Gun Value Appreciation Last 10-15 Years

[Moonpie]

Some increase.
Some decrease.
Lately I've been noticing a LOT of 22magnum and, as hard as it is to believe, 30-40 Krag guns coming out of dark places on the sell. Ammo availability has everything to do with it IMO.
Prices are very slowly dropping but they've a way to go before they could be called reasonable.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Does anybody think that everyday, "John Doe" guns, are considered a good financial investment?

 

[Moonpie]

Does anybody think that everyday, "John Doe" guns, are considered a good financial investment?

Have you priced plain old Winchester 1894's lately?
Back in the 1980's I remember seeing them for $100 per.
Wish I had bought a barrel of them now.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Have you priced plain old Winchester 1894's lately?
Back in the 1980's I remember seeing them for $100 per.
Wish I had bought a barrel of them now.

No I haven't.

I'd have to Google to even know what that is.

ETA: Are you calling that now a "john doe" gun?

 

[Moonpie]

No I haven't.

I'd have to Google to even know what that is.

ETA: Are you calling that now a "john doe" gun?

John Doe gun is new to me.
I use the term K Mart guns.
These are the plain vanilla working guns sold at K Mart back in the 60's, 70's.
You remember them. Mossberg 500's, Winchester 94's, Marlin 336's, H&R single shot shotguns, Remington Nylon 66's, etc.
These days several of those sell for impressive amounts in excellent condition.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

John Doe gun is new to me.
I use the term K Mart guns.
These are the plain vanilla working guns sold at K Mart back in the 60's, 70's.
You remember them. Mossberg 500's, Winchester 94's, Marlin 336's, H&R single shot shotguns, Remington Nylon 66's, etc.
These days several of those sell for impressive amounts in excellent condition.

Yeah, K Mart guns works.

Was the 1894 sold new back in the 60's, 70's.

 

[Moonpie]

Yeah, K Mart guns works.

Was the 1894 sold new back in the 60's, 70's.

Well yes. It was more correctly named the 94 Winchester.
It is essentially the same gun as the Model 1894 Winchester.
I remember seeing them in K Mart, Wal-Mart, Spartan's, various hardware stores, etc.
Usually priced new under $200. Nowadays they're selling for upwards of $1K

 

[majormadmax]

Have you priced plain old Winchester 1894's lately?
Back in the 1980's I remember seeing them for $100 per.
Wish I had bought a barrel of them now.

Mosin-Nagants are the same. I wish I had bought more of them (and I did buy many!)...

 

[Moonpie]

Mosin-Nagants are the same. I wish I had bought more of them (and I did buy many!)...

You are so right.
Most anything mil-surpy has reached nosebleed prices.
I'll add Brit .303 Enfields. Godd gooney goo-goo those things are crazy these days. I don't get it. Ammo is prohibitive. The guns themselves are 100yr old worn out hunks of shit.
At one time I had eleven of them. Sold them years ago. Wish, now, I hadn't.

 

[Texasgordo]

You are so right.
Most anything mil-surpy has reached nosebleed prices.
I'll add Brit .303 Enfields. Godd gooney goo-goo those things are crazy these days. I don't get it. Ammo is prohibitive. The guns themselves are 100yr old worn out hunks of shit.
At one time I had eleven of them. Sold them years ago. Wish, now, I hadn't.

Why would you need 11 guns exactly the same?

 

[Moonpie]

Why would you need 11 guns exactly the same?

Ah grasshoppa.....they weren't the same.
If you were to venture down the Enfield rabbit hole you would find there are dozens of variations.

 

[baboon]

My biggest regret in life was not buying into the NFA sooner. And I'm not talking about suppressors.

Machine Guns - Machine Gun Price Guide

 

[Lead Belly]

Some of what's fueling the drive in odd sectors is nostalgia. I've overpaid for something I used to enjoy (no, not sex...).

Other factor driving prices in some areas is niche collectors. Even that Arisaka trainer I have up here has a following.

Markets are cyclical. Seasonal ...or larger intervals. Revolvers are hot now due to States capacity Laws.

Or like Moonpie noted- sometimes driven by ammo supply. No more pallets of spam cans.

 

[Southpaw]

Why would you need 11 guns exactly the same?

When some were $99 and I was already spending a grand or two, they would tend to jump into my cart.

 

[Mohawk600]

i dont own guns

 

[deemus]

I view guns as more of a commodity. Generally as long as they are functional they'll lose 15-20% off new and then track real inflation. Just like with other commodities there will be times where they are more or less in demand and price will fluctuate accordingly. There's also always arbitrage situations.

Of course there are collector items will do well, but you have to have a knack for collectibles. That's it's own skillset.

What's interesting to me is seeing things that were considered junk like Mosins, SKSs, Siagas now valued considerably more, and the marvel of modern manufacturing driving the price of AR15s down to the minimum cost of production.

Back when Orange man was in office I bought an upper kit for $100. Forgot about it. Found it last month. Built it. Shot it. It runs like a scalded dog. Appx $200 total cost. Random company made parts. And a borderline moron assembled it.

 

[deemus]

Ah grasshoppa.....they weren't the same.
If you were to venture down the Enfield rabbit hole you would find there are dozens of variations.

Wished I would have held on to that Ishapore.
But I sold all my mil surp stuff due to lack of room.

 

[TheDan]

Back when Orange man was in office I bought an upper kit for $100. Forgot about it. Found it last month. Built it. Shot it. It runs like a scalded dog. Appx $200 total cost. Random company made parts. And a borderline moron assembled it.

yeah I love me a budget AR

 

[Moonpie]

Wished I would have held on to that Ishapore.
But I sold all my mil surp stuff due to lack of room.

Worked out pretty good.

Fun Milsurp story.
One of the Enfields I had was a Sparkbrook No.1.
Sparkbrook only made rifles for about two years around 1905-07 time. Very very rare beast.
Buddy had a table at the gun show in Houston. He let me sell my Enfields off his table.
So I had half a dozen Enfields laid out for sale at reasonable prices. The Sparkbrook was priced way above the others due to rarity.
Many folks fingerbanged them. Some were curious about that one so much more expensive than the others.
Along comes this English guy. He is an Enfield nerd. He’s scoping out the run of the mill stuff when he spots the Sparkbrook. His eyes bug out of his head. LOL. He makes me an offer way low. I pass. He leaves. Comes back again. Makes a little better offer. Nope. He leaves. Comes back again. Still no. He does this like four times. He finally paid my price. Hahaha

 

[deemus]

I had several Over the years. Loved that Ishapore. I got it from a friend. He had bought it for his wife who loved shooting it.

She died. And he didn’t want it. So I traded him for a weird one. It was a sporterized Enfield I had bought off this old guy. He got it in Europe during WW2. He took it apart. Shipped it back in different packages, and then sporterized the stock when he got home. He hunted with it till he got too old.

I loved the story. Bought it for $40 from this 90 year old guy. Cleaned it up and shot the heck out of it. Then traded it for the Ishapore.

I had a bunch of old milsurps and I kind of ran out of room. With kids around I decided to sell them off. All my stuff fits in my safe now but I miss shooting those old guns and cheap ammo.

Found a couple old surplus boxes of enfield ammo recently.