Abandoning some rounds - tough choices

[ligonierbill]

I am about to start another round of "inventory reduction". A couple expensive (for me) old Winchesters have unbalanced my shooting budget, but mostly I have some guns languishing in the safe that could be bringing joy to someone else. Last round I sold off mostly duplicates. OK, I dumped 9X20SR, but I only loaded that because I had one of John Moses' early pistols. This time I have to choose.

So, here's my list and rationale:

.380 Auto - Not too hard, as I am not a fan. A little tough to give up my only Beretta (1934), but I'm mostly a 9mm guy (who isn't). If I want more punch from a bottom feeder, I have a couple 40s, and if the 9 won't fit in my pocket, I'm good with 32.

41 and 44 Magnums - Now it's tough. I love the idea of the 41 Mag, and I've always thought everybody should have a 44, but there you are. I'm running 45 Colt. Covers most anything, but if I want mild I have a 44 Special, and if I want a real thumper, my only 21st century pistol round (480 Ruger) does it.

25-35 - I got into quarter bores awhile back, but my "light" 25 is 250-3000. Under appreciated round, but someone else can appreciate her.

And...30-30 _ Noooo! Yes. No fun. Pack it with about any medium powder and kill deer, just as it has for the last 138 years. Actually, I am selling a 24" Canadian Centennial. Maybe I'll talk my brother out of one of his many carbines.

I'd keep 'em all, but it's time to work on what I have. What would you choose?

 

[TRX]

Don't look at me; most of the guns I have are in different calibers. I have a *lot* of loading dies.

On the other hand, during the cyclic ammo and component shortages, I'm always able to shoot *something* without breaking the bank. "Oh, look, the scalpers just drove the price of the popular calibers back up again. Fortunately, 'oddball' stuff is still available and reasonably cheap." Well, until it isn't, of course. The downside of the periodic "shortages" is that when the factories resume sales, anything other than 9mm, .45, .223, and .308 can be hard to get for a while.

 

[Shadow9mm]

Id agree, with maybe the exception of the 44. You can shoot 44spl out of a 44mag gun. Same bullets for loading. And if your keeping a 44spl gun a 44mag would give you more versatility. And not add much to the plate except brass and maybe primers.

 

[Mannlicher]

I dumped the 10MM, 41Mag, .380 and .25 ACP. Keeping the rest.

 

[Dashunde]

I'm mostly a 9mm guy (who isn't)

Me
20+ pistols, not a single 9mm anywhere. It's 380 for the pocket, 40 for the hip on rare occasion and truck console always, 10mm or 44mag for the chest and/or sling bag (hiking/camping in Idaho). 45acp.. they're all 1911's and exclusive range toys + one USP45 that has eternal nightstand duty.

I'd keep the 44's and dump the 41, then add a Henry Big Boy in 44

 

[fisherman66]

I’m confused. Why make bore size the deciding factor? I may cull my collection some, but I’m generally letting go of something for other reasons, like I get the least use out of something or I have a duplicate. Diversity is the spice of life. I like tight little holes and big sloppy holes. I do not discriminate based of size. Except 30 cal. She gets around.

 

[FITASC]

If you are not shooting them, emotionally attached to them (as in family pass downs) then go for it. I am doing this (albeit a little too slowly at the this moment) But I am looking to get rid of some rifles I no longer hunt with, some handguns I really don't shoot and some shotguns I have replaced with upgraded ones.

 

[44 AMP]

I'm mostly a 9mm guy (who isn't)

I'm not, never was though in recent decades I've had several, all of them historical items/collector pieces, save three.. and those three are now edging into collector territory as they have been out of production for some time.
My 9mm "service pistols" were a Lugers, a P.38. a Broomhandle Mauser, and a Browning Hi Power. No Sigs, Glocks, Berettas or even Colt 9mms in my collection.

I had a .41 long ago, wasn't really impressed. Didn't do anything the .44s couldn't. Some people love them, I never got the bug.

For me, I'd let the .480 go. Nothing I do, or plan to ever do needs that much. If my .44s or .45s won't do it (and that includes .45-70) out of a handgun, its time to go to a rifle. A big one...

 

[ligonierbill]

My choices have a lot to do with the firearms, not just the caliber. The 44 Mag is a Ruger Redhawk. Yes, you can shoot 44 Special, but I'd rather run those in my "Flattop" Blackhawk. It's very handy with a 5 1/2" barrel. I do like the Redhawk. It is more pleasant to shoot with full house magnum loads than is my 45 Colt Blackhawk with "Ruger only" boomers. But that's my choice.

Regards the 480, I really like the Super Redhawk. It's about as big a pistol as I can handle, certainly not a belt gun. The Smith X-frame is probably more popular, and more powerful, but again, choices. I hear the X-frame is not unpleasant to shoot, and the same can certainly be said for the Super Redhawk. And I'm a sucker for oddball rounds.

