Hal... thoughtful post. Hopefully, you will be with us for many years to come but it is indeed a good idea to have your affairs in order for the inevitable. Most of my "guy stuff" goes to my younger brother when I depart this rock... but this post has given me the impetus to review my affairs in the "guy stuff" provisions of my W&T. I also have some project guns which will need to be addressed since they are in various phases of completion.

 

I'd probably document who gets what, even if feelings get hurt. That's so much better than relatives fighting over your sht once you have nothing to say about it.

But at the end of the day, it's just "stuff" that made us happy. It shouldn't be a misery once we're gone

 

Excellent point, Ether!

 

I'll give you a personal example. When my dad's dad died, he left a lot. ALL I wanted was his Colt Python, which he told me was his "pride and joy". I guarantee that he never told anyone else that.

I had to petition my grandmother and convince my dad that it belonged to ME and that I would take better care of it than anyone else could. I was 14. Kids shouldn't have to do that.

 

I'll give you a personal example. When my dad's dad died, he left a lot. ALL I wanted was his Colt Python, which he told me was his "pride and joy". I guarantee that he never told anyone else that.

I had to petition my grandmother and convince my dad that it belonged to ME and that I would take better care of it than anyone else could. I was 14. Kids shouldn't have to do that.

Exactly. This should be a point of honor in families. As important as a Coat of Arms was to a Knight. They proclaim, "This is who I am. This is how I lived. This is my bloodline, and legacy." How can people not see that?

 

As for leaving things when I'm gone, the trust takes good care of that.
At least as far as firearms go.

Reflex sight mounting questions . . .

Optic Mounting Made Simple: RMR vs Doctor vs RMSc Footprints

 

All my relatives are anti-gun so they can kiss my ice-cold hairy ass when I head for Valhalla. Whether they'll sell my guns or take them all down to the police station I have no idea. In the meantime I'm only worried about whether they suit ME. I do keep all accessories for them though, not for my folks but for if/when I decide to sell them.

 

I'm having my will updated. Only a few of my firearms will be directed to certain parties. My Will will direct the remainder to be auctioned off and the proceeds doated to an animal rescue. Not one dime will go to my anti-firearm daughter from the proceeds. The grandkids will have their savings account (that they know nothing about), and I will haunt my ex-wife forever. 😁

Grumpy

 

I'm having my will updated. Only a few of my firearms will be directed to certain parties. My Will will direct the remainder to be auctioned off and the proceeds doated to an animal rescue. Not one dime will go to my anti-firearm daughter from the proceeds. The grandkids will have their savings account (that they know nothing about), and I will haunt my ex-wife forever. 😁

Grumpy

Grumpy has a grip on Reality. I approve. I have already given several guns to the people that I want to have them, and I regret not a single thing about it.

Don't leave it to chance, Brothers. YOU decide, and make it so. It matters.

 

Have an inventory of the stuff you have and have a plan. I do not have any family that will really want or appreciate the things I have acquired. One brother in law would be interested but he does not know the nuisances of what I have and to him they are all just "guns". He had no idea what the Yost BHP he was shooting was worth when I took him to the range. LOL

My wife lets me enjoy my hobby but really does not care about them one way or another. I hopefully have many years before I am in the ground but I have already made a plan for them to be sold by a well known custom gunsmith who deals in custom and niche guns. He will get her high market value take his cut and give her cash to so she can do buy something she will enjoy as much as I have enjoyed my guns. If he leaves this earth before I do then I will choose someone else for this role.

There may come a time where there is something I want to do with my time and money instead of this hobby and if so I will sell off the collection to fund that new things. The one thing I know is that once I am gone I am worm food and I really don't care where they do only that they give someone else joy and pride of ownership and at the same time allow my wife to recover some of the money I have spent without making it hard on her.

I always say the same thing. Have a plan. If your family members you leave behind want certain guns name them. Specify that they go to them so there is no arguments later. Do not leave it up to them because too often this ends with people at odds with each other things and money. I have seen and heard of too many families fighting over gun collections and even worse getting taken advantage of by shady dealers who will gladly pay them pennies on the $$$. Don't cloud your passing with things like that.....

 

Guess I'm blessed as my son and 2 grandsons are very much gun guys, not sure about 2 granddaughters. Have given many very nice pieces to son and oldest grandson and told them to all sit down and divide the rest up after I'm gone. Sure there will be no fighting.

 

I have a LOT of very old handguns. And by the super-tiny so-called "sights" on them I can only assume that people, long ago, must have had AMAZING vision.

