RE: BITOG - Post your collection

[brueggma]

Serious question: How are people justifying their huge gun collections with their significant other?

I have 3 so far, and had a heck of a time with the last purchase..

[BarryinIN]

I had a large percentage of mine before ever meeting my wife. When other kids in high school were buying Sparkomatic power boosters for their junky cars they would sell two years layer, I was saving to buy my next gun that I would have for years and years. So I guess I had established the foundation already for lack of better words.

Also, I sold two or three nice ones to partially buy her one ct engagement ring so the oft-used "but honey they are an investment" had actually been demonstrated before we were even married.

Also, I don't do much else that costs money or time. I never owned a Corvette, or bought new running shoes several times a year, or bounce from one hobby to the next like so many guys I know. Not buying cigars or keeping a variety of extra special and extra costly microbrews in the fridge or not having three partially completed woodworking projects and one half-restored car in the garage has bought me some wiggle room.

Also, they all look alike to her. Some fit in holsters, some are longer and have slings, and some have magazines hanging out the bottom, but the first one looks about like the next to her. This actually worked out differently than you might think. I was surprised once I realized anyway. She thought I had a lot more than I do, so was kind of relieved to learn there weren't more.

Also, there was a time when I was buying and trading a lot. I was doing well enough at the time that whenever I saw a decent deal on a gun, I bought it whether it was something I needed or not. Then when I did see something I wanted and usually cost more, I would trade two or three guns for it. Eventually I had built up some "trading stock".

When I left work with a back injury, I still got new guns pretty regularly...but...I spent very little cash doing it because they were trades. I was still getting new-to-me toys and hardly touching the budget.

I often see people get offered a gun for a STEAL but pass it up because they don't want that particular gun. I would have bought them to trade with. Unless they were traded quickly, I got to shoot it for the experience which is always valuable to me.

Then the kids came. My wife's maternal extincts really kicked in and she was really protective of our kids. I was affected too, and spent less on hardware and more on software (training). She has never begrudged me taking classes. With me being a stay-home dad now, she has no problem at all with me refining my skills.

[Trapper]

I have no clue what BITOG has to do with the thread here but I don't have to justify any gun purchase to the other half. Her dad built custom rifles, had a blueing tank, did gun smithing, and was on the Board of Directors of the NRA years back in the Neal Knox era. Her philosophy is put the money they want for the gun in one hand and the gun in the other hand. Put down the one you don't want. She'd rather buy guns than groceries.

Nope, she's not for rent or trade.

[Pablo]

We both have our own hobbies. Wife just says be safe. The money comes from my own slush fund.

Dang it's been almost a month since I bought a gun!

Added: PS Eyeballing a 44 mag. 10.5" barrel.

[G-MAN]

Serious question: How are people justifying their huge gun collections with their significant other?

It's called "divorce."