Announcing a major policy change...

[TTSH]

I have my shooters and I have my collectors. No regrets about that. I was shocked recently when I found a pristine "as-new" unfired Model 28 in original box at a local dealer for a cool $1K. Then I remembered... I have an unfired "as-new" in original box Model 28 at home. I also have a Model 28 shooter. Win-Win!!!

Recently, I have been shopping for my first Gen 3 semi-auto and the difference in price between used no box, slightly used w/box and NIB can be staggering. If you are a collector, I guess it does make a big difference.

 

[deadin]

Of course I also a coin collector and I don't handle my mint old coins either as to detract from the value.

According to the philosophy of some here, you should be spending them. After all that's what they were intended for.....

 

[glowe]

. . . Now if I could just undo the past and have back all those NIB in box S&Ws I took to the range. I bet I have thrown away $20,000 or more.

This thinking goes to many acquisitions a person makes in a lifetime. If I had kept all the automobiles I have purchased at no miles, I would have a lot more value than a handful of safe queen S&Ws. I would be talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars premium in the value of my new-old-stock cars I have owned, but would have been driving lots of "shooter" grade cars. and not enjoying the experience.

It is not always about the money.

 

[Zipdog]

The true mark of a rich man is one who buys expensive items and uses them up and then buys another to use up. Horders are the mark of a poor man who thinks he's rich.

 

[Old Seabee]

Guns

Guns like the stock market are driven only by fear & greed pick your poison & I hope it works for you OldSeabee

 

[jtcarm]

I have consistently read where a matching #'d box,tools ,manual can add up to $150 to the value of the gun but I guess it would always reverts back to what a individual is willing to pay.

You don't shoot the box, papers, & manual. Just hang on to them and don't let the kids bury their dead hamster in the box or cut paper dolls from the manual.

 

[Sawfish]

Go ahead and keep stressing over preserving all of your unfired guns in pristine condition. After you drop dead from a stroke, your wife's new husband will have a ball shooting all of your unfired guns.

Fine wine is made to be drank; Beautiful women are made to be loved; and great guns are made to be shot. To do any less demeans the purpose of valuable possessions.

 

[BigBill]

I purchased my guns to shoot, enjoy fondling them, then hand them down to my two sons plus my grandson when I pass on. My point is who knows what my grandson will be able to afford by then. The grandson has a college fund and I'm his toy fund. He's going to be 4 yo soon.

The prices are going up. By the time the grandson is ready to shoot the pre model guns will be up to 10k right?

 

[BigBill]

Go ahead and keep stressing over preserving all of your unfired guns in pristine condition. After you drop dead from a stroke, your wife's new husband will have a ball shooting all of your unfired guns.

Fine wine is made to be drank; Beautiful women are made to be loved; and great guns are made to be shot. To do any less demeans the purpose of valuable possessions.

My wife's new husband gets nothing my son's / grandson gets them. If not ghost busters won't stop this haunting. I told her that already. I believe Egon passed away just Murray and the other guy is left.

 

[mbliss57]

Hondo44 nailed it. I can make a lot more $$ in the market than I can collecting used or new guns and watch them double or triple in price.
I have a few safe queens but for the sake of collecting a nice example of a time gone by. If I make some $ when I decide to sell it thats a plus. But it will never be enough to support me when I retire. I prefer them for their intrinsic value not their monetary value. I also have a lot of shooters because I love to shoot. My best hope for whatever collection I have when I die is that are inherited by a family member that can appreciate them like I did. I never intended that the supplement my retirement. I do know several SWCA members where that may not be true. I know several serious collectors who have been collecting for decades that could sell their collections and retire on the sales. However: That doesn't mean it would yield more $ if they had invested the same amount in the market over that last 30-50 years.

 

[TTSH]

The true mark of a rich man is one who buys expensive items and uses them up and then buys another to use up. Hoarders are the mark of a poor man who thinks he's rich.

Well, I'm a poor man who knows he's poor. But I still want to be a shooter and a collector. Hence my split arsenal: half shooters and half collectors.

 

[GF]

Never shoot ANY gun, ever.

