How many guns do I own? How many guns do I actually use? Could I stand to lose a few? I asked myself these questions a few years ago and was surprised by the answers I gave myself. At one time, I bought up every firearm in sight that was priced right; I traded where I could and even bartered services for guns. I just couldn’t own enough guns – especially used guns in great condition. That was a big weakness of mine, and admittedly still is. I’m a gun glutton.
Then the epiphany struck. I realized that I was spending more time cleaning and oiling a lot of guns that hadn’t seen daylight in years; some never clearing my gun cabinets’ doors since the gun found its way in there. Some I had not put a single round through! Just so you understand; I’m not talking about fine Italian shotguns or top grade M1 Garands. I’m a meat and potatoes kind of gun guy – nothing too fancy in my safe and all the more reason to do some gun cabinet housekeeping.
I decided to put my collection on a diet, favoring quality over quantity, examining the role of each firearm, and most importantly for me, keeping guns I actually use.
To get started, I categorized my guns into roles – Big game, small game and predator hunting, home and self-defense and recreational target shooting. Once that was completed I had a good idea of where my collection was overweight. This exercise also brought to light something I never really thought about before – arrayed before me were too many calibers capable of doing the same job. As a result, the size of my ammunition cabinet was just as swollen as my gun cabinets were.
My solution was a concept called companion calibers. Slowly, I whittled away guns that didn’t share calibers, especially the ones that were chambered for pricey cartridges. For instance, I kept a couple of long guns (a bolt-action and a lever-action), a semi-auto pistol and single-action revolver, all chambered for the .22LR round. The .223 Remington, another great companion round, serves the needs of my predator hunting bolt gun and my AR-15. Similarly, my FN FAL clone, a semi-automatic battle rifle favored by NATO and known as “The Right Arm of the Free World” shares a chambering with one of my favorite deer rifles in .308 Winchester. To round out the main stay of my rifle collection, a few guns sharing the .30-06 Springfield chambering will do me fine; sorry .270 Winchester, you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.
The same goes for the handguns and shotguns. I slimmed down to 12 and 20 gauge only, covering the needs of my most used pump-action, semi-automatic and over/under shotguns. With my handguns, I chose the calibers and models I thought best for their role and trimmed the rest. Now, my Glocks and 1911’s have the same dietary needs – 9mm and .45 ACP
Sure, I still keep a few standalone calibers hanging around. My 1963 Winchester Model 70 in .264 Winchester Magnum will never pass into another’s hands; no matter how desperate the pleas of my long-time hunting buddy, Harley. And the .30-30 Marlin has too many stories to tell to let it go.
But when it’s all said and done, my collection is healthier and far more active. I must admit though, I still consider sneaking an oddball caliber once in a while. And truth be told, what diet has never suffered a little cheating here and there?