Safe Queens: I have none

[kml]

Generally, if I don't have a specific purpose for a gun it's gone. With my one "safe queen" exception,

My 1917 S&W 45ACP revolver. It was the first handgun I'd ever bought. Got it as a gift for an extended family member who had helped us through many tough times when I was growing up even though he'd never had much himself. He saw it at the LGS and thought it was "neat as heck" but said he couldn't waste money on toys just to have them. Every time we talked guns after that, he would mentioned that gun. When I gave it to him that Christmas he said over and over that he couldn't accept it but you could see in his eyes there was no way he was letting go of it!

Years later, when he passed, he left it to me in his will.

That one.... I'll keep that one. Even if it doesn't have a purpose.

 

[TopDog]

If I had a safe queen, I'd sell it to buy some more shooters.

^^^^^^^^^^
This, I have guns that I have not shot. Guns I bought for a specific purpose then the purpose no longer was viable.
I have a rifle in my safe right now I am thinking about selling for this very reason.

 

[Miles42]

I had a few Gave to the kids and sold off the others. In retirement my needs are few. I have recently obtained a small EDC. I admire a lot of what is out there. Some really nice stuff on the market and in collections. Going to get a hold of one more to pass on to my First Great Grandchild. Just hope to get to seee him or her.

 

[horsehaulin]

I have one, it's 1 of 2500 ever made. Bought it to carry, but stuck it in the safe for a poly gun and then found out it was never going to be made again. Only round fired was the factory test fire round.

Beretta 92FS OD

Already had some offers, but think I will keep it around. Not like it's hurting my safe by sitting.

 

[Jake226]

I had three unfired guns....only bc they were bought in Jan..... two got played with this past Saturday....and now that its almost spring, the new rifle will soon as well! If I had some crazy limited ed. gun I'd prolly keep it safe and sound too, at least until I could sell it!

 

[dmarsh8]

I'm always seeing in the For Sale forums things like, "...I never use it, it's a safe queen" or "It's too pretty to shoot, it's a safe queen...." I see other threads in other forums referencing the same. I do not have any safe queens. I own a few handguns and a few long guns and none of them are immune from service. I have my favorites that get more shots down range but all of them get used.

I haven't paid more than $600 for a handgun, but I'm pretty sure if I spend $1000 or $2000 on a really nice gun I'm going to use it like any other gun I have. In fact at that price I better use it a lot.

Anyone else immune to safe queens?

I'm with ya. Unless I came across something that just shouldn't be shot, but I'm not really into"collecting".
I hear people say about any particular item"that's worth a lot of money"and I always say, not if you aren't willing to sell it. I do understand the sentimental side of things and maybe the person doesn't want to take the chance of wearing something out it damaging it.

 

[223 Gunner]

I have one, it's 1 of 2500 ever made. Bought it to carry, but stuck it in the safe for a poly gun and then found out it was never going to be made again. Only round fired was the factory test fire round.

Beretta 92FS OD

Already had some offers, but think I will keep it around. Not like it's hurting my safe by sitting.

I have something similar. It's an LWRC AR, The Spartan, they only made 100 or them in black, and 300 in FDE.
I have one of the black ones. I'm on the fence if I should shoot it or not.

 

[rvb]

I have one. It was part of a collection I inherited from am Uncle. It's a Vietnam commemorative AR, lots of bling. It still has a seal showing it's never been loaded or fired. It's definitely not something I would have bought, but it's something I'll never let go of, either.

I have an NM M1A that's sort of become a safe queen. < 200 rounds through it since I bought it; not fired in almost 2 yrs. Not intentionally neglected, just not enough range time to go around...

-rvb

 

[buzz815]

The wife bought me a 1911 Colt 45ACP about 20 years ago. It is a purple heart commemorative from America remembers. It came with a pair of white gloves to handle it with. It has a gold plated trigger and hammer and has a lot of gold inlays. I have never racked the slide or inserted a magazine in it. It just seems to pretty to shoot. Maybe on of these days.

 

[LarryC]

Can't say I have any "Safe Queens", but do have several that rarely get fired. My son and I collect firearms, have 100 or so, just don't have time or inclination to get them out regularly and shoot them! We do normally shoot every firearm we purchase. Have a couple exceptions - one is a Mosin my wife wanted to keep as it was made in her birth year (we also have a few others that have been fired). Another is a BP cap and ball revolver a friend obtained in a trade several years ago. He wasn't into firearms, so offered it to me NIB for, as I remember $20 ~ $30. Just never took it out and fired it (yet).

 

[indiucky]

When I was young and my gun collection was about a dozen guns I would proudly thump my chest and say "I have no safe queens...All of my guns are shooters...If I can't take it out and shoot it then that's not the gun for me...etc...."

Now as I approach the age of 50 years old and my collection has grown a wee bit I find myself with a few "safe queens"......At some point my love for firearms became such that I was just as jacked about "where the gun has been?" as to "what the gun can do?"


