It seems to me, that for a variety of reasons, prices / values of quality steel & wood firearms have risen quite dramatically in the past 10 or so years. It wasn't that long ago I was picking up P&R model 29's in the wood case for around $500 a pop. Closer to $1500 - $2000 has been a more recent price.

I bring it up because yesterday I went to an estate gun auction here in PA that consisted of the lifetime collection of one mans mostly pre-2000's collection of wood and steel firearms. The auction was well publicised, open to the internet, and had about 150 physical attendees. Over 285 firearms, and an unbelievable amount of accessories.

Some winning bid examples-

1903 Springfield 30-06 service rifles, unmolested, WW-I & WW-II versions, all really nice shape, averaging about $1000.

Two S&W 24's in .45c w/ 4 inch barrels, excellent shape - Again, $1000 each, W/box & tools.

Quite a few Winchester 94's in various calibers and options - Most all in very nice or better shape, and averaging around $6-$800 a pop.

Cigar boxes full of old peep sights, magazines, bullet casting molds, ect.. Mostly bidding at about $10 to $20 a box.

Classic American SxS shotguns in very nice shape hammering in the $400 to $600 range.

I won a very clean & original 1931 Winchester model 52 target rifle for $500.

The above examples represent the kind of firearms and hammer prices I observed at this auction.

It seemed to me prices were reasonable for the firearms represented, and not as inflated as just a year ago, though many on GB still try..

Are prices on the good used stuff coming down, or at least stabilizing?

Larry

How much was the buyer's premium at that auction? I have seen that catch out quite a few people who thought they had just got a great deal. Then there are sales taxes.

Unless it was absolutely exceptional, I'd never pay $1000 for a 1903, let alone put up a bid that high with 15-20% to come.

Look at the LE turn in pistol prices right now from various vendors. Anything in 40 S&W is offered sub $300 and only things like 5946s are attracting money. You can get new, quite well specced ARs for under $500, which I know is causing a couple of locals much heartache as they have rifles they built up they wish to divest. At the moment, they have no chance of getting their money back.

Certain brand new, high quality polymer pistols are being offered at almost fire sale prices. $329 for a CZ P10 of any type is a heck of a deal.

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Release the Kraken

It is not that quality guns are more expensive. It is simply our money is less valuable.

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

The single largest influence on firearms prices over the last ten years has been the internet.

Gone are the days when you could walk into a Mom + Pop pawnshop and catch a bargain on a handgun that they were "unaware" of market prices. They gave next to nothing for it on the pawn and sold it for next to nothing plus their mark up.

Today it seems every firearm that I've bought and sold has been bumped against sold firearms prices on Gun Broker auctions. Of course, when I'm selling the low dollar auctions and when I'm buying it's the high dollar auctions.

Elections and contrived shortages run up demand and prices follow. When prices drop post catastrophic events they just never seem to drop to previous low levels. Oh yeah, then you have "normal" inflation. Nothing is worth what it used to be.

Imo, it's more likely the people that appreciate said firearms are aging out. And the replacements don't know/care what these firearms are, or represent.

Based on what I see locally, used gun prices have settled a bit since a year ago. Availability is up. Just my gut feelings based on what I see around me.

LVSteve - No buyers premium, or sales tax. Not sure about internet bidders. I am not up on 1903 / A3's, but I would assume there is a large value difference depending on exact model, date of manufacture, serial number, ect., just like on, say, S&W N frames. For what it's worth, I see a lot of original, unmolested 1903's in excellent shape going for well north of 1k. on GB?

There are excellent buys available right now on the cheap, modern made stuff, but they are not the type of guns I am talking about. I think Zeke is spot on - The type of guys attracted to these types of guns is dwindling. Are 29-2's in nice shape with the box still actually selling for 2k?

I guess what I am saying is I sat thru this auction, and seen a lot of quality stuff move for prices that reminded me of pre-pandemic numbers.

Larry

Seems to me that prices are slightly down on a few things I track (iron/wood). I compare GB sold items vs active auctions. The stuff that doesn't come down jut doesn't sell. Same with items in LGS's. As stated above, inflation don't help either.
Ed

I see quite a bit on GB listed with a ridiculously high starting bid... and no one bidding on it. Two years ago some idiot with more money than brains, who "had to have it", would have paid the stupid money immediately. This beget more panic buying, of the mindset that "there won't be anymore of these available!" Colorful wording by certain sellers ginned up that kind of sentiment.

That kind of buying as dropped off considerably. It's probably that money is tighter, and people that bored of their purchase found that they overpaid. But many sellers are still in "gundemic" mode and think they can get insane prices for common non-collectable firearms: "I know what I got!"

Eg. One fool had a Ruger M-77 RSI in .257 Roberts new old stock for sale. Starting bid $2K. This is a calibre that has had it's share of fans over the years. However, these fans are getting older and dying off, and the manufacturers have nearly completely stopped supporting the round, in either rifles or ammo. You can't even find brass. And while Rugers have their fan base, they are not particularly collectible. This auction was renewed several times with no interest, until it was finally removed. Price was never lowered though.

Much of the insane prices paid were driven by people that didn't know diddelysquat but were led to believe that anything older than 30 years was collectable. They will find out otherwise when they bore of the "old-fashioned gun" and go to sell it.

Aging out? Interesting term.

This has been my feeling as well, not unlike the interest in 1950's and 60's muscle cars.
I attended a gun show yesterday and the average age of both sellers and buyers of traditional wood and blue firearms looked to be well in their 60's.


