Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gun Prices in the Classifieds

Years ago a friend of mine told me "Nothing is worth more than what you can get for it when you have to sell it". I've always found it to be true.
Conversely I just made the Lakeland Gun show this past weekend and found lots of bargins with folks ready to deal. I wasn't looking at 'Black Rifles" but lots of nice rifles and shotguns going for what I thought were reasonable prices. I have not seen that much lately. There was also lots to see. I got there at 9AM amd didn't see all the show by closing. Sold one rifle at a slight loss and made up the difference on another. Bought a nice drilling and a beautiful Lefever for half of Blue Book.

I just got on the good side of such a deal. You can see it in my thread abot my 7mm Mashburn. Full tapered Octagon barrel with integral rib, five foldiing leaf sights on the rib, gorgeous wood, outstanding metalwork including machined into the reciever QD bases and made for this rifle and bases QD rings. Some engraving, too. All for $900.00 cash. One could not have paid for just the Machining on this rifle with $900.00.

Yep, buyers market and a rifle is worth what a willing buyer will pay for it, period. Remmy 700 BDL's are, as has been pointed out, $400 rifles or thereabouts. Low level Nikon scopes bring $75-100 in the used market most typically.

If you see a gun selling for less than you think it's worth-BUY THE DAMN THING!
That would be an investment.

Speaking of guns being an investment. There's a gun store where I used to live that the owner always tells me she will hold onto a gun to make 10% on it even if it takes 5 years or more - and she's not joking. The she complains about customers who complain that there is nothing new on the shelf for months at a time.

Actually, that is a good point.

Snake

Yeah, that kinda goes along with my earlier post about the value of time and effort. I don't understand it and I sureinhell can't relate to it. It seems to be common with gun show dealers, including one who is a friend of mine. They haul the same stuff to show after show. I'm thinking that long guns are, bulky, awkward, and take up storage space, not to mention cost of insuring them, and other overhead and alternative investment opportunities. I can't imagine hauling the same pile time after time, hoping to squeeze top dollar out of them, but I suppose it works for them or they wouldn't do it.

Like I said, to each his own. For me it seems like a royal PITA, and I have better things to do with my time.

Paul

There is a difference when you do "guns" as a hobby,vs a profession

There is definately some truth to this.

I appreciate all the comments, kinda has me thinking, I prolly will never sell any of my guns, but I will still keep buying from time to time. I spent 800.00 on zeiss scopes this month and 100 on tally rings

I am in complete understanding of this one. I see the same thing at each show, the same guys with the same overpriced stuff. When I go to a gunshow I ALWAYS sell at leat 1/2 of what I bring and often 80-90% of it. I am not there to haul the stuff back home and there are lots of other things I would rather do on a Saturday than sit watching a gun show table. Fun a couple times a year but not week after week fer cryin out loud. A few of the regulars have actually complained to me and the promoter of the shows that when I come I ruin thier business and drive down the prices. Tough chit, turkeys. Bring YOUR prices down to 'Good DEAL' levels and we all might move some stuff and the folks who come would have fun and maybe buy a gun or two for a change.

Rant over.... It is all in the name of fun.

I wouldn't pay $600.00 for it with a scope, so there you are. Maybe someone who had his hot-button pushed by the gun would. But, it isn't an unusual or hard to find gun with a strong market.

Something is worth what the market says it's worth. Buyers here are about the most gun-savvy bunch anywhere on the internet. They buy for actual value usually. Still, there are real bargains offered here. It's why this site and the classifieds are so popular.

Never understood the gun show guys the set their prices so high they never sell anything. You paid for gas to get there, you paid for the table, and you have two days of your time tied up. I'm not an accountant, but the way that figures out you just lost money and wasted your time. Seems like if you had realistic prices so say you could make $50-100 and sell 5-10 guns for sure your ahead vs. hoping to find one sucker to make you $200 on one gun.

But I didn't go into gun selling or gunsmithing because I just couldn't figure out how to make a living at it, so what do I know.

Yep, that's my take on it too.

If it were a case of exclusively new guns where, from what I've heard, the margin is small, I could understand holding out for a selling price that would net the dealer a decent return.

But the conventional situation involves a dealer buying a used gun at well below retail, and still holding on waiting and hoping for somebody to pay top dollar on resale.

Seems to me that it would make more sense to do a reasonable volume rather than hoping to make a killing somewhere down the road.

But, like 458Lott, I'm looking at this from the outside, so perhaps I'm missing some key point.

As far as gun sales as a profession, I wonder how many dealers are true professionals and how many are in the business as a sideline or hobby? I'm retired, but if I wanted or needed to make money I can think of several ways I could make more than as a small time gun dealer, especially dragging the same inventory to show after show. Maybe.

Paul

Feel free to pay more than asking price on any firearm I have for sale in the classifieds.

The last four rifles I have sold over the past year or so got a decent exposure on the classifieds here but noone bought them.

I sold two of them on other gun sites, sold anotehr on consignment through a local dealer, and traded one through another site. (These sites are not devoted to selling guns but they are sites where serious collectors gather.) In all cases I got near my asking price here -- or fair trade value.

This is a substantial shift in my past experience as I probably sold 2 to 3 dosen rifles here -- including a general sell-off of almost all my bolt guns --in the previous decade. And bought quite a few too of course.

I cannot account for the difference beyond a general impression that the ratio of actual loonies to wannabees has slipped here and the economic downturn has seriously eroded "play money" so far that most perusing the classifieds are tire-kickers.

1B

Well, it's a 270.

I just did a random sampling of the classifieds. Randomly clicked on the sellers profiles, then viewed their recent posts. The vast majority only had posts in the classifieds, or at least 95% of their posts in the classifieds.

4 or 5 years ago, I used to visit the classifieds daily, bought a few guns and scopes, gave away a couple pairs of boots. I don't hardly even click on the classifieds anymore because I'm not taking a chance with a new guy that only posts in the classifieds, as opposed to elsewhere in the forum to build a relationship with the other posters. I fully recognize we all were newbies at one time, but we existed in places other than the classifieds trying to make a quick buck.

I think most people who have money to spare are buying black rifles. Certainly the gun shows I've been to recently in Houston are 90% black rifles, or autoloading pistols. It definitely is a buyers market for traditional hunting rifles & shotguns.

And there was a local dealer here who used to turn guns over very quickly (a few days) for $20-$50 over his cost and was making a very high percentage return on his money as a result. Took a lot of stress off him, too.

+1. To the OP, I like seeing the low prices here. It means we arn't trying to rip each other off. I recently sold 2 rifles here and the 2 buyers were very happy. I bought a top of the line tactical scope for way less than it sells for retail to help a fellow member here who just lost a family member and needed the money in a hurry. We arn't here to screw each other over with exorbitantly priced chit, personally that's what I like about our classifieds section...