I'm a lot younger than most of you guys (36), and while my collection pales in comparison to what most of you probably have, I was looking at the list the other day and was kind of appalled at the total value in comparison to my income, especially with the current inflated market. I don't have any really high-dollar stuff, but I've divested myself of most of the junk in favor of practical quality. Lots of shooter-grade stuff in my safe...Ruger, S&W, Marlin, Beretta, Sig...stuff like that. My job involves gun stuff, so I do own some black plastic, but my real interest is in revolvers and Marlin lever-actions, and I've recently started dabbling deeper into milsurp.

My 13 year-old son has jumped in with both feet. We already have some guns that are "his" and will go with him when he moves out. He is already researching what he wants us to get next (and the history associated with it), and regularly lobbies my wife to let me buy stuff . He's got a strong foundation in gun safety as I've been drilling it into him since he was about 6, and I trust him with a gun more than I would most adults. He's grown quite a bit as a shooter in the past few years, too, and is starting to learn to reload.

He knows what I have, roughly what they're worth, and I'm confident he could help my wife dispose of things if it ever became necessary, but I'd rather see them go to him if anything happened to me. I have 3 more younger kids...my daughter hasn't shown much interest, but it wouldn't surprise me if the two younger boys do as they get older. If they do, then someday I'll probably have to develop a plan to split the guns up between them, but I'd have no problem leaving them all to just one or two of them that demonstrated interest. There's responsibility inherent in gun ownership, and I won't saddle any of my kids with that if they don't want to take it on.

Either way, hopefully it's a long way off before I have to worry about any of that.

I’ve always thought this way. I have what I want/use, and backup/redundancy. The man who they will be all transferred to in the event of my death is on this board and I trust him to handle them in an appropriate fashion when the day comes.

I've been on a real kick lately that anything I don't use I don't need. I'm starting to downsize things in part because I'm not getting any younger and my guns along with other belongings will just be someone else's headache after I'm gone. My wife shoots but neither of the boys have much interest and we're planning our escape from NY in about 2 years. It'll be hard enough on the kids to settle things from out of state without having a pile of guns involved too.

54 here, no kids.
As a rule I have always kept money used for my hobby “in the hobby”.
If I have a $500 pistol and sell it, I will stick that money in the safe and eventually spend it on something hobby related. It’s a viscous cycle.

I could get by with less than what I have, and selling off is no problem. However I would have to put the cash into something else. Or it would just magically turn back into a collection.

My hope is that when I am gone way down the road, my kids will divvy up my guns with memories they had going shooting with me and as a family!

I still appreciate and enjoy owning quality/ and or iconic firearms. I'm the kind of guy that also shoots my guns from time to time rather than just looking at them, so 100% safe queens is not my knitting. I have however culled the collection down quite a bit as I age. Down to a few I really like, and a few that have utilitarian function. I'm not buying many new additions other than I would like a P365XL to maybe replace my Glock 48 desk drawer gun, but no hurry, if a deal comes along I might go that direction. If I were in my 30's or 40's and had the recourses, I could see myself with more somewhat collectables like a Python, top end 1911, Hi Power or such. Different situations and stage of life dictate a lot.

I have mine already divided up and ready to go along with my watches.

I'll be 64 in April. My wife (also a shooter) is 10 months younger. Years ago I set up a spread sheet on what we own, what the acquisition price and date was and an approximate current value.

I got my first firearm at 10 and still have it. I've only sold one gun in my life, a Remington 1100 to buy the 11-87 I replaced it with. I regret that decision. So I have more than a couple firearms

The wife an I just updated our estate plans and wills a year ago. No grandchildren. Of our 3 children, college turned 2 into liberal pukes who have no interest in guns. So the youngest gets all of them from either the wife or I, whoever lives longest.

If I do any thinning of the herd, it will be to begin to pass on the ones with sentimental or collectible value, the ones that are really just safe queens today. But first he needs to purchase a large enough safe.