anyway, in order to afford more fun things with my family, I'm tempted to sell off some of the glut . . .
    #32 09-01-2015 05:19 AM
    rob_s

    I think a lot of gun owners go through similar ebbs and flows over the years. I'm 40, and I've been doing the gun thing since before I was 20, and I can think of several stages of binges and purges. I'm starting a purge now myself . . . .
    #37 09-01-2015 09:19 AM
    Blayglock

    I understand where you are at. I went through this Tyler Durden, anti-materialism shift about a year ago and have started selling off most everything I consider superflous . . . .
    #71 09-06-2015 11:28 PM
    Salamander

    Excellent discussion. I don't really have a good answer, just a few random thoughts:

    I've spent much of my adult life accumulating things. Now I feel like it's a weight, and I'm shedding stuff at a slow but steady pace, as time allows. It's not about money, I have little debt and have a good job and could easily buy more.

    The rifle collection has been mostly pared, it's the handguns that are still too prolific and I'm struggling with deciding what to get rid of. That's ironic, because none of the ones sold in the past have been missed. I feel like if all those guns weren't in my safe it wouldn't be hard to get by with replacing just a couple. I have at least
    stopped buying more.

    That said, there are a few guns I'm keeping simply because I enjoy them. I don't "need" them, they're simply fun to shoot.

    There are days that I envy the fictional Jack Reacher, wandering around with just a toothbrush, a debit card, a passport, and a few dollars cash. I couldn't do it without hurting those close to me and I'm way too responsible anyway. Still, there's the fantasy and curiously, a couple of close friends have told me similar stories.
    #72 09-07-2015 12:27 AM
    GardoneVT


    Minimalism with firearms makes a lot of sense when one considers some things.

    While the Jack Reacher stage may be a bit much , the other extreme is as conceptually excessive as it is common. Stockpiling arms until the floor joists warp under the weight of the safes is socially accepted in the gun community. It's a shame most of us are logistically forbidden from ever being good with any of them.

    All of us have a logistical limit to the time and money we can spend building shooting skill. Whether the limit is far out (Robbie Leatham) or not (single parent with a used gun and a pile of bills) , none of us have infinite time and money to spend on building skill. Once one owns more guns then they can effectively practice with, its like owning concert tickets to a show youll never go to; why bother owning them?

    . . .

    How many folks have entire college funds tied up in metal boxes? Thousands of dollars in metal and plastic accumulating dust, for what? If The Walking Dead come you won't be marching through the Post Apocalyptic Wilderness with a Liberty Safe strapped to your back . If some armed jerkoffs kick in your door, you'll be solving the problem with whatever gun is next to you . They're unlikely to wait outside while you run to the safe to pick out what you wanna shoot them with.
    My dream is to have a closet like Arnold Schwarzenegger's in Last Action Hero, where he had multiples of the same jeans, shirts, jackets, boots, and guns in a row. It would make every morning so much easier...

    Name:  Last Action Hero neat closet.jpg
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    Last edited by BCG; 08-09-2018 at 07:41 AM.
    Yippee ki-yay

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by BCG View Post

    My dream is to have a closet like Arnold Schwarzenegger's in Last Action Hero, where he had multiples of the same jeans, shirts, jackets, boots, and guns in a row. It would make every morning so much easier...
    That's a thing. It's called choice minimalism.

    "Choice Minimalism: Why Mark Zuckerberg wears the same thing every day."

    https://medium.com/startup-grind/cho...y-2f132f1b5706


    TLDR - wearing the same clothes every day reduces the number of decisions you must make. Making pointless decisions reduces performance.

    (Naturally, some say it's all BS and there's no such thing as decision fatigue.)
    Last edited by BigD; 08-09-2018 at 07:57 AM.

  10. #10
    Revolvers Revolvers 1911s Stephanie B's Avatar
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    Yeah, but I'm not going to stop buying decent K frames when I see them. (N frames are mostly too pricey.)
    If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.

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