Stopped at a shop today, the guy had a Ballard 32 rimfire he was going to reline the barrel to 32-40. The guy I was with started in on the several Ballards he has and others he had owned in the past....
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Benelli M2 Tactical. What a beautifully machined functional work of art. Then I shot it. Hated the controls. Hated the pistol grip. Really hated the outsize recoil. Sold it through Gunbroker to a woman who bought it as a birthday gift for her husband. I was really happy to see it move on. She was having trouble finding one at the time, so was happy to get it. I ended up talking him through some technical details regarding it's assembly. He was happy to have it.
I used the money to buy a 1301 Comp Pro. Now I'm really happy.
I don’t sell too many guns, definitely don’t wheel and deal. One that I’m glad to be rid of was a Super Blackhawk in 44 magnum— the one with the squared off trigger guard that was sure to leave you with bloody knuckles. I took it in on a trade. That gun convinced me I’m not a big bore guy. Was glad to see that one go.
Just tonight I sold on GB an HK-marked Benelli M1 Super 90 that I had purchased in the mid 90s. Short barrel, pistol grip, rifle sights (I was too impatient to wait for the ghost rings). I mostly loved that shotgun for all these years though the stock was 2” too long. Anyway, I really love that I sold it for a bit more than I paid for it. I jumped in the 1301 Tactical craze awhile back and I like it even better, making the M1 superfluous.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Jumping on the 40S&W band wagon back in the mid '90's
HK USP40 - limited to 10 rd mags back then. Big and blocky plus it never displayed much accuracy. I suspect due to 40 being new, they hadn't figured out bullet weights /profiles. It was reliable though. Traded it for a G23.
Glock 23 - More size efficient than the HK with 10 rd magazines....still was only minute of pie plate accurate for me so traded it for a CZ75B in 40S&W. THAT pistol was all kinds of accurate for me and anyone else I let try it.
Winchester Model 94 30-30 - Push button safety broke in half...took Winchester a month to repair it so in my youthful disgust, I immediately traded it for a Marlin 30-30 and was much happier. Killed my first 2 deer and a pissed off hog at CQB distance with that rifle.
If we're just talking firearms that were traded/sold in general, and not just this year, then i went trough a buying/trading phase probably for about a decade starting in the mid 00s. At one point I had a firearm on layaway at every gun store in the area (about 4) at the same time.
Just the Sig 228 i think I had 4 or 5 of but not at the same time. Dont even want to think about all the 3rd gen SW guns, which were all hitting the surplus market at that time! Dozens of Mosins! It didnt help when one of the stores deals with tons of police trades and is very very lax on their 60 day layaway policy.
99.9% of the guns were traded locally for the next thing.
An AMT Hardballer, stainless 5" 1911, in the late '70s. It was unreliable, had bad galling issues, and a tendency to shed the front sight.
An unreliable Kimber TLE RL II (with the external extractor) in the early 2000s. It broke the thumb safety at about 1200rds.
An unreliable Remington 700P with the detachable magazine, in the late '90s or early 2000s.