Preparing for New Years goal, eliminate another rifle safe

[checkmate19]

Well guys I have been thinking about this for some time and think i will eliminate another safe . My gun room over looks my swimming pool and I want to turn the room into a sitting room with french doors looking out back. My house is nothing special but we put a pool in a few years ago and have gone crazy with palms and such and really enjoy it. Like other have said I also am ready to stop collecting and enjoy shooting more. Over the years I have spent so much time chasing parts and just looking at them and swapping parts all around . Last year i eliminated the less original stuff and stuff that just plain does not appeal to me for one reason or another and also sold off boxes and boxes of stuff. So this means I have about 20 rifles to sell in order to sell safe, The hard part picking the rifles to sell, so I may be asking the advice of my buddies on which one to sell . I am making a list on paper for starters of the ones that are a must keep and will move them to the keeper safe. Wish me luck guys , of course I may chicken out.

I know I can sell them quick ou cmp but may give gun broker another shot. Any other ideas? thanks

[checkmate19]

Help with opinions please guys. I have used gunbrokers to sell maybe 5 rifles in past 5 years and just looked and seems I have no feedback , I thought I did. I really do not want to get beat up to bad on my sales at the cmp. has gunbrokers been doing ok on sales given time of year and all? When I sold on cmp they were nice rifles with replacement barrels but the ones I will be selling aare pretty close to correct and hope to get a little more. I really hate when you see a WWII with correct barrel and lockbars and uncut oprod and someone says its jsut a field grade.

[Orlando]

I took a beating when I sold my Restored WWII rifles. You usually have more in them that they are worth
May be better to part those out?


Send me the list when you are ready to sell.
I am looking to replace a few rifles I had to let go earlier to pay bills

[jak]

Probably the worst thing you can do is to be in a hurry to sell the rifles. If you are in a rush, you will end up selling a rifle for less than what it is worth. There's nothing wrong with listing a couple for sale on CMP. There are some people that would pay a fair price for a nice rifle. How are the gun shows in your area ?
Are there a lot of garands for sale at the gun shows ? If not, you can always rent a spot and load up the table with rifles.

[Dave]

I've sold more than I've bought this past year. Some were common post war rifles, others were very nice WW2 restorations. I think I could have done better on the restorations if I parted them out but I still sold them for more or equal to what I had in them, but then many of them I had done years ago when parts were cheaper. I have restored a few this year but again, only reason I did was I had parts/wood on hand already. As stated above, you will do better if your not in a hurry to sell. The last one I sold went on GB. I did'nt even try any of the websites because I had been watching others trying to sell similar rifles with no luck. I took it to a local gunshow, was asking 1100 for it and got no takers. I took it to a few local gunshops and said 1000, still no takers. Put it on GB and got 1250. I think it would have gone higher but it ended the same night Sandy ripped up the east coast and many lost power/internet. It cost just under $50 for the GB fees, so I ended up with 1200 which was a bit more than I had in it. I think I could have done much better parting it out but I did'nt feel like dealing with all the extra emails,PM's packing and shipping that would take. This past year I got lucky selling two at a gunshow, one was a corrected field grade post war SA I got $700 for, the other a 12/42 restoration I got 1100 for plus a real nice IHC stock which I figure is worth at least 400. Originally I was asking 1200 for that rifle, the dealer went way low, made several more offers, I countered with 1100 and his IHC stock, he said no way. I walked off and before I got to the end of the aisle he sent his kid back to fetch me and said he'll do the deal. :)

The "mixmaster shooters" I sold off I did at a local gunshop near me. The owner and I have had a long standing deal that he'll pay me 600-650 for a decent service grade type shooter with a premimum for HRA or WRA. Anytime I get a "luck of the draw" from CMP that I don't like or is a duplicate serial range of something I already have, I take it straight to this guy and he pays me what I have into it. I don't think I could get that online based on what I've seen. Try and sell a basic service grade online for what you paid with the shipping, then add shipping again, and then maybe a transfer fee if the buyer is not C&R, and then you are way over what they can buy for direct from CMP. That's why I gave up years ago selling shooters online. I can do it locally in one easy step.

If I were you, I'd sell the mixmaster shooters and any greek finish guns first,followed by post war SA's that are common, like 5.8's, then HRA's that are common like 5.5,5.6's etc. Should you desire to replace those someday, they will be the easiest to get. Same thing goes for carbines, 03's etc. Sell the cheapest stuff first, keep the better items in the collection. I'd also sell any duplicates regardless of condition, something I'm doing now. The WW2 resto's I've sold have only been because I have others very close to them. I'll be selling a few more soon as I am trying to raise funds to pay for an M81 scope I'm hoping to buy.
Parting out stuff may be your best bang for the buck, if you have the time and patience to do that.

[checkmate19]

Thanks guys sounds like good avice, a table at a gun shwo would be fun if nothing else. i have alot of Military knives also . i ahve pretty much already done as you said Dave with the greek and mix masters.

[Prince Humperdink]

As others have stated.always let the things go that You have no attachment too,and keep the"cream"for Yourself.I got rid of a lot that were parted out and such so I'm down to only 9.It is a good number,but I think I need a WRA navy .308.I think a Rifle and knife table would draw in a lot of People,just make sure to have great stories for each.My knives are all piled in Drawers,but I have a nice Hunting knife that a Freind sent Me that is kept in a place of honor ;) On a last note,I would prefer that from now on You refer to"french doors" as Freedom Doors"!

[Dave]

If you just need to get rid of a safe to make room then maybe you can overstuff another safe and clear one out. I took the racks out of my gunsafe and put everything into silicone socks and stacked them in tight, one row butt down, one row muzzle down etc. It more than doubled the capacity of the safe. I bought a rack system for the inside of the door and hung all the handguns on that which cleared off both shelves and allowed me to pile up carbines and small .22's on those, all in socks for protection. If your undecided about what to keep or sell, you could probably at least make room by doing this and selling the empty safe. Then take more time to decide what guns to sell. Only problem with this system is that it's a pain in the ass to get stuff out that is in the back. I keep my shooters up front.

[checkmate19]

Thanks for great ideas everyone, I have pretty much already sold off the average shooters . Dave I have the safe jammed with M1s out of their stocks ,6 of them , lining the edges and also upright than upside down, near 30 in each safe. hand gun hanging also. What i am getting at is I need to sell them for the cash LOL. Its just so hard to pick out the ones going. I have a few HRAs SAs and WRAs in mind already let the IHCs go last year, kept just 3. I keep looking and looking and jsut cant decide, I keep moving the one i want to sell over and than putting them back. LOL . Not going to be easy.
Thanks again for the good advice everyone.

Ill be happy if I sell 10 of them , and not to much of a hurry either.

[Orlando]

I know what you mean by trying to decide which one must go. Only way I can do it is to replace it with a rifle thats a few steps above it