Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Who thinks gun collections as investments is going to be a flop ?

i have had the good fortune or misfortune if you want to go it that, of having the ability to see a lot of firearms through the years, imported as mil surp, which is my thing, and other types. I have also had the ability to buy just about everything below market price.
I think just about every thing i bought other than i liked it, was i was able to buy at a price i didn't have much worry about reselling at that or a higher price.
there was a time you could buy those 1903 springfields or the 03A3's as an example for a few hundred bucks. if one was to sell one today for five hundred bucks, you would have a line down the street to your door.
I don't even want to get into the class three stuff. once you could buy a m16 for about 400bucks. not so today.
I got into a discussion with a guy in the midwest a few years ago that literally filled his garage with cases of 7x6 2x51. the discussion was he bought it for 140bucks a case, i rememberd the stuff selling for that. it was during the clinton period, and he eventually sold all of it for a heck of a lot more money.
I had a friend hit it a few years ago with .22lr ammo, a garage full of it. there were people from california driving to arizona to buy it.
it's all about what you pay for it.

In 2009 I bought an English double rifle. It is a Boswell in 450-400 3 1/4”, engraved, circa 1907, and in very good shape. It is accurate in double rifle terms. It was listed at $28,000 and I bought it for $18,500. Saw a basically identical rifle listed on Guns International recently for $13,500. There are doubles listed on GI for over two years that have not sold.

I don’t regret buying it, might even take it to Africa next year. However even the higher end rifles will continue to fall in price. Young people are not hunting in Africa nor have the passion to own a $25,000 rifle.

Colt single actions been good to me. Those times will never happen again.

Want a good investment? Buy index funds

Yeah. Kinda. I guess so. Or you can always try to defend yourself or your loved ones with a google stock certificate.

I got in to hang gliding in 1978. I lived in Atlanta and it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Lookout Mountain. Lookout is one of the premier hang gliding sites in America.
I had six buddies in Atlanta, we would pile in to a couple of vans and drive up on Saturday morning, and spend the weekend flying. In 1979 and 1980, the number of hang glider pilots was doubling, and tripling every year. We were all young guys, 25, 22, some of us 19 years old.
In 1978 all we had at Lookout was a launch site and a landing field, no buildings.
By 1985, there was a big building at launch that sold gliders harnesses etc. By 1985 they had a bunkhouse in the landing field. The business was really booming.

I went to a hang gliding site in South Carolina a few months ago, the youngest pilot I saw was 50 years old, and the guys told me that the hang gliding sport is in a state of collapse. Said the millennials just are not interested. He told me the millennials want to sit in Mommy's basement and text on their Iphones rather than get out and do a risky sport.

So I would imagine that the gun industry, and sport, is headed where hang gliding is, towards extinction.

A good alternative are AK & AKMs assembled in Nevada USA by company called Arsenal. Depending on model used one in great shape can be had for about $900. As someone pointed out correctly the money for a gun is made at the purchase not at the point of sale. Recently I recommended 20ga SxS shotgun to someone that was looking for good looking shooting gun. It turned out to be Japanese-made Winchester of Anson & Deeley type limited edition called Grand Canadian. The asking price for gun in excellent condition was $1400. As population ages the prices on certain firearms are only going to get better and better.
Looking at present American market and realizing most gun owners are former military one possibility is wartime P-38s made by Mauser, Walther, Speelwerk (most common). The prices are relatively low. I would stay away from late war vintage because they were made/assembled by slave labor and concentration camp inmates where there were known acts of sabotage against German war industry. I would not want to see someone injure themselves shooting one.

My returns in the stock market mostly into MSFT, GOOG, and AMZN:
Bush 41 years -20% compounded annually
Clinton years +20% compounded annually
Bush 43 years +20% compounded annually
Obuma years +20% compounded annually
Trump years +39% compounded annually

My returns on owning guns 1961 - 2020 +3% compounded annually

If I walk into a pawn shop and buy a Rem 700 30-06 with Leupold 3x9 scope for $400 + 10% sales tax = $440.
If I stand there and say, OK, I want to sell it now. They will sell it on commission of 15% of $400 = $340 I get back when it sells.
That is 25% cost of trading.
At 3% compounded it takes 7.5 years before I make up the commision and sales tax.

That is NOT a good investment.

Be a saver not a big spender. Start buying Index funds when you are young and never stop. Take a chance occasionally on good stocks as well and hold onto them.

When you are old enough to appreciate the wisdom in that advice you can buy good guns like you are buying a pizza.

How much pleasure do they give you?
More than a tech gadget?
If they meet CandR (and maybe even off they don't) you can probably justify a trading loss to set against another "investment" if you sell down.., on the other hand if they put 50lbs of meat on your table a year. That is a dividend you are not taxed on (other than the annual license to hunt)

You might even consider your hunting, zeroing, load development time as therapy to help you deal with the grief you get from other parts of your life......

how about if you were able to buy a arsonal for about 400bucks, good investment?