Old Hand-me-downs: What to do with them?

[beagle001]

Hey fine friends of HT, I’ve got a question, hoping I can get some guidance.

My grandfather passed away in February, and now the dust is all settled, I’m left with most of his guns. Unfortunately, they weren’t kept up, some are oddball things, and none of them really fit with anything I need, except for maybe a couple .22s I can hold onto and hand down.
So question is, what the heck do I do with them? They need some TLC, but I don’t really feel like sticking a whole lot of money into them if I’m not going to use them anyway. Take the whole works to Cabelas and see if they give me anything? Wait for the local gun show to come around? I can post them on here if we have any collectors interested.
Thanks in advance

 

[Dave N]

Post them up! You never know.

 

[beagle001]

Thanks, Dave. I definitely will. I feel kinda crummy not wanting them, but I know I won’t give them the attention they need. Figure if I can make any money off them, I’ll put it toward one of my boys’ first rifle and they can remember Grandpa through that

 

[grizzly63]

My father collected guns all his adult life. Me and my brothers used many of them while we were growing up. He got us started hunting and then he kind of just let us go with it. There are only two of the four of us that still hunt. At any rate, when my father had an auction at his soon to be vacant house, there were over 100 guns that needed to be cleaned and prepped for the sale. Each male member of the family got to choose a weapon to keep and dad gave each of us a Marlin levermatic rifle. Some of those guns were pretty dirty from no one using for all those years. I undertook the task and made sure the people at the auction knew the model and type of rifle they were bidding on. He came out pretty good and i was glad I could help. Being the only son around to get this done for him, it was a duty I felt I needed to do. Enjoy the keepsakes and the memories.

 

[shb]

What do you have for black powder stuff?

I'd list everything here. You'd be surprised what folks are looking for.

 

[shb]

Cabelas, auction company's, and private collection buyers all take their cut, and rightly so.



But if you have time to market them, you might be able to do it more efficiently, and keep a bigger slice of that cut for yourself.

 

[Hunter4Life78]

I say post 'em. Like was said lot of places will take their cut. You may have a few gems in the lot.

 

[FairWeather]

I have had the misfortune of being in line behind someone selling an estate gun collection at Cabelas. Not sure what they got for the lot, but it took all day for them to do the appraisal.

 

[Letthemgrow]

I have had the misfortune of being in line behind someone selling an estate gun collection at Cabelas. Not sure what they got for the lot, but it took all day for them to do the appraisal.

When I had them look at some limited production Winchester 94s they offered 70% of what they stated they thought they could get for them.
I ended up selling every one of them for more than what they told me they were worth, albeit one at a time over a month or so.
That's a very small sample size but it can't hurt posting them here and seeing what happens.

 

[millerkiller77]

I'd never recommend anyone take a firearm to cabelas, for purchasing or selling.
. Post them in your local community or reach out to friends and family,
My condolences for your loss, I hope you find a few rifles in that collection that will fill a spot in your immediate family's safes

 

[mdhunter]

I had the same thing happen and ended up with a dozen low end shotguns and rifles I would never use. I took them all to the local gun shop and traded them on a gun I did want. You can make new memories with that new rifle or shotgun.

 

[Boarmaster]

I got quite a bit of iron piled up in my safe and gun closet. Everything from shotgun barrels to old firearms given to me 35 years ago. Even older rifles I bought that I don't use any longer. Hard to let go of those artifacts as I associate them with memories.

 

[Addicting]

We did really really well at an estate auction. Even with the 15% fee we cleared way more than I ever thought they would go for.

 

[std7mag]

For the love of God, please post them here!!!

 

[beagle001]

I’ll get on it here in a bit. Thanks for the input, everyone

 

[Gunner46]

I'm in the exact same boat.
Dad was hard-headed and dead set in his ways, so some of his purchases were, well,,,,just dumb, weren't good for much and most kicked like a bank mule.
Lucky I had one of my brothers to shed a few on, but I have to give up a couple of mine that he wanted. It was a fair deal, but still. Just left me some room to fill a gap I've never been able to do B4!
Now, I have more winners in the safe than losers, and am ready to retire my babies soon. I'll start here, because I don't want any to be a Closet Queen.

Post what ya got!!

 

[SFC B]

You will always get more selling them yourself if you have the patience. If you want to unload the lot and are near a Scheels you might give them a call. The way we handle a larger estate buy is that we send out the appropriate shop managers (ie rifles, shotguns or pistols) and have them go over the weapons and then make the offer. We will generally give 70% of proposed retail on straight sales and 75% if you are trading in on other gun(s). Like mentioned above, even if there are a lot of guns you have no interest in you can flip them into new ones to make memories with as a sort legacy. I wish you the best.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

If you're selling them yourself how do you determine fair market value?

 

[gonhunting247]

Make sure to keep a couple that he really liked. It will remind you of him every time you move them to get to your other guns in the safe! I have a couple that I never use of my Dad's, but I can't sell them, I'll just hand them down someday . I like some of the other guys Idea to sell the ones that you really don't want and purchase a new one to make great memories with.
I'd say if you have the time at all, definitely sell them on here. You will probably make a fair amount more for your time, I'd think.

 

[JLS]

If you're selling them yourself how do you determine fair market value?

I sold a several on GB and got far more out of them than I expected.