How do you afford your gun habit?  I know this is personal, so I will add a poll so you can remain anonymous.  I have lusted after some amazing collections here on AR-15, and decided either some of you are extremely wealthy, or you do other things to afford those wonderful, evil, black, stacks of firearms, that I see set up so nicely in pictures.  What do you give up for your guns?  Nice house?, nice vehicle?, vacations?, financial security...hehehe?   I've seen some of the pictures of the vehicles we here at AR-15 drive, so I know that seems to be a major sacrifice, but what else do you do?

Me, I unfortunately give up expensive guns....ohhhh the horror.  Most of my gun habit is on firearms less than $300.  My wife and I also do not drive brand new vehicles, but still nice.  Oh, and my wife says clothes, as in my clothes.  We also spend our vacations in the mountains at my in-laws cabin(very cheap vacation).  I scrounge, pinch, hide, a few dollars at a time to save up for what ever gun finds it's way into my fancy.

I'm an electrical engineer in Tucson.  Pay is pretty good, especially since it's a two-income family.  I had my AR custom made when I got my company to pay me for nine days unused vacation, and had the comptroller cut me a check with no taxes taken out (I'm sure I'll regret that when I file this year).  Most of my guns are in the sub-$400 class, though I did buy a used XP-100 a couple of years ago that ran $600.  Edited to add:  I bought a Kimber Classic Stainless one year when I got a good bonus, too.

I spend the rest of my hobby money on reloading supplies.  

Secret of a successful marriage?  Budget the luxuries [i]first[/i]!

Sell 3 or 4 of those $300 guns, add bit of cash for tax & tags, and you've got a brand spanking new AR!

I too wonder how some people do it.  I make a very good living but it still has taken me about two years to amass 3 15's, 2 10's and a couple of "other" types.  Of course, that doesn't count the three AR15's I sold over the last 5 years.  I would have double the collection right now!  Its true, you will always regret selling a gun when you need money...

40k - 70k seems like an awful big range.

Most guys can afford most of the guns they want. The only problem is this stupid wife thing.  

Most of my buddies have 6 figure incomes but are always complaining that their wife won't let them buy what they want.

guns762, I myself am always interested in the ways other people make their money. I am a Real Estate Entrepreneur. I buy houses at a fraction of what they're worth then fix them up and resell them. Its Damn good money. I make between $20,000- $25,000 a house. I do between 3 and 4 of these a year. I'm single with no kids, so thats how I can afford the toys. I just bought a brand new chevy Silverado 4x4 and paid cash for it and I'm only 27 years old. Its a fact that over 90% of millionaires start out in Real Estate. Its the easiest and quickest money out there IMO. CAPITALIST.

Great post! Can't believe I didn't think of it - nosey bastard!

1992

Yugoslav Federation broken up (Jan. 15). Bush and Yeltsin proclaim formal end to cold war (Feb. 1). U.S. lifts trade sanctions against China (Feb. 21). U.S. recognizes three former Yugoslav republics (April 7). Gen. Noriega, former Panama leader, convicted in U.S. court (April 9). Four police officers acquitted in Los Angeles beating of Rodney King; rioting erupts in South-Central Los Angeles (April 29 et seq.). Caspar W. Weinberger indicted in Iran-Contra affair (June 16). Last Western hostages freed in Lebanon (June 17). Supreme Court reaffirms right to abortion (June 29). Democrats nominate Bill Clinton and Al Gore (July 1). Gen. Noriega sentenced to 40 years on drug charges (July 10). Court clears Exxon Valdez skipper (July 10). Israeli Parliament approves Yitzhak Rabin's coalition government, dominated by Labor Party (July 13). Police officers acquitted in April on criminal charges in Rodney King beating are indicted on federal civil rights charges (Aug. 5). North American trade compact announced (Aug. 12). Republicans renominate Bush and Quayle (Aug. 20). UN expels Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia (Sept. 22). Senate ratifies second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (Oct. 1). Top Japanese leader, Shin Kanemaru, resigns in scandal (Oct. 14). Bill Clinton elected president, Al Gore vice president; Democrats keep control of Congress (Nov. 3). Russian Parliament approves START treaty (Nov. 4). U.S. forces leave Philippines, ending nearly a century of American military presence (Nov. 24). Czechoslovak Parliament approves separation into two nations (Nov. 25). UN approves U.S.-led force to guard food for Somalia (Dec. 3). Prince and Princess of Wales agree to separate (Dec. 9). Bush pardons former Reagan administration officials involved in Iran-Contra affair (Dec. 24).

