So many firearms for sale

John Gryphon

Well-Known Member
I dont know why but there is a lot of second hand firearms for sale on the SD.

Why do so many people have such (most cases) wonderful toys that shoot like god yet put them up for sale.
 
Because of this business of having to justify "good reason" for owning each one. Basically it boils down to the fact that if you want a new toy the old one has to go, in most cases.
 
Also, I think there are a lot of people for whom the rifle is more important than the stalking. A lot of expensive custom builds seem to come up for sale with very low round counts, it's a toys thing for some people. I'm not having a go at people here either, nothing wrong with taking pleasure from owning a beautiful object. For me though it's about performance, none of my rifles look anything special, but they shoot really well and that's what matters to me. I doubt I'll sell them any time soon.
 
Is it a case of people try and get as many individual calibres for individual quarry as possible maybe ?

and then realise they have too many and most haven't even been used
 
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A whole load have just gone up from one guy, they also need to be collected from an RFD so I'm guessing that there is a licensing issue there.
 
I dont know why but there is a lot of second hand firearms for sale on the SD.

Why do so many people have such (most cases) wonderful toys that shoot like god yet put them up for sale.

As already stated on the thread there are a host of reasons for this. It's also worth considering some other factors -


  • It's very difficult to find locations to test fire some of the rifles for sale in the UK.
  • I've bought one rifle off SD and it was better than described by the vendor - in immaculate condition, but that won't always be the case.
  • Some rifles are 'lemons' and folk just can't get them to shoot.
  • It's sometimes not clear who has actually built a rifle.
  • Some of the pricing is too dear. Once a certain figure is reached, you are as well commissioning your own build.
  • Opinions of what makes a good rifle vary widely and what appeals to one person, may not appeal to many others.

In summary, it is relatively easy to acquire rifles, it is very hard to get rid of them.

Best regards

JCS
 
I have three. My .22, 22-250 and .270. I can't see me needing to buy any others (although 'need' and 'want' are completely different animals :oops: :lol:) but neither can I see me wanting to sell any of mine anytime soon. All are completely functional, not particularly high-end (although my 22-250 is the Medallion A-bolt II and I think it's gorgeous) and shoot straight. I can quite understand the appeal of owning multiple rifles to some though. There's something 'special' about a good rifle, isn't there?
 
Different folks will have different reasons,my rifles are just tools to do a job.

While I can appreciate an aesthetically pleasing rifle its not important to me function is so long as they perform well that's good enough for me.

I haven't changed a rifle in over thirty years and they all carry batt!e scars, and I take some perverse pleasure in that.
especially when I have a regular client who arrives with his pristine setup costing thousands, and asks if he can use my rifle.
 
Far too much marketing influence in the shooting world, I see people chopping and changing shot guns all the time because they can.

Most of them lie to their wives or partners on how much and what they have actually spent on guns/kit lol

A chap I know just spent + 2k on some range finder binos, we were chatting in a group so I asked him how far they worked out to (a long way) Second question working back to how far he would be happy to shoot a deer at.
100 yards was his answer....
Then why do you want to range it at 600 yards....lol

If the fac licencing laws were as open as the shot gun side then god knows what people would buy.


Tim.243
 
To all the sound explanations given above, I'd add my suspicion that it also has something to do with how social your shooting is.

What I mean is that if you are regularly seeing other people's gear you are more likely to come across something you like more than your own, and the resulting sense of being at a disadvantage to the next man is a powerful driver to change.

I have had several -I want one of those!- moments, and have friends who, on seeing one of my rifles shoot well, have decided that they need to find something better. The grass is always greener, and the sunlit uplands are always over the next hill.

It is also the case that manufacturers, the shooting media, and the gun trade in general, all live by -and spend a lot of money on- making us feel that newer will be better.

I'm all in favour of wealthy people who always want the next new toy, as they ensure there is a steady stream of little-used, high-quality gear available to those of more modest means at something much closer to their real value.
 
Snipped from bogtrotters' post #8

[my rifles are just tools to do a job].

[function is so long as they perform well that's good enough for me].

[they all carry batt!e scars, and I take some perverse pleasure in that.]

My thoughts too!
 
To all the sound explanations given above, I'd add my suspicion that it also has something to do with how social your shooting is.
What I mean is that if you are regularly seeing other people's gear you are more likely to come across something you like more than your own, and the resulting sense of being at a disadvantage to the next man is a powerful driver to change.

