Fellow Smithophiles, allow me to bring something to your attention for discussion. I think the gun market has gone BONKERS!!!

I personally am a competitive shooter, a plinker and a collector. I have accumulated some high conditioned as new in box or non boxed smiths and a few colts for investment purposes onl;y The bank will give you 1/2 of a per cent. Thats 50 bucks on $1000. If I buy $1000 of guns, i can make a lot more than 50 bucks in a year.

Here is my quandry. I havent been selling because if I sell, I have cash. That cash wont grow at the same appreciation as the gun that I just sold. Well, that was my thinking up to now.
Lately I have seen guns sell on auctions for unheard of prices. In the last few weeks I saw a gold cup 9mm from 1989 fetch 4200 while blue book was 1500. A few days ago a NIB 547 3 inch WITHOUT the end label brought 3500!!! A dealer just paid $2750 for a stainless 4 inch python. I dont think prices will go higher than what we are seeing today.

I do a lot of searching on Gunbroker. I have been told that there are 5 times the amount of members on GB as compared to 6 months ago. There is such fierce bidding anymore, i always drop out .

I am curious.....fellow forum members.....Do you see it as a
market where handguns are selling for prices higher than we have seen before??Ar-15'S and ammunition fetch higher prices as people panic and supply is way less than demand. But
revolvers and semi auto handguns; I dont get it.

And as always, Thank you for your input!!!

Please post your opinions into this thread

regards

Haris1
SWCA2382

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Gun Control= Using Both Hands

I'm thinking I should have bought that '56 9mm Colt Commander my LGS had for a grand last week.

I've been looking for a serviceable, shooter/CCW grade Model 19 or 66 snubbie. When I go to the usual websites, I just get depressed. I'm neither poor nor wealthy and it disturbs me that in order to buy a non-pristine shooter I've got to sell one I already have. So, do I wait, with my fingers crossed? Or do I sell off an old friend to get a new one?

It seems like people are scrambling to get anything they can, though it does seem to be slowing a little. Before all the current mess started, you could find 3rd Gens(my weakness!)at reasonable prices, but not any more. I wonder if we will ever see reasonable prices on them again?

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

Think

Supply

Panic

Demand





Think a 1/2 % is somewhat less than 50$ on 1000

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Incoming fire has right of way

@haris1.....dude where you been for the past 3 months?? Yes gun prices are stinking nuts! People are scrambling and buying everything in sight and paying stooopid high prices. I watch several gun auction sites daily and just get depressed when I see guns go for a couple (or more) hundred over what was a fair price pre frenzy.

I don't know if prices will ever normalize (return to lower levels) but I hope they do. In the mean time I watch carefully for those guns that come up for sale at reasonable prices.

I dunno i see good to fair deals all the time. Not on everything but enough to keep me busy. I dont collect so i dont have anything 'valuable'. All my guns are shooters. For instance one LGS has a very clean model 37 for $300 and police trades 681s for $450 and a Colt 6920 for $1500. That was on Saturday however today I was at another LGS and they had a very clean, almost no cylinder ring, Model 36 for $350, a Enfield N3 $275 and a Springfield 1903 for $499. The rifles were not in collector condition but still very serviceable with lots of life left.

Im also now seeing ammo last longer on the shelves and more variety of mags in stock.

Its out there just gotta be lucky

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I knew a fruit peddler that made himself rich by working on what he called a 1% markup. He'd buy it for a dollar and sell it for $2.

Knew another guy who went busted buying watermelons for a dollar and selling for 75 cents. He even bought a bigger truck so he could make up for the loss with volume.

Sell when others are buying and buy when others are selling is too simplistic but I'd rather be a little early to liquidate than be too late.

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God spelled backwards is dog.

One thing i can say in favor of shooter grade guns.... you can enjoy them, shoot them and not worry about them. When you have a NIB gun, you dont want anyone or yourself pulling the trigger lest you get a turn line. Is that enjoyment....NO!!!
they are just collateral... they give you no joy, they are no better than a stock certificate except they look like a gun but they dont shoot like a gun since you dont shoot it!!! One day i will figure all this out!!!

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Gun Control= Using Both Hands

This past weekend a standard M-18-4 , LNIB sold for $1500 on GB!

The Blue Book is a nice piece of fiction in my experience, and that works either way with prices. To me most Colts sell for more than they are worth just because they say Colt on the side. They are the BMW of the gun world.

I think much of what is going on has been fueled by people saying to themselves "Maybe I should get that _______ while I still can without too much hassle". In the blank insert your grail gun.

It makes no sense to me. Last month a Ruger 10-22 takedown caught my eye at the LGS. His $325 asking price seemed a little high to me but I bought it anyway. When I got home I went online to see what they were going for and much to my surprise found CLOSED auctions at $100-$150 more than I'd just paid. I was tempted to flip the rifle but decided if I wanted it bad enough to pay what I thought was a slightly high price I wanted it bad enough to keep it. Glad I kept it after a few range sessions. Now the closed prices seem to be getting back down towards what I paid so hopefully things are returning to normal.

