I have been out of the country for the last five years and haven't really kept up with used gun prices. Now that I am back and have access to my guns I was planning to sell a few to thin the herd and focus on acquiring a few new ones that interested me.

I have had a couple people tell me that the used gun market is soft right now and I should hold on to them for a while since I don't need the money as much as I need the space. The AR market is definitely off from its highs a few years ago, but what about sporting arms? What are your observations?

I'm also assuming that the market won't heat up because of politics for at least 5 years with the current President.

Very soft. Tactical rifles are popular but over supply and a Republican prez has lowered demand and the prices have crashed.

Sporting guns as in blued and walnut...prices are low do to lack of demand. Many of the guys who are into custom Mausers and old Winchester are getting old and no longer buying or worse . Their collections are getting sold off by family that’s not into collecting and hunting and it’s got the market flooded during a time of low demand.

It’s what I see anyways...but others will chime in with their .10

From where I sit it is much better to be a buyer than a seller currently, I recently picked up a NIB Dakota with all the bells and whistles from the original owner for roughly 60% of the list price. Blued steel and walnut go for very steep discounts....

Agreed

But - depends on the firearm you're selling, the location, and how you sell it.

On here - very soft, but the good ones usually move, a lot of buyers here look for the bargains.

Also seeing a lot of "custom" rifles that won't return the investment.

Gunbroker - you get better exposureto the market, but you pay more in fees.

AR/MSR - flatlining until the next gun control act flares up - or the Colt AR cease production announcement - that spiked the Colt price for a week or two.

It's also after most of the early big game seasons, you're getting into prime deer hunting for another month before most states shut down.

Hunters have bought their new guns for the season, it's time to get in the woods.

Now is not an advantageous time for sellers, if at all possible hold on till the market improves.

I have put 3 rifles and one shotgun on consignment in the last month. One rifle and the shotgun sold a week ago. The other 2 I will leave for him to sell for a while(Until January) since I already have more shotguns and rifles then I can reasonably handle.

He(consignor) says the market is still good .

I think this is a historically bad time of year to sell. Compounded by all the "black rifles" sold by Obama and Clinton are trickling out. There have been so many new unproven gunsmith and custom is almost a nail in the coffin.

However
The soup de jour or niche items still sell pretty well.

Very soft, and not just the old blued steel and walnut. Ive seen a lot of stainless synthetics affected as well.

It's a great time to pick up models you have always wanted !

One section of the market that is still fairly strong is old military weapons

I really don't care if I don't sell a used rifle or shotgun for a premium price as long as I can get something I want more at an equally good price in this soft market. On the other hand, if I sell a rifle or shotgun because I just don't want or need it anymore, I am converting an unused object into usable cash even if the price isn't great. I've only had five guns that had special meaning and I've given two away to younger relatives, sold one after a divorce and still have two. The rest are just tools.

Me too. I'm way past needing any more, but I like to experiment, tinker, and try out stuff. If I end up selling something at a loss after I've had my fun, it's just the cost of enjoying my hobby, and likely less than a day of golfing or a night on the town. Some end up sticking, either because they're compelling in their performance or because they strike some other chord in me.
Pretty cheap fun, when you actually do the math, at least at my budget level.

Just as with the concept of "good" furniture meant to be a lifetime investment, and some other changing consumer trends, "nice" guns aren't the current thing with younger or newer shooters. Bottom line is, don't expect to make a killing on your guns someday, unless you really spend big and hold on a long time.

Good time to buy, bought a C grade 700 for 800.00. It is like new.

Old rare stuff in excellent condition still sells well.

very true. I've noticed locally that classified prices tend to dip in February and March and then go back up in August and September

Republican in office killed the gun market. No one scared right now. I tried to trade a heavy barreled tactical style rifle rifle to a large gunstore a few months ago and they told me they didn't want it. Used racks full of them and said they had boxes upon boxes of new ones in the back. They said the same on AR's. Wouldn't even take them unless people would part with them for pennies on the dollar.

Certain kinds of firearms (as k20350 points out) are very slow right now. But I buy and sell quite a few guns, especially rifles, and haven't had much problem selling any AS LONG as I place them in the right market.

A couple of good examples: Placed a modern, stainless-synthetic bolt rifle on consignment at a local store, and it did not sell for long enough that I got it back and sold it here on the Campfire Classifieds within 2 days, despite the price being over $1000--which is often a handicap here. Put a classic older lever-action up for sale here and got a few tire-kickers, so took it to the same store and they paid cash for what I asked for here. So a lot depends on WHERE you attempt to sell.

