I was thinking the other day about how many guns does a person need. It got me thinking about what I think I really need to hunt with and have fun with. This is the list that I came up with. This would be the bear bones that I could live with. This is up for debate, like I said this is what I think I could live with. Don’t go telling my wife though

338-06 in a cooper rifle, for bigger game with a Leopold VX-3 2.5X8X36 and talley rings

Light weight 280, for deer size game and my mountain rifle with a Leopold VX-3 2.5X8X36 or 3.5X10X40 with talley rings, I just prefer lower power scopes with my rifles.

22-250 for varmint hunting, I really like my 22-250, with a 4X12 Leopold.

Ruger 10-22 stainless, I think one of the best 22 auto loading rifles with a straight 4 or 3 power Leopold

Ruger single six, a great reliable, and mine is accurate 22 pistol

Glock 23 for my Concealed carry purposes
Remington 870 12 gauge, with 10 million sold you can’t go wrong.

Savage model 99 in a 300 savage. This is the first high power rifle I had and it was given to me by my grandfather. I had to include this for sentimental value.

I know that Cooper rifles where under the microscope, but they are the best shooting rifle that I have shot and can afford. For the money I don’t think that you can go wrong with a Leopold VX-3.

2.....22LR and a dirty ot six...but I wanted more.

One more then I currently have ....

quote:

Originally posted by Sid Post:
One more then I currently have ....

Four is plenty: pinkler, varmint, medium, heavy game. Examples are: 22lr, .223, .30-06, .416magnum.

Well... one way to estimate that would be to guestimate that each firearm takes up one half square foot of floor space. So you divide the number of square feet your abode has by two and you'll have a close number of how many firearms you need.

Jim

It's never how many you NEED, it's how many you WANT.

quote:

Originally posted by Labman:
It's never how many you NEED, it's how many you WANT.

Spot on!

A second to Labman!!!!!!!!!

"How many rifles does one person need ?"

I would say six (6), as that is what my safe takes.

Warrior

need is not the issue

or at least that's what I tell my wife

After 55 years of "collecting" and little "trading".....never enough.
Bob

Like the answers so far, but I'll put a serious one in here.

After a rimfire and a .30-06 class rifle a person doesn't need anymore. However rifle purchases usually have little to do with need. My take on it and my fiance (wife next Saturday) has agreed to it, as long as I don't put us in debt over my rifle purchases I can have as many as I want. Her first husband spent all of the money on toys and she had to put all the basic needs on her credit card to keep them in food, clothing, and pay the utilities. So when she saw how large my rifle collection she was a little worried about my spending habits.

Every rifle I own I've paid cash for or purchased on my one credit card, and I didn't make another purchase on that card until I paid it off. The reason I do use that credit card is on purchases of $500 or more they give me a year to pay it off intrest free or six months on purchase between $100 and $499. I just don't buy anything unless I can pay for it cash or in my intrest free time frame. Know because of the new CC Rules my card no longer offers this, so I'll be paying cash from now on on all my futre firearm and accessories. If I don't have the money I will not get them.

That's pretty much my wife's sentiment on it too. As long as I've paid the bills, fed the kids, and I have the money set aside for it (I always have varying levels of gun $$ squirreled away), then I pretty much get to buy as many as I want. She does make me hide some form my mother in law though, as she says mom-in-law just wouldn't understand!!

You gotta love a woman that is fine with an excessive gun habit, especially when so many don't want any in the house!

It could probably all be done w/ two; a 22lr for pest & varmints & a 375h&h for anything else that walks the planet. That would be so boring though.

If my gun buying ever comes down to an issue of "need", then just dig the 6 foot hole for me.

quote:

Originally posted by jdunlapmo:
You gotta love a woman that is fine with an excessive gun habit, especially when so many don't want any in the house!

Yup. Just this morning I told my Mrs. "I'm thinking of buying another revolver. I found one I want". She said "O.K. Whatever you want to do" just as matter-of-factly as if I'd just told her I was going to read the paper.

