Your Opinion ...on Gun Values - Used guns

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BigJimP

New member
Hey guys ....I'm not picking on young guys / or young shooters...I think its good we're getting some new blood into all the shooting sports.../ its a great day - when I take one of my adult kids ..or one of 10 grandkids now, to the range ...its fun ! or when I get a chance to show a nice gun to a younger guy at the range...explain what it is / maybe let them shoot it a little...its all good !

I know a lot of younger shooters appreciate "better guns" ..../ but young guys have young families, and mortgages, and auto loans, etc...and other financial priorities...

I'm just talking about gun values ...are they going to continue to go up on good guns ? ( like we see today --- on say, a used S&W Model 27 Nickel for $ 800 - $1,000 - like a mod 27-1 ...) --- are the prices going to continue going up ? ...or are prices going to be like what happened to "baseball cards"...??

I'm not saying young shooters should or shouldn't buy expensive guns or better guns ....new or used ....( if prices go up / will they spend the money to buy that model 27 vs current day XDM's ...etc ...)...but I'm asking primarily about values....do you think they're going to level out / continue to climb ...mostly I'm not sure if prices will continue to climb or not .../ and my point in that, is I met a guy recently that told me he had some classic guns he was holding to sell - never fired - to augment his retirement ...and I told him I thought he should sell / or at least put them on consignment ...because I think his window on pricing may be closing...

when all of us Baby Boomers are gone ...will prices continue to go up / or are we driving the market up - with our buying and nostalgia ...( I don't really know if we are or not )...

I don't care about the value of my collection ..it is, what it is ...its all going to my adult kids / and grandkids down the road anyway .../ I don't care if its value is $100,000 or $ 250,000 ....its irrelevent to me ( except for having enough insurance on it ). If it drops in value 50% or more ...its ok / I've had yrs of fun with all of my guns / and hopefully will continue to have for many years...
 
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TunnelRat

New member
I don't care about the value of my collection ..it is, what it is ...its all going to my adult kids / and grandkids down the road anyway .../ I don't care if its value is $100,000 or $ 250,000 ....its irrelevent to me ( except for having enough insurance on it ). If it drops in value 50% or more ...its ok / I've had yrs of fun with all of my guns / and hopefully will continue to have for many years...
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Then why did you ask the question? :confused:
 
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Skans

Active member
It is rare for things that are no longer produced to decrease in value.
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Not really, tastes do change and prices will reflect that change. I was watching an episode of Antique Roadshow the other night - filmed in 1997. It showed the 2012 prices next to the 1997 prices. About 30% actually went down in value over a 15 year period.

There are lots of Pythons out there. Prices have run up quit a bit over the past 5 years and they are still rising. At some point, I expect these prices to level off and then fall a bit over time. FWIW, I believe that I can purchase an excellent quality C or perhaps even a T-Series Hi-Power for less than I can purchase a shooter grade Python. Now, that's just wrong!
 
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BigJimP

New member
I asked what you guys think about values today - and in the future on some of these guns...

....because I was curious what you all think .... / and because I hear a number of guys in gun shops ...say often, they have this gun or that gun, in excellent condition or almost unfired in a box - set away in the safe "as an investment" ...

I don't know if some of those guys sitting on these "investment guns" are making a smart choice or not / or if some of them will become like baseball cards today...

I also don't know ...if shooters in their 20's today / will continue to invest in "better guns" ...like some of us Baby Boomers have ....or are we "the Baby Boomers" artifically driving the cost on some of these guns up ...( older S&W revolvers, Colt Pythons, Wilson Combat 1911's, Ed Brown 1911's, Sig X-Five's...etc )....and will the price bubble burst when we "Baby Boomers" quit buying guns / quit expanding our collections.

that was why I asked....and I'm not sure even what I think....because I waffle a little - week to week...so for me, somedays..

a. I kind of hope the prices drop a little ...so more guys can enjoy the guns that I've enjoyed.

b. I don't want to see anyone get hurt on "investments"...especially if they really need the money someday..

c. I hope the young shooters today / my kids in their 30's and 40's now ...and my grandkids that are teenages for the most part...enjoy these older guns for what they are / and I hope they can afford to buy them someday ...so I hope they don't go up too much more in value...

To me personally, I have virtually everything I want in terms of guns...and while we all have budgets...(my wife is very indulgent in my hobby) ...and for the most part, I can afford to pay whatever the current market prices are for what I consider good guns because I've been lucky ...at the same time I enjoy the "hunt" for a gun ...maybe more than owning it somtimes...and I'm not banking on the value of my collection to pay any bills or expenses down the road...my collection will just be divided up equitably among my 2 olders sons - and a few guns to the grandkids / so value of my personal collection is irrelevent to me ( whether it drops 75% ..or goes up 75% ...makes no difference to me personally). I have the guns I want / I shoot them when I want ...and everytime I take one to the range, I have a great time with it ...( last nite ...I went to my local range with a Freedom Arms single action revolver in .357 mag / and a Wilson 1911 in 9mm ...and had a great time with 4 boxes of ammo for each).
 
