Do we overvalue sentimental value of our guns?
- Thread starter FIGJAM
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After reading all posts in this thread it really reinforced a conclusion I recently came to.
My grandpa with whom I was very close recently passed away. He was not a big hunter but had a few nice guns and a ton of other very nice stuff, with great stories behind many of the things he owned. Stories that only My brother and I that spent a ton of time with him know.Unfortunatly He did not give anything to us before he passed and we are not included in his will.
I am guessing most of his stuff will be sold and most all these things history with their sentimental value will be lost.
So I personally will be giving my sentimental stuff, guns favorite hunting knives anything I feel will pass on a great memory to my kids,and anyone I feel would enjoy, and appreciate them,and use them while I am still very alive.
That way I will be able to enjoy seeing other people enjoy things that meant something to me. And hopefully the stories of that special rifle or other thing I gave away to the person of my choosing will live on!
Plus what good do those things in the safe do if they are not getting used and making new memories!
My grandpa with whom I was very close recently passed away. He was not a big hunter but had a few nice guns and a ton of other very nice stuff, with great stories behind many of the things he owned. Stories that only My brother and I that spent a ton of time with him know.Unfortunatly He did not give anything to us before he passed and we are not included in his will.
I am guessing most of his stuff will be sold and most all these things history with their sentimental value will be lost.
So I personally will be giving my sentimental stuff, guns favorite hunting knives anything I feel will pass on a great memory to my kids,and anyone I feel would enjoy, and appreciate them,and use them while I am still very alive.
That way I will be able to enjoy seeing other people enjoy things that meant something to me. And hopefully the stories of that special rifle or other thing I gave away to the person of my choosing will live on!
Plus what good do those things in the safe do if they are not getting used and making new memories!
I have already passed on one of my guns that belonged o my Father to My son. He knows I plan to leave him mine. The only problem is He lives in New York and the gun laws there will not allow him to have some of the guns I own. He will either have to sell them or move to a state he can have them. Only other alternative is to sell them. No problem there but hope he moves.
rustyshackleford
Well-Known Member
I know a guy who traded a ruger vaquero for a late 50's production model 70 safari in 458 Win mag, that his grandfather had sent through the custom shop. He apparently killed a water buffalo with it and the grandson only kept the buffalo mount because it was "cool".
reloaderlen
Well-Known Member
My grandfather had a large collection of rifles that were kept in his safe .
I would admire them when he would take them out for his hunts or the once a year wipe down that I was always involved in . He passed and left them to his son. To make a long story short my uncle had no kids and I was like a son to him so he said . When he passed and every one was dividing things up everyone knew the gun safe and fishing poles , tools
Were mine. A huge safe and I had no combination . Five different lock smiths and not one of them could open it. So with a 4" grinder and a boat load of cutoff wheels I proceed to cut it open , two hours later it came open only to find one Jc Higgins's 12 ga and 8 take off rifle barrels with a note that said if you are reading this I am dead. Sorry I had to sell the guns for Super Bowl tickets. Hope you understand.
That really sucked!!!
I hope he went to more than one
Super Bowl.
I would admire them when he would take them out for his hunts or the once a year wipe down that I was always involved in . He passed and left them to his son. To make a long story short my uncle had no kids and I was like a son to him so he said . When he passed and every one was dividing things up everyone knew the gun safe and fishing poles , tools
Were mine. A huge safe and I had no combination . Five different lock smiths and not one of them could open it. So with a 4" grinder and a boat load of cutoff wheels I proceed to cut it open , two hours later it came open only to find one Jc Higgins's 12 ga and 8 take off rifle barrels with a note that said if you are reading this I am dead. Sorry I had to sell the guns for Super Bowl tickets. Hope you understand.
That really sucked!!!
I hope he went to more than one
Super Bowl.
rustyshackleford
Well-Known Member
What the hell
I know I do. My grandfather left me a .22 rifle that had hung on 2 nails for so long that the barrel had taken a permanent set. It wasn't good for much, but when it was stolen I got as ill as if it were a high end rifle. And I have prayed many times that when my time comes I'll have time to dispose of my guns to who I want to get them, instead of the bums my wife would sell them to for pennies on the dollar, though in Heaven I won't care a bit.
seattleman1969
Well-Known Member
I would say it really depends on the values of the families or individuals. My father (stepfather) had an extensive collection and I was less than pleased that he left them all to my brother. My brother values each one of them as a tension and representation of our father with specific memories tied to them. That's just us...
25WSM
Well-Known Member
If the people you give your guns to are gun type people they will be appreciated for along time to come. But not all you can give will be something they want or will use. When my grandfather died my greedy ads uncle shot down there and took all his guns. Many of which were used by me when he taught me to hunt. But I found a few items in the house that meant more to me than the guns. Like his favorite candy bowl my grandmother made. First stop for me on every visit to see what was going to be in it. Now I'm crying like a baby. That thing is priceless to me. And nobody wanted it but me. I am a gunsmith and have a lot of full custom guns but my boy likes the 788 I made for him the most and won't let me build him anything better. He nor my girls are going to keep but one each from me that I built for them anyway. But whoever does end up with them will be happy to have them and take care of and use them like I did. When my mom dies she has a closet of old fur coats she what's me to have. Yikes. She loves them. But to me they are useless. Maybe I will make some gloves and a hat out of one of them. But the rest are going. Sorry mom. Mom buy a nice cnc milling machine and leave me that. So to me sentimental and overvalued goes hand in hand. Sentimental is priceless. No money in the world could get that candy jar from me. God will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands. Shep
Stringstalker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2016
- Messages
- 75
I definitely overvalue my guns. I customized each one for my own tastes. Paint jobs. Trigger jobs. Some I was helping the Smith thread the barrel and chamber. I sure hope they don't sell them but keep them and use them to enjoy as much as I have. Made me sad reading some of these posts. Selling great grandpas guns....