1st-I was taught that was sacrilege!, 2nd-I said most were under the 300.  I do splurge every once in a while for things like an AR-15(kit gun).

I'm a high school Art teacher(no masters), so you know what that means.  My wife just quit her job as a Medical Technologist to be an accountant's secretary.  Can you say pay cut!  The accountant is going to put her through school to get her accounting degree, so things will look up someday.  We also have two wonderful boys, god I love them.

Uh huh!  The process of obtaining guns in this scenario looks like this:

[>Q]

[soapbox]

[}:D]

[devil]

[bounce]

[shock]

[pissed]

[soapbox]

[smash] [stick] [spank]

[xx(]

[sex]


That's:

Me begging
Her lecturing
Me doing it anyway
Me being happy
Her finding out
Her reaction to finding out
Her lecturing about me ignoring afforementioned lecture
Her retribution
Me if I'm lucky
What I don't get for a while

I agree, but only so many choices, and I know 100,000 and up is a huge range.  However, My wife and I started out just over 45 about 10 years ago and now make just under the 70, and it doesn't seem much different, if that can happen?

You're curious about total household incomes? My wife and I each bring a little over $50K per year. She's a union clerk/expediter at Boeing and I'm a union railroad switchman with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. I don't even really earn my potential because I don't like working more than 30-35 hours per week. I could be earning $75K-90K a year if I wanted to, but man, that's no life.

I gotta tell you, if someone had told me when I graduated from high school that in 10-15 years I'd be living a household with an income in excess of $100K, I'd think I would have it made. Funny thing is, once you get here, it just doesn't seem like that much. I guess your standard of living and comfort level just goes up right along with your income. Now I wonder what it would be like to win a multi-million dollar lottery. Then I'd have it made....[:)]

It also has a lot to do with where you live. Most of the Puget Sound area of Washington is just an expensive place to live. If my wife were ever to get laid off, we'd probably seriously consider relocating to eastern Washington or central Oregon. That and I'd have to work a good portion of the year as a brakeman or conductor to help make up the difference.

If I want, I can usually sneak up to about $2K-$3K annually into our budget without raising any flags or suspicions from the wife. I have about 30 guns, including 5 AR15s, and don't fell like I have some big collection. When I see some of the other member's collections, I wonder if THEY haven't won a lottery. [:)]

I got stuck in the Navy for about 10 months longer than I was supposed to be on active duty, and had already moved my wife and kids to Colorado from Virginia. So, instead of being out there for 4 months without them it ended up being about 14 months instead.

My answer: Part-time job at my buddy's gun shop!

Beat the crap out of sitting around the house all evening pulling my hair out, and I got to earn a little money (which ALL went towards firearm or ammo purchases) while standing around talking with people about GUNS! I added probably 7 or 8 guns to my collection that way, including the "expensive" ones. (That's a joke, because I'm pretty much a budget shopper, too.)

Just got a job offer from GE Power Systems yesterday, and I'll basically be doing the same thing I did for the Navy but at a 50-60% pay increase. Still puts me in the 40-70K range, but a lot closer to the 70 than the 40 now!

How do I afford my guns?

Well my collection is only worth about $6000

1) $1200
1) $800
1) $700
And the other (20) are in between $100-$600

I don't have any expensive habits other than guns, ammo & accesories.

You just have to get your priorities.

A new AR, or a collection of new Curios including a Yugo SKS.

Well, last time this question came up someone beat me to it..so here it goes...

