Safe Queen Keepers

Rustydust

Active member
I was reading earlier about guys that have guns that they dont ever shoot but will not get rid of. I bet that most of us here have one or two of those. Like my 2" Model 34 S&W Kit Gun or my 5 screw S&W .357 Mag with a 5" barrel or my pre war Colt .38 Official Police. I hardly ever shoot my 50 year old K-22 anymore. Why? Dont know. Just dont. Seems when it is time to go to the range or heading out to the field to give some small furry critters some serious hang time I am always grabbing something other than one of my old favorites (that I could not live without when I bought them) instead. Dont want to sell them but hardly ever shoot them.

Anyone else like this? I imagine that there is.
 
Ever since I went with a suppressor I have several rifles that have not seen daylight in quite a long time.
Will I ever sell them.......no way.
I will pass them down to my son in law and grandson.
 
Many years ago just before my dad passed he bought all us boys (me and my two brothers) AK type rifles. I've not shot that rifle in I can't tell you how long...but I'll never get rid of it short of starving to death.

When I was a young boy in the mid 70's my dad bought us boys Winchester shotguns... same thing, can't remember when I last shot it but it too will never leave my hands.

I bet it's been 20+ years since I shot my S&W 29, got it when I was stationed in Germany... won't ever let it go either.

I have a few others...
 
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I dont have anything like that in my safe. If it doesnt serve a purpose, it goes on down the road to make room for things that do.
 
I have some old guns that have been mostly replaced in the field by newer versions. As an example, at age 16 my dad bought me a 12 gauge 870 Wingmaster. It was lightly used at the time, a late '50's skinny ribbed forearm, 28" plain barrel gun that I have carried so much that it's now nearly silver from bluing loss. I've owned the gun for 41 years and it's going to be passed on to my son eventually. I have a Light Twelve Belgian Browning Auto Five shotgun in about the same condition. For about 80% of my hunting I'll use one of my Benelli auto's or Beretta O/U guns. But once in awhile I just have to take the old favorites out for a hunt or two. There's a rifle or two like the old shotguns in the safe. And quite a few handguns. I'm not afraid the take one out when the mood strikes. I deer hunted a couple days this year with an old S&W 6" M19 .357 and carried an even older S&W M15 .38 concealed carry several times this winter. I have guns that get a lot of "rest" in the safe, but they all get shot and used at some point as my mood strikes.
 
I have two sets of CAS/SASS guns in the safe I have little to no intention of ever using for sport again, but on the off chance... I have a few Ruger P series pistols (real P series, not that 345 crap), I don't need or really want, but they run well, and they aren't worth enough to entice me to sell.

The one I really SHOULD sell is a Bushmaster Varmint Special Stainless. Too many AR's in the safes, all of which get way more play, all of which are custom built, all of which I enjoy more... But I just can't bring myself to sell that Bushmaster... Not hurting for money enough to NEED to sell it, so it gets to stick around.
 
I have a couple of guns that I used a lot many years ago, they have memories of great hunts and trophies won, I pull them out occasionally for a shoot but I'll let my wife or daughter to deal with them.

One shotgun I lusted after for forty years and finally could afford it and found out I couldn't hit beans with it, beautiful, rare and very unique, I take it out and miss a few clay pigeons caress it affectionately and put it back in the safe until the next time.

A couple of works in progress and others that I just want to experiment with, it is getting time to do that, as I think I'm pretty set with projects for awhile.

Others I've gotten too old to use or interests have changed since their acquisition. Stuff you really didn't want but they were given in loo of money owed or thrown in in a trade just seem to accumulate over the years. I bought my first gun almost 60 years ago and even owned a gunshop for awhile.

I've been seriously thinking of a safe cleaning sale lately.
 
I have a safe full that hardly get shot. Some have never been shot. Also have some old ones like the 1903 Winchester model 94 and my 1913 Luger that will never get shot much even though they are fully functional.
 
No safe queens here. Everything I have gets shot and hunted with. From the new stuff down to grandpas old wingmaster. I figure guns are made to be shot so I’m going to shoot them. I have a few dedicated “truck” guns. The rest mostly brake clays, put a few holes in some paper or maybe go to the field for a morning duck hunt but they then get cleaned.
 
I've got a few that I'll never part with.

My Great Grandfathers 16ga Winchester Model 12 that he bought new in 1914.

My 4in blued Colt Python I bought new in the mid 90's that has never had a single round fired through it. I bought it with the intention of shooting it but just never really got around to it then after a couple years I figured I'd just leave it unfired new in box. I even kept the cardboard box it was shipped in.

Another one I'll likely never sell is my HK P7M8 that I bought new, also in the mid 90's.

