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What are you traders seeing for current activity for SxS's and pre-WW1
collectable guns? I'm thinking of downsizing the pile but I don't go to shows and don't trust what listings are on the web.

Went on a dove hunt in south Texas a few years back. Total about 35 folks. I was the only one with a sbs.

Game warden checked me and said he does see any sbs shooters and did not need to see if my gun had a 3 shot plug

John boyd

50 years ago none of my friends shot SxSs. It has always been a small % of the market. SxSs have been out of favour with the most of the market for 75 yrs.

I have built my business selling SxSs and so far I sell a few more every year.

Here we go again!

The fact is, if you take any decent quality vintage or later model field grade double, and list it with either no reserve or a reasonable and realistic reserve on one of the larger internet auction sites, it will sell. Quickly. Not only will it sell, but there will be multiple bids, and it will in most cases realize a fair market price that is higher than the same gun in equal condition would have sold for 20 years ago. Adjust for inflation, and your return might not be much more impressive than a passbook savings account. But you can't shoot or hunt with a savings passbook. Sell it now during a lower demand summer period, and the sales price will likely be less than if sold just before hunting season. That should be obvious.

Walk the same gun around any decent gun show, especially in the fall, and I am certain that you will be approached by interested buyers... even if it is one of those supposedly unwanted 12 gauge guns. Try getting $650.00 for a well worn Nitro Special, Stevens 311, or Fox Model B, and you will likely bring it home.

So if you try to sell that lowly field grade gun for an unrealistic price that is full blown retail or more... and if you think you should get a 98% condition price for a 70% condition gun, then you are not likely to find a buyer. And you can console yourself by spouting nonsense about nobody wanting them anymore.

The same thing is true if you are selling a shotgun, or a Morgan silver dollar, or a truck, or muscle car, or your metal lathe. The prices of many once popular collectibles has crashed. You should be very happy if you bought field grade doubles instead of Hummel figurines or Beanie babies. The oft repeated crash in double shotgun prices has not happened. But just keep on voting for anti-gun Democrats and your doom-and-gloom prediction might come true.

I hope that's a joke, Mike. That would be a very selfish move, imo. Give them to someone worthy of being their next good steward rather than basically destroying them.
JR

25% is LS&B fee to seller. Gil

Which goes to prove only one thing ............ "There's a sucker born every minute". P. T. Barnum

I keep hearing the tired old line that we are a dying breed, and the next generation of shooters will have zero interest in double shotguns. If this was true, then actual selling prices would not have increased as much as they have over time. I just don't see doubles selling for less than they did 10 or 20 years ago, and that includes lowly American made field grade 12 gauge guns. I watch trends in Syracuse Lefevers more intently than most other guns. Actual selling prices keep going up, and on auction sites like GunBroker, there are just as many bidders as in the past, if not more. In addition, the screen names of bidders is not the same old guys who were competing to buy years ago. Interest is absolutely continuing and evolving. I expected to see some cheap plums coming out of closets in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession, and instead, most gun prices kept rising. I keep waiting for the prices to collapse because the Chicken Little's have been crying for so long that the sky is falling, and it has not happened. Look at the prices in a 20 or 25 year old Gun List or Shotgun News, and you will wish you had a time machine.

And anyone who thinks the only real interest in guns these days is in semi-auto handguns and high capacity semi-auto rifles with plastic stocks simply hasn't been paying attention to how much prices have increased over the past decade or so for old lever action rifles and revolvers. Dirt cheap single shots for wildcat conversions and barrels full of cheap military rifles that were used for sporterizing are a thing of the past too. Guns that languish on dealers racks for years due to totally unrealistic asking prices prove only that the dealer paid too much, or is hoping a sucker with more money than brains comes in to his store.

Of course, some of that increase over time is simply due to overall price inflation. And there certainly are exceptions and market fluctuations. Guns are not likely to be as good an investment over time as the S&P 500. But like any investment, you have to buy and sell intelligently. It would be tough to make consistently great returns on stocks, precious metals, or real estate if you bought at market peaks and paid 25% commissions on both the front and back end. But gun guys do that quite often, and then say they are happy to know they will likely take a loss when they sell or trade. That's just dumb. Guys who paid full blown retail for many English doubles when the market for them was red hot would see a loss if they sold now. But that seems to be largely due to large numbers of English shooters dumping their guns due to anti-gun regulations and lead shot bans. Supply and demand still matters.

The same could happen here if some U.S. gun owners don't pull their heads out of their asses, and keep on voting for anti-gun Democrats. Guys who stab us in the back by voting against our interests and our 2nd Amendment Rights are no help to us or the long term value of our guns.

The above accounts were the makings of a Jerry Clower story about Marcel Ledbetter and a game warden...Gil

Then again I know of two gunshops in KC with doubles in abundance and they move them too.

While local markets in many areas maybe be slow, I believe Keith has hit it on the head, good condition properly listed and priced will sell. As he points out Overpriced guns do not move, I too have watched long examples of this.

The good condition $400 Sterlingworth I brought in 1985 in the same condition is a $1500>2000 gun today. This is reflected in Ed’s posts too.

The current and coming supply of lower end 12 ga guns from Europe may depress the market price for 12 ga BLE/BLNE by filling the market, they will also expand interest in vintage SXS; a gateway drug so to say. The flood is similar to the rush of surplus military arms after Reagan’s rule changes.

The supply of mid and higher end vintage SXS guns is such that they have not and will not decline in value except by use or abuse.

Lastly as earlier put in Keith’s post money made on a gun is predicated on a good purchase price, over pay and money will be lost down the road. A smart buyer who pays attention to condition and value can avoid a big loss. Most of us insist on learning through mistakes, which I call gun rent, but if you study a bit, control your emotions, you will do ok.

I was once concerned about the future value of doubleguns, but I am more concerned about the future of hunting opportunities. My only caveat on vintage SXS values is if the anti-gun crowd slickly sell no lead as they have in the people’s republic of CA. It is a fight we all need to pay attention to.