doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Reduced Value of British BoxLock Gameguns?

Bob,

I have contented for over a year that the frenzy for British shooters is over. On another board I stated that I had close to a dozen shooters with two of the dealers I have dealt with heavily over the last decade and that they are still there. All are priced at or slightly below where they would have sold quickly two and a half years ago.

Investment grade British guns are still selling and I have both bought and sold several high grade guns within the last year and whether I was buying or selling, transactions happened fast.

I expect to see more of the same for both shooters and high grades at the UP in a couple of weeks.

You wouldn't be interested in selling that little Scottish wand you recently acquired, would you.

I think boxlock 12's right now are a good deal if you're buying, bad if you're selling. Agree with the above that it's been that way for some time. Somewhat different situation on the smaller bores. Not nearly as many of them around.

Anything collectible that is in the modestly priced category like box lock British doubles are a tough sell right now.
The Reason: Huge number of lower end collectors have left the market due to the current economic conditions and,IMO, won't be returning any time soon. The ACTUAL unimployment rare is MUCH higher than the government is reporting and ,realisticly, is 25 to 30% because those looking for work and no longer receiving employment checks are not counted.
On the other hand; reloading(pistol and rifle) is booming like it never has before. The price of reloading components doubled nearly overnite after the Kenyan occupied the White House and the prices haven't come down very much in the past two years.
Those who don't reload continue to stock up on ammo as there is a concern that their ability to purchase will be restricted in the future.
Keep one thing in mind here: The ONLY reason the situation isn't much worse here is that oil pricing is still pegged to the US dollar. When the price of oil goes up the Treasury just prints more dollars. When other Countries such as Britian or Germany want to buy oil they have to convert their currency into dollars to do so. If the pricing of oil in dollars were to change the dollars value would plummet overnite and throw us into a depression worse than we've ever experienced before.
Jim

I find this discussion interesting because, for about a year now, I've been in the market for a Brit gamegun. Because I'm a working stiff with a low marginal tax rate, my choices are limited to simple boxlocks -- probably a 12 because, inch for inch, they're cheaper. That's OK. I've never cared for the thought of carrying a gun in the grouse woods with ornate wood and carving that look like they belong in the drawing room or library of the country manor home of a House of Lords member, circa 1910.

So riddle me this: If the market is blotto, why is it that the asking prices of these guns in the various online venues we all haunt never change? Same guns, time after time, relisted at the same old prices. Presumably because the "auction" sites (they are almost never truly auctions, of course) charge no listing fee, so what does a seller have to lose?

What happened to the vaunted principle of supply and demand? I've been involved in several hobby interests over the years. Let's define "hobby interests" here as activities that involve stuff that nobody needs to buy to live. Stamp collecting, fly fishing with old bamboo fly rods, growing african violets, collecting old weather vanes, or shooting vintage shotguns are all hobby interests under this definition.

I know that there are sellers at this website, including possibly one or two who have contributed to this thread. Please understand that I am not a troll and honestly do not want to offend anyone. Nobody else works for nothing, so why should you? People are free to do business any way they want. But I have never encountered more obdurate (a kind word for pig-headed, I guess) dealers in any other hobby interest I've indulged in than I have in the one under discussion here. It as if the law of supply and demand doesn't apply. There's an old saying about business that goes something like this: It all comes down to a simple question. Which do you prefer, a quick nickel or a slow dime? In the doublegun biz, there seems to be a lot of guys who are tolerant of, not just slow dimes, but very sloooow dimes.

Just my 2 cents. There are people here who forget more in their sleep every night about these guns than I know and I will happily be educated or stand corrected.

What UIM said rings with me since I see guns on the net that have been for asking prices that haven't changed since Bush was in office, some, the first term. Frankly, I think these dealers are more dablers than businessmen. They can't be making a living on gun sales.

In my case UIM, I do not have to sell those guns I have consigned, so my dealers have been instructed to reject any offer that is not within 10 percent of what I have consigned them for. That is much like sitting on stock certificates while waiting for an up trend.

That said, I have seen a flood of 2k-to 5k guns come up for sale in the inventory of the dozen or so dealers I have either bought from or shopped when looking for a shooter.

To me, it appears that there is a glut of those guns out there and it also appears that most are being consigned for what they were purchased for two, three, maybe four years ago. There are some very nice pieces among them.

However, they are not selling fast, if at all. And if the offers made to the gentlemen I have consigned with is indicative, unless a seller will take a hit of 30 or 40 percent the market for them is flat.

There are dealers here on this board who can shed light on this discussion from their side of the table. I hope that they do.

Basically, this fact UIM mentions informed my thoughts: I've been looking at ALL doubles, sidelocks and boxlocks, on online dealers sites and/or individual sellers f or many years and the asking prices just DO NOT reflect what the Cabelas clerk and much of you are reporting. Some of them apparently do get sold but many others just sit there with no indication that the dealer will give them a "specially reduced" ticket. I just don't know what to believe.

A little more than a year ago I was half-planning to pull all my invested money, everything, out of the market. And yet I MADE some very good dough in the year + since.

Something in the back of my head STILL tells me to pull out, but time goes by and the quarterly statements are GOOD.

And yet I'm still convinced this country is going to hell in a handbasket, but economically I remain essentially inert.

I'm disabled and my wife got laid off a couple weeks ago. Am I worried? NO! YES! NO! YES! Depends on what time of day you ask me.

If there is a financial swami out there please flick a crumb of "sound thinking" with "guaranteed outcome" my way.

Cabela's, with 20 Gun Libraries, list a total of 65 English doubles. From their standpoint, that's not a lot of inventory. But then I've noticed that at least some of their GL's are WAY down in terms of "fine" used gun inventory, compared to what they carried 2-3 years ago.

People aren't buying for fun (shooting) people are buying for collectables. And collectables means sidelocks. (minus say westly richards droplocks and a few other similar things).

My high end shop (that I go to, not that I own, sorry that was confusing) had their best first quarter EVER. one month (I forget which, he told me) was their best month EVER earlier this year (2011) in what is normally a slow month.

Now is the time to buy if you want a shooter. If people don't want to deal, let it sit. It's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. It's just like housing, look around and people still think it's 2005. People with cash (not credit, cash) can make any deal they want or walk away. Some people (& dealers) can just sit on inventory forever, but most can't, sooner or later they'll need the cash flow. It's always been true with guns. Ever go to a gun show and see the same guy with the same tired inventory for year after year?

On the other hand, inexpensive ($1.5K-5K) British hammer guns of all gauges in good shape are selling like hot cakes I hear.