How did you start your collection?

[Riva9999]

Hi all,

I'm considering downsizing my herd, in bulk. Did anyone kick start a collection with a bunch at once, or was it one piece at a time?

Thank you kindly,
Aaron

[TnBuckeye]

My small collection has mostly grown as Johnny Cash said...”one piece at a time...”. But it has cost me more than a few dimes as I only got into this a few years ago.

I will say, though, that I have made a few acquisitions of 2-3 items at a time. That includes my very first purchase which involved a kind older collector in West TN cutting me a great deal on a M44 and M24/47. The Yugo didn’t really do it for me but the Mosin really lit the fire!


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[millman]

I bought a bubba Gew 98 and took it to my father in law''s house to shoot. He said if I liked old rifles he had 3 I could have. I got 2 T53s and a Finn M91 from him. It just grew from there.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Stopped at a tag sale and bought an 1869/71 Swiss Vetterli for $20 a long time ago. They accumulated one here, one there and sometimes I bought entire collections. Back in the day a few hundred bucks on flea market Sunday bought me 10-25 guns, my all time record for a flea market haul was 27 in one day. Guy was selling his late brothers collection, three tables full of guns, I bought 22 just from him alone, the rest I picked up from other sellers . Those days are gone now and I haven't bought a milsurp at a flea market in years.

[millman]

Flea markets used to the THE place to get guns. Every one of them had a gun section.

[TnBuckeye]

Flea markets used to the THE place to get guns. Every one of them had a gun section.

That’s amazing to me. I am hard pressed to find a gun show worth a damn, much less a flea market!


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[Longcolt44]

I traded a Marlin .22 for a Romanian SKS and a Czech Mauser and looked up their history and it grew from there.

[SA1911a1]

I bought a Mosin from J&G because it was $69.00. It would have been better if I had just flushed the money down the toilet!

[steelbuttplate]

I bought a Mosin from J&G because it was $69.00. It would have been better if I had just flushed the money down the toilet!

I bought a '46 M-44 and a can of ammo for $150. It was a beautiful blondie brought here by a Soldier based in Germany post war.

[djbuck1]

A buddy of mine got hold of some ChiCom SKS rifles and practically begged me to buy one for $99. I accommodated him, and that was my first milsurp. A few years later I walked into a Cabelas. I saw racks of M91/30 refurbs. I just stood there dumbstruck: "You people are selling pieces of history for just north of $100?!?" I started buying. Then I figured that I needed a Kar98k to go with them. From that point, matters spiraled out of control.

[AMCHornet]

My grandfather had a Winchester model 72 that he passed down to his eldest son when he died. The eldest son gave that rifle to his youngest brother, who is my father. My father taught me to shoot with it and eventually gave it to me when I was 18. I still have it of course and use it to hunt squirrels and rabbits plus general plinking. I adore that rifle.

One of my friends in college got me hooked on milsurp guns. I'd had my eye on eventually getting a .30 caliber sporting rifle for several years when suddenly my friend started talking about a "Mosin Nagant". I had no idea what a Mosin Nagant was but as soon as he said, "cheap .30 caliber" I was interested. He showed me the beat up 1942 refurb that he'd just bought for $100 and I was hooked the instant I saw it and he explained what it was. I could literally feel the history in it. I love WWII history and I didn't even know it was possible for modern Americans such as myself to own something like this. I bought my own a week later: a 1943 Izhevsk ex-sniper refurb.

[Lavitias]

Mine started out as a Bubba'd Yugo M24/47 (they bent the bolt handle) that my late father bought me. It's just kinda grown from there.

[Fledge]

My father in law was a collector, so I got interested and got a C&R. He sold off his "first" collection when his daughters finished college, but started buying up ex-Soviet weapons when the USSR collapsed for his second go. I started with a Savage no 4. Mk I from Southern Ohio Gun. It snowballed from there. I bought them one at a time, and years later my father in law gave me most of his modest sized second collection....mostly Mosins. Guess that is what happens when you have daughters instead of sons.

[Almost_Samurai]

I'm in the early stages. First one pretty much fell in my lap. Have the itch now. In this area there isn't much interest in War relics. All you have to do is put the word out and you notice offers to sell start coming in from those who would much rather spend on an interest rather than care for a "hand me down". I've got my eyes on a Remington Armory M91 now.

[Junk Yard Dog]

My father in law was a collector, so I got interested and got a C&R. He sold off his "first" collection when his daughters finished college, but started buying up ex-Soviet weapons when the USSR collapsed for his second go. I started with a Savage no 4. Mk I from Southern Ohio Gun. It snowballed from there. I bought them one at a time, and years later my father in law gave me most of his modest sized second collection....mostly Mosins. Guess that is what happens when you have daughters instead of sons.

True, from what I see kids are an expensive pain in the ass, the three D's gave me many guns, Death, Divorce, and Destitution, I guess kids can fall under the last two , child support payments and tuition payments, weddings, daddy I need a car.

[millman]

Flea markets used to the THE place to get guns. Every one of them had a gun section.

That’s amazing to me. I am hard pressed to find a gun show worth a damn, much less a flea market!


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This isn't the case anymore. I still see the odd rifle or shotgun (usually overpriced), but not the old guys with tables full like in the past.

[qz2026]

If you are downsizing, it probably makes more sense to move them one at a time, like through GunBroker or here, for that matter. Selling a bunch at a time, might not be the best strategy for a variety of reasons...

[Riva9999]

Thanks All, great backgrounds and stories. I had a fleeting thought of selling as a set but it would likely be like trying to sell a mixed bag of brass in 20 calibers and wondering why no bids came in. Thanks qz, I may list items here. Aaron

[Ironnewt]

I got my first at a gun show, a M/N M-38 for about $80.00. I picked up a few more until a friend told me about the most expensive $30.00 one can ever spend, the C&R License. It went down hill from there.

[RazorBurn]

My small collection has mostly grown as Johnny Cash said...”one piece at a time...”. But it has cost me more than a few dimes as I only got into this a few years ago.

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Same here, and the same song popped into my head when I read the OP. The Sandy Hook panic really kicked off my collecting as I had several AR-15's that I sold for a nice profit, and that gave me the initial funds to focus on my collection. Mine has certainly been one piece at a time. My first milsurp was a CMP Service Grade M1 Garand that I ordered in 2009. I picked up a couple of rifles together a couple of times, but the great majority have been one at a time.