Keepers, More thoughts from the blind
 

It was a slow morning in the blind. No deer showed untill after 8am so mentally I drifted off to what guns I would keep IF I sold them off for whatever reason. I have to wonder what with the stae of the economy I don't want to develop my own "Fiscal Cliff" and have always thought of the guns as a source of retirement funds. Therefore under no circumstances would I sell the following.

My first gun a Remington M572 .22 pump. My little brothers guns, another M572, ruger M77 270, Remington 1100 20ga and a Ruger .22 target pistol. I would keep the two Cooper varmint rifles in 223 and 25WSSM and a custom built 7X57AI. Shotguns that I'd keep would be all Parkers (other than the M1100). They would include the VHE 28, Hollywood Gun, Gunner's Gun and a GH 16 0 frame Damascuss

What would your keepers be?

Rich - My Grandson shot his first deer this year with a Ruger 77 .270. Great little gun. It's a "one holer" with my handloads. I've never seen a youngster so excited. My daughter tells me that they had the tenderloins for dinner last night, and Matt, who is a very picky eater, had 3 helpings!

Been thorugh this once, years ago, at the time of my divorce. Any firearm in the house at that time would have been an issue, and I had no intention of being in a position of being accussed of something. I mentioned this in another post a bit ago. My grandfather's handgun went to be held by someone who I could get it back from, and I dismantled my first Fox and spread the parts around .

Having accumulated a few in the intervening years I have a few favorites but I don't see them as a retirement fund, since I don't have a safe full of high end investment grade guns, selling in the current and near future market would most likely be a losing game. So if I get too old to use them, I hope one of the grandkids will have taken an interest. Otherwise its the kid's problem when they deal with the "estate".

Now if disaster forces a sale to survive, the last to go would be the Fox 20 or the Parker 16

I dismantled my first Fox and spread the parts around ......:rotf:

Rich ,Neat idea for a post ,Without a doubt , Family Guns would stay ,My Grand dads Model 99 ,300 Savage Take Down also his Model 37 ,12 Ga. Single barrel ,shot my first Grouse with this gun ! Then my 1975, Model 70 ,Chambered in 270 would stay also ,my then New Bride and I went shopping for that $360.00 gun and we were so poor ,I had to make a year of payments just to be able to afford it ,as I recall , she was then ,as she is now ,a Great Sport about it ,I am sure there were things we need much more than the 270 ! As for Shotguns ,two , my BSS Browning Sporter in 20 Ga. because I really like it but also I shoot it well and if I could afford to keep it after the others are gone My CHE 20 Ga. Parker ,the problem there is if I needed Cash ,it should be the first to go :banghead:! Russ

How close are you to "needing cash" today? I think selling the CHE would be a good choice.

By the time Barry and Hillary are out of office, I'll be 79 years old. I won't have to sell anything for 12 years because the worse I need help, the more they will send me, the way I understand it.

I'm good today !:rotf:

John it sounds like a deer hunter is born in your Graandson. Joe shot his first deer a doe and his first (and only) buck with the Ruger. i still have that set of horns on a plaque. The gun is from the late 70's with the tang safty. It has about 1/4" of wood on each side of the barrel and it's just ugly IMHO. I took it to Wyoming a couple of years ago and shot a Antelope with it but I don't use it and doubt it's had two boxes of shells through it in 30 years!

His is a left hander which has a muzzle brake and a good recoil pad replacing the Ruger Red Brick. Bought it from a friend at OGCA. Newer gun with the 3 position safety. I replaced the trigger and got down to about 3-4# pull. Great gun

My last ones to go would be Dad's and Grand Dad's Stevens doubles. Just got Dad's back from the stock repairman actually, it was badly cracked through the head from years of shooting. He made the stock for it out of a Herter's blank in the early 60's so I couldn't bear to replace it. Cost me more than the gun is worth to get it fixed but I was glad to spend the money needless to say.


Destry

i sure would hate to get into a poistion to have to sell my gunsbut a fellow never knows what lies ahead so if i have to sell my guns i guess the parkers and lc smith would be first to go and then i guess the other off brands i like..but my great grandpa s old single barrel hopkins and allens would be the one i keep it would not bring over 15 dollars in hard times.would need some thing toscare the bill collectors away. charlie

Geez, I'd keep the Abby gun (12 gauge) and one other small bore Fox shotgun to hunt Grouse. I'd keep my CH 16 gauge and my 32" 16 gauge Sterlingworth for doves. One model 52 for squirrels. I'd keep my Browning Low Wall in .260 Remington for deer and probably my Glock for protection. Everything else is probably gravy for the most part.

John and Rich, my tang safety Ruger 7MM RM has shot into about 1 1/2" for its entire life except the year after I had to retrieve it from a lake in Northern Ontario and didn't dry it out properly. The next year, it strung the group vertically about two inches. Most of the superimposed groups make one ragged hole of an inch or less.

What little I have used Joe's Ruger it has always been a very acurate rifle. I hadn't shot it in years and when I decided to take it to Wyoming three shots at the range were well within an inch. I have another tang safty Ruger (actually It's just the action) I used for a custom rifle in .416 Taylor. for a big bore it's very accurate as well.

I have an old tang safety M77 in 25.06 Paid $200.00 at a pawn shop a couple years ago. That heavy barrel is super accurate, 1/2" groups at 200 yards with
Federal factory rounds.The gun is ugly as hell but it shoots like a dream.

I have earmarked 4 of my Parkers to go one each to my four children, so those will be keepers. As for me, I would want to keep my first deer rifle, a Model 1894 30-30 rifle that my dad bought for me when I turned 16. It is an octagon barrel full length magazine rifle built in 1926. It hangs in my office at work. I think I own the all time shortest shot on a deer with this gun. I was hunting the side of a hill in south Texas about 1970. I had just stopped beside a medium size but thick bush and heard some hoof beats that came from just the other side of the bush. I peered through and saw a six point point buck standing on the other side not five feet from me. He knew I was around but hadn't made me yet. I slowly extended the guns barrel through the bush with one arm until it was about six inches from his chest. I squeezed off the shot and the deer never knew what hit him.

Would never sell? Grandad's CEO Remington, grandma's Remington Model 4 roller .22, my 870 SC bought new in 1971, my Ruger 77 .270 bought new in 1972, my Win 94-22 bought new in 1976, my matched 12 & 20 Citori Gran Lightnings bought new in 1993, my Cole Beretta with 12/20/28 ga. barrels bought new in 2005 and my two Sharps bought new in 1998 and this year, maybe my handguns as I bought them all new. These all have a personal attachment. The Parkers, Elsie, Fox etc are really neet and valuable, but the ones I or my family bought new are special in a different way.
I think there is a trend here.
-plc-

Wow! Now that's close. I thought I had a close deer kill story at about 5 feet with an 870 but that whips mine all to pieces.

DLH