doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com English Gun Prices?

As a newbie in this game, I am interested in hearing some thoughts about pricing. Not necessarily as a buyer, just out of curiosity. Where have prices (on English guns) been in the last few years, where are they at now, and where do we think they are going?

I read the TIME article, which seems to suggest UP, UP, UP, at least for the top-quality stuff. I've also read some other discussions here that don't seem nearly as optimistic. What do you all think?

Be careful there's lots of junk listed at high prices

Hi, excellent question! Well FWIW, here's my take. The High End "Best" guns seem to be selling as they always have. The market for them has not seemed to slowed much, steady, neither up or down too much. The Mid to Lower end guns have hit a snag. Not much moving either buying or selling. The prices have not moved much either. Sellers are not making any great deals and the prices they list are generally firm with perhaps some wiggle room. Folks who want to buy, just can't. No money. And those who have money are not wasting their time or cash on lower end guns that may or may not give them a return if they ever decide to sell. The market is slow and until the economy gets back on its feet, it will remain so. Who knows what the future will hold, God only knows. Time will only tell.

All the best!

Greg

"Real" quality English guns are very scarce and don't show up in great quantities on the internet. These real original best guns still sell for big money and are hard to find. Average guns from any country are slow movers today. You can buy very nice guns at auction for reasonable prices today that would have been more expensive a few years ago. If there is a prime condition best gun out there at a fair price, there is money to buy it. "No Money" is an incorrect assumption.

Thanks for the responses, keep them coming!

To clarify, when we speak of the "mid to lower end guns" are we speaking of lesser makers, or is this a comment on condition? I'm not terribly interested in truly low end makers, or anything non-English for that matter. But for example, how would we rate the values of names such as Lang, MacNaughton, Lancaster, Hussey, etc (all good names, I think) with a defect or two? Such as minimum walls, restocked, lengthened chambers or the like? Clearly these guns are always worth far less than their "flawless" counterparts, but how have their values performed in the downturn? Is there opportunity to pick up good names (with flaws) or do the names keep the values high?

Thanks again!

I have two London Bests I have tried to sell for a year now. Now I will say that they have had xome changes made to them they are still quality guns. My Hussey has new barrels made in the mid 60's and because they are proofed in Birmingham and not London the gun is not selling. I have a Grant as well, new barrels by the maker and even that will not sell.
I have had thhem priced at what I beleive the low end for these guns and still no takers. Some bites but no takers.
I have also looked at buying some other English 12 bores, a Purdey for example. made before WWI and the seller has it priced in the upper 20's. Now I would say it is a very nice gun but for a pre WWI gun that is about 10K to much.
I have seen some guns sell but still wonder. I have some squirrel money left and want to trade one of mine and some boot for one nice rightous London Best.

Hi, Rocketman on this forum has a wonderful spread sheet that explains a lot of what your asking. Some may not agree with him, but I've found it to be a valuable tool. You may want to PM him for more info.

Name is a factor when it comes to price. Just a fact of life. Peoples ears pop up when they hear Purdey or H&H, not so much when they hear Hussey. Hussey guns are London Bests, but the price is cheaper due to name. Buy the gun, not the name has always been the watchword, but name does play a very important part, regardless of what some may tell you.

Prices will be affected by the defects you pointed out. Out of proof guns, sleeved bbls, thin walls, replacement bbls, restocking etc won't even get a second look by some. They won't consider them at all. That's fine, each person has to be happy with the gun they are going to buy and shoot. Some folks are just fine with sleeved bbls etc. The prices will also go down because of these defects as they are not orginial. I don't have a problem with sleeved bbls (if done right) nor do I have a problem with bbls that are .025 or so. You can get some deals on them, just do your homework and ask lots of questions. Proof is a BIG factor however. As you may know, it's against the law to sell an out of proof gun in the UK, but not over here. You can get some very good deals on out of proof guns, but at your own risk of course. There have been several threads on this subject as of late on this forum, lots of good info, I'd do a search and read them rather that go into detail here.

As Joe stated, there's a lot of crap out there, but also some good ones. It pays to ask questions and research.

All the best!

Greg

Are they listed in the sale section ?

In Missouri, there seems to be modest price decreases and slower sales of shotguns in the $1k to $10k range. While only 10% of the people are unemployed, amny of the remainder have slowed their purchase of so-called "luxury items" including higher quality shotguns, recreational vehicles, boats, swimming pools, second homes, etc.

Even CABELA's has marked down many of their shotguns in this $1k-$10k price range. Not long ago, I purchased a European SxS they had previously listed at $3,400 (for a year)for $1,200. Granted their original price tag was too high, that is still quite a reduction.

One of the other local gun shops isn't accepting quality shotguns for consignment sales -- he says they move too slowly. His business is still doing well selling CCW handguns and black rifles.

My opinion is that it will be 2 or 3 years before most O/U's and S/S's return to the 2008 price levels.

I'm not qualified to comment on higher quality English SxS's.

gold40

Minimum walls? Punched out chambers? How about deep pits in barrels? How about bent barrels?