As I read this it occurred to me that questions regarding values must be the most commonly asked questions on the forum. A day does not go by without several inquiries as to the value of one gun or another. Watch the forum for a week and you will likely see several posts asking about the exact same model.
The problem, as I see it, is that gun values are totally, thoroughly, completely subjective. There is no way to pin a specific value to a used gun. I may see a gun at a local show priced at $500. Does that mean it's worth $500? What if I offer $400? Is it worth $400? If we agree to a $450 price is that the fair value? What about the same gun on another dealer's table priced at $600? Or $300? Where's the actual value?
The various value books are no help because there is no expert opinion on gun values. The authors of the books are guessing like the rest of us.
A plain Model 10 will sell for about $250 around here. In CA where the laws make it difficult to find many models of handguns that revolver might bring $350 due to scarcity. Which is the true value? A couple months ago someone asked about a 4" 27-2. I said that I had seen them for $500-$600 recently and I was chided by members saying that this gun would bring $1,200 in their areas. Who was right?
With collector guns condition is everything and there's often a big difference in price between a 97% gun and a 98% example. But I can't see 1%. I think most of us (if we admit it which I do) have a hard time telling 95% from 92% or 98% and many of us have had the experience of disagreeing with a buyer or seller on the "percentage" condition of a gun being bought or sold.
Then there are the sellers who look at the published value for a 100% gun and by God that's what theirs is worth regardless of actual condition.
I have seen cases involving auctions on GunBroker where similar guns were being offered. Guns that appeared to be virtually identical. Often one auction has many bids that have gone far beyond what the other gun is drawing. Why? How does this happen?
The basic rule of economics is that a commodity, regardless of what it happens to be, is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it. You can guess, estimate, consult the stars or pray for divine guidance all you want, there is really no way to accurately predict what someone might pay for an item.
I know that everyone wants to know what the gun they are thinking of selling is worth. Or they want to know if they paid too much for the gun they just bought. But how can we come up with a good answer given the many, many variables? The only thing that might actually prove useful would be to create a chart of actual sale prices so someone could check what he wants to buy or sell and see the prices that item has been commanding. Anything else is just guessing.
I am going to say that probably 90% of all S&W revolvers offered for sale fall somewhere between $100 and $800 in value. Another 5% fall within the $800-$1,500 range. The remaining 5% will sell for over $1,500. I will call these Categories I, II, and III.
I think a post-war Outdoorsman in nearly perfect condition (That's what 99% would be, right? Nearly perfect.) would fall in the Category II range. Likely near the top end.
But as always, there are others who will disagree.
