I've been collecting for forty years. I know a lot of people buy,sell,trade.
I have a few I can't hit the broadside of a barn with. But for some
reason they are all special to me. And I want them to go to my sons when I'm gone.
Anyone else like me?

Nope.

Generally, it's gone if it doesn't work for me or I lose interest . The exceptions would be a gun:

I inherited (e.g. Grandpa's 22 LR revolver that he received as a gift)

I bought to be a safe queen (e.g. 100th anniversary edition 1911).

that's a POS and gun smiths can't make right (e.g. the franken shotgun I bought from Beretta which I'll probably dump at a gun buyback). I'm not selling anybody a POS.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

If they are unreliable I ditch them. So far only a jamomatic CZ RAMI and a worthless external extractor Kimber TLE have left the herd.

Never had problems of letting any of mine go.

No, I've sold many in my time. If I had kept every single gun I bought, I'd have to get a lot more safes.

I buy, sell and trade regularly. There are always guns in my safe that I'm willing to let go.

I'm a collector and have sold off many over the years, but for me, with every few exceptions my rule is that I only sell off something that I either have a duplicate of, or if I'm upgrading to a nicer example of the same gun.

I find that this basically has kept me from any seller's remorse and there are very few sales that I've truly regretted.

If I buy or build a gun it’s for a reason. So keeping them is my intention. However, at one point my family needed the money so I sold most of my guns. I accumulated more over the decades but as I age some guns that appealed to my younger self, fell out of favor to on the block they went. More time passes and more guns occupy the real estate in my safe. Now that I can barely close the door, I’ll need to make some choices. I’m leaning toward a bigger safe.

I've sold a few, but I'm like you. It took me many years to acquire them, and I like having 'my stuff'.
I don't need the money, so I'm not selling anything else.

I amassed quite a collection over the years and recently got rid of most of the guns I don't shoot. I have basically improved the herd by keeping the best of the best and letting everything else go.

If I buy something in the future it will because I think it will be better than the current gun I have for that purpose. I will keep both for a year or so to make sure it actually is better and let the worse of the two go.

I have been spoiled by some great triggers so when I get a gun without a great trigger it just ruins it for me. If it can't be brought up to a good standard the gun is gone no matter how much I like everything else about it.

Mostly keep them.
Traded in one (didn't like) and sold one (friend kept bugging me) but otherwise pretty much a one-way street.

Nope. Guns are simply tools. I buy and shoot them until some of them inevitably find their way into my safe to accumulate dust. At that point they become someone else's shiny new thing.

Traded one ONCE… it was a Glock 19 I picked up long ago. Traded it straight up for my first P220. Everything else was purchased with purpose after tireless research. I enjoy all my guns and have no plans to sell any but… they are just things. If I needed quick cash they would be gone in a heartbeat. Perhaps if a really really good friend wanted one, I would consider.

I almost sold a 226 a few months back. I purchased it on line to build another custom pistol. When it arrived it was way to nice to be a donor. It has now found it’s forever home in my safe.

I've sold a few but mostly when it's time to leave that platform or caliber. Recently got rid of a .40 S&W pistol, sold the ammo as well. Left the HK platform last year. Left the AK platform a couple years ago, stuck with the AR platform.

I've found as I get older, I simplify.

I only sell a gun to fund another gun. But I do grow attached to them and the ones that I've grown attached to will likely stay with me til I'm gone.

Traded around a few to get better examples.

Started off with a .45 Kimber and ended up with a 9mm X-Six.

Sold a RAMI which took two trips to CZUSA to get it functional. Traded a 10-22 that I could never get figured out. Other than that I don't sell. Might part with one of my 228s due to finances and it being a duplicate.

I have sold a few to upgrade and sold some because I was able to sell them for a fair amount more than I paid.

I do however wish I never would have sold my
Sig 556, Sig P220 10mm, and Sig 522 Pistol

I sell everything I don't use/need, for the most part. I'm focused on getting my kids through college debt free. There's be a few trinkets they can have when I'm in the hole. But the degree without the leash is their real inheritance. My kids are surprisingly non-materialistic. More so than I even. I kind of admire them for that.

Most of us who started our collections when we were young didn't have any choice but to sell or trade at times if we wanted something new.