Value Quandery
Tastes change with every generation. I have enjoyed my shooting hobby for 50 years or so and have accumulated a small collection of firearms. Do you think that classic firearms such as Winchester mod 12s, S&W revolvers, High Standard 22s etc.. will hold their value? I have kind of an eclectic mix of guns, classic to new. Will there come a time when the numbers of the older guns available outstrips the demand as the younger generations of shooters gravitate toward more modern and cheaper designs. Also I have seen several guns listed as having belonged to celebrities. For now these bring a premium but soon most of the buyers won't even know who these people were. Just some thoughts as I look out at another dreary rainy day with nothing else to do. Bob
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Well, Model 12's have been pretty much flat for the last 30+ years around here. Unless they are a rare configuration and/or 28 gauge.
Like most, basic 12 gauges bring the least and are the hardest to move, again unless there is something special about them.
I think S&W revolvers will always be desirable.
I'm not sure about High Standards. Perhaps their rather small "cult like following" will just keep getting smaller?
Just my thoughts from my observations.....The younger generation just doesn't seem to realize the quality of workmanship, the coolness factor, the history, or the true beauty of so many of the classic guns....... :oops:0 -
some of my 30+ year collection has fallen in price while some has gone up the younger gen wants plastic 
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I personally think good quality guns in good condition will have a strong following for some time. I don?t have trouble selling all I can get. 0 -
Like women and other things of beauty. Its in the eye of the beholder.
Classics like 1911's and others will always be desired and command great values.
Since we never know what is over the horizon. Possible pulse guns or something that will make obsolete or less valuable what we value now.0 -
im almost 70 and my best friend and shooting buddy is 71, we both have a bunch of nice older firearms. i recently brought this topic up to him; is anyone going to want these older firearms after we are gone. i see a trend of fewer and fewer people who want a S&W model 10 or model 99 savage or an ithaca 37. but i guess as long as we enjoy owning them what will it really matter in the end. the kids will just have to settle for a smaller inheritance. 0 -
I have 6 model 12's that belonged to my great grandpa, my grandpa and my uncle that I inherited. I have one High Standard Double Nine .22 revolver that I inherited from my uncle which was the first handgun I ever shot back in 1959. And I have several S&W revolvers that I've inherited and accumulated over the years.
For me I really don't care if they go up or down in price because I'll never sell them.
They will go to my youngest son who likes the old guns as much as I do.0 -
Ricci Wright wrote:I personally think good quality guns in good condition will have a strong following for some time. I don?t have trouble selling all I can get.
Ricci if you don't mind me asking is there any age correlation concerning who tends to buy what type of gun. From your listings I see you have had a wide range and am wondering who is most likely to buy what. For instance do 30 year olds buy 94 wins or 336 marlins. Or do they want the latest and greatest polymer toys. Do they want 870 Wingmasters or one of the tacticool versions? Just curious as I have no intentions at the moment of selling anything. Maybe If I outlast all the rest of the old farts, demand and prices will go down and I'll buy up all the classics cheap : Bob0 -
I was happy there was a sucker who bought my Hi-Standard "Space Gun". I bought the gun for $450 and sold for double (or there abouts). Had her for about 15 years? Then again "Space Guns" tends to hold and increase in value. Not sure if the buyer was younger if not it'll be back on the market soon.
Now S&W are hitting crazy prices not Colt "python" prices but crazy to me.0 -
I've been of the belief that you shoot what you enjoy ... That's the only SURE way to get the value out of it ... Even my AR's have seen a nose dive in value, some of my others are faring better, some worse, but it's only the "old guard" keeping their values high ... We live in a disposable world and it's even begun to creep into the small arms market ... Only machine guns seem to have been the exception ... if Reagans E.O. Ever gets repealed even those will take a dive.
Anything of wood and blued steel requires too much work to maintain ... And it's not modular.
M14/M1A are in this bunch, no optic mounts ... and 308 recoil ... OMG!!!
AK not modular and difficult to mount optic's on ... bad triggers
SKS, same as AK ... And heavy
HK is another one that the incoming generation will, for the most part ignore, no last round bolt hold-open, difficult to mount optic's on unless it has a picitinny rail welded on, heavy and horiable trigger.
FAL ... See HK
It seem's the incoming new shooters all need optic's on everything, they don't know how to use irons, not even on pistols.
