Are custum guns sellable?

[ajacobs]

I find myself in the need to raise a little cash and I have a p-12 that I waited a couple of years for and had custom made by Cylinder and Slide, with 8 preban hicaps. I rarely see fully customized guns for sale on the boards and I was wondering if anyone buys them? Or is it just no one sells them?

I have 2800 in custom work in the gun and it has not been fired since it got back from cylinder and slide. Could I get $2800 for it making the gun and the highcaps free? I know that is a rather open ended question without listing the specifics of it, I guess I am asking is there a marked for custom guns or do people spending that kind of money just wait like I did??

Aaron

 

[Blue Duck357]

You tend to lose A LOT of money when you sell a customized gun.

Only exception may be when a big name smith does the work then passes on or retires. Even then it's likely to be hard to find the right buyer who had always meant to pick up one of the guns when the maker was in business.

I have no idea what kind of custom work you had done on your gun but tend to doubt whatever it was you could get half your investment back. Might try selling 4-5 of the hi-caps separately to try to re-coop as much as you can.

Good Luck

 

[Erich]

Well, in the two years between college and law school, I worked for (eventually managed) a pretty nice gun store that moved a lot of fancy stuff in addition to the regular stuff. You know, shotguns worth as much as cars, antiques, and custom guns.

I don't think I'm out of line in saying that (at least back then) one could rarely get one's money out of a custom gun one had made for oneself. Now, this is barring inflationary price increases (that Glock 17 you bought for $285 in 1985 would probably net you a bit more if you sold it today), of course. It was generally true, though, that customized used guns were a pretty good deal for buyers, though, because they just would not sell for what the customizer had put into them. A used tricked-out 1911 with $1400 of work put into it would sell for around $700, for instance. (I believe those numbers are accurate for a particular gun I'm thinking of that ran through the store in 1990, but the concept is what I'm getting after, not the particular numbers.)

Now, I'm sure not qualified to guess about what your pistol is worth nowadays. I certainly hope you can get all your money back out of it. BTW, I think The Gun List may be your best bet for selling it. You might call one of the bigger dealers in there and ask them your general question of whether it's generally possible to recover the money you put into a custom piece - just to see whether their experience today is the same as mine was back then.

Good luck with it!

 

[buzz_knox]

Go to www.pistolsmith.com and ask there. They have not only several custom smiths who post there (along with the one who owns the site) but they have custom dealers who might be able to help.

$2.8K in a P12? What did you have done to it?

 

[blades67]

Selling customized guns is like selling customized cars. Your base gun is what the price will be based on. There will be some allowance for the custom work, but you (the seller) paid retail. I (the buyer) won't pay more than wholesale, if I'm willing to pay that much, for the work you you wanted done. You may find that one person that wants the same exact work done that you had done and will pay what you're asking. However, that person will be tough to locate. If you're looking for a quick sale you stand to lose even more. Custom work is tough to sell because of many factors. If you're patient you may get what you think the gun is worth, but it may be a very long wait.

 

[CWL]

The custom ParaOrdnance guns I've seen don't really sell for much more than their used value, especially many of the raceguns I've seen offered.

You probably won't be able to recoup your investment but here are a few suggestions:

1) Sell it to a friend. Someone you know may have admired your P12 in the past and may be interested.
2) Contact Cylinder & Slide, they may be interested in brokering your P12 to someone else on their waitlist.
3) Instead of local consignment, offer it on one of the auction sites to see if anyone is interested, but don't jack-up the reserve impossibly high unless you want it to sit there forever. Take lots of pictures.
4) DO sell the hi-cap mags separately.

Good luck.

 

[ajacobs]

Thanks for all the input, the more I think about it the more I realize I want to keep it. I would have better luck and recoup more value by selling some of my non customized firearms if I have to sell anything. I had almost totally decided against it and kind of figured what the responce was but I was still interested in knowing the answer to the question. I wouldn't sell the mag seperate as they are tested and tuned to the gun and serial numbered to it. Thanks again.

 

[PreserveFreedom]

Good choice on keeping it. A custom gun is one that can never quite be replaced when you miss it. It's also easily identifiable if ever stolen.

 

[Blue Duck357]

...and it's at least a $3000+ dollar gun as long as you are not trying to sell it

Seriously, I've almost always come to regret selling a functional handgun even when I thought it was the right thing to do. If you wanted another one 2 weeks from now you would really be in a mess.

 

[Tamara]

"Customs are built for yourself, not for resale value"

A general rule of thumb I've found with custom guns is (major parts+a small amount for any bells and whistles+possibly some for name recognition of the 'smith)=value of gun. Any money spent on services (Accu-Rail, Black-T, Cryo treating, etc.) and 'smithing is out the window.

Examples:

A 1911:
Frame: $250
Slide: $200
Barrel: $125
Neato ambis, BoMar, and STI trigger: $75
Moderately-well known local 'smith: $50
Asking price: $700

A custom rifle on a Mauser action:
Barrel: $300
Action: $75
Stock: $200
Awesome scope, Harris bipod: $200
'Smith who's built the state champ benchrest rifles for three years running: $150
Asking price: $925