I inherited quite a few guns from Dad when he passed. The ones he used and the ones we shot when I was growing up are some of my most prized possessions and I will never get rid of them.

He had a lot of older guns that I know haven’t been shot in my lifetime. I think many of them belonged to my grandparents but I am not sure. My grandparents are all gone, my parents are both gone, and I have no way of knowing what is what. Dad passed over ten years ago and I think I am ready to get rid of the ones that mean nothing to me. There are probably close to two dozen old pump shot guns, side by sides, and lever action rifles.

I have two sons who like shooting but they have zero interest in these old guns.

I don’t need the money at all. I really need the safe space more than anything. I thought about buying another safe for them but it kind of seems pointless as I know I will never shoot them and I seriously doubt my sons would either.

What is the best way to get rid of all of them? I thought about selling on gun broker or something like that as I have sold a couple guns on there before but it is quite a time consuming process.

There are many stores that will consign them if you chose to. Yes they take a percentage, but if you don't mind then it's at least something.

Post the info on here, you may be sitting on a gold mine. Don't understatement an older gun you know nothing about.
If you want them gone I'll give you $100.00 for the lot.

I was in the identical situation a few months ago. I simply got tired of storing them knowing someone would have a burden to deal with if something happened to me.

They will sell here and on TexasBowHunter. Or get a table at a gunshow. You're not needing the money, so price them cheap and move on. Treat yourself and someone else to something you want with the proceeds.

I sent this to a friend of mine that deals in firearm estates.

Post them on here.

I went through the same exact thing a couple of years back. I opted to have a local store (Dury's) take some of them to sell on consignment.

IIRC, they had a sliding scale consignment rate: 30% for firearms they valued at less than $500, 25% for up to $1000, 20% for over $1000. Or, they would buy the whole collection for 30% of Blue Book value.

IMO, it just didn't make much financial sense to let them sell the stuff valued at under $500. YMMV. I'm still working through those, BTW, mostly walking them through gun shows one at a time. I'm considering getting a table at a gun show to try and take care of the rest.

Special note: Dad had a 20 ga LC Smith SXS that had had a conversion to a single trigger, and the original stock replaced with a really nice one in walnut. Dury's appraised it at $500 (because it was not original condition), meaning the best I'd have received for it was $350!!! I said "no thanks" (and ended up selling it [while still standing in line to get into a gun show] for $1300). So, if you go that route, it's important for you to have at least an idea of what your firearms are worth before relying on a consignment appraisal.

I definitely go the route of post them on here. I don't know if I'd do a big lot of them, or post two or three at a time. The other option would be the walk around the gun show and see if you could swap it for something you actually wanted.

If either of those options didn't pan out after a little while you could always consign them.

I have sold several items on here over the years but have never had much luck on guns or larger ticket items. I am in Lubbock and it seems the vast majority of people are in the metroplex and want to do face to face deals.

I go to Lubbock occasionally....

pos t them here first. Estate sale buyers will skin your azz.

Try and do face to Face sales near Lubbock only. Shipping them is not fun and very expensive.

This being said, IF you trust someone to buy them all, life would be much easier.

There is a member here, I think Texasag or Aggie something. He buys estate guns.

I tried to sell a buddy's dad's gun to an estate dealer. Complete joke of an offer. Almost worse than a gun shop

Sell them on here and on Texas Gun Trader are your best 2 options. Being in middle of nowhere, you won't get 100% of market value, but you should get 80%-90% for higher end stuff and 70% for lower end stuff

Yep...selling to estate scalpers will draw you no more than 50% at best.

Gun Brokers is one avenue, Guns International & Texas Gun Traders. GI tends to sell firearms for a higher price than GB. I was on a pre-64 lever action kick a couple years back. The best deals I found were on estate sales. Put a list together of what you have. You can look up the year it was manufactured on most manufactures websites. Sometimes the older the better. Search on GB & IGs for the same guns around the era based on condition. This will give you a good idea of what they're worth and what you can sell them for. Send me a list of the lever actions and serial numbers. I may be interested.

Best of luck!

One of the options I have on my list of guns with potential values I have for my wife in the event something happens to me is Rock Island Auction Company for consignment. They have a location in Bedford now, so it is close enough that there would not be a shipping issue. It is a rather large Curio and Relic and Military rifle collection that she would not be able to run on Gunbroker and individually ship herself. There are a couple dealers I dealt with over many years I would trust with consignment too, but older than me so I figure and hope I will outlive them. Ideally when the time comes I feel my best option is to sell them myself on GB and the mostly hunting related ones here. But that time is a long way's out.

Estate sale buyers will skin your azz - yup. Bro's relative collected six guns and lever guns - a HUGE collection. About 1/3 in large display cases. Wife got about 25% value.

That's all good advice. I've helped with a couple good sized estates and collections.

The most important thing is to identify them and find out the value ranges. You just don't want to let a gem slip through the cracks. I start with a list and just identify and research each one. I've found some real jewels among the junk that the owners didn't realize.

Then depending on what they are and the value you can decide where to sell them. It just needs to reach the buyers that have the most interest and deepest pockets if there are some with real value.

This is a good place to sell some things and not good for others. Gunbroker is good for some things and other forums for some others. There used to be several gun stores I used to sell things on consignment, but those are less common now. I've sold some of my personal firearms through Rock Island Auctions. Like Sniper John said, it's a lot easier now that they are in Bedford.

Just personal opinion but brokers on real estate or firearms are just out to make the most and fast and are not there for anybodys interest but their own. They will get fast money and let "friends" pick what they want and grab commission. For 25-30% thats enough they don't have to work the market for best price but still decent cash return. Like pawn shop...you have junk but they will give you x amount of cash quick. Just go to gunshow and there are parasites hit you soon as you walk in, I don't see much difference. Spend the time and research them yourself or find suitable persons/cause to donate to and go that way. I have seen the title broker and the person should be working the carnival midway. Not all but alot of them.

I "need" a Winchester 1897.

Yep, the Winchester 1897 is as classic as it gets. I had one made in September 1897 that I found in an antique store years ago.

Sewer Rat, the L's in the Winchester 1897 serial numbers don't sound right. Could they actually be 1's?

All the older Winchester's you have listed have good followings. They should sell well here on the forum, or if not then on Gunbroker.

The 97 with "L" sn were made in 1897 and 1899 respectively.

I would be interested in one of them also.

Possibly? I did my best at making the list