Are old gun magazines worth anything? Are there any collectors? I gave away two boxes of really old magazines today and am wondering if I made a mistake.

Hi Kudzu,
They are treasure in their own right but generally not worth a whole lot.
I have a place I get to about once a year that has a good selection of late fifties, early sixties magazines and I get them for a dollar a piece.
I guess you are talking the printed magazines.
Hope they went to a good home.
Thanks
Mike

Yes they did go to a good home, a very close friend. I did keep one special one, a February 1966 edition of GUNS and Hunting with the First test report on the very first stainless-steel snub-nosed .38.

I don't know much about the value of those old magazines, but I sure know how much room they take up. I have every single issue of American Rifleman since 1979.

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** John **

Woops! Yes, printed magazines, the reading kind, not the ones full of bullets.

Room, talk about room! All Rifleman (less a couple) since 1928, all Gun Digests, all but a couple of Double Gun Journal, etc., etc.

One of my dad's friends gave me 20 years of 'The American Rifleman. Starting at (IIRC) 1948. I read every one many times. The greatest gun education anyone could ask for.
The old adds from 'The Hunters Lodge' will give you heartburn! Until you think that $35 Webley Mk VI was a weeks wages to a working man.

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Field Researcher. IGC

Here's an example from 1967.

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hunter's lodge.jpg (146.7 KB, 458 views)

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Field Researcher. IGC

I have a bunch that I have saved from when gun magazines were still worth reading. I use them for reference when I buy or trade for an older gun and need information about it. The gun test were a LOT more comprehensive back then. They also make for interesting reading.

the magazines go from 10 cents to 25 cents at gun shows. I have 20 + years of "Handloader" and "Rifle" magazines all somebody would have to do is come and get them.

Here is 09/1956, Guns. I found this yesterday searching for something

The PDF is a bit slow to load.

http://jeffersonian.name/g1956/G0956.pdf

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Still Running Against the Wind

For some time now, I have just saved the best & passed on the rest.

I have a three ring binder. I scan & copy articles I want for reference & save them in the binder.

Include the unwanted ones with your periodic donations to the local charity thrift store for a tax deduction. If it worked with Slick Willie's skivies, it should be a go for us

I saved my old gun magazines and American Rifleman and finally ran out of room to put them so now after I read them I pass them on to my son and let him throw them away.


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James

I have a few, some American Rifleman (1935-1936) early Outdoor Life (1935-1936) Hunter Trader Trapper (predecessor to Fur-Fish-Game) and a few others here and there. Some are worth a few bucks but the old advertisements are what is really cool.

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Vaya con Dios

I also have some old American Rifleman magazines. 1970-1971 and 1978 as well as 1941-1945. The articles are interesting, but the advertisements are the real draw for me.

David

My wife is great, she'll purge the old ones for me, because she knows that I can't put them in the trash... I always think I'll go back and read them, and never do. To me, they really just take up space. If I need information, I just research it on the web, much more efficient.

I have never seen any real monetary value to them. And they're like anything that you want to sell, you need to have ready buyers. Even then, how much are you really going to get...?

All this reminds me, I need to cancel my gun magazine subscriptions?

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NRA Life Member

Hello everyone! I collect any type of printed material on the subject of firearms and shooting. I noticed this thread and it looks like I'm not the only one. I do have a question to everyone here. Would anyone be interested in selling their collection? I am looking for large collections of books and magazines. If so please email me! Thanks!

If you had any WWII Walther P-38 Magazines, I would have paid you from $60-to-$80 each--depending on makers code, condition and year. ;-))

Thanks for posting this, as I read through it I remembered why I used to buy every magazine that hit the shelves and why I don't anymore.

I take all my old gun magazines to the High School Rifle range so all the kids can read them.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

You can take all of your magazines and save them for our troops. I send all of mine to Afganistan before every Christmas. It costs a little bit but it is worth it to them. You need some ones address there. It's an AP address.

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

Hey kudzu3, next time list the magazines in our forum For Sale section. I love old gun mags and would have at least given you $10 + shipping for them.

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Ephesians 6 (Armor of God)

The problem with selling them is that the postage can add up quickly. Per USPS rules you are not allowed to use book rate as there are ads in them and it does not matter to the Post Office that they may be 20 year old ads. The USPS does run checks on mail sent Book rate or media mail; I once bought a large lot of magazines that the seller sent book rate to save money. The post office hit me with postage due and it was pay up or refuse delivery and send them back. They are relatively heavy and the postage is often more than the selling price.

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

flat rate boxes are the answer to the shipping.

