doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Collector Market?

Okay. Before you guys get started, i don't want to get involved with selling her guns. Something like that could backfire and I don't want to.be responsible. So, I'll stay out of it and mind my own business. But thanks for offering.

Regarding SxS being in gun stores, that may be partly a regional thing and partly the market. I've seen SxS the last time I went in a gun store, but most were either low end junk or the various Turkish built guns under CZ or other names.

A really good SxS is rarely inexpensive and while this may be considered blasphemy, I find the vintage American SXS to be priced higher than a comparable British or European gun.

I have 7 British made SxS, 1 French (Darne clone) and 1 Belgian (Fabrique Nationale) and my CZ. The CZ is the only one I've bought at a gun store. Aside from the Darne clone, which I think I bought on Gunbroker, the rest were bought either from Amoskeag or Poulin auction houses.

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.

British BLNE are a deal right now and generally have always been so.

12's in particular. Smallbores significantly more expensive. They didn't make nearly as many of those as 12's. Even more true than in the classic American sxs market, where far more 12's were also made.

Re selling, I've had very good luck working with Mark Beasland to sell guns on consignment for me. If you follow his inventory on GI, guns seem to move pretty quickly. Admittedly, I live close enough to Mark that I can drive my guns down to his shop rather than having to pack them up and mail them. But he also shows up at various sxs shoots and big shows (Tulsa) where you can deal with him face to face.

When I was doing guns sales full time I sold lots of sbs guns. However, most of the customers were in their 50s plus. Few younger. Many in the 60s. I found that many of my customers who were consistent buyers would generally reach an age where they were gunned up. Had all they needed. The guys that I saw in the 20s to 40s were auto and o/u buyers. At that age group they thought a fine gun was a Beretta 686 for $2,000. Also, many of my clients had kids and I asked why they did not bring them over with them, said were just not that excited about guns like they they are.

We have a nice sbs group here in Houston. We have one member who is in his 30s. I think the only reason we have someone so young is that his uncle is in the club. Most in their 50-7os

John
Arrieta

Lock Stock & Barrel. 25% seems high. So you are ending up pay the gunbroker fee and a fee to them. I guess you could just list them yourself and not have the fee to LSB. Only having one fee. If they have a good following and get high market prices, maybe that is worth it.

John
Arrieta

LSB pays GB not the seller. I had mixed results with some guns going double to triple what I anticipated and at least one grossly under priced---but I got rid of guns I haven't shot in over a decade. Buyer pays no fee which is not the usual with auctions. All in all I'm happy with the results and didn't have to take guns back or deal with tire kickers or nit pickers. From pick up to check received was under 3 months. Gil

some recent sales...

20 ga browning superposed to tx...

12 ga woodward sxs to pa...

12 ga dixon sxs to tx...

20 ga sterlingworths to va...

20 ga grulla sxs to nc

16 ga evans sxs to al

my commission for above guns was 10%...

i do this for fun an humble profit...

pm me if you wanna discuss my consignment service...

That's the way it is nowadays and it is a shame. It's like classic cars. Younger people don't seem to be as interested in it as older people. Younger people today are more interested in some small foreign car that sounds like a bumble bee. And it's hard to get younger people interested.

You talk about buying a project gun and redoing it. I wish I had that talent. I'd be scared to death to take a gun apart. I'd have pieces all over the place -zinging across the room..

I recently had a friend of mine who has a gun shop who I was talking to about the subject of classic guns being hard to find. He has his grandfather's Model 21 and his dad's Model 21 but one side by side in his shop when I stopped in there about a month ago. It was a beautiful restored Parker that he had for sale for around $3,200. I was really tempted to buy it. It was a gorgeous gun. But at the time I was in the market for a Model 21. I have a project going at this time that I will share with you all when it is done.


But it does take a lot of money to buy a nice side by side nowadays. And they are getting harder and harder to find.