Went into my favorite LGS Saturday on my way home from
work. He typically does a very good job of saving anything he knows I will like. When I walked in he was completing a sale on a NIB flatch latch model 36. The buyer had been there when the seller brought it in and waited for him to leave and bought it. I missed it by 20 minutes. Normally this wouldn't bother me. Im ok sharing and know for every one you miss another will come along. What gets me is this guy couldn't wait to shoot the hell out of it as he put it. It was going to become his beater gun. I understand he spent his money to buy it and it is his to do as he pleases but why not buy a new 642 for less? I didn't think it bothered me but I can't stop thinking about it. Sorry for the rant.

I'm afraid the key phrase is "it is his to do as he pleases".

I've given my sister very nice knives. She's dulled every one of them almost beyond re-sharpening, but they're hers.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Offer him a quick profit?

Those that shoot their guns once, put them in a drawer and decide to sell it years later. I'll handle the 'shooting the hell out of it' part.

Zagged nailed it. It belongs to the buyer. Whether it becomes his beater gun or, in a drunken stupor, he decides to pour molten lead down the barrel, it's his to do as he wishes. We may hate it, but unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that it's still his.

In situations like this, I've found that it's best that I just close my eyes, grit my teeth, shut my mouth, and walk away....and secretly hope that the dirty so-and-so chokes on a piece of popcorn.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

A few years ago I walked out of a LGS with an unfired pre 17 K-22 in
the gold box. Serial number dates to about 1952. When I got home I
took it in the house and removed the diamond target grips and put on
a pair of newer magnas I had in my grip box. Then I took the gun and
an assortment of ammo out to my back yard, put up some targets and
shot several groups to begin my testing for the best ammo for
accuracy. As I did this it ran through my mind that some collectors
might want to tar and feather me if they were witness to this but I
bought the gun to use, gently. This was to be my keeper K-22 to
use, not abuse, maybe to hunt squirrels with and to never sell. A gun
to pause and admire while in the woods and be glad I found it for
sale. That beats letting it sit in it's box locked up in a gun safe. To
each his own.

Twenty years ago a friend had a Trap Door Springfield in great shape.
He was talking about how he wanted to convert it to a carbine.
It ws really nice with bayonet and frog. Inspectors initials were SWP the same as my initials.
After some talking about history and how destroying this fantastic piece of it he sold me the gun. Taking his profits and picking up a LNIB H & R Officers Trap Door which he still has today.
Sometimes we just need to make an offer. Then we did our part to preserve a piece of history.
On the other hand it was his to shoot or not. i hope he avoids the +P in the flat latch. I will be using my 36 but not abusing it.The problem is I am getting so old all my LNIB guns of the past are getting too valuable to carry.
Guess I will have to buy new ones to shoot.

When an older NIB gun is fired the remaining guns of the same type become somewhat more valuable.

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Luke 22:36

What good is a gun that is never fired?

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Back to back World War Champs.

I like the way you think! Especially the bit about the popcorn!

But in my case I'd be gritting my teeth, etc., because the lucky clod beat me to the piece.

By the way, I'd shoot it too.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Many years ago, 1970, I bought a Winchester Model 94 Golden Spike Commemorative on closeout for $99. It was the first rifle I bought with my own money. I worked all summer to pay for that rifle and had my dad buy it for me. My father has passed away and I think the statute of limitations has run out on that straw purchase.

I shot the heck out of that rifle. I killed my first mule deer with that pretty pimped out little .30-30. I have no idea what happened to the box it was tossed out many years ago. Now and then I still get that carbine out and shot it . Never once have I thought about how much shooting it will devalue and destroy its collector value.

I see many Golden Spikes in the local gun shops new in the box for about $700 give or take about $100 and used ones going for maybe $100 or two less. So I guess mine which has been used but not abused would sell for maybe $500.

I can say without reservation I've had way more than $300 worth of fun over the 43 years I’ve owned that rifle. Three hundred bucks gone in value over 43 years, that is a great deal for the memories stored up. I wonder if the people that toss new in the box guns in the safe or under the bed can say the same thing.

I guess if you get a thrill from taking your precious out of the safe, polishing it and then locking it back into its dark safe place; go for it, I won’t judge, I’ll be at the range or out hunting.

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Bill Bates

Some people have to realize that not everyone is a collector and not all of them can be saved. Guns are made for shooting just like when people buy the older classic cars or muscle cars only to have them sit in a heated garage and never get driven. If the OP was really worried then he would have made an offer to the guy who just bought the gun. That is what I would have done if I really wanted to save a nice older gun.

James

Its value is that it can be fired, to its quality, and to its low supply relative to the demand for it. You can ask the same thing about a new car vs a car drive a couple of hundred miles.

Bought a new hammer 12 years or so ago, cleaned it, oiled it up and placed in my air tight climate controlled hammer safe. I pull it out and pretend to strike a nail with it every so often, then I re-clean and re-oil it and put it back into the safe.

A NIB hammer "never used" should be worth almost 10% more than I paid for it in another 25 years or so. Boy, the next owner will sure be happy I took such good care of it.

Pete

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Don't tread on me

All my guns work for a living. Some more than others I admit, but they all get shot. "Course I'm not a collector any longer but when I was they all got shot.

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Quando omni flunkus moritati.

Some of are collectors and some of use accumulate guns. I am a gun accumulator, every gun I buy is going to get shot. A gun is a tool, tools get used. Sometimes you buy a special tool for a special and it doesn't get used a much as the others. If it is a collectors item it belongs in a museum.

I bought a Henry 44 mag. big boy. It was a beautiful rifle. My wife asked if I was planning on shooting such a pretty gun. I say of course. And shoot it I did, the blue was discolored at the bore from shooting, and it got some rub mark on the brass and a couple of dents on the stock and you know when I traded it the guy who got it though it was a beautiful rifle too. You pay your money you take the ride cause it's yours.

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Carpriver.

Thats what it was made for. A painting or statue is made to look at. A gun is made to shoot. I would do the same. Im not about to spend hundreds of dollars just to stick it in a safe and look at it sometimes.

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Owning a great gun and never shooting it is like being married to a beautiful woman and making her sleep in another room.

What good?
A 100% bnib gun with all the accouterments is a great investment that usually outperforms most other boring money only interest rates, even the higher risk ones.

I would rather have some collector guns that I couldn't fire, than a bank or investor statement that is sent every so often and doesn't appreciate as quickly or as much.

Guns are so much more interesting than statements.

Not like the hammer my grandfather bought late in the 19th century. Used it for everything, even where he should have used a long crowbar. My father passed it on to me. Had to replace the handle several times, and the head once, but that hammer works as well as the day Grandpa bought it. They don't make stuff like that anymore.

Most guns dont really out perform anything. Their value does go up but in relation with the value of the dollar they cost about the same as they did when new. We think they gained value cause thd dollar amount is higher thats all. How much was a m19 in 1960? Compare that wage and house, gas, car prices and everything else and the value stays about the same. ..a bit higher maybe. Of course some guns do become valuable

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Interesting point. Might be fun to run some numbers. But since I'm a mathematical idiot, I'll leave that to someone competent.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Don't look at me.

I used to have several unfired guns--- Pythons, 3.5" 27's, etc. but not any more. The only guns I now own are those that I shoot when "I want to shoot" them. I would describe every one as being in beautiful condition (except for my water snake gun) but then, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....
The folks who can afford to have it all, more power to ya! I still think they are a great investment but I'm getting up there and if I am limited to what I "CAN" take with me, I'm hoping I won't be needing guns anymore.