I had to move the gun safe yesterday, and as I unloaded the thing, I found guns in there i forgot I had - a couple of Marlin model 60 .22's, a variety of single shot arms in a range of calibers and a few oddballs like an AR-7 that i think is fun, cool and fascinating, but is a pretty crappy firearm overall.

So I am going to - gasp - reduce the size of the arsenal this year!

First, I'm dumping the "exotics" chambered in ammo i can't find at a yard sale. (25-40? what? 8mm? Huh? What was I thinking?)

Then I am standardizing most of the handguns on .40 - every cop I know carries .40 and I can find .40 ammo pretty much everywhere. This is a bit of a drag, because i have been shooting 9mm for a long time and actually prefer it, but when it comes to handguns, I have to follow the lead of the folks who trained me and when all of them tell me they carry .40 so i think they have more knowledge than me about that sort of thing.

Shotguns will be harder to trim the collection (I really like shotguns), and I REALLY like .410 around here, with my trusty and ultra-simple M6 scout for hunting (we are slugs-only shotgun hunting here, and I find that the lighter weight of the .410 with 3" hollow-point slugs makes a nicer hunt).

Of course, the king of all shotguns, 12 ga, will be retained, as will the slightly easier to handle for my wife and son 20 ga. But all the others go.