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The last thing anybody opens after a man dies is his gun safe. Nobody in the house knows what's in it.

Everything a retired lawman knows about keeping a house safe, and the guns in it, written down at last.
Seven years behind a gun counter. Thirty as a state wildlife officer.

Tap the video below to play it. Wendell explains everything in under 2 minutes.

Get My Copy Now Instant PDF + EPUB · $37 today, was $52 · 7-day money-back guarantee See what's inside first ▼

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01

How it works

  1. 1

    You pay once

    Through Gumroad, a checkout millions already use. I never see your card number.

  2. 2

    The book opens

    On the very next screen, about thirty seconds later. Phone, tablet, Kindle or computer.

  3. 3

    It lives in your email

    The same link sits in your inbox, so you can pull it up at a gun show, a pawn counter, or with the safe door open.

Nothing ships. No account, no password, no subscription.

02

The honest math

Every figure here comes out of the book, with the chapter named. None of them are guesses about your guns. They're what the ordinary mistakes cost ordinary men.

What not knowing costs

  • Two men call the same rifle "very good"can halve or double what it's worth · ch. 59
  • Insurance on eleven stolen gunsabout $2,500 in total, not per gun · ch. 72
  • Trading two guns in for oneabout half what a private sale brings · ch. 94
  • The dealer at the door after a funeralhalf to sixty percent of what they're worth

On eleven ordinary guns$1,600 to $6,000 left behind

What knowing costs

  • Getting the safe off the slab$8–15 of plywood · ch. 101
  • Knowing which variant you ownsix steps, about five minutes · ch. 39
  • Knowing whether a job is yours at all392 plain verdicts
  • Every gun in the safe, written downone ledger page each, for your family

The whole book$37, once

I won't put a number on what your guns are worth. Nobody honest can without holding them. What the book does is keep them from going out the door for one number.

03

Look inside

Real pages from the real book, in the large type it's set in. The hard ideas are drawn out as diagrams, so you see it once and have it.

Page 316: old guns in your closet worth thousands. The name on the barrel is almost never where the money is. The variant is.
Page 486: why the bottom of the safe rusts first, and the eight-dollar fix, drawn out.
Page 89: the nightly walk. Ten minutes, the same order every night, and the bedroom last.
Page 682: the ammo can. A can of .30-06 packed in 1989, opened in 2011, and shot at the October bench. The gasket is the whole point.

Swipe, or use the arrows, to see more pages

Get the whole book for $37 →
04

What's Inside

Six parts, 164 chapters, 30 infographics and 87 tables, in large type. Every job ends in one of four plain verdicts: kitchen table, bench, take it to somebody, or stop.

  1. Part One33 chapters · p. 27

    The House

    Door fixes that cost a few dollars, the ten-minute nightly walk, the 911 call when the sheriff is twenty-six minutes out, and the Amazon gadgets that went back in the box.

  2. Part Two39 chapters · p. 200

    What's in the Safe

    What you actually own, which years carry money, the two words that cost families the most, and the Registry.

  3. Part Three23 chapters · p. 377

    Buying It Right

    What I was paid not to tell you at the counter, the sixty-second used-gun check, and the trade-in trap.

  4. Part Four44 chapters · p. 456

    Keeping It Running

    The $8 fix under a $3,000 safe, WD-40 and the other oils on the bench, and six problems that mean stop.

  5. Part Five12 chapters · p. 677

    Putting It Back

    How long ammunition really lasts, the ammo can, how much is enough, and what's true about the ATF.

  6. Part Six13 chapters · p. 727

    Handing It Down

    Doyle's safe, June's binder, the first week after a death, and how not to sell for one number.

  7. To print7 cards · p. 780

    The Printable Card Pack

    The Door Card, the Nightly Walk Card, the Glovebox Card, the Registry and three more, to print and keep.

  8. For reference9 appendices · p. 800

    The Appendices

    Dated prices, the failure index, the grading worksheet, torque figures and five more.

And that's only the outline. 853 pages, 392 verdicts, and every figure dated.

05

Get The Gun You Think You Know

Instant PDF and EPUB, on your phone about thirty seconds after you pay. Read it in your chair tonight. Print the cards before you open the safe this weekend.

