O.T. Investment or usage?

Going tomorrow with my son to look at his possible usage (CCP) or a good investment. Hand grips is most inviting feature for usage. Just might stretch the budget and lay out the cash. How many posters on here use this type item for investment purposes? LOU.
poke here lightly

I have a lot of firearms. I have been buying for most of my adult life. I have keep a record of everything I own and its present value. So far the firearms have done as well as any stock/CD I could have bought at the time. Plus I can play with them.

I would recommend buying from a local private firearms dealer. They can always beat the big store prices. There is a high markup on fire arms. I also enjoy going to a few gun show each year too. I have found some interesting things at some of them.

Prolly pick up a brother for the ugly tractor for that money, and you won't shoot your toe off wifit either :roll:

Nice tho.....

Just may need it to protect Old ugly and the rest. will try and keep my toes out of the line of fire when in the protection mode/LOL. Yep it's a great looking weapon.How is your tractor comming along . Cab yet?? regards LOU.

JD seller.I too own a lot of fire arms but never thought much about having them as an investment. You have given me something to think on. appreciate the reply. Regards LOU.

(quoted from post at 02:30:05 11/12/11) Just may need it to protect Old ugly and the rest. will try and keep my toes out of the line of fire when in the protection mode/LOL. Yep it's a great looking weapon.How is your tractor comming along . Cab yet?? regards LOU.

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Tractor's doin real good.Cab is bought, just have to find time to make the trip to pick it up. Got inspired yesterday while waiting on oil to be delivered and cleaned out most of the barn so I have a dry parking place for it. Whole new world brother and I don't miss my little one a bit.....

My buddy and I were talking about this same topic last weekend. It started out as a way to justify the last purchase each of us made to our wives, but we got to thinking about what we paid for certain firearms, and what their current value is. All in all, netting better than the Roth, and over time, there will be stories to go with each one.

I think for anything to be bought for investment purposes you have to be willing to sell it and ready to sell it when the market hits a high point. I also think that people tend to over value the worth of things they have. Just because you heard a story of someone selling a like item for $1,000 doesn't mean you will have any luck selling it for $1,000. When you actually try to sell it you may only be able to get $500 for it. You have to look at what the low value is for something and not focus only on the high value.

It is very difficult to tell if what you buy now will be a good investment, but figuring whether what you already have is a good investment is simple. Write down the price you paid for it and how many hours/days of work it took you to earn that money. Then compare it to what it is worth now, using recent sales figures of comparable items, not some pie in the sky guide you find on line, then figure how long it takes you to earn that money now. That being said, I sold I was worrying I might be getting Alzheimers a few years ago, and sold several of the firearms I owned that I never used anymore, only keeping a few I use regularly. All in very good condition. Most proved to be good investments. The ones I bought 5 to 10 years ago (just before everyone got scared) turned out to be better investments than the ones I bought 40 years ago.

Welp, like my post above, depends where you live? If you need a gun, I saw an H&R topbreak 38 the other day for $59. you could get it for 50. Take the +$1150 you have left and by a tractor, and equipment that can grow food. Then you have both security systems inplace. The only 'investment firearms' I have seen lately are WW2 US or German issue. And repros are on the shelf for as much as originals, just for the chumps out there I suppose.
My cousin sold a huge lot of of civil war stuff a few months ago. He got half of what he had into it from years ago. So that wasn't a good investment was it?
Buy it. go to another shop, try to sell it. See what you are offered. I bet you won't do this twice!
The only way you get retail back is if the insurance man finds it in the ashes... and that's a maybe.

I have a close friend that probablely makes 40/% of his annual income trading and collecting pre 1900 colts, winchesters, and other Indian and Civil War weapons. He makes about twenty major shows a year. Secret is knowning and seeing value, and halving a collector base market. Like and old cow trader told me you will never go broke selling a profit!!

Tony: I have rarely ever given full retail for any of the fire arms that I own. I also buy and sell some of them all of the time. I usually make money on them.

Several key things to watch out for.

1) Don't buy the cheaper brand guns. They never will be worth much. The H&R you mentioned above is a good example. I have four Colt 1911 45s Original 1912 production. I bought them in 1969 for $50 each. I had six I sold two to an old Army buddy that collects. I got $7500 for the pair. If I had listed them at a good national auction house they could have brought $2500-3500 more.

2) Pistols will do better than shot guns or rifles. I personally like a good rifle better than a pistol but the pistols sell best. Only exception to this is on original muzzle loading guns. The rifles will out sell the pistols in this case.

3) The bigger the caliber the better chance at making a profit. 45, 357 and 44 magnum sell the best. 9mm have to be something special to do any good with them. There are too many cheap knock offs being sold for many to pay good money for a higher quality gun.

4) I never try to make anything on reproduction stuff. I have some just because it caught my eye but it will not appreciate very much.


This advice is like many say on here. It is worth what you paid for it. LOL I personally have done well on the guns I have traded. I also never "had" to sell either. I can pick and chose my deals too. Not an issue. All my children like guns. So what I have can be split between them or sold.