Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best gun financial investment ?

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A local gun dealer told me that the best gun financial investment was not Belgium Brownings, pre-64 Winchesters, first generation Colt SAA, or anything like those.

He said it was Plain-Jane J-frame S&W 38 Special revolvers.

He said that if you invested your money in J-frame S&W 38 Specials, you can sell them any day (more liquid than oil), don't have to wait for political or other events to create excitement, and don't have to be studious or knowledgeable about specific models or fakes.

Just buy plain NIB J-frame S&W pocket revolvers and hold them until you want to generate cash for a profit.

Thoughts ?

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Umm, I might suggest a Holland & Holland Royal Double or a Purdey for starters, if one has the means.

Sounds as if he had some revolvers he wanted to sell.

What is your level of return on investment? 5%,10%...50%
Pre-owned firearm will do that but at a slower rate than thought.
I buy,Pre-64's either Winchesters,Colts,S&W and sporter Mausers.
Put one kid thru collage with a S&W collection....

I've stayed away from military-type,antiques and customs,fun to own and play with, but a narrow market for resale or trade.

The English gun market requires a lot of attention to details,which can be a good return or a bust.I have one Jeffery shotgun I can double my money on now,but have lost on a rifle a few years ago....

I would think in this economic climate, any gun is worth buying for future sale. I would caution against off calibers and stick with the tried and true. In a SWTF situation, people are not going to want weird chamberings or hard to find ammo.

The bottom line is buy cheap easily feed guns and then you will see a maximum return on your "investment". years ago I bought a brand new SKS for $49. I bet I could get $350-400 for it now without much trouble.

Timing is always important. If your holding a gun to sell when you need the money, you won't get full value. Buyers can sense when you need to sell.

The thing I have a hard time with "gun collecting" is having all that money tied up sitting on a shelf for years on end guessing at what the future market is going to be when I try to sell it.

The only "gun collecting" I do is buying a gun now and again that I really like with my hobby money. Unless I get a bargain that I'm going to turn around and resell I never buy anything under the illusion that it's going to actually make money. I doubt most guns other than high grade collectors pieces even keep up with inflation.

Buy what you like, take reasonable care of it and just hang on to it. Unless it's a junker it seems that any gun will appreciate in value.

Who'da thunk a Nylon 66 would be going for $350, or 788's for upwards of $500?

Like anything it isn't just the type you buy. Grade and condition comes into play. Those that invested in Classic American Doubleguns have done really well as have those that invested in the English Doubles. I wouldn't be investing in something I knew nothing about weather that be guns, stocks, bonds, Baseball cards, or ect.

Wish I would have had the means and foreknowledge to buy 200 SKS's when they were under $100. I sold one at the height of the frenzy a year or two ago for $675 (some ammo, 2 stocks, bayonet, etc). That is a profit margin I can live with!

I don't buy guns as investments. Truthfully, there aren't that many guns that are very good investments at all, if by "investment" you mean an asset that brings a good monetary return later... at least compared to other traditional "investments."

However, I definitely use the "investment" angle to justify the gun purchases I've made to my wife.

Yes. I would be inclined to go with some European double rifles or high end shotguns. On the home front, maybe some Shiloh Sharps.

Looking at the rack in the stores, anything with a wood stock is probably going to be tomorrow's classic

I'm with Ranger on this one....
If I had had ten grand cash I would have ordered a stack of Russky SKS's when they first hit. I ordered a stack of ten for my local buddies, kept two (the most pimped-out) for myself. The effective interest rate would be over 8 percent, I think, perhaps more if they were cherries, as these were.

I agree with you.

My SKS is a Norinco one that I got thru Davidsons. It has seen many thousands of rounds and still shoots 2" groups at 100yds. For $49 new, they were indeed a great investment.

I guess the point is, a gun doesn't have to be fancy or limited in numbers to be a good investment. It's the market that dictates the worth of something, and there are plenty of ugly guns that will bring a good return if there is a demand for them.

I've long regretted my inattention when a friend of mine advised buying all the Russian SKS's I could afford, when they were going full up for $69. My thought at the time; "Who wants that crap".

Well, all I can say is M700 Classics haven't gone up as much as a lot of owners thought..........




Casey

Yep same here.



Sound advice if you had bought them 5 to 10 years ago.

I pretty much agree with MontanaCreekHunter.

"Investing" in firearms is like investing in anything. You've got to know the market, then buy low and sell high.

Then there is the difference between the low-end market and the high-end. Really good guns in the $5000+ range will always sell, whether older custom hunting rifles (not synthetic stocked) or double-barreled shotguns.

Below that, oddball chamberings or special wood, or whatever, are the attractions. I have an 1894 Winchester in .25-35 made in 1898, with a 26" octagon barrel and special-order sights. It's in used but not abused condition, and I've been offered twice what I paid for it it 5 years ago.

Another is a pre-WWII German side-by-side double rifle in 9.3x74R. The company went out of business during the war, but I have also been offered twice what I paid for the rifle.

Maybe things will change with both rifles, and I'll take a bath, but I doubt it.

I do buy standard used factory rifles, if I get a good enough deal, but it's a lot harder to turn over a Remington 700 BDL .30-06 than a Remington 700 Classic .35 Whelen.

The best gun financial investment I can think of is a gun safe.

The only time I've tried to tell someone a gun is a good investment is when I try to make excuses to my wife that I need yet another one.

I think it may be fun as a hobby to buy and sell, but I don't think I would bet my retirement on it. Although, they probably have done better than all those mutual funds over the past several years.

Hmmmmmmm. Now you got me thinkin. Maybe, I should be buyin more guns and tell those Wall Street guys to go to that hot place with burning flames!!!!