I must admit that hit the nail on the head with me.
For about the first thirty years of my using a rifle I hardly met anybody other than my direct shooting buddy that owned or wanted to own a rifle and was quite happy using a battered old rifle of indeterminate make that shot straight.
Then one market day I went into a gun shop in Taunton get some cartridges and saw a new Parker Hale 1200 Safari and it looked so good I had to have it.
At that time I hardly knew anybody else that had rifles so was satisfied with that for several years.
Later on I got involved with BDS and ran a few range days and saw someone with a Remington and that was it, I 'needed' a Remington !!
The Remington was the 'go to' rifle for several years and at one time had five, two x .243 and two x .308 and the one I still have, a .222.
Now, as I became a bit more affluent and now only shoot part time, I have gone over to the dark side and am a died in the wool Blaser fan.
 
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Snipped from bogtrotters' post #8

[my rifles are just tools to do a job].

[function is so long as they perform well that's good enough for me].

[they all carry batt!e scars, and I take some perverse pleasure in that.]

My thoughts too!


One of my stalking buddies likes to collect and shoot many calibres, He will not consider the lesser makes, The first change He makes is the stock, this is put into store, & a synthetic is fitted, when He finally decides to sell or swap it, back on with the timber, Me?, I just found a tackdriver I had to jetwash when I picked it up!:D
 
I've decided that I really don't need more guns than I have shooting outings in a year, so I'm good for now... Although I did see the review of the Chiappa Winchester 1887 shotgun in Shooting Times yesterday and if I had a spare £1320... I don't know if it's steel proofed. Could make a good 'fowling piece!
 
Sometimes it is just a itch to scratch at the moment I have a itch for a 30-06 and I will probably scratch it very soon.Do I need one well of course I do.
 
There are those for whom their rifle or shotgun is merely a tool and they will keep it for as long as it works. There are those who must have the latest kit. There are even hoarders (shotguns, mostly for obvious licencing reasons) and there are, probably more than anyone else, those that have a shotgun in a cabinet because they once went clay shooting and might again. Or had a stalking trip and might again and got a rifle. To be honest, all human life is there.

At present there are over 12,300 shotguns for sale on Guntrader alone. Add in Gunstar, the other big online seller and add to that all the shops that don't advertise on the web and that amounts to a serious number of guns waiting for their "forever homes". And this despite the number of certificates issued being more than ever. You'd be forgiven for thinking it would be a buyer's market!
 
It takes all sorts. I've some weapons I've had "for ever' and some I intend to but they fail to satisy and so get sold. I've one shot gun that's only on it's third owner just now...two years short of its "century". My father got it new in 1919 on his twelfth. birthday, it then...via my brother...came to me in 1998.

Yet I've had weapons that haven't lasted a day! A 7mm RM Parker-Hale that just wouldn't feed rounds three and four. So it was "dumped" into auction the very next day never even having been fired. Others have been to a zero range six, seven, a dozen times and would never shoot accurately.

But mostly rifles and shotguns get kept for five, six, ten, twenty years or longer if they work fine. But apart from pistols and revolvers I can't recall ever buying any weapon "brand new" as a very first owner. For me, in a rifle, accuracy is all after checking reliability of feeding. And if after a fair appraisal it can't shoot or won't shoot it doesn't have a future in my gun cabinet.

Lastly I've bought some just because "I've always wanted one of those" (a Webley-Fosbery) tried it, enjoyed it, liked it but then decided I've had my fun out of it, could use the money elsewhere, or needed the money, so disposed of it having in effect "scratched that itch" or sated the appetite.

Same with my Sunbeam Tiger...had it, enjoyed it, sold it for what I paid for it and see no desire to ever want to have one ever again. Like a No4(T) I had for years...and, of course, circumstances change and driving to Bisley ceased to be a pleasure.

In that respect these are "Eiffel Tower" objects. See it, go up it, why then do it again? I see the Eiffel Tower two or three times daily in my work...since 1999...been up it twice. Once with a girlfriend and once to take a client.
 
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A guy I used to know once said 'There a men who use rifles, and men who love rifles' Reckon that was quite a good way of putting it
 
I find the more expensive rifle you buy the less you own. If buy a $5000 German rifle, generally I find people don't trade down unless they hit hard times. Also the British haven't discovered the joys of the BBF lol!
 
Its a good job for the gun trade that people like to exercise their right of choice.

Reading this thread it would seem some stalkers make it a badge of honour not to have any of the latest toys and view those that do as not serious about their hobby/sport.

Bit more live and let live about a lot of subjects on this forum would make for better reading at times.
 
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