A month or two ago i saw some older guns for sale and bought them. It seemed at the time that folks were bringing out older guns and trading them for new guns. I will admit as much as I would like a Python, I cannot bring myself to pay today's prices for one. I would be surprised if (many) real collectors are jumping in at these sky high prices.

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Luke 22:36

"Auction Prices are Reaching New Zeniths for Modern Pistols-WHY?????"

I didn't know they still made Zeniths!

We had a 25" Zenith in our living room when I was a kid. I watched the moon landing on that TV. One of those big old console furniture things... Had the record player in the top on one side. It was the bomb back then.

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Kirk / Spock 2020

A few I was watching:
S&W 547 3" $3500
Charter Arms 3" 9mm wheel gun, $650, with a list of $465

You should see the price of new Glocks on forums. About twice what you can get them from a reasonable LGS. Price and demand I guess. Glad I don't demand all the new tactical plastic.

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442

I've thought that many times, and many times I've been wrong.

My parents had one of those and my older brother still has it. Don't know if he still uses the TV but the turntable and AM/FM radio are still in use. I can remember watching that with my high school girlfriend back in the '60's. Whew.

Could it be because a lot of folks are buying guns "for investment purposes only?"

rolomac

On March 24th, an auction on GB closed for over 3200 dollars for a 327 performance center new revolver,product code 170245
This revolver has a man sugg retail of $1269. Why would someone pay $3200 for that? I believe I am allowed to mention past auctions for reference. it is 332781905 on Gunbroker.Same
product code, same exact pistol. Maybe in an auction desire takes preference over common sense and savvy. I never impulse buy on auction or in a gunshop.Sometimes if it seems to good to be true, its not!!!

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Gun Control= Using Both Hands

Well, i am just starting to collect S&W and when i see them local i try to get them which i been lucky so far as to only pay normal or below prices, so far i have found at my LGS with-in last 2 months..

1905 HE 3rd change 32-20 shooter grade $100
Mod 38 Airweight (1975-1976) nickel like new $400
Model 547 4" (95% with matching box ) $898

There's a sucker born every minute.

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'Merica!

Just think what the addition of new shooters have done to the price of anything gun relayed. Now think what 10‰ of the new shooters who become collectors will do to prices.

I've been selling mine off. If past experience is any indicator,they will continue to rise in price.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

If you're truly only holding your guns for investment purposes, and you believe that the large quantities of "cash" are an equivalent value, then I would say that now is the time.

If however you are tempted to sell only because they are bringing high prices, remember that the Fed will continue to create Federal Reserve Notes-cash-in unlimited quantities, but that these Colt's and Smiths will likely never be seen again in the quality that you appreciate, and may be unobtainable in the future even through a private party or auction sale. I view firearms the same way as I view precious metals, as a hard asset that holds value through time, and only to be sold at the uttermost end of need.

If you really want to sell, I would do so only for a hard currency, such as physical gold or silver, or a firearm of like quality. Trading excellent craftsmanship and scarcity for colored paper which increases in quantity on a literally daily basis isn't a good trade in my opinion. YMMV.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Did someone say Zenith?
Look! A Wave Magnet!!

.
Seriously, though... My take is that people are looking for "something of value", and cash has been corrupted by printing currency. Diversification has started making sense to many who never thought about it. Handguns are portable,and counterfeiting is almost unheard-of in most types.
Look at the cost, taxes and insecurity of land purchase. Even the man with only a few thousand can feel secure(relatively) in his buying power if he ties his dollar up in a smith&wesson of some however minor provenance. And there is a degree of independence that comes from owning an investment which can literally be used to protect itself.

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Halfway and one more step

Got to agree here. I could sell a bunch at great prices and then in a year I would not have the money or the guns. I'll be hanging on to them for the time being-hell they're paid for I'm more interested in ammo at this point.
Not buying that either but we'll see.....
On another note, I tried to buy a PPK yesterday and those prices are insane I'm just not gonna pay $610 for a ppk then add 45 for shipping and then add a $50 transfer fee-nope just not gonna do it. Just a few months ago these were going for $4-$500 and I thought that was a bit on the high side. Oh well, no PPK for me guess I'll just have to make do with my 337 and 638(no lock) for my carry purposes

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Forum consigliere

Ummm... if they're doing that at current prices they're in for a rude surprise, but I could be wrong i guess.

Here in Kalifornistan unless you make a major score it would have usually taken quite awhile to make up the shipping + $25 DROS + 8% tax + FFL fees.

My $635 SR1911 wound up at just under $800 OTD.

The same people who pay those prices, (and don't know any better) also hunt in the Walmart parking lot.