Consider the opposite !

I'll take this.


Jerry

Yep. Been my experience as well.

Yes, the market is a bit soft. Really dependent on what one is selling or buying. The AR/AK types are a drudge on the market, over supply. Older classics still do well, but perhaps not making the big bucks folks thought they were worth. It is as well very regional as to pricing and desire. I recently sold six firearms out of 9 that I posted. Didn't get what I would have liked for some, but I have had them for a while and made a bit on all of them. As an incentive to buy I said free shipping. That cost much more than I thought it would.

I hate losing money on a gun sale!

I don't, but tend to buy only when the price is average or below-average. But I profit on guns partly by writing about them: If I buy at a reasonable price, then write an article or three, then I don't mind selling it at break-even, or less.

But aside from that, don't mind selling at a little loss, just because of what I learned--and enjoyed--from the experience.

This might be one of the most true-to-me statements that I have heard from you. I am into Mannlichers right now and they are so interesting. I will be on another grail quest soon but those rifles from Austria sure are getting my attention right now.

Thats a good way to look at it. Besides, if the feds find out you are selling at a profit, they could come knocking on your door. Thats why i always "break even" on gun deals.

Yep, heck just try to buy a 39A pre safety for under 500.00. Quality pieces will always have a buyer provided you didn’t way over pay originally. Nice O/U and SxS seem to always sell

bsa,

I've had my own Federal Firearms License since 1990. "The Feds" know very well what I'm doing with it, because I accompany each 3-year renewal with a letter explaining that I primarily use it as a convenience in my profession. They're fine with that, as long as I follow the regs, and my accountant is also fine with it as well.

I don't mind paying top dollar for the best I can find. I buy junk too, just to play with. Lose money on shooters every time. Everyone already has shooters. When I sell I like to get my money back on mint stuff I can't shoot w/o ruining value.

Really?

Shaking my head...

I guess I’m getting ready to find out, I have a Sako 7 mag I need to sell. I bought an earlier one. I don’t need six, five is enough.

I've been slowly liquidating my accumulation (it never was organized enough to constitute a collection) after a heart issue last year. I'm trying to get down to things I'm going to shoot regularly and dispose of the rest.

I've found that there's relatively little interest in most of what I have for sale - revolvers (mostly 1980s or 90s era S&Ws), sxs shotguns (British and European), single shot rifles (mostly small frame Martini actions built into custom rifles) and blue steel and walnut bolt actions. My local gun dealer tells me that the hot market right now is military stuff. I've never owned any military firearms except a Stevens 416 .22 with U.S. Property markings and a couple of surplus S&W Model 1917s.

The younger guys seem to be fine with polymer and some sort of parkerized or stainless finish. I've always preferred blue steel and walnut. Guys my age are selling into a down market and true collectors seem to be liquidating their fine firearms collections at an ever increasing pace. Look at some of the higher end auction sites to see just how many collectible firearms are hitting the market and what they are bringing versus 10 years ago. It won't bring you much comfort if your collection is a key component in funding your retirement.

Fortunately, my collection is a key component in enjoying my impending retirement.

Certainly location has much to do with it. I moved a couple of hundred miles and the prices where I am now are significantly less than my old home. I've pretty much retired from rifle hunting and started shopping all my customs. I've seen at least a 25% decrease in value and not nearly the interest. When motivated I guess I'll try the Campfire.

Just a thought, but those of you who are looking to add to your collection of older firearms should be making lemonade from this lemon of a situation. Be positive.

I suspect there are quite a few members here who would be happy to find a 6.5mm other than a Creedmoor, a 270 rather than a 280. A wooden stocked rifle rather than a plastic one. Etc. The bargain hunters should be all over this reporting the great deals that they've found.

The market is determined by the buyers. Good luck trying to find one of Darcy or Melvin's rifles at a bargain price.

Marlin levers w/ JM markings are doing OK. I'm not finding any killer deals on Kimber or Barrett rifles.A matching numbers Garand or M1 A will cost you a few bucks as will a US carbine. Used rack rifles are like used cars, some are desirable, most are just used. You can make a killing on used Norinco aks


mike r

Good collectible stuff is always where the best prices are, regardless the market. Common stuff will never appreciate like the rare stuff.

True. It may be a bit harder to find a buyer on rare stuff...but those items do hold their value better.

