Third Party Press

Six Phases of K98 Collecting— (my view only)

Bob in OHIO

Bob in OHIO

Senior Member
Wrote this 15+ yrs ago... and posted on G-Boards.

Thought I'd migrate this over here for thought/comment.

Gun Board Comments are linked here => 2008 Comments

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​


I. Greenhorn: Enthusiastic, excited about learning, naïve. Normally buys his first rifle which deepens the addiction. Law's BBOTW is the key resource. Lone wolf with little network.

II. Exuberant: No longer a beginner, jargon is learned, less obvious details are now observed. Developing a thicker skin, realizes that collecting is shark infested, and realizes the holes in Law's book.

III. Accumulator: Rifles are added in chunks, collecting focus needs sharpening or not. Knowledge becomes powerful.

IV. Upgrades: A matched gun alone may not elevate the heart-rate. Tends to look for better conditioned specimens. Network links are pretty well established.

V. Ceiling: No more K98s are really needed, but the urge is still within. Becomes a discriminating buyer (condition, code) and might become a niche buyer. Has a sharp focus of interest. Is sage, and very willing to help others.

VI. Decline: Interest wanes, or situations change and the collection is viewed differently then the accumulate phase. All or part is moved out.
 
Bob in OHIO said:
Wrote this 15+ yrs ago... and posted on G-Boards.

Thought I'd migrate this over here for thought/comment.

Gun Board Comments are linked here => 2008 Comments

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​


I. Greenhorn: Enthusiastic, excited about learning, naïve. Normally buys his first rifle which deepens the addiction. Law's BBOTW is the key resource. Lone wolf with little network.

II. Exuberant: No longer a beginner, jargon is learned, less obvious details are now observed. Developing a thicker skin, realizes that collecting is shark infested, and realizes the holes in Law's book.

III. Accumulator: Rifles are added in chunks, collecting focus needs sharpening or not. Knowledge becomes powerful.

IV. Upgrades: A matched gun alone may not elevate the heart-rate. Tends to look for better conditioned specimens. Network links are pretty well established.

V. Ceiling: No more K98s are really needed, but the urge is still within. Becomes a discriminating buyer (condition, code) and might become a niche buyer. Has a sharp focus of interest. Is sage, and very willing to help others.

VI. Decline: Interest wanes, or situations change and the collection is viewed differently then the accumulate phase. All or part is moved out.
Click to expand...
Thanks Bob, that's interesting.

Mathematically, collecting might be represented by 2 curves : knowledge and excitement.
[Others factors/variables driving these two could be : financial means and availability of items collected]

Knowledge follows the well-known "learning curve":

1712136548242.png
which is a sigmoid function:
en.wikipedia.org

Sigmoid function - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Excitement/interest probably follows an inverted sigmoid curve.
Many natural processes follow either of these curves.

I think the secret to avoid reaching your phase VI too early is to keep an interest for small details and move on to researching.
 
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OK, so in the last 30 years I went through these phases: I, II, III, then straight to VI, then back to II and now back to III. Maybe this time I'll stay in it long enough to hit IV and V............
 
Bob in OHIO said:
Wrote this 15+ yrs ago... and posted on G-Boards.

Thought I'd migrate this over here for thought/comment.

Gun Board Comments are linked here => 2008 Comments

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​


I. Greenhorn: Enthusiastic, excited about learning, naïve. Normally buys his first rifle which deepens the addiction. Law's BBOTW is the key resource. Lone wolf with little network.

II. Exuberant: No longer a beginner, jargon is learned, less obvious details are now observed. Developing a thicker skin, realizes that collecting is shark infested, and realizes the holes in Law's book.

III. Accumulator: Rifles are added in chunks, collecting focus needs sharpening or not. Knowledge becomes powerful.

IV. Upgrades: A matched gun alone may not elevate the heart-rate. Tends to look for better conditioned specimens. Network links are pretty well established.

V. Ceiling: No more K98s are really needed, but the urge is still within. Becomes a discriminating buyer (condition, code) and might become a niche buyer. Has a sharp focus of interest. Is sage, and very willing to help others.

VI. Decline: Interest wanes, or situations change and the collection is viewed differently then the accumulate phase. All or part is moved out.
Click to expand...
Works with women, cars, boats, and airplanes too.
 
You're missing either step 1.5 or 2.5 (whichever you think fits better) : "Dunning Kruger effect personified." The bit where a new collector has learned a little bit and is certain that they're an expert, and most certainly are not.

In graph form:

WNnRgdL.jpeg
 
This is exactly how it goes Bob,i am currently at 6,trying to whittle the K98ks down to 10,i have even sold off some that are on the picture reference.
 
I remember how irked I was when I first got the Karabiner98k books back in like, 2016-17? when they didn't follow the neatly laid out tables of BBotW. I quickly realized why such a format is utterly impossible, and wildly incorrect. I'm not sure where I'd fall since I don't really collect matching rifles, but have learned a ton of information here, where I feel confident enough to go out and buy them if I decided to. I suppose I'd put myself at a VI in terms of interest and a perpetual III in knowledge, and that I desire to grow my collection but due to the market really can't.
 
You missed the 5.5 section. You no longer need the common and somewhat affordable guns, you already have those. Now you need rare and expensive specimens. So now instead of getting 10=20 guns a year you get two and each time you do you're embarrassed because you can't believe you paid that much for a gun that is going to go in a sleeve and into the back of your safe not to be seen for another year when you take everything out to oil it up because you haven't slept for nights worrying that you are going to find rust on that 99% gun the next time you look at it. That added with the fact that knowing if something happened to you your wife would take them down to the local gun shop and get 60% on the dollar.
 
In twenty years, I went from I to IV and stopped. Now my chunks sit in a safe waiting for the day I hit VI to unload them.
 
At a point the only thrill is acquiring, then the new toy sits, along with the rest, taking up space and gathering dust .....

It is an addiction !!!!!!

But not as destructive as drugs, alcohol, or loose women ......
 
I own 2 rifles now… haven’t looked at laws book. But I did just order k98 volume 2. Guess we know where I’m at in the scale.

I don’t think I’ll go too far with the Mausers. My niche is more US rifles. Particularly 1917’s. Though there really isnt much in terms of variation. Just buy one you like and enjoy shooting it
 
Guillaume d'Orange said:
Thanks Bob, that's interesting.

Mathematically, collecting might be represented by 2 curves : knowledge and excitement.
[Others factors/variables driving these two could be : financial means and availability of items collected]

Knowledge follows the well-known "learning curve":

View attachment 389715
which is a sigmoid function:
en.wikipedia.org

Sigmoid function - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Excitement/interest probably follows an inverted sigmoid curve.
Many natural processes follow either of these curves.

I think the secret to avoid reaching your phase VI too early is to keep an interest for small details and move on to researching.
Click to expand...
Huh, that's kind of a cool graph, I've personally experienced this while attending law school.
 
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