Some are worth more than others, it depends on the collector and the issue. One example was the 1964 issue of American Rifleman (October I think) that has Carlos Hathcock winning the Wimbledon Cup. I had one of those and sold it five years back for over $20. I have had some with weird ads, like John Wayne selling Weatherby rifles for a few bucks. It all depends on the issue, the author, the article, etc. Some are worth a few bucks, most only a couple of dollars.

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Vaya con Dios

I have to start bringing home my Dads collection of Hot Rod. We have almost a full collection since the beginning. The little early magazines from the late '40s are reprints. I wonder what the rest might be worth. I've read most of them at one time and look forward to going through them again one day.

There's also a bunch of various gun mags to include American Rifleman.

I have a slew of them my self from over the years. I just found a Flaydermans Guide and a Small arms of the world 1911 in my shop that I forgot about. I know I have more Gun Digest somewhere.

Maybe I should open a library,

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Dum vivo cano

I have a few older American Rifleman magazines from the early 60's and since finding out that they aren't worth a whole lot I removed some of the articles that interested me, and framed some of the old gun adds of guns that I own. Browning Superposed and A-5 adds mostly. The remaining magazines reside in a magazine rack in my cigar room for my cronies to look at and drool over the prices from way back.

Tlay:

You're a nice guy. Thank you for your kindness, and for a great idea. Where I work, we have a lot of people who travel, a lot as part of the job. We have a book donor corner that stays pretty full - usually novels, mysteries, etc. I try to keep my eyes on what's moving and what's not. At the end of the year, we get a couple of boxes of books together and ship them out to the troops. One of our guys was a Lt. Colonel in the National Guard, so he always knew some guys over there that would receive the shipment and make sure the books got shared. I'll put out the word now that we'll start accepting magazines, and I bet we'll get tons to start shipping over there.

Thanks again, buddy.

Regards,

Dave

6/20/13: Sorry, forgot to add, please remember to use the "Media" rate when shipping books/magazines, CDs?DVDs -t's a lot cheaper.

Thanks,

Dave

If one is giving gun magazines away to an unknown source, such as a dr.s office or a school library, it is wise to remove your address from the cover.
You really don't want to advertise your home address as a possible source for a future gun theft.

Thanks double-o-dave for the kind words. I am asking each of you to do the same. To collect as many magazines, toilet items, flash lights or any thing you would think would help and send it to our guys and gals over there. You would not believe how something as insignificant as a magazine from home can help our troops. I know, I've had the honor to have walked in their shoes and would do it again.

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

I have eight years of Guns & Ammo and Guns from 1965-1973. I also have a scattering of various issues of G&A, Guns, and The American Rifleman from the 50's, 60's and 70's. The articles are great and I really enjoy the advertising. I've picked them up over the years at estate auctions and yard sales mostly. I usually get them for a couple bucks per ten or twenty magazines.

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I type. Therefore I am.

The real value is mining the ads out of the old gun and car magazines. Those pages end up on fleabay. I guess the rest of the mag is trashed or rolled up for fire logs.

I saw all kinds of mined pages in one flea market. Look, life etc. Some Rockwell covers said suitable for framing???? Ok, but not me.

Precision Shooting,Accurate Rifle, American Rifleman, Cast bullet association, Gun Digests, Handloaders Digest, Rifle and Handloader magazines. I get bored easy so need to keep the brain cells charged. Frank

I could use a dozen of the $25 Mauser actions. Gimme six of the $11 Swiss k11, 10 of the German k98, 5 of the ...........

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

I like to periodically look through some of the American Rifleman magazines from the very early 1960's & drool over the prices of the WWll surplus stuff, the adds, and the way the articles were written. The magazines are still in very good condition, although they have a slight musty order now, but AFAIK they are not worth much.

I have a box of real old Shooting Times from way back when they first started out. (Late 50-early 60s era) They are in newspaper format, not the bound colorful items of today.

I have not looked at them in years as they are on a high shelf in the garage. I doubt by now that they are in that good of shape.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

We give our read magazine to a nursing home where they are appreciated. I bought an inked device at the drug store that rolls over the address on them before we give them away.

I've bought some old gun magazines at antique shops for pretty cheap prices I enjoy reading. Ads are great and some of the stories are full of errors we now know about. I think we're a better informed shooting community these days.

Only ones that have value to me are the ones I got my picture and name in

I am new to this site so please be patient. I have a sizable collection i can part with of American Rifleman Magazine from the 50's forward, Original Modern Gunsmith Vol I & II and the first edition Shooters Bible small arms lexicon and concise encyclopedia along with sever of the Shooters Bibles. I am not sure where to find your email.

I have shelves of guns and fishing magazines..........

I just don't know which I will have to delete to make room for more .........???

I love the old writers and the "New" load data back in the 1970's.............
Remember when the 257 Roberts was the "In" thing ?
As well as the 264 Magnum with the big 140gr bu