 

[Pumpkin]

My parents bought me a nice used loading bench when I was 19. This caused me to not worry too much about the potential obscurity of a new or rare/different round to load for. As I’ve gotten older (63), I have come to the realization that most cartridges, within reason give pretty much the same results for my target shooting or hunting purposes. The last ten years or so, I have added various different firearms but not many different calibers. I have come full circle in a way, the first cartridge I loaded was the 44 Magnum for a Super Blackhawk. My current cartridge of interest is again the big 44, except for this time in a beautiful 77/44 and a equally nice old Contender with the Hot Shot barrel. I bought the Contender because it gives me a very light and accurate 8” barrel 44 Mag. The Ruger 77 in 44 Mag is such a sweet combination of gun and cartridge. I put a Leupold 2.5x HD compact scope, so nice.

 

[44 AMP]

I don't have the Hotshot barrel, but I do have one of the octagon "pencil" barrel in .44 Mag, mine is 10" not 8.

Recoil with full house loads isn't that bad, My gun has Pachmayr on it. But the muzzle flip is astounding! First time I shot it, I said a bad word out loud at the range!

A 10" Contender, while larger, is significantly lighter than a large frame 6" revolver. That really makes a difference!

 

[Pumpkin]

My favorite load is 11 gr of Unique under a hard cast 260 gr flat point, reasonably powerful and fun to shoot. I did buy a box of Buffalo Bore LOWER RECOIL ;-) 44 Mag, 255 gr cast SWC’s at 1350 fps, that bugger is the load you put in the gun for your cocky friend!
I do love those octagon barrel TC’s, I also have a 10” 25-35 and another sweet pre hammer safety model in 357 Mag. My last and oldest is a 10” bull 357 Max, thinking about re-chambering it to 360 Buck Hammer.

 

[FITASC]

My 9mm "service pistols" were a Lugers, a P.38. a Broomhandle Mauser, and a Browning Hi Power. No Sigs, Glocks, Berettas or even Colt 9mms in my collection.

WHAT?? No HK P7s??????? their prices have gone stupid high in the last few years.............guns I bought for a few hundred are now worth a few thousand........EACH

 

[44 AMP]

Ever wonder why it is that guns that get discontinued due to poor sales volume rapidly double, triple or go exponentially up in price???

No, no HK pistols of any kind. Never liked the features, or the price, and without at least one of those being appealing, what's the point of having one?

My favorite load is 11 gr of Unique under a hard cast 260 gr flat point, reasonably powerful and fun to shoot.

For me, I load a number of different loads in .44 Mag, depending on intended use, and the gun I'm shooting. My Contender, of course eats everything in the "sane" class, my Super Blackhawk is very versatile. My Desert Eagle needs full house stuff, jacketed slugs only. For plinking and recreational shooting in my S&W M29, I settled on a fairly mild load of 10gr Unique under a 240gr slug. Runs close to 1100fps, is accurate, but most importantly for me, in that gun, its not uncomfortable to shoot, where full house loads most certainly are uncomfortable up to painful at high end.

 

[MarkCO]

I got out of several calibers in 2020 and 2021. I don't regret it at all and I am enjoying the few new guns I got as a result. I'd say do it.

Got rid of all the .44s, .450BM, 450Corvette, .30Carbine, .380Auto, .300BO, .350L, 224Valkyrie, 7mm-08 and a few others.

I still have a .260Rem that, when the barrel is shot out, will be gone and I'll rebarrel that to a .243Win. I still have a lot of calibers all things considered, but I freed up a lot of disposable gun money with the reduction and added in the .41 Mag Henry I wanted for a while as well as the .280AI.

 

[FITASC]

and without at least one of those being appealing, what's the point of having one?

As a possible investment; same as Lugers, especially if you can get a deal from an state or auction

 

[44 AMP]

As a possible investment; same as Lugers, especially if you can get a deal from an state or auction

So, if I'm understanding this right, you would buy a gun that doesn't appeal to you, at a price that doesn't appeal to you hoping to sell it sometime later, for a profit??

Clearly we think differently.

Guns have been a major hobby of mine for a long time, and I got my first rifle in 1971. Never have I bought any gun for an investment. Either something about the gun interested me, or the price was simply too good to pass up, and while I've "made money" on nearly every gun I ever sold I've never bought a gun with that as my intention at the time of purchase.

And often while guns go up in price, going up in value is a different matter.

IF you buy a gun for $250 when gas is at $0.70 and years later sell that gun for $900 but gas is $5 a gallon, did you make any money?

 

[fisherman66]

IF you buy a gun for $250 when gas is at $0.70 and years later sell that gun for $900 but gas is $5 a gallon, did you make any money?

There is a capital gain. Did it fail to keep pace with inflation(?), most likely.

I have bought a couple investment rifles. The purchase price plays a rather large roll in those endeavors.

 

[Dashunde]

IF you buy a gun for $250 when gas is at $0.70 and years later sell that gun for $900 but gas is $5 a gallon, did you make any money?

You made money but lost value.
Gas was around $0.70/gal in 1978. $250 in 1978 is equal to $1177.25 in 2023 so its relative value slid backwards.
Your $250 would have done much better having been invested in Walmart...

If you had bought $250 worth of Walmart stock in 1970 you would have bought 15 shares at the time of Walmart's IPO. After 11 splits, you would own 30,720 shares. And at the stock's current price of $161.92 per share, those shares would be worth $4,974,182.40

Guns may be a safe place to put your money, but they're not a good place to put your money in the long run.

 

[Pumpkin]

I guess the lesser investment value is offset by the possible enjoyment of ownership? I probably worded that wrong ;-)