What are the costs of owning a gun?

[bleedingheart]

This is a serious question about what it costs to maintain a gun or gun collection.

The reason I am asking this is because my neighbor told me this summer that a few years ago he had to sell off most of his gun collection because the insurance was getting too steep for him. Some of them were collectables but a lot were just different kinds of hunting rifles.

So.... what does the average handgun, rifle, ..etc cost.
How much for ammo, licensing fees, proper attire...insurance???

Another reason he sold off most of his guns was because his grandson wasn't the least bit interested in hunting. He and his son had hunted together for years but the grandson doesn't want any parts of it and much to my neighbor's credit he hasn't forced the kid to do anything. (In my family they would have dragged you into the woods and made you do it anyways.)
As an aside, he told me the boy's is just interested in books..I told him that perhaps he would be a great scholar one day and he told me that he was going to be a nerd...but that he loved him anyways...(you had to be there ...it was kind of cute)

[PoplarForest]

1. Costs me an extra 1000

I have three collectibles and the insurance rider costs me an extra grand based on the value. Only one of my three sons (no pun) has any desire to hunt and because of my schedule we go infrequently. I think to two older boys were not into my rule (you shoot it, you eat it). Based on our last trip the grouse dinner cost about 500. He told me, "Dad, if this was 200 years ago we'd starve!" :D

[bleedingheart]

2. I remember my dad took his vintage WWII rifle and shot a

pheasant at my aunt's house... he brought it home for my mom to prepare and she told him "What do you think this is... Little House on the Prairie?"... She told him to give it to neighbor because she had enough work to do without plucking and dressing a pheasant...

Thus ended my dad's excursion into hunting....

[Superfly]

4. Shot a pheasant with a rifle?

There must not have been much meat left.

Usually, the accepted way to hunt birds is with a shotgun.

B

[bleedingheart]

6. I am not the expert... I was under 10 years old when this happened

but I don't know that people hunt with shotguns...(once again..I could be wrong)..they spray lots of lead shot making it hard to get meat...but I could be wrong...edit: I could also be mixed up on terminology of weapons according to my husband... who has about an ounce more information about hunting than I do... which means we have still around an ounce of information...

I do remember that it was the weapon he brought back from WWII because we gave it to my uncle who was a Colonel in the Army to dispose of after my dad died... (mom didn't want it in the house)

on edit... what I do remember was that he blew its head off... that is what stands out for me... it had no head...it was just a big fat bird with loads of pretty brown feathers...and no head.

[xJlM]

3. Well,...

I don't hunt, since I don't believe in killing defenseless animals, so I wouldn't know about a hunting license or permits or any of that shit. I've only got three guns; one I bought used (like new for $50), one which was given to me, and an assault rifle (pre-ban, $150 - plus a stock kit for $65 and a whole shitload of high feed clips for fifty bucks) which I kind of put together myself. Although I paid $87 two years ago for a thousand rounds of ammo, that's pretty much _all_ I've spent for about fifteen years. Of course, I don't fire the shotgun or the handgun at all, and the assault rifle only on New Years or the 4th of July.

[Superfly]

5. You must be a

vegan/vegetarian, then, right?

"since I don't believe in killing defenseless animals"

[xJlM]

7. Not quite

I just see no reason to kill, if I don't need to. Humans are capable of defending themselves, or at least they better be if they come in my home :)

[Superfly]

10. So, you prefer that others

(butchers, slaughterhouses, etc) kill on your behalf.

I am an avid hunter, and part of the attraction is cutting out the middleman.

[xJlM]

13. More power to you

I just don't eat that much meat, or have enough freezer space. Don't get me wrong, I love good venison. When i lived in Indiana I had a fairly steady diet of good venison from an ex-army friend who loved to hunt. He'd set up a deer stand and bag at least three good-sized deer every winter. And Indiana is not exactly about to run out of deer. I just see no reason for me to do such a thing...

[Superfly]

16. Cool...

I thought you might have been one of those who bashes hunters while chomping on a Mig Mac.

:toast:

[bleedingheart]

17. I do because I am lazy...there I admit it I am lazy

its hard enough for me to get motivated to cook...if I had to be involved in the hunting part I would probably starve...

Granted ...I do make a mean apple pie...but apple picking is easier...and those apples don't run off and hide...

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Superfly]

23. Nice personal attack...

"Present company excepted...." ha, ha, ha

"This notion that you have to favor hunting to be a properly regarded carnivore is a load of crap"

I agree, and that's not what I said, if you read by the other posts. I just feel a person doesn't have a leg to stand on when decrying hunting on one hand while eating a cheesburger with the other. That's not too hard to understand, is it?

