While updating my firearms inventory program the other night I got to thinking about all the firearms I have owned over my lifetime. I remembered the first firearm I got was a Springfield bolt action single shot 22 that my uncle gave me when I was 10. His father had given it to him when he was a boy. From there I started trying to remember each gun starting with the first. Being well over the half century mark I quickly became overwhelmed. I finally decided to sit down and try to put the list on paper just for the sake of memory. After a couple hours of head scratching and back tracking I ended up with a list of over 300 guns that I have owned. Some were bought, others traded for, and some given to me by family. A lot of them I now regret getting rid of. Like many of you though, family comes first so a lot of them were sold to pay bills, a few were sold to friends and several were given to family and friends. So now I am wondering, at what number do you become a bonified gun nut? :confused:

Firearms are like the quest for the Grail. The perfect one always seems to elude us. I don't think there is any number of firearms that makes you a gun nut, but rather what you may be obsessed with. Jim

Yup, your a kindred spirit and therefor qualify as a bonified gun nut.

I just didn't realize how many guns I had owned over the years till I put it on paper. I am was truly amazed at the number and type. As I looked at the list I could actually track my enterest at the time by the types of firearms that I owned during different periods. From muzzle loading, target shooting, skeet, varmint hunting and big game hunting, each group was there. Now I tend to have several of each. Heck, you never know when the urge to compete again will come over you.

It was an easy count for me jodum.Twelve even. I still have them all. No sales or trades here. I buy what I like/need and they stay for their intended function.

I have gifted a few. I bought them "for" the intended recipient though. A few of mine were "gifted" to me. First rifle as an example. Winchester lever 22 rimfire. NOT FOR SALE at any price! My folks bought it for me as a boy. It still shoots well, but is not shot often. I keep it well maintained. I have no idea of it's worth.

The guns that I buy get bought for a purpose(so far). I get "work" and "pleasure" from all of them. I'm not a collecter. I shoot them.

300+ guns amazes me! The fact that you can remember that many amazes me even more!

Both of us are having fun :) .

Cheezywan

My very anti-gun mother-in-law once asked me, "Just how many guns do you have?"

I cogitated a moment and said,"You know, I think I'm one short of enough."

I don't think there is any number of firearms that makes you a gun nut, but rather what you may be obsessed with. Jim
Yup! Jim nailed it!

I haven't owned 300 guns, probably not even 50, but you know I can't say for sure how many I own at the moment.
Some of them are at my son's house and some are at my daughters as well, this way all my eggs aren't in the same basket!
I don't have collector guns they are all users.

I don't have near 300 now either. That 300 was over many years. A lot of what I have now are not collectors items either but belonged to my family as far back as my great, great granddad. I hope to pass a lot of these down to my grandson. I am proud to say that out of all the guns I have owned only two were bought out of household funds, my first service revolver a S&W model 19 and an AR 15. All the rest were purchased with money I made on the side. Except for my family guns, I have never had a firearm I was not willing to trade or sell for something newer or different.

Gentlemen, we are NOT gun nuts.
That is a spin that the media puts upon us.

some of us are true collectors, acquiring firearms that are like fine works of art.
Some of us are accumulators, acquiring all we like, not all we need.
and some of us, myself included, just haven't found the right amount or type to be either.

i think we fall into the shooter catagory.

I don't have near 300 now either. That 300 was over many years. A lot of what I have now are not collectors items either but belonged to my family as far back as my great, great granddad. I hope to pass a lot of these down to my grandson. I am proud to say that out of all the guns I have owned only two were bought out of household funds, my first service revolver a S&W model 19 and an AR 15. All the rest were purchased with money I made on the side. Except for my family guns, I have never had a firearm I was not willing to trade or sell for something newer or different.

I can understand that! 300 is still a big number. The fact that you can remember that many trades or whatever is pretty cool. I would have lost track near 50.

I do have some memory left though! I remember my folks telling me that I was going to be two. I did not like that idea.
I prefered to be one! The memory is very vague now, but is still "kinda there"? I don't recall turning three. I must have gotten use to "the march of time" in there somewhere. We drove a Desoto then. Black with a split windshield as I recall?

Cheezywan

Chris,
I've been identified. Thanks. I really can identify with a Gun Accumulator! You know what that does to my self-esteem issues?
Greg