Ammo is expensive and hard to get.

Guns are old coins never to be spent.


Chief Dan George said it best:
Josey Wales: You have any food here?
Lone Watie: All I have is a piece of hard rock candy. But it's not for eatin'. It's just for lookin' through.

GF

 

[Hondo44]

Hondo44 nailed it. I can make a lot more $$ in the market than I can collecting used or new guns and watch them double or triple in price.
I have a few safe queens but for the sake of collecting a nice example of a time gone by. If I make some $ when I decide to sell it thats a plus. But it will never be enough to support me when I retire. I prefer them for their intrinsic value not their monetary value. I also have a lot of shooters because I love to shoot. My best hope for whatever collection I have when I die is that are inherited by a family member that can appreciate them like I did. I never intended that the supplement my retirement. I do know several SWCA members where that may not be true. I know several serious collectors who have been collecting for decades that could sell their collections and retire on the sales. However: That doesn't mean it would yield more $ if they had invested the same amount in the market over that last 30-50 years.

Very well stated!

 

[Hondo44]

I purchased my guns to shoot, enjoy fondling them, then hand them down to my two sons plus my grandson when I pass on. My point is who knows what my grandson will be able to afford by then. The grandson has a college fund and I'm his toy fund. He's going to be 4 yo soon.

The prices are going up. By the time the grandson is ready to shoot the pre model guns will be up to 10k right?

BigBill,

Precisely and as I said everything is relative. A flight to Bermuda will also be $10k and a box of ammo will be $300.

 

[loeman]

Dang! You all make it so hard. It's not. You see a gun to collect, buy it put it away. You see a gun to shoot, buy it, shoot it. There's really not much to argue about.

 

[wlp624]

The true mark of a rich man is one who buys expensive items and uses them up and then buys another to use up. Horders are the mark of a poor man who thinks he's rich.

Actually, I think buying expensive items and using them up and then buying more is the sign of a man with way more money than taste. And there is a huge difference between collecting and hoarding, just ask Doc44...

 

[wlp624]

Dang! You all make it so hard. It's not. You see a gun to collect, buy it put it away. You see a gun to shoot, buy it, shoot it. There's really not much to argue about.

A man of few words, but such wise ones!

 

[Retired W4]

My former boss gave me a pristine Westley Richards 20 gauge Best Side Lock. I could have had the .410 (of which they only made 6 total). She was that kind of person, and it is part of my retirement fund. I have not shot it and probably will not, though it is a possibility. I remember watching her husband use the barrel of a very expensive Parker to open the lid of the gun box on the side of the buggy (we hunted quail) to show his buddy's some other premier shotguns within. I almost choked. So yes, it's all relative. These were not investments, they were guns for quail hunting. The common man (that would be me) does not buy these guns anyway, mostly because I could not justify it in my mind. BTW I used the lowly Beretta 626 Onyx because no one else wanted to shoot it. I tend to shoot the previously unused guns I occasionally come across, not because I have been influenced by some one with untold wealth but because I want to experience shooting them. As for the escalating prices of the desirable revolvers, that could come to a screeching halt some day. One never knows.

 

[Art Doc]

Not leaving for wife to sell. If I happen into a pristine pre-model S&W I will NOT shoot it. It will be offered at auction with a HIGH reserve price. If it doesn't sell this week, it might next week. I'm seeing NIB 357s going for 5K. There's nothing I want to shoot badly enough to threaten that value.

 

[g8rb8]

.....Any pristine pre-1982 S&W revolver should not under any circumstances actually be fired. .....The recent selling prices of pristine S&W revolvers makes them simply too valuable to shoot....

Mister Doctor Pig,
Sir,
I think your amended position could also include many post-1982 revolvers ..... models 63, 547, 610, and 4" 617 to name a few.

I'm with you vinny.

Fire away




I'd rather create memories....than worry about an asset

Weatherby,
I echo your sentiments. Like the old Visa ads: Depreciation of shooting a like-new revolver. A few hundred dollars. Having your son and nephew enjoy the day with you. Priceless.

John
Scoundrel and Ne'er-Do-Well in Training