“Stuff accumulates over time. Through inheritance or hand-me-downs, by impulse shopping or survival preparation, the material possessions we acquire seems to always grow to match available space unless steps are taken to guard against becoming a packrat,” M.D. Creekmore writes over at thesurvivalistblog.net. “An oversupply of things can become a liability, not an asset. While each person is unique and has different needs, the packrat mentality, if left unchecked, hinders efficiency and mobility in addition to becoming a health hazard. During my efforts to become more self-sufficient and better prepared, reducing clutter has been the best survival preparation practice I have ever performed.” Some might say “one is none and two is one and an entire gun safe full of firearms isn’t enough.” Ditto cases of ammo. Do you have too much gun stuff for your own good?

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52 COMMENTS

  1. Nope. But I’m only 22 and have been accumulating since 18 with very limited income. Now talk to me once I graduate and have a real career. Then I might be pushing the limits of our 2 bedroom 🙂

  4. I’ve never even considered that question. How could it be possible to have to much gun stuff? If I had the wealth to buy all the guns and related ‘stuff’ I wanted I think I would have the wealth to store it.

  5. Gun stuff is like horsepower: some is good, more is better and too much should be almost enough.

    • If you are talking about a street legal car, I have seen a few cars with too much horsepower. When you put around 700 HP in a Corvette for example, you can’t buy and install enough sticky rubber on the back wheels to transfer that much horsepower to the ground. Anything over about 660 HP and the tires will just spin and generate smoke. If you can’t transfer the power to the ground , then it is just wasted and it is too much.

      Now if you’re building a race car, then you can engineer it to accommodate a lot more than even 700 horsepower. (bigger and stickier tires, weight transfer, aero downforce, etc.)

  7. Northwesterners have a saying: “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just improper clothing.”

    The applicable version here is: “there no such thing as too much gun stuff, just insufficient storage.”

  9. I think the only time “too much” would become a liability is if you are disorganized and everything is stored in a disorderly fashion.

  10. Unfortunately, I lost all my gun “stuff” in a tragic deep sea boat accident. Fortunately, I survived unscathed.

    • Funny how my boat went down within sight of yours. Must be something in the water near there.

  11. When it gets to the point where you have dedicated safes for differing brands/models of firearm….Yes it can get a little out of control.

    The one full of single action Rugers is actually worth more than the one full of 1911s

  12. I don’t think I do but the wife might.
    Told her that I had ammo delivery today
    She didn’t say anything, just gave me the look
    My interpretation was that she approved only because the look wasn’t the flaming daggers look
    “A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse”

  14. asked the wife “how many pairs of shoes does that make ?” as i thumbed thru the gun magizine….

  18. You can have too much to eat, and you can have too much to drink, but you can never have too much gun stuff.

  20. Personally, not yet and I’m not a pack-rat type. I prefer to be a minimalist. I want no more survival/defense/bob gear than I can carry on my back while I walk leading a horse loaded with more gear deeply into nature. Learning to knife fight, combat shoot, hunt, fish, perform first aid, and live off the land is more important to me than owing the latest most powerful semi-auto sniper rifle armed with the best night vision scope.

    • Anything is possible. The more you own the more you have to protect, and in a SHTF scenario that isn’t good. Get off the grid, go to ground, and stay in the shadows. What evolves into the new local government will loot your possessions just as fast the street thugs. The extreme Right and Left are both authoritarian states. In the end-cap results, there is little difference between government officials and street thugs. Both groups are thieves, oppressors, and destroyers.

      • Get off the grid, go to ground, and stay in the shadows.

        Sounds like someone’s hiding from his ex-wife.

        • Good metaphor. With all the intrusions into our lives and endless demands for more of our money and more rules rules rules government does feel like a nagging ex- or current wife.

      • As soon as they mapped every square inch of the earth from outer space going to ground ceased to be an option. All you have done is buy yourself a few more weeks and that is all.

    • In the interest of being helpful, any of you fellers with a few pistols too many or a rifle, carbine or shotgun you just can’t find room for, well you just give me a holler. I will help you out. I’ve got plenty of room for poor orphan firearms. They will find a loving home with me.

  24. I feel like some things are a little excessive. Having 4 AR-15’s for a 2 person home isn’t necessary. Limiting to reason is always good in my mind. Although I never hope to see, it’s always good to build for a SHTF amount of ammo back stock for each gun you own. A shotgun or two, an AR/AK or two, a historic gun or two, and a few handguns would be my limit. Ever. Reason? I don’t need to collect things that won’t get used enough/ever. I wan enough for home protection, and a backup incase one goes to hell. Backup parts never hurt, but don’t go too crazy with it. I think as far as owning a mini armory goes, it is cool, but not too practical.

    • Extra ARs = more replacement parts. Having a couple extra completely assembled rifles doesn’t hurt in those catastrophic failure situations.

  25. My wife says I do, but that mostly pertains to holsters. OTOH I do have a second set of body armor on the way with a side panel cumber bun.

    • The photo looks more like a slightly over-crowded MUSEUM, instead of someone’s gun storage room.

  27. “Too… much… gun… stuff….?” Those are clearly English words, but they’re absolute gibberish in the order in which you’ve used them.

  28. you don’t have enough gun stuff until you are digging through some old bins and you find at least one gun that you completely forgot you owned.

  29. Why is there a metal breastplate on the floor in that picture? A mid-evil attempt at body armor?

      • That’s German Machine Gunner’s armor. Usewd by Maxim gunners as well as by snipers (there’s also an additional plate for the front of the helmet.

  30. A wise man once told me (in terms of ammo) “The only time you can have too much is when swimming, or when you’re on fire.

  31. “Too much” depends on what your purpose for the gun stuff is. If you are prepping/survivalist/whatever, there is a balance point, and from that standpoint I would have “too much” guns and not enough ammo or food.

    But…. I’m not a survivalist. I don’t buy into long term SHTF/EOTWAWKI stuff. I can see a short term (few days-a month or two) because that happens all the time, and I try to have enough to be able to get through most of those short term disasters.

    For me, guns aren’t just protection or preparing. They are a hobby I enjoy pouring money into. I just enjoy shooting various guns.

    As far as pack rat goes, I do my best to avoid that point. I won’t buy something I can’t put in the safe or will take up space I don’t have.

  32. When it comes to ammo, sure it’s ok to overstock if you can afford it.

    But with guns, we only got 2 hands, and like 4 or 5 common calibers. There has to be a realistic limit before you start getting funny looks.

    • By “funny looks” I take it to mean, the funny look of me drooling on myself as I admire an exquisite gun collection.

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