Meanwhile today's handgun sights are the size & shape of three Lego bricks. We must be all be nearly blind to need those.

 

I have a LOT of very old handguns. And by the super-tiny so-called "sights" on them I can only assume that people, long ago, must have had AMAZING vision.

Meanwhile today's handgun sights are the size & shape of three Lego bricks. We must be all be nearly blind to need those.

The mindset back then was that sights were only used when you needed to line the gun up on a distant target, and you wanted smaller sights so as to not blot out the target. Up close on a bad guy you weren't supposed to waste precious time lining up the sights... just point shoot. All the top shooters and lawmen of the day taught as such. Nowadays we know that no matter how close or far away your opponent is you still need to use sights or else you're likely to miss, and bigger sights are faster and easier to line up.

 

But No doubt in time unimaginable sight innovations will come along.

Saw a video on this the other day.. I'm not sure it's something I'd want to try, but it is rather innovative.

Green Light Sights – Full size | Greenlight Sights

greenlightsights.com

 

Give some of your stuff away while you’re alive. Make sure it gets to who you want to have it and take the opportunity to enjoy their receiving it while YOU are alive.

 

A natural grip angle helps a lot with point shooting. 1911, BHP, are thus. I have handled others with what seems to me to be all wrong. FN here ‘s looking at you. SIG 320 the same. If you have countless thousands of fast shooting from a draw how the pistol seems to naturally point can be reassuring. Also the key for me is to keep me eyes on the target and just look down across the slide or top of the pistol. The gun just comes up lined up nicely. For casual slow accuracy shooting I do line the sights up.

located a replacement metal end cap for my CZ550 Mannlicher 308 which I somehow lost recently, at Numrich and installed it with a tiny metric screw I was able to get at Blackhawk hardware in charlotte. Never going to lose it again. I just love its Mauser action and gorgeous walnut classic stock. I feared I was never going to find an end cap. Made my weekend for sure. No synthetic stocks for me.

all the best. NV

 

Ken Hackathorn, in several of his classes, had us tape the sights with masking tape so we couldn't use the sights - it was a 7-yard drill of draw and shoot a couple of rounds. We (his whole class) did better than expected. The lesson learned was at seven yards and less (some folks were able to do 10 yards) the sights were less important than folks think.

 

A number of years ago I made up a spread sheet that has all of my firearms on it , the initial purchase price and value when I made the spread sheet and who gets what when I’m gone.. I asked my kids and g-kids what they wanted and most were kinda freaked out that I was asking this..

Only a couple of things I designated like a 12ga dbl barreled shotgun that my dads family had bought way back when and had passed down since the mid 1800’s and my dads family used it to provide food for the table during the depression, this goes to my g-son and he knows he can’t fire it as it’s a Damascus twist barrels. There are a couple like this and everybodies good with it all,,, except for my remaining brother who thinks he’s entitled to it all and I’ve had explicit conversations with my son & son-in-law that he gets nothing ! Anyway that’s me

 

Nowadays we know that no matter how close or far away your opponent is you still need to use sights or else you're likely to miss

You won't miss that much up close but I guarantee you, you'll miss some shots that you shouldn't have and wouldn't have if you used them.

But years of focussing on my front sight made it feel very wrong, every shot.

That was a great experience you had because that is how it should feel when you fire a shot that you don't have an accountability for. You know it is going towards the target but you don't really know where or even if it is going to hit. Proximity and size of a target, static nature of exercise and no time constraints lead people to a false conclusion that not using sights is an option.

Ken Hackathorn, in several of his classes, had us tape the sights with masking tape so we couldn't use the sights - it was a 7-yard drill of draw and shoot a couple of rounds. We (his whole class) did better than expected. The lesson learned was at seven yards and less (some folks were able to do 10 yards) the sights were less important than folks think.

See above. I'm pretty certain that none of numerous drills that Hackathorn have used to assess shooters competency can be passed with taped sights. As I replied to dsk, you probably will land most of them. The question is if can you afford missing one at 7 yards.

A stage from a match one month back. Easy wide open targets. No prob, except for two misses because I decided that sight pic confirmation was optional. Lost points is the price for competitive shooting; what could be the price for other type of shooting?

@hal copple I wouldn't worry about future obsolescence of sighting systems and usability of your guns to your offspring. You can buy all kinds of mounting plates but whatever our kids do with our guns when we're gone, you and I wouldn't know anyway .

 

My greatest hope is that my opponents will be point shooters.

 

You're far less likely to be shot as their intended victim than you are by standing next to the one who was.