On fly-fishing...I have been whipping lead core line and streamers since I was about 5 years old. I've fly fished in Europe and in N America, and even guided while I was in college. It's my first love and will always be that way.

B

[RoeBear]

28. Ever..

...fly fished the giant may fly hatch on the Au Sauble in MIchigan in May?

[Spentastic]

31. Fun fun fun

The honourable hunter. Just to check, you "enjoy" hunting don't you? Would Mr Cheeseburger "enjoy" a visit to the abbatoir?

"I just feel a person doesn't have a leg to stand on when decrying hunting on one hand while eating a cheeseburger with the other. That's not too hard to understand, is it?"

In the same way that people who decry the consumption of fossil fuels shouldn't use electricity they don't generate themselves?

There is more than one element to hunting, Some do indeed hunt for meat, however some also hunt for trophies. How many people do you know that have the biggest cheeseburger they've consumed mounted over the fireplace? So trophy hunting and meat consumption bear very little moral comparison. It is entirely possible to decry trophy hunting yet consume meat. Killing something for fun and consuming the product from industrialised farming are not equivalent.

The division of labour has indeed distanced the average person from the reality of the food they consume. Hunters probably do understand butchery more than Mr / Mr's average. However this does not in my opinion confer moral superiority.

[demsrule4life]

8. The biggest expense is keeping them fed.

I have two Marlins chambered in 45-70 Govt and It cost's about $1.00 a round to shoot them. I really need to get back into reloading. Only pistols I own are in 45.ACP if I shop around usually can get ammo for practice between 9-10 dollars a box, I carry Federal Hydrashocks in my work guns which usually run around $25.00 a box in my area.

[bleedingheart]

9. how much of the box(es) do you use on average for practice?

[demsrule4life]

11. If I shoot the 45-70

normally two boxes so about $42.00, also my shoulder and cheek have had enough "practice" by then. For the .45's I try to get to the range once a week and shoot two boxes.

[Superfly]

12. Smokeless or BP?

That could make a huge difference with the 45-70.

[demsrule4life]

14. I have thought about that

esp with my Marlin Stainless Guide gun, don't have to worry about the cleanup that much. Right now the factory load I have been using is the PMC 350 grain load at 2050 FPS. This is the load I'am going to use this year for deer in my Marlin 1895 LTD-V.

[bleedingheart]

15. since you seem to know the most about this stuff is there a website

that has basics about different types of weapons and terminology?
Granted I could go visit my uncle's arsenal but it would take hours and most of his stuff isn't legal for most people according to my other uncle's...

[Superfly]

18. Bleeding, there are others here at DU

who are far more knowledgeable than I on the topic of guns.

For a start, you can check out 2 of my favorite gun manufacturers:

http://www.remington.com
http://www.browning.com

[bleedingheart]

19. I was just reading the 10 commandments of gun ownership and

very interesting and logical read...

[DoNotRefill]

22. what do you want to know?

All information about guns is known in the Gun Dungeon...just be careful who you listen to. Some people here will tell you guns are evil animate objects. ;-)

[demsrule4life]

24. Some of my favorites

http://www.1911forum.com/
http://www.sightm1911.com/
http://www.pistolsmith.com/
http://www.battlerifles.com/
http://www.gunsnet.net/forums/
http://www.marlinfirearms.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi
These websites will cover cover most of the guns that are out there.

[MIddle Man]

26. Sure you can

"Granted I could go visit my uncle's arsenal but it would take hours and most of his stuff isn't legal for most people according to my other uncle's..."

I hate to sound like Spock here, but that is not a logical statement. If your uncle can own them legally so can you unless the laws in your hometown are different from his.

What is logical is he may own any of the following

Can (silencer)
SBR (short barreled rifle)
SBS (short barreled shotgun)
Machine Gun
AOW (Any other weapon)

In order to own any of these, they each require a tax to be paid, and approval granted by the ATF BEFORE he could buy any of them. He has to keep them in his possesion, he can not loan them to anyone and if he were to transfer any of them to you, you would have to also pay the $200 tax per item, fill out a form for each item and get approval for transfer for each item, before taking possesion of them. The AOW tax is only $5 per item.

