I would sell a couple of guns, but I would have ammo and nothing to shoot with.

Pistols: 22lr, 9mm x2, 357Sig, 38spl
Rifles: 22lr x2, 223/556, 270Win, 30-30
Shotgun: 12ga

The 357Sig get carried 99% of the time since we went to casual dress at work.

I used to have 11 different calibers and sold off a bunch of safe queens to get down to 3 calibers.

.22 / 9mm / .223

Easy to buy it cheap and stack it deep when you only have 3 calibers to worry about. It also helps keep you from going down rabbit holes for guns you will never shoot in yet another caliber that you don't need.

I haven’t limited myself yet or consolidated but I have been shooting mostly 9mm for the last few years. I have ammo and handguns .22lr, .22mag, 32acp, 380acp, 38spl, 357mag, 357sig, 9mm, 40s&w, 45acp, and 45LC that I can think of off the top of my head. I did sell a number of 32h&r mag revolvers and recently found some ammo I didn’t remember having. I’ll have to do something about that in the near future.

I won’t buy more 40s&w or 357sig guns in the future most likely but I won’t sell the guns I have either. I carried a 357sig HK for almost a decade until I realized I shoot the same HK better in 9mm. My main carry guns are currently a P365 with XL grips and a G19(which is being replaced by a P320). I’ve been known to carry 1911s and revolvers over the years and will likely continue.

Depends on what your interest is relative pistols. Range fun, having different ones in different calibers?
Me? (retired LE) mine are for SD only. I have five Sigs in 9mm. All have the very same manual of arms. I never have to think__What am I packing right now.
A couple for up in the mountains (bears, mountain lions, and the rare jaguar) but still for SD.
Don't go to controlled ranges. Use 10 inch gong targets and cheap yellow tennis balls out on the
desert.
Poli Viejo

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
I used to have 11 different calibers and sold off a bunch of safe queens to get down to 3 calibers.

.22 / 9mm / .223

Easy to buy it cheap and stack it deep when you only have 3 calibers to worry about. It also helps keep you from going down rabbit holes for guns you will never shoot in yet another caliber that you don't need.

I did the same thing, except I also kept my .17 HMR.

I've consolidated calibers over the years. Makes for easier stockpiling of ammo. I currently stock...

Defensive: 12 gauge, .308, 5.56, 9mm, .45 acp

Plinking/hunting: .30-06, .22 LR, 7.62x39, (12 gauge)

Milsurp: 7.62x54R, .303, 8mm Mauser, 7.5 Swiss, .30 Carbine, (.30-06)

For both financial and pragmatic reasons, I've kept my inventory to:
Handgun: 9mm & 45acp
Rifle: 5.56 and soon to add 6.5 Creedmor

While it'd be nice to have a variety of guns/calibers, I think focusing on a few but widely developed and available calibers is prudent. I'm not a collector, so my guns are purely for practical usage.

About 3 years ago I sold my P220 in .45ACP to a friend. I purchased it back in the late 1980's. It was always 100% reliable. I 'justified' selling it because I was paring down calibers and that was the only one I had in .45ACP. What a mistake!

A few weeks ago I bought a CPO P220ST with a build date in 2018. It is perfect in form and function.

When things go sideways, having multiple calibers available is sure to be a good thing. Now I'm looking at an AR-10 in .308.

Would I be more effective and a better shot if I put all my time into one specific platform and caliber? Probably...if I had the discipline to actually put in as much time on that one gun as I do when spreading it out across the wide variety of stuff that I enjoy. I've been down that road before when training heavily for some stuff for work, and it definitely turned into more of a chore then fun time at the range. Over the long term, I think I shoot more because I enjoy it, but the cost of that is less time dedicated to a specific gun.

Also, not every caliber is suitable for every purpose. I'm not interested in shooting a grizzly bear with a 9mm...that seems like a recipe for failure. Big bore revolver or rifle calibers are more suited to that purpose. On the flip-side, I also don't want to be shooting squirrels or racoons in the attic with centerfire handgun cartridges as I don't need holes in my roof...22 rimfire is a better choice in that application.

Admittedly, I have probably gone a bit overboard. I currently stock components and load for the following calibers:

.223
.30-06
.30-30
.308 (don't even own a gun for this one, lol)
.303
.32 ACP
.32 S&W Long
9mm
.38 Spcl
.357 Mag
.40 S&W
.44 Mag
.45 ACP
.45 Schofield
.45 Colt
.45-70