Thorny,
All "shooters" are bad investments when you compare them to unfired or higher condition. Few investments are worse than gun when you use them. Maybe a vintage car driven to work every day is worse but not by much.
Spanish guns are a decent value if you stop and add in the increasing prices for new verse when the gun was bought. You will always loose if you sell very soon after the purchase. But shoot it, take care of it and keep it for several years and even those Spanish gun get to be at least a break even propisition.
British guns are no great value if you buy them new and sell them in a short time. Now if you hold onto them for 100 years then a 30 pound gun is worth about $1,500.00. But had it been sold the year after it was purchased and you might have lost 20-30% of your purchase price. Same then and a same now.
