What to do when a gun is ready for retirement

[FNG19]

We spend all kinds of time talking about maintaining our guns, how to mod them, which ones to buy, the right shooting technique, etc. One thing I've never seen is a discussion of the right way to dispose of a gun. By "dispose", I mean, "Gun is broken, the cost of repairing it is more than the cost of replacing it. Let's dump the thing."

So, I started thinking: What's the legal/correct way to send a gun to its final resting place, so to speak? Lest anyone worry, all of my guns are in good working order and in no danger of being retired. This is just a hypothetical question.

Thanks!

[normanvin]

That is what gun buy backs are for. Or it can be parted out to repair other guns in need.

[jmiro]

I asked my ffl the same question. The answer I got Is he would log it into his books and mark it destroyed after it was disposed of.

[FNG19]

Originally Posted by jmiro

I asked my ffl the same question. The answer I got Is he would log it into his books and mark it destroyed after it was disposed of.

Thanks for the quick response! Any idea what the FFL would wind up doing with it?

[adymond]

Probably parcing it out to repair other firearms. I think that's why I want to have duplicates of each of my firearms so that I can scavange from them when one of them is ready to be retired.

[jmiro]

I know the FFL I deal with would dispose of it. Disable it, break it into peices, and throw away? I bet there are some shady FFL that wouldnt get rid of them. I would also want something stating that it was marked destroyed with a signature.

[knight0334]

Sell/transfer it to the highest bidder with full disclosure of its condition. There are lots of good parts yet on "worn out" guns.

Screws, trigger links, hammers, rods, whatever... Some parts are hard to get for out of production firearms. Think of the other guy out there that only needs 2 parts to finish his.

[ungawa]

All this talk is making me cry

[StealthBeast]

Why dispose of it? If you used that gun so much that it cannot possibly be realistically repaired, there's gotta be some extreme sentimental value to it. It'll at least be a kick-ass paper weight with some fun stories to share.

Otherwise..

I imagine you can sell it to someone who can utilise the parts.

On a completly different thought, I just remember some friends of mine from Europe who were war gun collectors... Depending on the circumstances, it could be completly legal to fully nueter the thing and sell it to (and I mourn for those souls..) a European collecting enthusiast.

[gander215]

Originally Posted by StealthBeast

Why dispose of it? If you used that gun so much that it cannot possibly be realistically repaired, there's gotta be some extreme sentimental value to it. It'll at least be a kick-ass paper weight with some fun stories to share.

+1.. Yeah I would have to keep it. You could find something creative to do with it. Paper weight, door handle what ever. -BB