doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com There is no better time to buy a gun than now!

Look, many of you know I do this for a living and have for 30 years. So do not be confused by thinking I am trying to sell you something here. It makes no difference if you buy from me(I would prefer it) or someone else.

Here is my point: if you are in the stock market like I have been, you have seen your portfolio drop about 8 -15%.

Second, CD rates are in the crapper. I have some that I had at 4.5 to 5.10% they have be coming due and the new rates today are from 1.38-3.89. A couple places are offering a promo rate of 4.00 for 10K min.

Why put your funds in things now that are paying nothing. Buying some nice guns that you can use and enjoy and have some appreciation is better that having money in low yield investments.

I am not saying to clean out what you have got and put it in guns, but I feel now with the low yields, its a great time to buy.

Outside of business inventory, I did not buy guns just for investments, but I have done it now. I know what I purchased for my personal use will return me more that the measley yields in todays stock market or on CDs, or money market funds.

So just think about it


Stay Well,


John Boyd

I agree and I am buying one tomorrow from the UK. Looks like I found my hammer gun.

Glad to hear it. Enjoy it!

Best,
Milt

Geez Kevin, don't leave us in suspense, whatcha buyin'?

Nothing wrong with diversification but there are some securities that pay a good bit more (oil trusts like SJT pay over 7@ and FRO a tanker company pays over 14% as well as some dryshippers)but the market is indeed iffy untill this bond insurer issue is straightened out and then we have the very real possibility of a Dem in the WH to deal with along with a Fed that is way behind.
I just ordered a AR 15 with all the nasty stuff that libs will ban (6 position stock,bayonet lug,flash hider) and see the price double,maybe time to go to class III investments too!Guns ammo and Gold will always have value.

Far afield, but some of the overseas CD's are paying what is in effect 10-11%. Bought correctly they can even be backed by FDIC. The only major risk is if the dollar gets stronger before your CD matures you could loose value when you convert from overseas currency back to dollars. I do not see any major risk of the dollar getting real strong in the next year or so but if it does I might regret my investment. If the dollar gets weaker I will come out smelling like a rose.

Hope you make enought to buy a camera...

Anytime is a good time to buy a gun. I have a new old one on the way.

I am buying the Samuel Mathews on the Cotswood gun site. The gun is still within original proofs and has had very little use. It is a best grade gun from a maker that few have ever heard of. Dig is checking it out for me, but it sounds like a keeper.

By the time it gets here it will have to be a keeper.

WELL SAID JOHN BOYD ! At one time I had my romance with the stock market. I was even securities licensed for about 15 years. Series 6,63 & 26. After loosing a ton of money & persuading others to do the same I finally figured out that investing in the market was a lot like going to Las Vegas or Atlantic City except I didn't get free drinks.

My investments are now in land and guns. I've never lost money in either one and they are both things that I can look at, use & enjoy and when my time here is through I can pass on something other than a pile of stock certificates. This is just one man's opinion but it works for me.

Best Regards, George

I'm not so sure just buying any old gun will do to. There are a few makes that hold their own, and there's a whole heap that'll not have much interest.
A high condition Low to mid-grade vintage American would be a good bet, and anything from Europe proper wouldn't.
If you want to rid yourself of that fine London Sle gun, this'll be the time to do so maties - London is so expensive!
So...if I went to buy a gun tomorrow, it would be the best original Parker Vhe smallbore I could find and the same could be said for a AH Fox Sterlingworth in some rare form or other.
Cash is king, condition is king and the obscure is too obscure.

Same here, I've been looking at a Joseph Lang Imperial. Waiting to here some answers to some questions that I sent by email.

Anytime you find what you want is the time to buy a gun, IMHO!

I hope you guys have a good experience....I hear the UK is the land of no return.

I have not been burned yet. Homework is the key, but there is almost some element of risk as anywhere else, just need to minimize it as best you can.

When the culture, is no longer our culture, some new money man will buy my rural property. He will use it as a hedge againts a future of - takin'it to the street.
My family and I have sold-off some of our country properties - knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have invested a nickel in the market!
The returns are that great, and just think of all the fun I've had with it before the sale.

John,

I just jumped most of my investment to bonds this morning but I plan to jump back in before it goes up........famous last words.

Besides, I will have to work forever anyway and cannot think of another gun that I could use for after getting my last two from you.

I am at the SHOT show. Call me on my cell if you are here.

Kevin McMichael

So John - how many Mossbergs did you buy?
Maxey

So Mr. Boyd,

You mentioned you were buying guns as a personal investment and recommending others consider doing so for the pleasure of the gun and the potential upside. In your opinion what guns are good bets to appreciate into the future (assuming proper care and inital quality), what would you personally recommend for a hedge portfolio. Finally if it's not too personal to ask what are you accumulating?

Ken

Spoken like true gundealers! I agree I have never lost in any gun deal over time but as I hold my prestine parker VH it's letter says it was bought for just less than 75.00 in 1925 and I know it's worth at least 4K now what would 75.00 worth of 1925 standard oil stock be worth now!

...or $75 worth of land??????

John,
As long as a person's finances are in good shape, I say go for it. But, buying guns for investments seems like it has as many pitfalls as the stock market. Right now I'm investing as much as I can in Boeing stock as I feel it's undervalued and will rebound (and has) due to the company's unprecedented backlog of contracts/orders and diversification. All that information can be found in the media.

Maxey-

Exactly! What guns is the question. My caveat: I am not in the business, other than as a consumer who has bought, sold and traded over the course of nearly 4 decades.

