doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gun values in the new political paradigm?

After years of being threatened with becoming "unlawful" and then potentially... of being confiscated, where is the market for the "nicer" firearms going next? Clearly, individual states will still have their own mandates (New York & California come to mind and I don't see them changing anytime soon) but without the big, overarching Federal programs threatening the 2nd Amendment, where are we now?

The liability of doing business in the firearms industry, of being "debanked" and ultimately having your FFL rescinded by some zealot seems to be much diminished now. Where does that leave us?

I'm not expecting a new "flowering" of interest in these old guns because, in many ways...the world has moved-on to other concerns. But I wouldn't be surprised to see perhaps a few "new" faces in the game now. If you can purchase something (arguably expensive) that won't become a "liability" overnight or at least won't become that someday in the near-term, I would think that the long term "chill" that has descended upon much of the firearms market will dissipate. I clearly don't have a crystal ball here but I would think that lots of attitudes will be changing as we go forward.

The really nice stuff has, and will have, value. Think big three from Olde Blighty, the highly decorated Foxes and Parker’s that show up having been unused for 100 years, etc. The stuff we use, has been on a trajectory into the dust for quite some time. Just having the name guarantees nothing, here in flyover country when I see a sidelock from London for sale, it more often than not is pretty clapped out.

I’m OK with that, by the way. I’ve never completely understood how a bespoke item goes up in value when the person who spoke up for it exits this vail. I’m happy I got to live and shoot in the era of rediscovery of the SXS gun, after the storm of the repeaters, most of the fathers in my neighborhood never looked back from, and I enjoyed that rediscovery immensely. Watching the kids on the trap leagues that my high school aged son participates in, I highly doubt there will be another double gun renaissance, and if there is, it will be a whimper compared to the boom I got to see. I made and lost a buck or two on guns, and it was fun while it was happening. But, I see no reason to believe I should venture my hard earned capital on the belief that it is a growth industry. It ain’t.

The gun grabbers started at the scary (to them) end of the gun evolution line, and, despite trying mightily, never got traction. We have a second amendment because without one, it becomes obvious rather quickly that you really don’t have a first amendment, no matter what the “cum by ya” people believe, if there isn’t a second to back it up. History is clear. Would they have been after those old doubles if they had managed to get traction on banning something, anything, they didn’t like?

Absolutely. Again, history is clear. The constant reference to “It’s a good start” is not hyperbole, it is a way of life.

I think we are entering an era when you can play with left behind good quality boxlocks in good 100 year old condition, for just a bit of scratch. We won’t likely profitably sell them, and, most of us don’t care. They will end up elsewhere the same way they ended up with us.

Best,
Ted

The really nice stuff will hold its value provided its condition is, basically, to use a term I've never seen applied to a firearm, immaculate. But the days of passing off a bunch of guns accumulated and used over a lifetime as a 'collection of fine firearms' are gone (that last observation is my Dad's, when I was helping him get rid of 30-35 guns when he and my Mom moved into assisted living a few years ago, he was a clear headed pragmatist).

I don't think the Second Amendment has much to do with it. Or social attitudes, really. The move to non-toxic ammo drives down the value of firearms that have been shot, of course. A flood of fine doubles out of Europe and the UK increases supply at the very time when demand is receding due to demographics in this country, and that should tend to put a thumb down on prices. So be it. Why should anyone make money off their hobby?

The market for classic cars or fine watches may offer a pretty good example of what's to come. Older cars tend to be attractive to guys who couldn't afford them in their youth and now can, so they pour money into restorations and concours-quality rebuilts and for a few years the market goes crazy, then it stabilizes and, as that generation ages out of the accumulation phase and into the disposal phase, the prices collapse. While a few museum worthy classics find their way into those collections, the market is awash in really nice 'summer drivers' and such, for which there is no market. The market for expensive watches is also, from what I read, in some kind of tailspin. So be it.

I'll point out that if you get your information from the "corporate mainstream media" you are not going to hear much change in the antigun rhetoric. If you get your news from podcasters you may still feel it is fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants info. However, the very recent past may cure that to a great extent.

Even Joe Biden was for double-barreled shotguns.

It has already been said what position those quality guns hold so I will only add that feeding them is still a concern. Some can buy whatever they want while others need some element of practicality in their purchase. If someone would like a fine double gun from a past time but believes they won't be able to shoot it, that is a significant problem in collecting them.

The corporate mainstream media is now "dead". Nobody takes them seriously anymore, not even your average big city moron.

They have squandered their credibility and wont be around long now in their present model. Good riddance to them.

Joe Rogan and his like are eating their lunch these days. It's a new world now, good in some ways and risky in others. But at least now we don't have Marxist Ideologs' running things.

You are free to own, use, discuss, and sell firearms here. It has everything to do with it. What difference does it make what a new condition Boss O/U is worth, if you go to prison for being in possession of it?

Best,
Ted

I am hoping deregulation and motivation to move the economy upward will have a positive effect on the price and availability of shotgun ammunition.

Lloyd, I love you brother, but you overthink things. Roll with the flow my man. We absolutely, positively, cannot predict the futures of commodities. Too many variables come into play.

Sometimes I just love farmer/rancher logic.

Yup, it's the Iowa hangover syndrome, probably made up a think tank to figure why a few less yard signs, didn't equal joe 2.0. All credit to the cause though, caddy seems big on flushing the ole classics and antiques out of the woodwork, and get 'em all registered, for the long game