[bleedingheart]

32. My uncle is retired military and he still does work for the

Pentagon. He has a lot of military issue stuff and according to my brother who visited him a while ago he even had some sort of shoulder mounted thing that is only for the military.
I don't know if he has ammo for this stuff or if he got it legally...or "picked it up".... I haven't been to his place in a while (too far away) but he used to have the equivalent of a military store in his basement... Trenchcoats, boots, food, all kinds of stuff... and more than just one of each...

he is a character....that's for sure.

[BullDozer]

29. 444= $1.50 to $2.50

Dems I feel for you

I have a Marlin 444 Outfitter (300gr JHP or at 2000fps (you dont wanna know how fast the 180s will go)) to feed. If I didn't reload that thing would break my piggy bank.

On the other hand anything I need to hunt can be hunted with it.

Between the savings in reloading for that and the 300WM I can afford to rebarrel the 300 every couple of years as it needs.

[DoNotRefill]

20. It all depends on what kind of shooting you're doing.

You can get an inexpensive .22LR bolt-action rifle for around $100, ammo costs $10 for 500 rounds, which should provide a good day's shooting, you can use old cans for targets, and you can wear whatever. $20 for the one-time start-up cost for ear and eye protection. $10 for a rudimentary cleaning kit. That's $140 total to get into it, and $10 recurring ammo costs.

Then, of course, there's me. $10K on average (some more expensive, some less) for a gun and mags, ammo at $150 a thousand on average (some cheaper, some more expensive), 3-4K ammo expended in an average afternoon at the range. Clothing accessories: none, just get used to the idea of having a "gun cleaning t-shirt" that I don't mind how grubby it gets. Throw in $2-3K for a serious safe (to keep the gun safe), and it's a pretty expensive afternoon. Of course, this is offset by the appreciation in the firearm's value. Theft and fire insurance? That's why I have the safe.

[DonP]

33. A Marlin Model 60 is a great starter gun too.

You can usually pick up an older semi-auto model 60, the cheaper Glenfield version at least, for less than $75. The older ones have a tube magazine that holds 18 rounds (?) while the new models are restricted to the 10 round maximum under the AWS.

Add a little scope or red dot to it for another $25 to $35 or so once you have mastered the iron sights at 50 yards or so.

Then you can run through those blocks of .22 LR pretty easily and have a lot of cheap shooting fun. I'd avoid the Ruger 10/22's simply because you'll wind up spending a fortune "customizing" it! A can of gun scrubber and a cleaning kit and you're ready to go to the range with someone to teach you the safety aspects of shooting.

A trigger lock, safe, locking gun case or other system for securing the rifle are up to you and based on your situation with kids, or incautious adults, in or visiting the house.

Just MHO.

Don P.

[Withergyld]

25. The cost can vary a quite a bit

I haven't paid more then $450 for any individual firearm.
The least I have paid is $75 of a used shotgun.
Most in my collection average $150 to $250 each.
I paid $30 for a type 3 FFL which allows me to purchase firearms classed as "curios and relics" by the BATFE just as a dealer would.
There are a lot of surplus rifles and handguns currently available. There are some Russian WW1 and WW2 bolt action rifles that can be purchased from ~$59 on up. There are also some Russian revolvers of the same age from ~$100 on up.
There are storage costs involved also
A good gunsafe is ~$500 but can be much higher easily $1000 depending on the quality of the locks , capacity and fire rating. ( they never seem to hold as many as advertised)
Insurance riders vary depending on the declared value.
Ammunition can vary a bit also
22LR is ~ $0.02 a shot
Military surplus rifle or pistol can often be as low as $0.10 a shot.

[MIddle Man]

27. Are you getting a gun?

Sounds like you are thinking about it. Biggest expense is getting a friend to teach you everything you need to know. Friends are the single biggest expense there is.

BUT since you said maintain a collection, as in maybe inherit a collection but never shoot the guns, you need a good safe, and you need to clean and oil the guns once a year. So the safe is $1000 but you can put other stuff in it too. Cleaning supplies are cheap, and all that is needed is your time. Insurance is not bad at all. You don't need to insure every gun you own. The best insurance is a fireproof safe. You get safety, theft and fire protection in one big box.

[DoNotRefill]

30. A $1000 safe...

is going to be cheesy as hell. Get a big expensive safe by a well recognized manufacturer (like Ft. Knox). They're "safer", have thicker outer walls, have steel interior liners (the same thickness as cheap safe's outer walls), have better firelining (some cheap safes use DRYWALL as fire insulation!!!!!), are much more pry-resistant, have more securing pins, and will make you sleep easier when away from home.

The main good point about cheap safes is that they're cheap. That's not a good thing when faced with an actual breakin.