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larryh1108

New member
Big Jim,
I think most of us "older" guys are in the same boat. We can't take them with us when we go but we don't want them to be ruined, either. If you enjoy them, shoot them, clean them and admire them then they performed as you hoped and expected. I feel the same as you do. I have some nice guns, I have some cheap guns but I only kept the ones I enjoy and shoot. There are some truly collectible guns that will increase in value but for the most part all you hope is they keep up with inflation in case you need to sell some at some point in the future. Guns will always be worth something. If someone has $25,000 worth of guns for when he gets old and retires and may need some extra cash then he'll be able get some money for them, almost like gold. The same can't be said for electronics, cars or most of the items we spend our cash on today. If you spend $500 on a gun today you should be able to get $500 for it in 10-20 years but if you spend the same $500 on a computer, it will be worthless in a few years. Other than precious metals and stones, there isn't a whole lot of stuff you can buy and enjoy and still get a large portion of it back should you decide to sell it in the future. Guns will always have value.
 
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johnwilliamson062

Moderator
"as an investment"
A terrible idea IMO. Very hit or miss and most strongly affected by regulation. It is true that guns are unlikely to lose all their value under almost any circumstance, but the government could order seized without compensation or limit transferability. Not saying it is likely or anything, but either could happen reducing their value to nothing.

As far as antique prices, I would like to see what exactly you are looking at. Things fluctuate quite a bit depending on what is popular. Around 2000 my mom started buying me antique shaving accessories. She is heavy into antiques and goes to many auctions(she is the type of person who has trouble figuring out how to cram all of her antique furniture into her house). She liked the shaving things and was sure they would be going up in value in the near future. Since they were masculine she just started giving them to me. Shaving cream mugs, sharpeners, old brushes, etc. NO one wanted them at the time, myself included. Some were interesting. It used to be when barbers shaved people rich people would have a personal mug and brush at the barber shop. Most were picked up in junk boxes or less than $5. They are all worth a lot more now for no real reason. I have one from a naval officer which really shot up in value. In 5 years they may not be worth much at all. Most antique prices have held well over the last few years as people shy away from traditional financial instruments. My father gave my mother an absolute free pass to buy whatever she thought was a good deal for a few years b/c neither of them wanted to put any money into the market and her antiques never dropped much in value. I know some others who acted similarly and some people who came to my mom for advice about what to buy. My mother certainly has not complained about prices dropping or talked about great deals. I have access to all the major price books and I could take the time to compare prices over the last 20 years and adjust them for inflation, but I am not going to. At the very high end things very well may have dropped. Like guns I am not sure it makes much sense to have them as "an investment," as they usually don't increase that much over time after inflation and there is a lot of fluctuation on individual items. Furniture is more stable as I bet nice trap guns are also. I would not hunt with a collectible rifle, but I bet many would shoot trap with a collectible shotgun and that utility lends to stability.
If you love a house crammed with 200 year old cherry tables or pistols that were hand fit from butt to crown, it really doesn't matter though.
 
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Skans

Active member
...but the government could order seized without compensation or limit transferability.
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If you are worried about that, you might not want to invest in gold either. That's right, this country used to regulate the amount of gold you could own -

Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933, by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates within the continental United States". The order criminalized the possession of monetary gold by any individual, partnership, association or corporation.

Can't happen again??? Right now, there's a 50/50 chance that it will happen again!

Gun ownership is protected by the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Gold ownership is protected by your most trustworthy politicians.
 
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mitchntx

New member
I guess I need to be aligned on what is referred to as an 'investment'.

With the way speculators artificially (it seems) move the price of oil/gold/silver/etc. the term 'investment' means more about 'maintaining' as opposed to 'making'.

In reality, it would take a train load of Pythons to fund a retirement. So as a money-making 'investment' I don't see the average collector being able to shuffle the needed assets in order to live a lifestyle to which they may be be accustomed.

I certainly can't go to my local Wal-Mart and pay for my groceries with a Ruger 22/45.

But for those of us that witnessed our early retirement wither away in 08, finding a 'commodity' where one can at least 'maintain' is a plus IMHO. Guns seem about as safe of an 'investment' as any ... I said safe, not necessarily lucrative.
 
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johnwilliamson062

Moderator
I never said invest in gold.
I have advised several very wealthy people to buy gold certificates in foreign countries on a relatively small scale(a few percent of their net wealth) as a back up if they feel a need to leave the US. Something for multi-millionaires to consider though.
Junk silver, which is easily identifiable and valuable at a rate reasonable for actual commerce, at a value of a few thousand dollars tops.

25%+ of your net worth in gold/silver is nonsense as well though.

I had retirement savings in 2008. Mutual funds. They didn't do so bad. Of course, the major financial stations had the manager on as a crazy man they could make fun of in the 5 years or so before.
https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=MUTF:GLRBX
 
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44 AMP

Staff
It is rare for things that are no longer produced to decrease in value.
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Not really. In fact, its rare for things no longer produced to maintain or increase in value significantly, until, unless they become desirable collector items (aka antiques). Otherwise, they are just old junk.

Tell me, what is the value of a used 1986 Canon dot matrix printer? Is it worth the $200 that it sold for when new? I don't think so. But I do think I could get $200 out of the Remington 870 Special Field that I bought for the same price that year.

It all depends on what, when, and what the market is interested in. That antique buggy whip probably would bring a bit more today than when new, but that is because of its rareity and novelty.

Buying guns to make money on them is foolish, for most of us. A few dealers across the country do it, and make a living, but they are self taught experts, in both firearms, and the market. Most of us aren't, especially in the market end of it. Buying guns to fund your retirement, etc. is foolish. Buying guns to have and use, knowing that you can get most of your investment back out of them, if necessary, isn't foolish. Because there is always some kind of market for quality guns.

While there might be a good market for antique shaving mugs today, the bottom might drop out tomorrow. There is a market for good guns today, and there will be tomorrow. Might not be the same market there is today, but there will be a market.
 
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