doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Best Bargain Doubles in last 30 yrs.

If you are talking bargains, forget most anything bought new-it will take a long time to recoup the money Mr. Dealer made on you.
Talking bargains today, Spanish boxlocks from the 1970s. Well used English boxlocks from whenever. There are guys who advertise right here looking for 3-5 large for English boxlocks, those aren't a good deal. It's got to be pretty special to bring more than 2 large in a used English boxlock.
Gunbroker is awash in CSMC RBLs (42 of 'em?) some at serious discounts off new retail.
With appologies to Donald Fagen, we all know the danger of nostalgia...


Best,
Ted

Almost anything you bought right 30 years ago would seem like a bargain today. Point made earlier that many here could not afford the real bargains back then and some still can not.

Personal best buys of the last few years.

A pair of Ithaca NID 12 ga. shooters for 700.00.
A Fox Pin gun with a miller trigger and ejectors for 800.00.
A Grade Fox 16 and 20 for less than 5k.
Browning Super, pre war, two trigger solid rib 750.00. Had to replace fore end wood but found a perfect one in less than a year of looking.
Baker Double that was marked Montgomery Wards for 100.00. Had a broken stock and no metal finish. Cleaned up nicely and had a stock that fit with very little work.
LC Smith field grade, almost perfect condition for 750.00.
Any Lefever that I have bought in the last ten years. They are such a wide assortment of features that each gun is almost one of a kind.

Any "shooter" that you can buy and use is a great value. I invest in just about anything other than guns. I know some have made a killing in buying early, or buying rare guns or even in finding the next fad gun to buy. I like American guns that were made before WWII or better yet before WWI. You can enjoy the rest and I promise not to run up the price on you.

I bought my first sxs, an Ithaca SKB Model 150 12ga, at the Navy Rod & Gun Club, Rota, Spain, in 1972 for $162. My other choice was a Winchester 101 20ga for, I believe, $190. Back in those good old days, guns were real bargains at the military rod & gun clubs.

A few more nominees (when discontinued):

1. The 20 ga. Parker DE SxS Repro Double closeouts

2. The Winchester Model 23 Winchoke SxS closeouts

3. The S&W Elite 20ga, SxS closeouts

4. The FABARMS 12 ga. SxS Classic Lion closeouts

Those who know something of guns and their values would have been much better off in the past 30 years filling their homes with high quality guns at below retail than blindly investing in the stock market or in mutual funds. By "blindly investing" I mean with the advice of a broker who has only his interests in his advice. If you buy a fine gun at 60% of retail, you are years ahead of other paper investments.

I dunno about that Boss, but I wish I'd had bought a ton of silver about 7-8 yrs ago at $5 since it's nearly $30 now. That's probably a bit better than the Boss did or the SKB too. Then I could buy the gun I wanted at regular prices and still be tickled.

Not a SxS but a normal 12 ga. Browning Superposed can often be had for around $1000. Once considered the standard that all the wannabes tried to copy, these fine guns are now available for less than the latest semi-auto costs, new.

Agree on the silver investment. But,............. as far as buying the gun I wanted at regular prices and still be tickled, I probably couldn't. I've been a bottom feeder when buying guns for so long I don't think I could be happy paying market price no matter how easy the money was to come by.

Stan

I'm with you, Sam. Most expensive gun I've ever bought was 2 yrs. ago --- a Utica Sterlingworth in unfired condition 16 bore for 1200. Won't find any others made in 1935 in that shape where it lay hidden in a closet of a two flat in Chgo. Chops

I'm sure we all have stories of the cheap and good and also ones that we let get away. Was at an auction a few years ago and bought a L.C. Smith Specialty grade 16 gauge for $1,500. Turned out the barrels were cut (I was more stupid then), but I still sold it for more then what I paid.

However, that same day I watched two Sterlingworths head out the door that I wanted, but I was holding out for the LC. One SW (a pin gun) went out the door at $800. The other (a 16 gauge with 30" tubes) went out the door also at $800. Both guns were subsequently sold on Gunbroker and a substantial profit was realized by the fellow who bought both at the auction.

That particular auction had loads of Winchester rifles (pre-64) and as such most of the doubles there were pretty much ignored b most.