Curious if anyone else has lost interest in firearms over the years of their life. . I still enjoy collecting, but dont carry anymore. I've narrowed down my collection as well to guns I would shoot more. Just curious if anyone else as they age not into the firearms world as much as they were earlier in life.

Not lost interest so much as not willing to go to the effort to find a place to shoot. "Organized" ranges don't interest me, too many chickenshit rules, plus travel and dues and availability and...

I go in phases. Right now I'm very interested, but I've gone years when I haven't gone to the range due to not having time or interest.

I haven't lost interest, but this damn liberal state is making it really difficult to enjoy guns and shooting.

I haven't lost interest, but health issues/age keep me from visiting my LGSs as often as I'd like, keep me from the range-plus I have most every one I might possibly "need."

So I'm kinda stuck with the internet forums (like this great one) for my firearms entertainment and knowledge.

Bob

Admittedly, when my boys left the nest, shooting hasn’t been as fun for me. I still buy the occasional gun. Enjoy loading ammo. I went shooting with one son two weeks ago and that was really great. But I don’t enjoy going alone like I did when I was a young man. So in that sense, I have lost interest. I can see as time passes and there are fewer opportunities to go with my sons, I may quit shooting altogether. Living in very rural Tennessee, it’s more convenient to shoot so we’ll see.

Time and money, more than lack of interest.

I have definately lost alot of the interest. Trying to downside my collection and reloading equipent but not alot of interest out there in basic firearms.

I have actually not went to the range because of the hassle of loafing all the guns ammo and targets etc.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
I haven't lost interest, but this damn liberal state is making it really difficult to enjoy guns and shooting.

I hear you.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Time and money, more than lack of interest.

Same here but I will never stop carrying. Too may crazy people willing to take my life and that of my family and friends prematurely. I will do my best to not let that happen.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Time and money, more than lack of interest.

Same. It’s more the money aspect than anything else right now. Every dollar is going to getting out of this infernal state. It doesn’t help that it’s LA traffic here to go anywhere now.

I have all the guns I want. We had all those liberal led years and I made it my mission to get anything I was remotely interested in and put it in the safe.

I’ll get back to shooting frequently once I can move, whatever fucking year that is…

Well I was thinking about getting a P226 in every caliber...

Then what?

Long ago I realized there are two types of people in relation to firearms: gun owners and shooters. There can be and usually is a little or a lot of overlap between the two types, but in actual practice we tend to fall into mostly one type or the other.

In most parts of the country, even away from the far Left areas, it’s much easier for most people to acquire and own guns than it is to shoot them on any sort of regular basis. That was certainly true for me most of the many places I’ve lived my eight decades. For much of my life I was deeply interested in owning various guns and was constantly getting new guns that attracted my interest to the point that most were fired very little, and some literally not at all.

As my interest in other things grew (and I had less money), that slowly changed. Although interest in guns didn’t die entirely, I spent my discretionary income on other things.

What changed my whole outlook and what I do with guns was moving to a place where I could shoot as much as I wanted with less than a 15-minute drive. That plus my employment have meant my shooting has become one of my primary free time activities. And not only do I have places to shoot almost anytime I wish, I can afford to as well—something else that was a significant issue with shooting when I was more of a gun owner than shooter.

I still have a lot of guns, but most haven’t been so much as looked at in long times.

I often think of how fortunate I am, but I also realize that if I wasn’t able to shoot as I do, I would probably find interests other than guns to occupy my time.

Used to shoot IDPA and the like then, at some point in the last 10 or 15 years, I got old. Running and gunning lost its allure and firearms interest went with it. Then 5 or so years ago I discovered rimfire benchrest. I'm hooked. Its challenging, fun, and I get to sit on my ass doing it, and, I'm only walking 50 yds to set a target.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
I go in phases.

+1

There was a time where:

beautiful days and free time meant lugging pistols and rifles to the outdoor range

crummy weather and free time meant lugging my pistols to the indoor range.

as soon as I got home from the range, I extended my enjoyment by cleaning my firearms right away.

The cleaning immediately and every time definitely went first. Then, I bought my first motorcycle, got more stress relief from motorcycling in the national forest than shooting guns, and all nice weather free time became dedicated to motorcycling.

I'm actually kind of ebbing on the motorcycling and the firearms is gaining appeal again.

There is no new firearm that interests me at the moment & there hasn’t been in a couple years.
I have picked up a couple RareBreed FRTs and they’ve been a blast but I’ve been into knives & watches more lately. Probably because I can use them on a daily basis more than just carrying them concealed.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to have to use my CCW for its intended purpose on a daily basis.
Ohio is still a very gun friendly state and my range is uncontrolled so it’s super fun to shoot there.
But outside of the usual carry guns I’ve not been inspired much lately to do much more.

I have to pace myself. It's too expensive otherwise, especially when the interest is primarily PRS rifles. THAT can get expensive. The only thing is I have less interest in pistol shooting and collecting. Only so much time and money to go around.

It has ebbed and flowed. Right now it's flowing.

Family sold the Texas cattle ranch about 6 years ago, I lost my hunting & hunting place and range. Work got busy after that and I spent several years caretaking sick family members. I still daily carried but my whole firearm interest went dormant and I don't think I pulled a trigger once for 5 years.

My interest came roaring back last year. After not paying attention to things for years there were new things to look at, especially in suppressors. I also dug some stripped lowers that had been sitting in the safe from a 2013 SIGforum group buy and put a couple ARs together. I'm having fun with the sport again.

Interest would probably be higher if my state's roadblocks didn't exist. Also my favorite store closed. I capstoned my collection with another CZ75 for a dedicated 22 and haven't really looked, or seen anything interesting in a couple years. My interests in firearms will hopefully pivot to more shooting and admiring rather than accumulating. I have a few months until it's several hundred dollars in fees and training to buy a permission slip to buy so who knows, something classic maybe.