The prices being asked for older stuff like S&W revolvers and wood stocked rifles looked no higher than last year, if anything a little lower. The exception being M1 and M1 carbines, I can't believe what they're asking for those old military rifles?

Partially symbolized by significantly reducing firearm expenditures, while forgetting where ya put the ones you already own. Course the more ya age out, the closer you have to life time supply of ammo makings.

I collect Smith & Wesson revolvers from the 1970's and older. Mostly N frames. Let me tell you, if you have a unfired or mint condition N frame the price is still going up. So is other older caliber revolvers. Like cars, condition. condition, condition.

I am still seeing pre model 29's going for 5K. What gets me is some 29-2 are selling for $4500. Now that is crazy .Not the norm but have seen it a couple times recently on Gunbroker.

It's us, the Boomers. Very soon it will be hard to sell walnut/blue firearms to more likely gun purchasers.

That's true for housing as well. The real estate industry is seeing signs of an approaching 'silver tsunami' of single family homes as Boomers begin to die off or leave traditional housing out of necessity.

I'll tell you what pisses me off in regards to gun prices. I am very select in what I bid on. Never fails it comes down to me and one other guy on Gunbroker. We go back and forth just the two of us for 2 hours. Everyone else dropped out $700 ago.

It's not just BrokeGunner. There used to be a guy around here that you dreaded seeing at any estate auctions. If he started bidding on a gun you wanted, you could quit right away or continue bidding just to make sure he didn't get it cheap, but he there was no doubt he was having it.

Thing with collectibles on online auctions is that you never know who else is looking. A while back I spotted what I think was a Mexican customs carbine made by Mauser. the online auction was on a weekday morning and I was working from home, so I fancied my chances. Nope, somebody else had spotted it and we went back and forth for about 35 minutes before I quit, deciding that after buyer's premium and shipping the price was getting up to a level where I couldn't risk being wrong on what the gun was.

Another day I got lucky. Spotted a Yugo Mauser M48 with a strange crest that I eventually ID'd. Had some half-hearted resistance from another bidder, and then it was mine. The crest was for the Iraqi royal house. Very few of these made it to the US, although it could be that we drove tanks over crates of them after the invasion of 2003.

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Release the Kraken

$500 for a boxed model 29 would have been quite a while ago. I got my 6.5” 29-2 with no box and good condition for $775 10 years ago and that was a decent deal back then.

I've decided to thin the herd and unload some guns I no longer need. I sold a Ruger Ranch Rifle in 223 recently. The buyer wants a pistol and wants to be first on my list when I decide to let it go. I have a very nice Smith And Wesson full size M&P in the plastic box. I think I shot it twice. But from what I see on the internet you can buy one for under $500, the price I was going to ask. This is lower than what I paid years ago. I think the market for new guns is better. About the only advantage I ccan see for this buyer is not having the paper trail.

It’s likely just you and the shill bidder.

I’ve really soured on even considering GB items. An item might have a Buy it Now price of $1,000 but then the seller wants $50 shipping, 4% credit card fee, and then with my state’s outrageous sales tax rate on top of it all, I’m around $1,200 before I’ve even paid the FFL transfer. No thanks.

Very interested in how that works? Please explain.

Last night I bid on a Pre model 19 mint and no box or papers. It was shipped on my birth date and year and I had to have it.

Everyone else was out at $1500. I went back and forth till $2450 and I was out. Every time I bid he countered instantly. He had over 1,000 purchases so he should be legit.

Was the auction in Cory, Pa.?

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Wow, that really sucks someone would run that up like that. Obviously the person must've seen something in the gun others did not. How often do you see a birthday gun come up for sale at auction? I would like to think a gun for sale on this Forum, with many good people, that some may pass on a gun if they know someone could be wanting a gun shipped when they were shipped, but how would they know. Plus it's not an auction, so "I'll take it" is final. I suppose one could offer to buy it off the buyer if said buyer had a soft spot...

Those prices are what I'd expect. The one thing about auctions is that they usually give you a good idea of what things will sell at, as opposed to an asking price. Sometimes you can get a really good deal and at other times a particular item will go for a ridiculously inflated amount. But in general, I've found selling prices at most auctions to be mostly lower than the tag prices that I see at gun show tables and gun store shelves.

John

I don’t know, but when it’s just you and another bidder bidding on a firearm, or anything, for that matter, well higher than the rest of the crowd, it should, at the very least, raise eyebrows.

Regarding GB, it only raises my eyebrows if the other bidder you’re engaged in a bidding war with has an NR or very little history, then I suspect a potential shill. If the shill wins the bid instead of just jacking up the price, I look to see if the seller re lists again as a “non paying buyer,” and I subsequently won’t do business with that seller in the future. Btw, GB will do nothing they could care less. For some of the guns I seek, unfortunately GB is the only game in town. Anyhow, if your opponent has a history of a 1000 purchases and little or no selling, well they probably are a person of means.

To buy on Gunbroker, you really need to be a man of means, LOL!

Friends don’t let friends buy on Gunbroker. 😀

I have a friend that owns a gun shop. He sells a lot of guns on Gun Broker. Starts them at $0.01 and they usually sell over what I call normal value. It helps to keep his shop open. He is not twisting anybodies arm to buy them.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Gun Broker is bitter sweet. You can narrow your search to say mint condition a pre model 29 44 mag revolver in original box. It would be near impossible to walk into your local gun store and find that firearm. If so it is usually priced over the top.

Therefore the last 36 firearms I have purchased was on GB. It is the only way I can find old firearms that I am looking for. Not smart enough to seek out and buy estate auctions or have someone come to me offering their guns for pennies on the dollar like a gun shop.