Due to the death of my husband (AfricanHunter), I need to liquidate his estate. This would include higher grade guns and ammunition. Looking for the names of reputable auction houses or other suggestions. Thank you in advance.

Very sorry for your loss. Like anything, when it comes to selling you have to decide if you want to sell cheap and move on or sell full value and wait. A good auction house will sell it all of course but you may not get what you hoped. You can sell it all to a dealer at a hefty discount and let them make what they can however long it takes. You can also consign it with one or more dealers and then you can do the waiting but get closer to top dollar.
Some dealers are better for some types of guns than others. Same with the auction houses. Some auction houses will let you set a reserve as well but I am not sure if all will.
If you know relative values of the items you can list it and sell it yourself on the internet. Not hard to do but takes time and energy. But you keep most all of the money.
So let us know where you fit in and we can start to direct you on which way to go. JB

Also, sorry for your loss.

Rock Island Auction company is reputable. You might realize higher gains going to higher end retailers like William Larkin Moore company in Scottsdale. But the RIA folks seem to want to make it easy to sell through them.

Lots of money gets eaten in consignment fees or auction fees, so make sure you understand them, and understand on the auction if there's a minimum under which the item won't sell.

Hope this helps

I would advertise listing them on AR, Guns International, Gun Broker...and be patient and they will sell. small arms ammo can be shipped UPS with a small arms sticker on the box..

Beware of those who sit and wait to rip you off in your grief. I have seen a lot of that..

Perhaps seek the help of a legitamate dealer if you can find one..This is a good place to seek that kind of help or advice...

Any questions just give me a email or call or one of the many poster who replied to your post..The will help as best they can, no strings attached like charging for advise or a percentage of your intake. Just my two bits.

Ma’am, not sure where you are located but there is a place in Houston called Collectors firearms. Depending on how bad want to sell them, a local store front or collectors store would be the fastest and easiest way to get rid of them. My condolences ma’am ….

Listing and selling them individually is a lot of work.
The biggest and highest earning auction house in the world is Rock Island Auctions. Many estates make one call to them; they do the rest. And they are opening up a new facility in Texas.

I have liquidated several collections of friends that have passes away. I always get bids from reputable dealers. All bids I have received were for 30%-50% of value. The dealers understandably want to make a profit but I have found they want buy cheap not reasonable. As an individual it is unlikely you get full retail value but with some guidance, you get fair prices. Auction or private sale is the way to go.
Good luck

I too have helped a number of families and older friends reduce or liquidate their firearms. Most of what I post here in the classifieds doesn't belong to me personally. I'd love to help....wish you were closer :-(

dpcd, do you know where in Texas they will be?

Yes, they bought a big facility in Bedford between Ft Worth and Dallas. I can see much or most of their activity going there; just my opinion. Better weather!
They also have the current huge facility in Milan IL though.

Good luck.
Auction houses will charge a lot. You will get about 75% or less of the value.

I used Champlin Firearms recently and George Casswell did a good job. You will pay about 20% fee off the sales price for those services.

There are no "deals" out there. Knowledge is power and the more you know about what you are selling, the better the final total will be.

Selling yourself is a pain and time consuming. Plus you have to deal with the buyers paying you, getting FFL info and then shipping. There will be problems that cost you money doing this.

I suggest find someone that does this for a living and do it on consignment. Be sure you can trust that person.