My wife asked me that question...

then she followed it up with the comment...
" so after you shoot a deer, are you going to come home and get the rest of them and shoot the dead deer with each one of them, just to justify your need to own them all???"

I gave that a brief moment of thought.. and then answered her question with a single word as I walked out the door.... " Yes!"

What has need got to do with it??

You could get by with just a .22 LR and center-fire of choice but why?

need:
22 lr
12 ga shotgun
223
30-06
375 H&H

want:
22lr
17 hmr
12 ga shotgun
22-250
270 WCF, 6.5x55, 7mm-08
338-06
9.3x64 Breeneke
404 Jeffery

You need at least one new gun every year to keep things interesting.

You guys heard of The Book Of The Month Club, right?
Well, I'd like to start a Gun Of The Month Club..

How many? I think something in the area of 130 is about right. Any more I try to sell or trade one if I find one I "need". It doesn't always work, though...........Tom

Need...none, I can buy everything I need to eat, fortunately. But then how would I justify the 20-30 that I currently have and the 36 acres of land I just bought???????

quote:

how many guns does a person need

lets separate them into categories....

1. small game (.22 Rim Fire)
A. semi auto LR for true small game
B. .22 Mag for the bigger small game

2. Shotgun
A. 12 Ga for waterfowl
B. 20 Ga for upland game

3. Special purpose
A. Pellet rifle (obvious reasons)
B. Black Powder rifle (more obvious reasons)
C. Slug gun (just gotta have one
D. Target rifle

4. Varmint rifle
A. Bench gun
B. Window gun (two) (you P. Dog shooters know why two)

5. Deer/Antelope. Three....one for you and one as a back up and one for a buddy.

6. Big game such as Elk and plains game (three....same reasons)

7. Dangerous game.....just one....

8. Hand gun (two.....a rim fire and a self defense gun)

total.....drum roll please.....20....just right!

If you can count them all in less than two minutes you just need ONE more!

Personally, I have set a limit of thirty five.

Rich
DRSS

If you know how many of each type firearms you own, you do not have enough. Often, I need what I want!

quote:

lets separate them into categories....

1. small game (.22 Rim Fire)
A. semi auto LR for true small game
B. .22 Mag for the bigger small game

2. Shotgun
A. 12 Ga for waterfowl
B. 20 Ga for upland game

3. Special purpose
A. Pellet rifle (obvious reasons)
B. Black Powder rifle (more obvious reasons)
C. Slug gun (just gotta have one
D. Target rifle

4. Varmint rifle
A. Bench gun
B. Window gun (two) (you P. Dog shooters know why two)

5. Deer/Antelope. Three....one for you and one as a back up and one for a buddy.

6. Big game such as Elk and plains game (three....same reasons)

7. Dangerous game.....just one....

8. Hand gun (two.....a rim fire and a self defense gun)

total.....drum roll please.....20....just right!

Finally someone who understands our needs.
I might add:

One large bore hand gun, legal to for big game.

one or two suprlus rifles for cheap practice with full power cartridges.

At least one black gun, if not 3, for obvious reasons.

An additional 12 GA, shorter barrel, extended mag, ghost rings for home defence.

I did think about a black gun "rifle", but this list was made for I have 5 kids and 4 dogs and a hungry wife. I figured I could life without it.

The number of firearms I need is directly correlated with the number of pairs of shoes my wife "needs."

Need? I don't need no stinking "need" It's all about "want"!

Larry Gibson

Just wait until you sit down with your insurance agent (even if he hunts) and go over the list for insurance purposes. They get glassy eyed when you start bringing out rifles over 375H&H power levels and Double Rifles. After half an hour, my guy just gave up and said "give me a dollar amount...".

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Antelope Sniper:
You need at least one new gun every year to keep things interesting.

That's how I operate...however I have sold a couple.

I don't know I have not reached that number yet. The question should be how many safes am I going to need?

