doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Slow Sales of Classic SxS's

There have been numerous recent posts about the "slow selling" of classic SxS's. This morning, on GUNBROKER, there were 121 sale listings of LEFEVER SxS's, with only 5 bids. I found that a bit surprising.

Wonder why that is the case? My guess- the "older breed" of gentleman gunners is "fading away"- If this is so, perhaps another barometer of this would be a measurable drop in attendance at SxS clays events for 2019- as compared to past years-- Just wonderin'-- I don't have any SxS shotguns for sale. nor any M12's for that matter5, so I guess I don't have any "dogs in the fight"-- RWTF

Lots of all types of guns on GB never receive bids. I sell SxSs on Guns International. If you have what folks want and price it correctly they sell.

Almost all guns which sell on GunBroker seem to start out low and have no reserve. Others, listed at retail prices never seem to get sold. But it�s hard for many to just list a gun at a dollar with no reserve and hope it sells for what you think it should. Low grade doubles are very much a hit or miss thing. Shooters can be found for reasonable prices unless you are the seller in which case they all go for too little.

I�ve sold about a hundred guns with Gunrunner.com and been both happy and dismayed at prices sometimes. But over all they have done well and half of selling right is buying right. Or just buying years ago when prices seemed lower. As an investment guns suck. As toys you get to enjoy they have been fine.

Lately I�ve been buying more pump guns than doubles. There are a fair number of different pump gun designs, many long forgotten, that are interesting to compare how they evolved and I get to shoot most of them as a extra benefit.

Agree- I own and shoot 7 Model 12's-- dating from 1921 to 1949 in Mfg. About the only one I seldom shoot now-a-days in the 1948 era Pigeon Grade M12 Trap-- old milled style rib- feather crotch walnut stock- 30" Full. Back when I had a fair average at 16 yards, it got used weekly, maybe except in the Winter-- I even shot a round of "Full choked Skeet" with it and got a 22/25-- when I hit a clay at skeet range, it looked like a can of pepper exploding-

By the way- we "invented Full Choke Skeet" just for fun- exceptions from std. skeet- we didn't use station 8- instead we shot a set of doubles from no. 4 station- and back then, you shot all single first, then went around again to shoot doubles at 1 & 2 pegs, ditto 7 & 8 pegs-- this was waaay before SC came along.

But I have sensed, at area gun shows, a real softness in the Model 12 market here in the Midwest. Cabela's, and wisely so, will NOT buy any repeating shotguns, even pigeon grade M12's, regardless of gauge, if they have Cutts or Poly-chokes, even if factory installed. IMO, they are real "dogs" on the market today--most likely due to the usuage of screw-in choke tube systems--

I've sold a number of handguns on Gunbroker, all with a $0.01 starting price and no reserve and, at least so far, I've not been unhappy with the amounts realized. I'm debating trying to sell some sxs (an AYA 4/53 28 gauge: a Winchester Model 21 12 gauge with splinter, DT and ejectors; and a Ferlib 12 gauge BLE), but am concerned with the lack of action on such guns on the site. For stuff that draws less attention, I think Mark is correct - put it up on Gunsinternational and price it right.

Rem

Here we go again! I just looked at the Lefever listings on Gunbroker, as I do almost every day, and there are actually 158 active listings.

The situation has changed very little in over 15 years, with the exception that Lefevers were undervalued then, and sold for much more reasonable prices then versus now. But I found a great deal on a Lefever on Gunbroker very recently, and bought it.

Most of the active listings are for guns with ridiculously high reserves or starting bids. A lot of these 158 active listings are for reprints of old catalogs or brochures. Many are for Nitro Specials which are a Lefever in name only. There are a bunch of stripped Nitro Special actions which will never sell, and will be relisted over and over. But even the lower grade Syracuse Lefevers that actually sell are selling for two to three times what a gun in equal condition sold for 15 years ago.

The sky is not falling. But people who bought into certain collector manias 10 or 15 years ago are in the red now. Those who are now paying $5000.00 and more for Colt Pythons could be in a similar boat 10 years from now. Or not.

So should I sell my Pythons now or later? Always the question. Two nib examples, in the safe, will not cost me anymore for the next decade. My kids don�t want them yet but that might change. I don�t see the need to sell things now hoping to be a later price decrease. You can�t guess what is going to happen with certainty. If you like your stuff keep it. If your tired of it and want to move on then sell it. If you get your money all back, then you broke even which is more than a lot of investments can say. But when I bought them there were selling for a lot less than today but they were not cheap even back then.

Are they selling for more today than a Dow Index Fund, bought then would sell for now, or some other measure of what you could have bought.

I don't buy guns for investment purposes. I doubt very many here do. But I enjoy the fact that I can usually sell them without a loss most of the time and often with a little profit that might keep up with inflation in most cases. So, guns, unlike bicycles or golf clubs, are really just another form of cash more or less.

You made that donation yet Freddy ?