It's kind of funny, I can't really think of any of my long guns that I'd never part with but I rarely sell stuff so maybe I'm more attached to all of it than I like to admit.
 
The Belgian Brownings will stay, 12,16,20
My factory select weatherby mkv that my wife bought for me when I came home from the first gulf war. Her 270 weatherby. My 870 supermag that she gave me rarely used because she upgraded me to a sbe2.

I am sure that more will be added as I collect more. Everything that I have now will stay. She gets mad when I sell one.
 
I have the first .22 lr that I got from my grandfather that I won two championships with. The first hunting rifle that I bought myself, a lever 30-30. I have my late Grandfather's hunting shotgun and Arisaka Type 99 rifle that he recovered from the Pacific in WW2. I don't see those going anywhere. They are more sentimental keepsakes. Otherwise they to have a purpose or they don't stay.
 
My Browning Sweet 16 given to be by my Dad 44 years ago on my 16th birthday. Hasn't had a shell through it in over 30 years but she still looks pretty right where she is.
 
There are a few safe queens that I have. Some are for sentimental reasons and other are because I don't have time to shoot all of them. Some of my most prized one are my 25-06 sender that I bought when my youngest son was born. Another is a Model 12 trap gun that my father who passed away 3yrs ago bought new in 72 and traded my uncle that same year for a S&W model 29 dirty harry for and I just got the model 12 back this fall from my uncle. It looks like it is brand new. And finally I got a pair of Ruger M77 tang safety both in 220swift with consecutive serial numbers( both from my uncles)that have only had a couple 100 rounds shot through them. I also still have the model 12 skeet 20ga that my dad bought me in 1975. Those are not going anywhere. But to my son. And he knows the history of them all so they will go to his kids.
 
I have a few, great uncle inheritance guns:'88 Winney, broomhandle and star "bring backs" with papers, Belgium A5, Belgium T-bolt. Have his Marbles knife also !

Great grandpa's Acme damascus barreled double and Grandpas .410 bolt action

Mine, S&W # 3 .38, 1889 Marlin in .32-20, '21 Nitro Special
 
I Geuss you could say I have 2 but its more circumstancial than anything. One is a 1969 Romanian training rifle in 22lr, it needs a new mag and no clue where to find one. It was the first rifle that was ever "mine" but if it was really worth anything I could sell it in a heartbeat.

The other is a Model 94 my dad bought new in 1974 when he graduated high school. Not really anything that special really and I Geuss I'd probably keep it forever but I can't honestly say id be heart broken if it was gone either.

Just don't get that sentimental about them. I've bought and sold and traded a lot of rifles. If its not something I'm currently using or interested in ill happily send it down the road.

Almost comical how many people I know that will buy a gun and absolutely hate it for one reason or another and in the safe it goes never to be seen again because they'll "never sell a gun"!
 
First off this an awesome topic. I'll throw my hat into the ring. I have 3 in my safe that went from my dad to me and in time will go to my son. The first is a 6" Colt Python that my dad bought just before he shipped out to Vietnam. As a kid he would show me that gun and allow me to hold it under his supervision. I was in total awe of that gun.Always told him when I got older I was going to buy my own. I have know memories of that ever being shot. Fast forward to 1986 when I graduated from high school he told me he was proud of me and wished me all the best told me I was starting my own way in life and wanted to give me something we both knew a lot to me and handed me the Colt. I was speechless and to this day I have never fired it but have shared with my son as my dad did with me.All the money in this world couldn't buy that and never will. The 2nd is a Marlin 39 that was the first gun I ever bought on my own when I was 14.. Worked ALOT of cows to buy that from a family friend. That one still gets shot just for nostalgia. The last is an old single shot 22 that my grandma kept by the door to kill snakes. When I was a little shaver she would have a pocketful of shells for me to shoot down at the stock pond.We talked about everything together and shealways told me when she was gone, that 22 would be mine, funny thing is my son says that it is his.

So those are my safe queens
 
Dad's Rem 721, Grandpa's Model 12, the Ruger 77 my wife bought me, a bunch of other stuff I could not part with cause I'm attached. Sad part the grandkids have no interest.
 
Fun to read these.

My family had no history of firearms, my grandpa grew up on the Barron's estate in Germany and poached the Barron's game and trout with snares and box traps, where I grew up it was illegal to fire a guns and my father ran box traps through the county and hunted with a bow. His sister married a hunter and got my dad started upland hunting and bought the only firearm he ever bought for himself(slick barrel 16ga 870). Dad bought me my first 22 and shotgun, the shotgun was junk and died in a couple years(still have the single shot J.C. Higgins). I bought my dad his first deer rifle, and his second when he told me the first was getting a little heavy to carry and his first dedicated upland O/U, kind of created my own legacy.
 
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