Anyone Have an Idea when the new 45th Ed of the Blue Book of Gun Values will go on sale?
SWCA 892

Kaput, won’t be any more Blue books

I have been buying "last year's" at the gun show for $10 the last 20 years. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny

The Blue Books prices were out of date as soon as it came of the presses. Pretty much worthless for determining real values.
However, it is an excellent reference book. The store brand crossover guide alone is worth the price.
I have an old 2006 edition that I still look stuff up in from time to time.

Wish they would continue as a reference guide sans the value estimates.

I check completed GB auctions to get an idea of what a certain gun is selling for.

I and a friend buy a new one every few years. We just use them as a reference book, not as a price guide. My friend lives in Pa and I am in Florida, He gets two of the newer books and sends one to me. That way when he is talking to me about a certain gun, we can be looking at the same page as we speak. Gun Broker is where we look at most real world sale prices.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Who cares. The arrogant table sharks will try to pass off some prices as Gospel , then denegrate anything you carry in hand any way.

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

Same thing the car/truck sales force does. No matter what your numbers are always wrong, in their favor of course. I hate to tell you over the years how many versions of O we do not use that guide, its always wrong!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

This is why I use the Blue Book for info and not prices. I go to Gun Broker for the prices realized on the "Completed Auctions" section. The "Experts" will tell you your ideas of prices are wrong. Their stuff is gold and yours is ****. Had a dealer at the LGS try to sell a friend a Valmet for a lot of bucks and I thought it was high. Told the friend to let me check. Went to completed sales and found 32 of them that had sold for less than half of what he was asking. When shown the print out the dealer just sputtered!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

The newest Blue Book available is likely two years old.
Some"Dealers" used "Shotgun News"copies as a reference in the "Day".
Also They would get a old Blue Book and tear the front page out that show the year of printing for giving a prospective seller the value of Their firearm.

Have seen that happen at gun shows. A friend of mine and I had a table across from a regular dealer. Saw him quoting a price to a friends friend. The book he was using was a 20 year old copy of the Blue Book. I had the same copy on a shelf at home. His friend was going to do the deal and I had my friend call him over. Showed him what the "New" Blue Book said. He decided that it was a rip off and told the dealer as much.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

More dishonesty as usual! Gun Broker prices are often the only way to get a more fair price for a gun even though some prices seem a bit steep.

I've been around long enough to see a lot of things change. I collected Blue Books and Gun Digests for over 45 years. The early issues of both brought over $100 each back when that much money would buy way more than a weeks worth of fast food lunches. I've even got some hardcover versions. Barry Fain, Steven Fjestad and John Amber were legends...

The internet changed everything and you almost can't give 'em away today. There's a lot of good information in both and I can't bring myself to throw them away. I should have bought stock in Walmart!

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"I also cook."

We had a guy with a table that kept two Blue Books under his table. It depended on whether he was buying from you or selling to you as to which one came out....
(He had to use a little sleight of hand on trades....)

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Held onto a couple of Gun Digests myself. One from 68 and another from 72. Still get a kick out of checking out the prices and reading the articles. Hold onto em. Bright glossy bluing and walnut was the rage and prices a bit cheaper!!!

Well, the author went on in, so there’s that problem . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

That looks like inside my house. What will our heirs do with all of this reservoir of knowledge?

Unfortunately, it’s likely to end up in lots of 5, 10, or 12 books, available to the highest bidder for dents on the dollar on eBay or by an on line or bricks and mortar auction house.

Is The Blue Book of Gun Values really defunct? S P Fjestad was an editor, not an author, plenty of folks possess editing skills. Plus, it appears the 44th Edition was edited not by S P Fjestad but by Zachary Fjestad.

I have a smith 41 which is one of ten, 22LR, have documentation from Smith and Lew Horton. Any suggestions on how to establish a value.ULTRA 45 located a second one that was sold in 2022, not much information available.

SP Fjestad was a wonderful guy but I’ve never had much use for the Blue Books when it comes to value. To echo others on here, completed auctions on GB and classified ads on reputable gun forums is the way to go IMO.

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Some Might Say.

Last week I put a group of Gun Digest, Shooters Bibles, etc on Facebook for less than $1 a piece. I received exactly zero interest in them

If I was closer then I would have bought them. There are some great articles in some of them. However, the shipping to Fla, would be a tad on the pricey side.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I use the truegunvalue.com site.