Speaking of pistols, 357, 45acp(my personal favorite), 44mag, 10 mm ... another OMG, the recoil :roll:
I've seen so many posts from new shooters about weight, horiable triggers and recoil ... It embaresses me that they call themselves shooters ... I bought an IWI Tavor and was told on some form, that I had to buy a $350 trigger upgrade before it was even shootable! ... I guess in his defence, I did sell it within 6 months as it as I couldn't get comfortable with it and I couldn't see buying a new rail and forearm to make it comfortable and work with my other accessories and optic's ... In short it didn't measure up to my expectations.0 -
At the gun store I work in the majority of my younger , less than say 46 customers gravitate to the plastic fantastic fire arms and the AR?s. The older gents still prefer wood and blue steel and many appreciate good revolvers . One customer comes in on a regular basis , always looking Browning A5?s and another checks in asking for Hi powers . Neither of which we get very often. So yes , some folks still appreciate quality over quanity 0 -
Bob I don't always know the ages of my customers as often everything is done by email but I do have phone conversations with some customers. This past week I sold a Colt Woodsman Match Woodsman to a 71 year old gentleman and had a 10 minute conversation with an 18 year old who is very interested in a 1887 Martini Henry rifle I have for sale. He was very enthusiastic and is looking for a rifle to load for and shoot.I recently sold a 1892 Winchester to a young Marine. I maintain that there is an innate appreciation in humans for craftsmanship whether cars or guns or watches or fishing rods. Of course it won't hurt if us old geezers expose the youngsters to the finer things.BobJudy wrote:Ricci Wright wrote:I personally think good quality guns in good condition will have a strong following for some time. I don?t have trouble selling all I can get.
Ricci if you don't mind me asking is there any age correlation concerning who tends to buy what type of gun. From your listings I see you have had a wide range and am wondering who is most likely to buy what. For instance do 30 year olds buy 94 wins or 336 marlins. Or do they want the latest and greatest polymer toys. Do they want 870 Wingmasters or one of the tacticool versions? Just curious as I have no intentions at the moment of selling anything. Maybe If I outlast all the rest of the old farts, demand and prices will go down and I'll buy up all the classics cheap : Bob0 -
Blued steel and walnut will always have a place and a value to some of us, maybe not so much to the plastic crowd.
Some guns are just classics and always will be a following for them even if there is not that much cash value.
Case in point............... A month or so back, an older gentleman, late 70's I'd say, asked me to help him sell his 2 guns.
He didn't hunt any more and his kids didn't want them.
He had a Remington 550-1 and a Ithaca Model 37, 12 gauge, plain barrel with a modified choke. Told him what they were worth. Then said that an uncle of mine had a 37 and I always thought it was a neat gun and that I never got around to ever getting one. Told him his should be out rabbit hunting. He asked me if I rabbit hunted and I told him I did. He than asked if I would take his 37 rabbit hunting and I said yes, it was a perfect gun and made me think of Uncle Charlie. He then gave me the 37 with the promise that it would go rabbit hunting and that when I didn't hunt any more, I would pass it on to some one who would.
I have guns that are worth a little money and some that if da' wife knew what I'd paid, well...........But that old Ithaca means more to me than most of what I own and yes, it is going rabbit hunting for as long as God allows me to walk the fence lines.0 -
44pinshooter wrote:Blued steel and walnut will always have a place and a value to some of us, maybe not so much to the plastic crowd.
Some guns are just classics and always will be a following for them even if there is not that much cash value.
Case in point............... A month or so back, an older gentleman, late 70's I'd say, asked me to help him sell his 2 guns.
He didn't hunt any more and his kids didn't want them.
He had a Remington 550-1 and a Ithaca Model 37, 12 gauge, plain barrel with a modified choke. Told him what they were worth. Then said that an uncle of mine had a 37 and I always thought it was a neat gun and that I never got around to ever getting one. Told him his should be out rabbit hunting. He asked me if I rabbit hunted and I told him I did. He than asked if I would take his 37 rabbit hunting and I said yes, it was a perfect gun and made me think of Uncle Charlie. He then gave me the 37 with the promise that it would go rabbit hunting and that when I didn't hunt any more, I would pass it on to some one who would.
I have guns that are worth a little money and some that if da' wife knew what I'd paid, well...........But that old Ithaca means more to me than most of what I own and yes, it is going rabbit hunting for as long as God allows me to walk the fence lines.
Excellent!
Some great old guns are just not meant to be sold.....
Great story!
