Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Revolver prices dropping?

I'm wondering. Money is tight for a lot of people. The young people seem to be mostly interested in the autos.

I notice that many classic old S&W and Colt revolvers seem to be moving slow on Gunbroker. Of course, there's the people on there who attach obnoxious starting bids on their offerings and never get the first bid. (I've never understood why they bother) And there's some that are in pristine collectable condition complete with the original boxes that still demand high prices. But I'm seeing some very nice old S&W and Colt revolvers on Gunbroker with no minimum bid that few people are bidding on and getting sold for very reasonable prices.

Absolutely they are and the two reasons in your first paragraph are spot on, especially the latter one about young people.

I peruse a local classified site daily and nice S&W revolvers that used to be snapped up at $900 to $1000 or much more are sitting unsold in the $600-$700 range. A 1970's pinned Model 10 in beautiful condition has been offered for $400 for a couple weeks now with no takers.

At a gunshow a couple weeks ago there were more really nice S&W revolvers than I've seen in a long time. Some folks still wanted the super high prices that were common in 2022 but lots of them were in the $600-700 range and still no one was buying them.

But every kind of semi-auto handgun including the cheaper clones were in fairly high demand.

That’s probably due to the fact that they need 15-20 shots to hit something at 10 feet.

Well said, and I'll add, that anything more powerful than 9mm hurts their hands.

Link?

I don't think so.
Revolver is not simple, open up the side plate… a semi auto pistol is basically a frame, a barrel, a slide, and a spring…. A revolver is like a Swiss watch

Well, considering their was a panic for a while that drove prices up big time, without a catastrophic event they had no place to go but back to a sensible normal.

As the original OP pointed out, the younger generation just does not have the attraction to revolvers and I think the reasons for that are numerous in my humble opinion.
For one, most only hold six shots; utes lean toward higher capacity firearms.
There’s no end to all the light’s, sight’s and laser’s that can be easily hung on a semi-auto. It’s a little harder on a revolver.
For people up to the age of 40, semi-auto’s are all they have ever seen in the movies by a large margin.
Most revolvers are a lot harder to conceal outside of a j-frame.
Outside of 22’s, revolvers are typically chambered in calibers that require ammunition that is typically more expensive than your run of the mill 9mm.
For a lot of people, 357’s and 44’s are a handful compared to 40’s, 9 mm’s and 380’s.
I know it is a lot easier for me to engage targets more accurately and at longer distances with my Glock 43 than with my Airweight’s in 38 special.
Most people do not look at handguns for a wide array of utilitarian purposes as a lot of us here on the fire do.
I have four boys. All four hunt, fish, shoot and love guns but only one of them has inherited their father’s addiction for Colt, Ruger and Smith revolvers, especially Smith K-frames.
One of the boys did pick up a nice Smith Model 60 a few months back as a home defense piece for his wife.
Another reason is the market is flooding.
One of my boys was in a gunshop up in northern Indiana about six months ago.
He spied a few nice Smith & Wesson revolvers and struck up a conversation with the clerk behind the counter. It seems the owner had purchased a collection of over three hundred Smith’s from an estate and had most of them in the back room.
I know of a guy locally who passed away that had 200 Colt and Smith revolvers. They were quickly whisked away to Ohio by his sister for sale at a later date.
I know at the big Louisville gun show back in February, I saw more old Smith & Wesson revolvers NIB there at that show than I previously had at any other show.
There were a few fairly reasonable deals but most prices were outrageous. Price seemed to have softened a bit over the past few months and I think they will continue to do so.
Semi-auto reliability has greatly improved.
As for me, I was raised to believe that semi-auto’s were largely unreliable. The only exception to this was Ruger MK II’s or Colt Woodsman’s.
There wasn’t a lot of choices growing up in the 70’s and 80’s.
Colt 1911’s, Browning Hi-Powers, Smith 39’s, 439’s, etc.
Every now and then you might see a PPK or something like a P-38 but there were no where near the choices that you have now.
It was a revolver world and as a kid you were usually handed a Smith or Colt revolver along with “now kid, that’s a fine piece of American craftsmanship” or some other pride-filled description.
Don’t get me wrong, I have my share of semi-auto’s.
My Browning Buckmark and 1969 Colt National Match are probably the two most accurate handguns I have and I have three different Glocks I conceal carry the most but my revolvers get shot and carried at a rate that far exceeds the semi-auto’s and probably always will.
I have a Ruger Redhawk I’ve been working with lately and that has been a real joy.
Of course you guys knew all of this. Just me thinking out loud.
Preaching to the choir.

Elmer, Milek, Skeeter, and Veturino must be smiling

I have one semi-auto, a 1911 I inherited. I shoot my Bond derringer 45 ACP more than that 1911.
I like S&W revolvers, from 22LR through 44’s and a 45.
I don’t see a decrease in price. Maybe I should log onto Gunbroker again.

Edit:

I think that S&W revolvers are holding their own after looking at many on Gunbroker. I bought several Model 10’s in Prescott 15-20 years ago for $200’s each. The prices of those are not keeping up with inflation, granted. The revolvers I’m more interested in seem to be keeping their value.
I think it’s like most guns. That is buy an in-expensive rifle/shotgun/pistol and you can use it without worry about damage so much, it may not keep up with inflation. Buy a high dollar rifle/shotgun/pistol and you have to baby it if you want to sell it for top dollar down the road.

I wish they would drop. Still a few Smith models i want.

My 1972 S&W Mod 36 .38spl snubby was off Gunbroker and was $480 (winning bid).
Not a single thing wrong with it, absolutely flawless, for its age!

Boomers will be spinning in their graves when their collection's get sold off in 20 years.


I've said for years that Muscle Cars and nice guns are a terrible long term investment.


They will always have some fans, but not at the crazy prices they topp out at, inflation adjusted of course.

Look at Model 12s.
I see them sold for similar or lower numbers today than they brought in the early 80s.
Considering inflation, that's a hell of a loss.


Another thing is glassware.
I remember NoritakeChina and Depression glass bringing crazy money, now they struggle to get bids at auctions. I'm sure there are desirable stuff that might be different, but never remember seeing a full set of Noritake bring $5.

A good 85% gun

I think the last year or a bit more the gun market overalls been slowing and tapering off a bit and now that Trump's elected for the next 4 years I think we will see a stabilization or eat more dropping of price...

That was a fantastic deal.

Hmmmmm 🧐

Can you give some specific examples?