July 2019 I owned 121 guns today I have 55. I started by selling guns that friends said they wanted if I ever sold them. That was good for 25 or so. Then I started listing on a local internet sight. Eventually a few months ago I started selling here usually listing 3 guns and a few stocks/ scopes per month. So far I have sold 19 items here. I have failed to sell only 1 rifle, a Kimber SSV. I sold 4 desirable M700 classics after they were listed less than a week. Mauser custom are very slow sellers but high end 22's went same day listed...I am now down to wood stocked customs, shot guns & a few hand guns to sell. I plan to die with about 20 guns left.


It cost about $75.00 to pack & ship a rifle by USPS. The buyer pays for insurance if they want it.

It is certainly a buyer's market for most firearm categories and I am doing my best to take advantage of that.

This. summed up nicely.

kwg

I don't know about this. You look at used firearms on GunBroker and everyone sure likes their stuff. $$$

And most of those ... aren’t moving.

+2

Perhaps. I, too, am trying to take advantage of it but I'm not having much success. I'm not seeing the kind of stuff I want to buy available at "reasonable" prices yet. Some of it is stuff I once owned, bought new, and the now used selling prices are 2x to 4x what the stuff cost me new in box less than 20 years ago. I figure it is like the a-holes that bought up .22 ammo to sell at scalper prices. I'm not here to rescue someone from their foolish purchase any more than they are here to rescue me from some past foolish sale. Nope, when the price finally comes down to a level reflective of the value the thing has to me, then I'll pay that. If it never does, it never does, they can keep it.

Tom

Right now is the time to buy!

If Trump is re-elected, gun’s will get even softer.

I’ll take a soft market, vs Pocahontas or Mayor Pete in the Oval.

DF

I'll state a sad fact, younger people are not getting into the shooting sports or hunting. When I was a youngster all the kids in my school hunted with the exception of a few, now no kids hunt with the exception of a few. Shooters in competitive events tend to be middle aged. I've noticed the number of shooters dwindle in trap and sheet shooting. While competing at a AKC dog trial last week we saw no younger owners or handlers, average age was 45 to 50 years old. I suppose that the high cost of these sports is partly to blame, but not entirely. This is just and observation from my area, but I suspect it is a trend. I try to get kids out hunting and shooting, but most have no interest or their parents are opposed. Hunting and shooting are just not PC with the younger generation, so demand for firearms has dropped along with prices. I've sold off a few firearms in the past year, but they are replaced with others I'm interested in at the time, I usually loose money to move them, but it is the cost of my hobby.

I have been concerned about this trend for awhile. Just my $.02

I was looking at a Savage 99 in 243, the newer C model. 775$. I thought it was a fair price. Hopefully the guy still has it.

Amen.........

What he said. ^^^^

Lol. Yeah those SxS shotguns sell themselves dont they? I'd love to know where the place is that people will pay good money for these guns because I sure haven't found it

Gunbroker is an example of nothing. It's just a bunch of sellers fishing for suckers

I would largely agree, with the exception of no reserve auctions. I think that completed no (or low) reserve auctions are one of the best current measures of what things are actually selling for.
The remainder of sky high listings are pipe dreams looking for smokers...

Penny starts are the real gauge on Gunbroker.

Yes. I said no reserve but this is more correct, as plenty of the “no reserve” auctions have exceedingly high “starting” bids.

Ive been seeing a fair amount of customized Springfield 03 rifles for sale lately, a couple of them had really nice walnut stocks on them. Nobody seems to be interested in these anymore either.

I've had pretty much zero success with advertsing stuff locally, and GB sales entail a long drive to a UPS CSS, so I've sold a couple on GB through a dealer that handles everything, at a price of course. They went to a 20% commission, so that's out now. I'm beginning to think using them as Christmas and birthday presents may be the way to go.🤔

Again, as I suggested earlier, it depends on finding the right market.

Yes, the market for "classic" guns is shrinking, but not as much as many here believe. There's still a major market for top-grade classics--which does NOT mean the basic pre-'64 Model 70 .30-06, or a basic Model 12 shotgun or Model 94. That's obviously because the guys who believe XYZ factory gun, made back when they were young, was absolutely the best in the world, are dying off.

But there is still a market for top-grade side-by-side shotguns, and GOOD custom rifles--whether older walnut-stocked models or today's top synthetic-stocked accuracy models.

But most Campfire members buy rifles and shotguns that don't cost much more than $500--or scopes, for that matter. That's because the average Campfire member is looking for a bargain--and in his 60's.

"Asking" prices on other Internet sites are just that, asking rather than selling. Dunno why some get upset at that--it's one of the basic principles of capitalism. But when I want to sell something, the asking price is pretty reasonable--because I actually WANT to sell it.