Ed0 -
I am at a gun show almost every weekend. This being my 2nd off this year. But from what I see. The current market is all over the place. does not matter if you have ar's or M12 its quality an price right now. Young or old look for what they want. no buying frenzy. The collectors are still looking for there holy grail. New young people are starting out with war items an old hunting guns. So the demand is there but not as strong as it once was. I have every thing from project guns to high end collectables on my tables. Some weekends I shake my head at what I sell. Its crazy. 0 -
Browning A5s will make anyone question what they know about gun values. 0 -
I could not agree more with you!Locust Fork wrote:Browning A5s will make anyone question what they know about gun values.0 -
while I agree with the model 12's and 97's they seem to float back and forth every few years as per price and saleability, I got into this same question just last year after my bypass I was off sick and had bills stacking up company stopped sickpay, the VA doesn't really care about filling out insurance papers for sick pay, as they don't tend to care about outside insurance. anyway I decided to sell a few of my military items as I knew my kids wouldn't care about them, they have showed no interest up to now and I was afraid by they time I died there may not be anyone around who would care as much as a few of the guys roaming the gun shows now looking for such. I kept one of my dads mausers that an uncle sporterized for him and sold most of the rest, 6.5 carcano carbine, few bayonets for K98's, lot of various insignia dad brought back, he was a medic in battle of bulge, some american, and some german. he never spoke about the war and I allways figured he got the german stuff from dead bodies, we never had a clip for the carcano, and one of the few times he talked about the war he said he rememberd the ground was littered with the clips as they went out the bottom on the last round. I figured the guys who bought the stuff from me would appreciate it more than someone say 10 years from now and my kids wouldn't have a clue as to what the stuff was or where it came from...... 0 -
Gun values had a great run through the 20th Century but people and things are different now. Same with collector car values. To the newer generations, history (if they know any) has little importance, and everything is commoditized. We are into the era of "use it and throw it away." We grew up appreciating guns made of blued steel and walnut. Now it is plastic. Don't worry about gun value. Just be happy with what you are interested in and be glad you didn't invest your retirement money in striker-fired plastic and cheap ARs. 0 -
hillbille wrote:while I agree with the model 12's and 97's they seem to float back and forth every few years as per price and saleability, I got into this same question just last year after my bypass I was off sick and had bills stacking up company stopped sickpay, the VA doesn't really care about filling out insurance papers for sick pay, as they don't tend to care about outside insurance. anyway I decided to sell a few of my military items as I knew my kids wouldn't care about them, they have showed no interest up to now and I was afraid by they time I died there may not be anyone around who would care as much as a few of the guys roaming the gun shows now looking for such. I kept one of my dads mausers that an uncle sporterized for him and sold most of the rest, 6.5 carcano carbine, few bayonets for K98's, lot of various insignia dad brought back, he was a medic in battle of bulge, some american, and some german. he never spoke about the war and I allways figured he got the german stuff from dead bodies, we never had a clip for the carcano, and one of the few times he talked about the war he said he rememberd the ground was littered with the clips as they went out the bottom on the last round. I figured the guys who bought the stuff from me would appreciate it more than someone say 10 years from now and my kids wouldn't have a clue as to what the stuff was or where it came from......
Well said Sir.
I can only agree, when my "collection," is divied up. Those that have access to it, will not appreciate the Honor/prestige/history behind most of my pieces. It a sad state of affairs.0 -
One curse of being an old collector is that I have been asked several times to sell the collections of elderly/departed friends. (On principle, I accept nothing for my time & effort.)
A WW2 veteran asked me to sell his guns. I asked him, "Don't you want to give some to your grandson?" He said no, the previous year he had given his grandson an original 1903A4 (that's a USGI sniper rifle),& had explained the history & value of the rifle. A few months later, the grandson went to his LGS & traded it for a pimped-out AR. So, the vet said, "sell the rest of them to folks who will appreciate them".
I sold them all on GB.
Neal0 -
hillbille wrote:I figured the guys who bought the stuff from me would appreciate it more than someone say 10 years from now and my kids wouldn't have a clue as to what the stuff was or where it came from......
I made a list with serial numbers and a history of each gun that I've inherited and bought that I put it in the safe with the guns. I also put the file on an SD card and included it with the list.
My youngest son likes the old guns as much or more than me and he'll get them all when I kick the bucket and he won't have to guess about where the guns came from.0 -
Smitty500mag wrote:hillbille wrote:I figured the guys who bought the stuff from me would appreciate it more than someone say 10 years from now and my kids wouldn't have a clue as to what the stuff was or where it came from......
I made a list with serial numbers and a history of each gun that I've inherited and bought that I put it in the safe with the guns. I also put the file on an SD card and included it with the list.
My youngest son likes the old guns as much or more than me and he'll get them all when I kick the bucket and he won't have to guess about where the guns came from.
I have done the same with my hunting rifles/shotguns and have also listed a selling price, one it you want to get rid of it today and one if you wait on the right person. My dads/granddads guns are listed and who goes to who per son/daughter and grandkids. If I go shortly I told my son to take it all and wait and see if the grandkids grew up to appriciate them or if they would just sell em, if so for him to keep them. none of them had any interest in the military stuff they didn't know my dad or uncles who fought in the war and the stuff had no meaning to them. I hope to get old enough health permiting to see grandkids take an interest in hunting and buy them more guns to hunt with and have a few hunting stories to their kids about their grampa.....0
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