The Gun You Think You Know, book cover

The Gun You Think You Know

587 readers · 98.9% satisfaction

  • 853 pages in large type, PDF + EPUB
  • 164 chapters in six parts, 30 infographics and 87 tables
  • 7 printable cards: the Door Card, the Glovebox Card, the Registry and more
  • 7-day money-back guarantee, and you keep the book
$37 $52 Save $15 today
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What readers write me

★★★★★
"Thought I knew what was in my safe. Went through the identification chapters and found out two of them aren't the variant I'd been telling people for thirty years."
D. Reinholt, Wisconsin
★★★★★
"Walked from a Model 70 at a show because of the buffing. Man wanted $900. Book cost me thirty-seven."
T. Callahan, Pennsylvania
★★★★★
"My father died in March. I had eleven guns and no idea what any of them were. This is the book I needed in April."
B. Hutchins, Wyoming
★★★★★
"Filled in the ledger over three nights and sat both my kids down with it. My daughter asked why I'd never told her the Savage was her grandfather's."
R. Halloway, Michigan
★★★★★
"Nothing in here about my AR and he says so up front. Bought it anyway for the other four hundred pages."
C. Marsh, Idaho
★★★★★
"I wrote tags at a hardware store in Ohio in the seventies. He's got the spiff chapter right."
L. Prater, Ohio Retired counter man

🔒 Secure checkout by GumroadOne payment, no subscriptionSeven days, my word on it: your money back

Wendell Coffey

Wendell Coffey

I'm seventy-seven. Three years fixing rifles for the Army, seven behind a gun counter in Greeneville where I wrote the price tags, and thirty as a commissioned wildlife officer in East Tennessee. I kept every notebook.

My friend Doyle died in 2019 and his safe went out the door for one number. His widow's back door was hollow. And my own wife didn't know the combination to ours. So I wrote it down. Some of it says don't, and means it.

Wendell

Straight Answers

Is a paper book coming in the mail?

No, and I'd rather tell you twice than have you waiting by the mailbox. It's a digital book, a PDF and an EPUB. Nothing ships. About thirty seconds after you pay, it's on your phone. Print the cards you want for the truck and the kitchen drawer. The rest goes in your pocket, where you can search it with the gun in your hand.

I'm not good with computers.

Neither am I, and I managed it. You press one button and it opens. Nothing to sign up for, no password to remember. If it gives you trouble, write to me here and I'll sort it out or refund you.

Is this a subscription? Will you charge my card again?

No. One payment, one time. No membership, no monthly anything, no free trial that turns into a bill.

What if I lose the file?

The link lives in the receipt email Gumroad sends you, so that's the thing to keep. If you lose that too, write to me and I'll get it back to you.

I'm not a collector. I've got four guns in a cabinet.

That's who this was written for. A man with a few guns, most of them bought with overtime money, who's never had anybody honest to ask. And a house that has to be kept safe by whoever's living in it.

Will it tell me what my gun is worth?

It teaches you to identify it and grade it honestly, and shows you how the same two words, "very good," mean three different things depending on who's saying them. That's where families actually get taken. Then it gives you three prices for the same gun, and tells you which one you'll really get.

Are the prices going to age?

Yes, and the book says so. Every figure is dated, and they're gathered in one place, Appendix A, so you can see how old a number is before you trust it.

Does it cover ARs, optics, or long range?

Not the way those men mean it. No AR lifestyle or tactical training, nothing past about four hundred yards, and nothing on optics past mounting a scope, which is chapter 129. Appendix I lists everything that's left out, and why.

Why isn't all of this in your videos?

A video gives you one trick. You can't hold a video in one hand at a gun show, or pull one up at three in the morning. The book has all of it, in order, with the amounts, and cards you can print.

What if it isn't for me?

Read what you need first. If it isn't what you hoped, one email inside 7 days and you get every dollar back. You keep the book. No forms and no argument.

06

Questions before you buy?

Write to me here. Every message comes straight to me, and I answer.

07

Ready when you are

Doyle's safe went out the door for one number. Yours doesn't have to. 853 pages, on your phone about thirty seconds after you pay.

Get My Copy Now

Questions before you buy? Write to me, I answer: write to me here

The Gun You Think You Know is a digital book (PDF + EPUB). Nothing is shipped. One payment, no subscription. 7-day money-back guarantee. Payments handled by Gumroad.

Wendell Coffey writes practical nonfiction about American gun ownership and hunting heritage. This book recounts real experience and research to the best of the author's knowledge — where memory and record disagree, the book says so. Nothing herein is offered as legal, financial, medical, or firearms-handling advice; always consult a qualified professional and follow all applicable laws when owning, transferring, or handling any firearm.

Wendell Coffey · seven years behind the counter, thirty in the field
I wrote down what I'd tell you if you walked in with it.
$37 853 pages Get the Book
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