Thoughts on thinning the herd....

The thought of reducing the collection in an organized manner has occurred to me a couple of times over the past couple of years.

For a number of reasons I simply are not shooting as much as I used to and having two big safes full of desirable firearms seems to be a bit obsessive and pointless.

I plan on turning over much of the stuff to the kids but frankly they have no use or desire for the whole collection.

The collection is varied between nice hunting rifles and shotguns to a set of 6 John Linebaugh Bisleys all marked Cody, Wyoming and a sack full of Dave Clements Blackhawks and Redhawks.

Are there reputable auction houses that specialize in moving this type of stuff?

I figure that I've got a few more years in me but don't want to leave a mess for my wife.

Cheers,

Byron

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https://www.morphyauctions.com/

Or maybe Bobby Tyler.

Our local shop will sell on consignment on gunbroker.

I'm sure there are others & maybe better.

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I've made that decision myself. I have two sons, one has very little interest in guns and shooting, the other already has a safe full. So I've decided to pick out the ones I shoot and enjoy and everything else is going to be sold.

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I'm going thru the same thing on thinning the herd. Gradually putting items at local gun store on consignment. Got a Ruger 3-screw collection that I need to move but local interest is too low and I don't want to dump them on the market all at once.

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you will likely net less with one of the big boys than if you consign it to a gun dealer with internet presence. There are a number of those guys from which to choose.

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Truthfully if you look at what auction and stores take away from your bottom line you could list here one gun a week at a discount of 20% and more than likely sell them off to people that would be glad to own them. Both of you get a good deal. Stores here want 50% to buy a gun 25% to sell plus transfer.

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Byron:

I’ve been doing something similar since a brief heart scare last year. I’ve had a great deal of success listing the less valuable (say under $1200) on Gunbroker with lots of photos and a $.01 starting bid with no reserve. Have sold about 20 that way. Was pleasantly surprised at realized prices on a number of them. Disappointed on only one (a Savage 99R in .300 Savage). All in all a good way to sell stuff in that price range.

Took a couple to my LGS as consignments. He’s sold two of the three. One went for about what I expected and the other for a bit less.

I put a couple of high quality sxs shotguns on Doublegunshop, Gunsinternational and 24hourcampfire. Not even a nibble, even though I think they are priced fairly. Sxs, especially 12 Gauge, aren’t selling well these days.

Don’t have any experience with high end handguns, but you will likely have to be really patient. That’s a pretty limited market.

Good luck with it.

Rem

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You might check with the auction arms seller ‘Lock Stock & Barrel’. I keep a watch on their listings and they always have a really good selection of guns and seem to net pretty high prices. I don’t know if they buy outright or will list and sell your items on a consignment deal. Might be worth a call or email.

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