Kaboom
Well-Known Member
Unless there's a memory tied to the gun that both people experienced it's not likely to be passed on after one dies. That's why I'm starting to pass a few on to my nieces & nephews now. That way we can make memories together and hopefully they'll remember me when said guns are used.
Cornbinder57
Well-Known Member
We have the opportunity to share our internal value with others while we are here. I have too many guns, but that is because I have been given them over the years by people special in my life. I intern have shared with my son and daughter. This year is my sons first year to hunt on his own, I opened the safe and said "you can use anyone you like". His eyes widened and he promptly reached passed rifles worth thousands of dollars for a plain Jane Winchester model 70 push feed, my first rifle. Dad I want to use the same one you did, was his answer. Personally I will share my memories and feelings while I am here and pray they are remembered after I'm gone.
D
Deleted member 48126
Guest
It's person dependent. I had an uncle pass away who was a big time shooter and gun collector. He has some type of firearm from every war the US has been in since WWI. My cousin (his son) is also a gun guy. He understood the value of his dads firearms and loved to shoot just as much. Well my uncle wasn't even in the ground yet, and I couldn't even make a cash offer before my cousin sold off 75% of his stuff to random town assh**es. I yelled at him and told him that there will be a time when his memories of his dad fade and the only thing he'll have left we're those guns and his times shooting with his dad. His response was yeah but I needed money now....
He's 23, in our local community college (cheap, not havard tuition), living with his mom at the time. He didn't need money for anything of importance.
So to me I believe I assigned the correct sentimental value to my uncles guns, to my cousin he assigned a dollar amount. It not necessarily the possession that important, it's the memories that the possession holds.
I know when my dad passes away (hopefully years and years away from now) I will do everything in my power to keep his guns. My brothers love guns too, but they also love money. My memories with my family are more important than money.
He's 23, in our local community college (cheap, not havard tuition), living with his mom at the time. He didn't need money for anything of importance.
So to me I believe I assigned the correct sentimental value to my uncles guns, to my cousin he assigned a dollar amount. It not necessarily the possession that important, it's the memories that the possession holds.
I know when my dad passes away (hopefully years and years away from now) I will do everything in my power to keep his guns. My brothers love guns too, but they also love money. My memories with my family are more important than money.
Tex_Hunter
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2011
- Messages
- 319
I don't think the issue is necessarily overvaluing them, especially if there is legitimate sentimental value (ie. First gun, fathers gun etc). My first rifle was a New Haven M70 featherweight, it was stolen a few years ago and I would give up any of my several thousand dollar rigs I shoot now to have it back.
I think the bigger issue that we as enthusiasts can be blind to is that our hobby can easily become an obsession to the point that it is our religion/second mistress etc to the point that what we see as a huge value is actually a bad memory for those we love. My father was very prescriptive in the way he taught me everything growing up, either by beating over my head how NOT to do something or by describing exactly how it must be done, no exceptions. It got to the point where as soon as I finished hunter safety and was old enough we stopped hunting together entirely because we would fight the whole time. We've since grown closer (getting married and having kids of my own helped) but at the time I wanted nothing to do with his hobbies.
It's sad when we see someone we look up to die and their family doesn't seem to appreciate what they had poured their soul inot, but it should be a cautionary tale for any of us to make sure we are teaching our own children to love and appreciate what we do and be very careful that in pursuit of what we love we aren't alienating those around us. Those families sold all those guns because for however much those men loved them, it certainly appears to have not been shared by those closest to them. That's the really sad part.
When I die, I want my kids to fight over the nicer guns in my collection, not because they appreciate the guns for their value/quality, but because of the memories they shared with me via those tools.
I think the bigger issue that we as enthusiasts can be blind to is that our hobby can easily become an obsession to the point that it is our religion/second mistress etc to the point that what we see as a huge value is actually a bad memory for those we love. My father was very prescriptive in the way he taught me everything growing up, either by beating over my head how NOT to do something or by describing exactly how it must be done, no exceptions. It got to the point where as soon as I finished hunter safety and was old enough we stopped hunting together entirely because we would fight the whole time. We've since grown closer (getting married and having kids of my own helped) but at the time I wanted nothing to do with his hobbies.
It's sad when we see someone we look up to die and their family doesn't seem to appreciate what they had poured their soul inot, but it should be a cautionary tale for any of us to make sure we are teaching our own children to love and appreciate what we do and be very careful that in pursuit of what we love we aren't alienating those around us. Those families sold all those guns because for however much those men loved them, it certainly appears to have not been shared by those closest to them. That's the really sad part.
When I die, I want my kids to fight over the nicer guns in my collection, not because they appreciate the guns for their value/quality, but because of the memories they shared with me via those tools.