I shoot 5-6 different guns a week but I still have a few that will remain un shot by me...A K98 Mauser unfired, BCD 4 that was a vet bringback that was taken off of the rack at the factory...He didn't fire it in the 50 years he had it so I see no reason for me too break that line of history....I also have a Winchester M1 Carbine from June of 1944 that was un issued and never sent back for rebuild...It has probably had 100 rounds through it since the early 60's...I let it reast as well....

IMHO ofcourse....

 

[GIJEW]

I bought a nambu at an estate auction once, and realized that my safe isnt big enough to be a museum! Now, aside from a H&R break-top revolver in 38S&W that my father in law had (that my son thinks is a neat bit of personal history), I don't have any guns that I don't have an actual use for. That doesn't mean that they all get fired a lot, but they're tools I have for a specific purpose.

 

[downlinx]

i have an m14 carbine that is a safe queen(by choice)

 

[Nate Suns]

Nope, I treat all my firearms like the tools they were designed to be.

 

[zippy23]

if you spend 2k on a rare 1911 thats beyond beautiful, you will be afraid to shoot it, you will be afraid that you will scratch the slide, or who knows, it will sit in the safe like everyone else's, and be brought out a lot, looked at, cleaned off, looked at some more, then put away again, night after night, week after week. It never loses its appeal, its still excites me as much as the day i bought it. love it

 

[Leadeye]

Some stuff I shoot rarely, or not at all, damage can be costly.

 

[newdumdum9825]

The only safe queens I have are my Arisaka 99 in 7.7x58 with original leather sling, matching numbers, and missing monopod I got after my grandFather passed, My grandfathers 20 g,and his 22 over 410. The arisaka sits since it's very valuable to me. His 20g is only sitting because it's having issues with FTF/no primer strike, and the 22 over 410 sits because a broken rear site.

While out hunting my 12g fell into the mud and a buddy was all like dude you are ruining your shotgun blah blah blah. I told him it's a darn hunting gun, it's gonna get dirty, muddy, wet and ain't gonna stay pretty! The receiver has scratches all over it from being carried through some thickets, the barrel is missing some of the bluing from being propped against a tree an falling over. It's a tool, tools deserve to be used, not kept pretty in the corner

 

[Psode27]

I have a couple, but not that I couldn't shoot them, I just have other things I'd rather shoot. I have a 1918 Luger that falls in that group. Only safe queens are really old for me. Anything new gets shot.

 

[sun]

I have some safe queens which are simply considered to be collectibles to me.
Not that any of them will never get fired, but that if and when they will get fired is totally up to me to decide. Or I can decide to sell them or pass them on to my kids.
None of them are too expensive, but they have all been discontinued and in many cases I have more than one of them which I fire. Some desireable muzzle loaders, several cap & balls revolvers, an AMT pistol, a Marlin Levermatic from the 1960's, all unfired. Then there are other guns that I didn't intend to be safe queens, but are just guns that I haven't gotten around to firing yet, or not very much.
In their unfired state they are objects of beauty, art and perfection. A gun can only be new once, then it becomes used. And the collector/owner gets to decide if it's worthy to break its "seal of perfection" or not in their lifetime, or if they want to pass it on to someone else to enjoy pulling the trigger for the first time or to let them choose to keep it pristine.
IMHO it could be considered to be preserving the gun for posterity, i.e. historical and cultural and/or investment purposes, just like a museum does. Not everyone has the desire to hold on to a new gun and not shoot it. But owning it gives a person the choice to either fire it whenever they really want to, or to not fire it for posterity because the time for it to be fired has not come yet. Its time is not yet ripe.
Every gun has its time and place to be fired for the first time. If it's only a back up gun anyway then it can be more easily saved to become a safe queen. That's part of gun collecting and admiring a particular model.
People collect those objects that they love and are able or lucky enough to have the opportunity to buy.
Some folks collect coins, some collect stamps while others collect guns. What's the difference?
New guns have the aesthetic of beautiful form and function and their owner becomes their guardian.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

When I was young and my gun collection was about a dozen guns I would proudly thump my chest and say "I have no safe queens...All of my guns are shooters...If I can't take it out and shoot it then that's not the gun for me...etc...."

Now as I approach the age of 50 years old and my collection has grown a wee bit I find myself with a few "safe queens"......At some point my love for firearms became such that I was just as jacked about "where the gun has been?" as to "what the gun can do?"


I shoot 5-6 different guns a week but I still have a few that will remain un shot by me...A K98 Mauser unfired, BCD 4 that was a vet bringback that was taken off of the rack at the factory...He didn't fire it in the 50 years he had it so I see no reason for me too break that line of history....I also have a Winchester M1 Carbine from June of 1944 that was un issued and never sent back for rebuild...It has probably had 100 rounds through it since the early 60's...I let it reast as well....

IMHO ofcourse....

I'm right there with ya...