What do you do with a gun that is "too crappy to keep and too cheap to sell?"

[Martinjmpr]

To be honest, I haven't been gun shopping for quite a while so I don't know where prices are, but I seem to always have a few guns that I'd like to get rid of but when I look at the prices they're asking on the likes of GB, it just doesn't seem to be worth the hassle.

Example: I have a Taurus M94 (I think), the 9-shot .22lr revolver. I got it pretty cheap because I wanted a DA .22 revolver but after a few years I replaced it with a much nicer S&W M-17. So now it mostly just sits in the safe. The few times I've looked to sell it, it seems they go for well under $250 and by the time you factor in the time and hassle of getting an FFL, shipping, etc, I feel like my net "take" would be maybe $150 (and that doesn't count my time.) I look at it and I think, "well, dang, for a measly $150, is it even worth my time to sell it?" If I had a son or daughter to pass it off to, I probably would. It's a nice gun for learning to shoot and "better than nothing" I suppose. It works fine, has a good finish and isn't falling apart, but there just isn't much of a demand for old Taurus revolvers.

Then there's the old H&R .32 S&W revolver that I inherited from my Dad's estate. I really wish I knew the story behind that gun, but Dad's no longer around for me to ask. My uncle (dad's brother) who is 93 years old, might know, but I haven't talked to him in probably 15 years. I don't even think I know his number or if he has an email address. That H&R is definitely NOT a shooter. It doesn't lock up, timing is off and I wouldn't feel safe shooting even "gallery loads" from it. As far as collector value, as near as I can tell it has NONE. These little "pocket revolvers" were made cheap and sold in the hundreds of thousands. Hell, they were even considered cheap and crappy when they were made (think of them as the 1920's equivalent of a Lorcin or Hi-Point.) What do you do with a gun like that?

I like to think a functioning firearm is always worth SOMETHING but to me, at least, there is a "threshold value" and I feel like if a gun doesn't pass that value, it's not worth it to sell.

Sometimes I think I'd like to find a youth shooting program I could donate them to but I doubt there are any around that would want them.

So what do you all do with your crappy old guns? Keep 'em? Sell 'em? Wait for the next "Gun Buyback" and go get yourself a gift card?

[funkymonkey1111]

Sell them in person to a gun store that moves used guns

[def90]

For the gun that doesn't work maybe donate it to the school down in Trinidad that has that gunsmithing program?

[Great-Kazoo]

If it was worth everyone's time. We put on gun safety classes for YMCA, 4H and our own youth gun safety / training programs, here in NAZ. Just saying.

[Bailey Guns]

I have a few. They aren't necessarily "crappy" guns, just inexpensive guns I never shoot...like old .22 rifles. I could sell them for $100 to $150, maybe. But then that money just goes away. The rifle will last forever (by forever I mean it will long outlast me) and maybe a grandkid will eventually have some fun with it. The money will be gone in an instant. So I just hang on to them. They don't take up much space and I don't need to feed them.

[Aloha_Shooter]

I know what you mean. Several years ago, an aunt of mine discovered my grandfather's pistol. It's an old Iver Johnson in .32 S&W. I think it was worth about $50 when I looked it up on Gunbroker. However, she handed me the pistol in Hawaii a couple days before I was due to fly back to Colorado -- there was no place for me to store it in Hawaii.

What I should have done was put it in my Dad's old cash box and put that in the back of his closet. Instead, I drove her to FedEx and had her FedEx it to me via an FFL in Colorado who I'd prearranged a transfer with. I think FedEx was a little over $30 and the FFL transfer was around $50. I now have an old revolver in my safe that I don't shoot, don't even bring out to look at. It was my grandfather's but has no sentimental value because no one aside from 2 of my aunts even knew he HAD a pistol (the youngest aunt never knew).

My nephews aren't shooters (had hopes for the youngest one when he got interested in riflery but then he dropped it). It's probably not even interesting to a museum.

[glock74]

Try selling them at a pawnshop.

[JoeRoss]

I have a few. They aren't necessarily "crappy" guns, just inexpensive guns I never shoot...like old .22 rifles. I could sell them for $100 to $150, maybe. But then that money just goes away. The rifle will last forever (by forever I mean it will long outlast me) and maybe a grandkid will eventually have some fun with it. The money will be gone in an instant. So I just hang on to them. They don't take up much space and I don't need to feed them.

^^^this^^^

[BushMasterBoy]

Keep them as backup guns. My back up plan to survival was large bags of rice and hunting rabbit and quail. .410 and 22LR are great for small game. It is hard to hit quail with a 5.56

[earplug]

Its useless in the safe. Keep it loaded and out of reach but handy and the value goes up.