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

British boxlocks are great value if you know a good one from an ordinary one and pay accordingly.

Really high quality boxlocks with beautiful wood, fine chequer, drop points, best quality barrels and finest full-coverage engraving make nothing like a sidelock of similar quality. I have collected a good number for collector clients in the last three or four years and always laughed at the fact that such high quality can be had for so little (under �3,000 all done).

True that as investments they may not do too well unless the market catches up but boxlock prices have not changed much over the last 15 years. A good reason only to buy what you like and to use it and/or enjoy having it.

This makes them good prospects to buy if you want to treat yourself to a lovely gun for the price of a new Spanish POS.

3,500 pounds is about what, $5,700 dollars. That is about the threshold for guns, Boxlock or Side lock, selling reasonably quick here in the states. Or at least that is what I think I am seeing happening within the inventory of several gun dealers I check weekly.

The 2,500 to 4,500 dollar gun is the one stalled, unless reduced by 30 or more percent, I think.

Just my observation and to some degree my experience, both buying and selling over the last two years.

That's the main problem...people buying and selling don't know the difference. If a nice one comes up for sale it doesn't last too long.

I've seen enough of them that have landed on these shores, had a quicky chamber lenthening (or, not) been cut loose in the foothills with 'bubba, or his brother, with a bunch of hot SAAMI spec ammunition, and are now suffering off the face, bulged tubes, weakened or broken stock, screws out of time, smashed pads, and on and on.
Its only been in recent years that one could procur, commercially, the correct ammunition for a century old Brit gun here, and has been even less time for regular folk to learn there is a difference. Or, that the same guns should be vetted somewhat regularly.
The damage has been done. The simple fact is that for typical, American, rough shooting use, there always were and are better tools.

Best,
Ted

I am in Small Bore's camp. I would much rather have an English Boxlock than a Spanish sidelock! The English guns are just that superior IMO.

Well it is real simple. People who have money are not spending it, people who want to spend it do not have any, no one is willing to lend money to those who want it and should be able to borrow money and the experts can write papers or expound about how the economy is in recovery all the want. We are in a very flat period of economic growth. So discretionary goods, which double guns clearly are, are in very poor demand. On top of that I suspect the market is flooded with slow moving guns right now. Doubles are an old mans game and we are loosing more old men all the time.

I'm in KY Jon's camp-we are not much different than Charles Gordon was, chasing out-of-period designs that are worth less than they cost.
Mandatory non-toxic laws will make them even more of an anachronism. Like us.

Best,
Ted

I was telling a friend lastnight that I don't think we've ever had so much vacant commercial property in SoCal. Those in the discretionary goods food chain from makers to distributors, to retailers, has to be hurting or worse, they're already gone. Good time to be in the toilet paper biz. Demand is holding steady.

It will be interesting to watch Holt's auction on June 23rd and see the prices realised. There are quite a number of Brit boxlocks there by any number of makers (some well known and some not so). I see their estimates are not much different than they were 5 years ago. Personally, I have had good luck selling medium priced Brit boxlocks and those that bought them seem well pleased.

Best Regards, George

The market is soft, but I also think that lot of people have caught on to the fact that the US market is full of worn out, overpriced guns.

A dealer in Texas specializes in this kind stuff--boxlocks, sidelocks, big names & small. His inventory is staler than wisecracks about our President's heritage.

And it's not just boxlocks that are sitting around. There are a lot of brand new, top-end guns on the market. Nobody wants them (or at least not until the prices come WAY down).

OWD