Jon, I think there are a couple factors that run against the possibility of resurging interest in vintage doubles. Demographics for a starter. That surge basically took place as the front edge of the baby boom generation was moving into early middle age. Pretty good economy, a lot of guys who'd started out shooting and hunting as youngsters, much higher percentage exposed to military service than is the case today. Maybe wandered away from it in college and as young adults starting a family. A couple decades later: more time, more disposable income. And this was all before the American middle class really started taking it in the shorts. There is no comparable generation coming along. People buried in college debt into middle age, then sending kids of their own to college.
And you touched on another factor. Many of us here are already retired. Even if we only have a relative handful of doubles, if thousands of handfuls hit the secondary market, that's going to have an impact.
What happened is that in the first 30 years or so post-WWII, interest in sxs really dropped. Old-fashioned guns. Guys wanted autoloaders, or else an OU if they wanted a double. That was when there was a real buyers' market . . . but not a lot of interested buyers. Then various writers began touting the vintage guns, at just the right time to start the vintage boom. The proverbial perfect storm. Now all we have is Al Gore and global warming.
Last edited by L. Brown; 08/04/16 03:41 PM.