Based on my limited experience, I would have to disagree with a general proposition that firearms are among the best investments. They are sound investments that pay great dividends if you use and enjoy them. Unlike the typical article of clothing, if cared for, a firearm can be used and enjoyed and then sold later. They do require care in use (condition is important to value) and safe careful storage and can be targeted by criminals (I have suffered one such loss in my lifetime making a very good safe and/or insurance a good idea).

Whether or not at a financial profit after taking into account inflation, that is the questions. During my lifetime I have seen a big change in our culture and the trend is more anti gun and fewer who accept firearms ownership as the norm. In some parts of the country you can still see a pick up with a rifle in window, but that is now pretty much a thing of the past.

The future demand is not easy to predict, that there is a fairly adequate supply firearms out there and increasing regulation coupled with fewer and fewer places to shoot, might not bode well for anyone very heavily and generally and for the long term invested in firearms. Absent a complete prohibition, some firearms will no doubt appreciate due to increased demand and limited supply, but one must correctly predict the future.

This issue has been discussed in this forum in the past, and I must agree with what has already been said by others, and that is most individuals who actually make money on firearms will buy them low and sell them quickly at a profit and do not purchase firearms as long term investments.

Doug

It is always easier to buy than sell a gun!

I am not saying get out of the stock market, but I have taken some profits off the table ( and some losses too) and out of the market and the cds that came do, I have not replaced do to the poor, new rates.

I am looking at two things at one.

First, I am looking at guns that I might enjoy owning and using

Second, I am looking at guns that for a very long time have continued to show interest to the buying public and hence have a strong after maket following.


Best,


John

First let me say, John and I are aquainted, so I was pulling his leg a bit. He is a square shooter, and I would hunt with him if our schedules could ever permit. Those are the highest complements I pay to anyone. With the writer's strike still going on, I've been re-reading old SSMs, taking note of the dealer advertised prices on new and used guns from over 12 years ago to the present. It isn't hard to see what prices have done since then. English guns that are desireable will always increase in value and demand...they aren't making anymore "between the wars" English guns. Spanish guns have increased in price and quality, but may not be in the future the same tier value as the Turkish offerings become more refined to our tastes. Turkish guns will, IMHO, gain the attention of the audience that Spanish guns did in the past. Competitive guns retain value, but only tied to use/condition and may be "passe" when the next gotta-have version comes out, so they are always a crap shoot. "Sleepers (the ones YOU know are great deals for various reasons) may never awaken in the market awareness. So, like John said, buy what you like, and I'll add, care for it and use it prudently to maintain the charactor and value. Think twice before doing something to a gun which can't later be "undone".
V/R
Maxey

if you buy from a dealer you pay tax and a transfer fee. When you sell with a dealer you pay 10 to 20% of the sale price. It has to go up a lot before you make up for these costs.
If you buy from an auction house I think the numbers are similar.
If you buy privately and sell privately there are none of those charges except possibly Dave's neglible fee but it requires alot of leg work to find something nice.
A dealer has many for you to look at and provides a good service for selling in that respect but you have to pay for that.

I do all of the above and hope that should I have to liquidate I can break even. If so, my hobby expense is laying out money for toys and spending money shooting which is the expensive part whether clays or hunting. It ain't cheap to fly out to South Dakota.

Glad to see the content of this thread, since it's what I keep telling my wife every time I buy one!

I was thinking buying a new American gun would be good thing. Put a little money back in the American economy and all. The exchange rate is in the dumps, isn't it?

I must be smarter than I look, because I bought a Smith Ideal and a Flues this week. Both appear to be solid shooters, but not benchmark guns. I have found that when I buy really nice guns, I tend not to hunt them very much.

I hunt with my benchmark guns. Otherwise, they would not be be good investments. Not using benchmark guns would seem to me as hoarding and preserving in a vault. What or who would I be saving them for? Only one person in my very extended family has an interest in guns---and he'll get them when I'm done. I bought those guns for my pleasure. Swinging on birds with a near-mint double classic is a pleasure of a lifetime for me. What's a better investment than that? With that off my chest, I defer to the wisdom of the posts above. Thanks.

Maxey:

Thanks for mention the Mossbergs. What Maxey was referring to is the custom ones I am doing. I am having the engraving done by Creative Arts in Italy, Donnie Gheens is doing the stock work and St. Ledger in England is doing the case coloring. They will be fantastic!

Thanks Maxey for the deposit for the first one. Appreciate it!


John

John and Maxey-

My sincere apologies! By Maxey's mention of Mossberg, like a fool I sometimes (and more often than I care to admit) am, I assumed he was speaking of the typical Mossberg slide action shotgun one might buy at a local discount store (with a well deserved reputation for rugged reliability, but equally well deserved reputation for being devoid of glamour).

Thank you for the clarification and I do apologize for making the wrong assumption. No doubt such a custom shotgun as you describe as presently under construction would be a fine and unique item, giving any owner great satisfaction. Best of luck in your venture and I would very much like to see the end product.

Doug

That (and price) is why I tend not to buy a lot of benchmark guns. I think I'd still prefer to have a selection of nice shooters and restored guns to drag through the brush. I still worry about them, but not as much.

As Builder says, 20% off consignment price is a big hit at any pricept. I have bought a number of consignment guns but have never sold one by that method. I broke even on the nine I sold, all American production guns with one exception. Something to be said for a hobby from which you get your money back. I bought a GP100 today internet; not much consolation to John Boyd but I also bought from him once. Must spread the joy around.

jack