Is this a good time to sell my firearms? (sale, best, purchase)
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Do you really need the money? Maybe you want to hang on and will start shooting more when you retire?
Owning guns ain't about "need". It's about "want".
Now, if you don't want them anymore, it's pretty much like selling any other personal posession, you can market them yourself, at a gun show, online, want ads, whatever. Or you can consign them to a dealer. If you sell them through a dealer, there will be a paper trail generated that shows the guns found a new owner, if you care about that.
But, again, if you own quality guns, they will last a lifetime, they don't cost anything to keep, it's not like a car you don't drive anymore that will develop problems from dis-use.
Like anything else of value - when times are tough people start selling. There are a lot of guns on the market- I would wait a while until the economy picks up.
Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Felix C
Have been away from the hobby for some time.
I no longer go shooting and really have no need for the many I own except for one as a home defense weapon.
Is the market hot now? I recall it was in late 2008 but do not know how things are now.
Is a gun show the best venue or the online sales?
........I certainly can't speak for the Miami area,...however in Montana and I would guess, in many other areas of the U.S., the amount of discretionary spending is directly related to the economic situation, the "wages vs cost-of-living", and the unemployment rate in a given area. Since I would consider the purchase of "guns" might fall into the catagory of "discretionary spending"..........I would (IMO) say that this is not a good time to sell your guns. Prices are off as much as 20 to 30% and sales in general are off by as much as 25% vs 4 years ago.........at least this is the case in Montana.
There is one exception to the above general summary of the used (and new) gun market............and that is: The AR 15 type rifle!!!!
Speaking as a rather selective collector, I tend to keep a weather eye on gun sales in general. IMO, the market has definitely cooled off - both for buyers and sellers, at least in my area of interest. Fewer guns are showing up, and they're at higher prices. Now, both those are subjective I know - my primary interest is .45's, and I usually look for Randall's, Colt Series 70's, Wilson, Baer, Ed Brown - and more recently STI. I don't consider a used gun @ 90% of MSRP to be a "buy" - others do. But frankly, I'm seeing less and less of the above on the market period. That indicates to me that those caught in the budget squeeze have either sold off everything, or have gotten back on their feet. Based on the vastly fewer "fire sale" type of ads I've seen over the past 6 months or so, I'm really thinking it's the latter - that folks are gradually getting their financial houses back in order. As they do, they no longer need to sell - and are, in fact, going out and looking again, translating to higher market prices.
Thing is, the overall economy is still rather weak, so I'm not seeing a lot of higher-end guns move very quickly - but since the sellers are now selling simply to "thin" and not to eat, they can wait it out.
That's just my ol' redneck-based thoughts/ideas.......
Thanks. Thought to ask. I guess I will wait a bit.
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