Gunbroker--and similar sites--remind me of the older guys (some even older than me) at local gun shows, who keep bringing the same pre-'64 Winchesters (or other "classic" guns) with the same price-tags they've had on 'em for years. They don't really want to sell them. Instead they want to show 'em off, and bullshit with the other old farts.

Gunbroker--and similar sites--remind me of the older guys (some even older than me) at local gun shows, who keep bringing the same pre-'64 Winchesters (or other "classic" guns) with the same price-tags they've had on 'em for years. They don't really want to sell them. Instead they want to show 'em off, and bullshit with the other old farts.
Hey,I resemble that!!!

I have talked to a few guys that have picked up pre64 M70s in 270 and 30-06 in the last year or two for 400-500 price range. Not safe queens and not junk either, just used and good condition.

Mr. Phil,

I totally agree with you on the military weapons. I have several that I bought not too many years ago from Aim Surplus that are being offered on GA and GI for a lot of money. I still get the urge to buy every "sporterized" Krag I see and I'm on the back side of 70 and don't even hunt any more.

Exactly my thoughts on it too. I don't pay any attention to "dealers" and their asking prices, selling prices are the only thing that matters. Priced right, stuff sells.

Exactamundo. I was at a gunsmiths shop yesterday, who was exactly as you describe. He had a ton of old cool guns, but the best ones he would say, "that one is expensive, or its going to cost a lot for you to walk out with that one". He had some pristine pre 64 stocks, but they were hiding behing some shotguns on a shelf. I ended up buying a new looking featherweight stock with montecarlo cheek piece and aluminum butt plate, but it was not chesp. It will, however, fit right on my 30-06 featherweight i just bought for $450.....

that is a very true statement

I've not read the entire thread but just spent the weekend at the Tulsa Gun Show. Over 4,500 tables in one 11 acre building. Here are a few observations.
1. The number of people carrying guns around wanting to sell or trade was down from the last show.
2. The number of people buying guns, based on what I could see and others there who were selling, was down.
3. The number of people attending the show was about average, however today the number of people seemed a bit lower than usual on a Sunday.

The show, for those who haven't attended before, is one to put on your bucket list. I've been setting up at this show since the mid 80's and it seems to get bigger every year. I thought prices for used guns at this show was still high and I heard lots of people commenting about it.

If some other posters attended the show this weekend, I would like to hear their thoughts.

I was at the Tulsa show on Saturday and the attendance was about like past shows. It did seem that some guns that had been commanding higher prices in the past were beginning to come back down. Marlin (JM) rifles seemed to be lower than past shows. S&W revolvers prices seemed the same or higher. Black gun market appeared flat. Talked to a few dealers I knew and they said far more tire kickers than buyers. All that said if you get the chance this is a show you should go to at least once. If it is firearm related it is probably there somewhere.

I know of two gun shops here in Colorado that have closed their doors. Both of them specialized in the black rifle/prepper/law enforcement thing. Five years ago at the height of the Obama scare, one of those shops on a Sat morning would have a line out the door and shoulder to shoulder inside.

What I'm seeing at the pawn shops and on Armslist regionally is prices are definitely lower for the average firearm,

I sent you a pm.....bob

Bob:

I sent you a response and e-mailed some photos.

Paul

There's a school of thought which holds that as Baby-Boomers retire and/or die off, their various investments, be they securities, real estate, or collectibles(including guns) will decline in value as they are sold off to support the Boomers in retirement or as Boomers' estates are liquidated. The various markets will have more sellers than buyers the thinking goes. That will be a bitter pill for some who've chosen to believe that guns are such good investments.

On the other hand, not too many months ago I saw an ad for one of the big regional auction houses that handle a lot of upscale guns: No commissions on the sellers' side; the auctioneers would be living on those buyers' premiums. Evidently those auctioneers believe buyers will outnumber sellers. Who knows?

I hit a couple of shops today the racks are full of guns that are basically run of the mill, nothing really collectible. Tactical rifles are stacked up and prices are all over the place. Lots of tire kickers, tons of 270s 308s and 30-06s bolt actions out there. See a fair amount of custom military rifles for sale, but very few all original military surplus anywhere

This last paragraph says it all for some of those guys. I'll bet I've seen the same guns on the same tables for years. They have not intentions of selling them.

kwg

Dont try to sell a model 12 Winchester right now. It's hard to even give one away.

Hard to give anything away right now. Decided to keep most of my “for sale stuff” because I refuse to give it away.

Mike that really surprises me. Do you know why ?

M 12s & 97s WERE always appreciated and not cheap.


Jerry

I agree Jerry. But apparently "times they are a changin."