Growing Grass in Pensacola ...pays the bills and buys the toys... [+]:D]

..oh yeah..anybody need an extra bag of rye grass seed? [;D]

Our priorities are saving for retirement and our hobbies -- in that order. We spend little money keeping up with the Jones'. Many of the Interns and Residents at the local medical center drive more expensive cars than I do. Years ago I found that expensive cars and clothes do little for me. The wife has similiar feelings.

We also try hard not to spend money on things we don't really need or won't get a great deal of enjoyment from.

My retirement advice: Keep the first wife!! Mine helped put me through medical school. If I leave her, she gets half of everything, including one testicle!!

docmac86

What do the other 10% do to earn their money?

I am a under paid MPEG2 Tech.  Could make much more but dont have the nerve to move on.  My wife is a nanny [:)]

My girlfriend (well on her way to becoming my wife) and I are both sales reps for verizon wireless.  Income fluctuates, but between the two of us we're hitting the $70K mark easy. But I freaking hate the company, so I've been contemplating a change...real estate was first on the list.  So, Capitalist, any advise you can throw a guy looking to break into your field?

I do computer consulting work mostly large Sun Systems and I am currently working on a contract with the IRS in Memphis, TN.  I make about 120k a year and my girlfriend is doing about 35k.  I also drive a 6 year old truck and live in a very small house on 10 acres of land.  It is all priorities.  I could have a large house and new car, or I could live in a small house in the country, buy guns, and have somewhere to shoot them.

My company forces me to travel places like the Caribbean (in Barbados now), pays me well for it, and I don't have any baggage (a wife).  They pay me well enough to afford a decent collection with the only drawback being that I don't get to see my grandson or my babies (guns) nearly enough.

Somehow, it's never enough. [:(]

My wife and I combined pull just a hair over $50k...

We live in a 35 year old $117.5k home that we paid $75k for in September of 98... With a ton of sweat equity, we have increased our profit margin by 56% in just 3 years!

We drive a 92 Camry, as our "new" car.

I do a ton of programming and graphics work on the side, and barter my work for lots of stuff!

The gun shop ([i]Castle Arms[/i]) that Grin and I own, does not generate enough profit to support anyting yet, since we tend to give it all back to the firearms community, via deep discounts on the LEGP stuff!

Somehow it is never enough. Easy come and quickly easy go.  $20K....$50K....or $100K no matter.

My wife and I both work full time. She is an accountant and I'm LEO (yes she makes more than I do). We pull everything and she pays the bills, saves etc. Whatever I make on the side for security  or a little construction is mine. We use my Navy Reserve pay for vacations. The side work usually amounts to 2-5 guns and accessories a year. Not an answer for everybody but it works for us.

30%=100,000 and up?? I think I know how some of those collections are coming together.  I think I need to stop by the pawn shop tonight and make sure nothing has my name on it.

My wife made 40K this year. bought a new car yesterday paid cash for it!(shwing!~) i just started a new job so what i bring in now; next year problably 70K combined. Get the bill's caught up iam treating myself to an AR10.

With no wife or kids to support, a decent job and no expensive tastes except guns it is surprising the collection you can accumulate over the years. Especially if you have been shooting for three and a half decades.

Considering my "main" hobby is not guns, I can afford to buy what I like.

I maybe buy 1 or 2 guns in a 4 year period. Most of my disposable income goes to my other hobby (coins).

Plus it's nice to be 25 and making almost 70K, not including my soon to be wifes income...


Av.

Well I have been talking to some "well off" people.  I am a webmaster and full time student. I don't pop the $15,000 dollar mark after taxes.  I am married, but no kids (thank God) becuase I don't even have health insurance. Peace out!

As you can tell I'm in the meat buisness.
Made 100k last year and the wife 40k.
live in the suburbs of seattle.
I'm a strange one in that I don't drink,smoke gamble too much or any of the other vices.
My main hobby is guns and fixing my house and raising my kids.
The only debt i have is my house which I have 50% equity in.
140k in this area ain't squat when compared to the price of housing here.

my wife does'nt care what i do as long as i pay the mortage and bills every month.

I spend at on the average 300 dollars a month on "toys".

This is the only way to keep my sanity with 2 kids and a wife.LOL

Jim