My grandfather would say all one hunter needs is 20gauge shotgun and 7x57 rifle with 6x fixed scope.
However I would say you need:
12 gauge shotgun for bird shooting
7x57 for deer and above
9,3x64 for the rest
for Africa's BIG 5 450Rigby rifle

I think with that equipment you will cover 99% of your hunting time.

I think for everyones differing hunting, sport shooting or simple collecting inclinations there are many levels of need that often over ride the simplistic NEED. So instead of counting how many individual firearms we need (where some of the answers are more an indication of discresionary spending levels), it is first necessary to fathom the many directions that our great sport takes.
For myself I do not shoot BR or handgun either target, CAS or hunting, do not shoot claybird or skeet or any of the many other areas of our truly diverse sport.
My safe has been pruned to the minimum and has a Kimber 22LR for rabbits and plinking, a 12GAYA SxS for rabbits on the run, A custom XR100 20 VarTarg for rabbits out yonder, a custom DWM 7x57 for all medium to big game and a custom FN 404J because I need one.

This line-up covers all the bases I need to cover and only the 404 is an indulgence at least till I win the lottery and can go to Africa and what I have is still all that I would need.

Von Gruff.

Rifles only, without adding handguns into the equation, I need

2, 22 lr. a semi auto and a bolt action for slow accurate fire and a semi auto for spray and pray.

3, varmint rifles. 22 hornet, 223, and 22-250 for short medium and long range

1, 243 for extra long range varmints and for my grandchildren to borrow to get them started hunting deer and antelope.

A 270 and a 338 for deer and elk.

A 375 or a 416 for the odd chance I will ever make it to Africa. DW

Several things dictate how many rifles and shotguns and pistols I own. I shoot skeet-trap and hunt big game and waterfowl, with the occasional quail or dove hunt thrown. I started off with a single barrel .410 shotgun and 30-30 Marlin 336 when I couldn't even afford the shells for them unless I sold the quail I shot. I say this to say that now that I can afford anything I want, I really appreciate everything I have. ----- I live in a waterfowl paradise and grew up hunting ducks and geese, thus am equipped for them. The same for skeet and trap. I hunt Deer, Elk yearly and occasionally hunt Alaska, Canada and Africa. I shoot everything in the rifles from .22 to 50 BMG and everything in between. I have my own private ranges and shoot them at least three days a week, weather permitting. I shoot dozens of rifles each year for buddies that don't take the time to do it right, but want an accurate rifle with load developed. I have six grandsons, a grand daughter and great grandson that are following in my hunting and shooting footsteps and they all need a fine shooting rifle-shotgun-pistol when I am gone. In the meantime I handle all the training. A grandson shot a 100 straight at Vandalia Ohio when he was was 15 at the Grand Shoot off that cost me $100 and I was more than happy to pay up. He also tookk his first Elk at age 14 with a .338 Lapua and never looked back. Yep he is better than his teacher, and I am also proud of that. ------ After telling you all that, now you know why I have two safes full and working on the third, and telling the kids to keep producing. Sorry for the long self indulgence, but the original poster asked for it. Good shooting.

Rifles are, um, a most important factor for your health and longevity. You might say that they are as important as vitamins, but, unlike vitamins which keep you alive and healthy when taken in the right doses, rifles do not become toxic like overdoses of vitamins do. The more the rifles that you have, the happier you will be, and that will make you live longer. So, there is a direct correlation between having large numbers of rifles and your physical longevity.

The only restraining factor is the size of your bank account. That said, with care, you can balance your account and your day to day needs and find enough in it to buy rifles and to keep buying more and more.

Don;t forget to leave them to your children after you, as they would be as good for your children's health and longevity as they would have been for yours. In fact, if you take your children out shooting your rifles, they would become as happy as you are and both you and they will enjoy a long and happy life.

Any where within two digits is OK. Above 100, you are starting to get obsessive. Over a thousand is down right weird, unless I win the lottery, then all bets are off.

Your gun collection should be no more than your age. If you only bought one gun a year it would show self control. So if you were say 50 years old and only had 30 guns you have some catching up to do. If you find that you have more than your age its ok to substitute dog years.