Been looking at milsurps on the major auction/classifieds sites; I'm afraid I still don't get it. Take Gunsinternational.com. I just saw hundreds of hugely overpriced things, like a gazillion/bazillion of various Mausers, many of them neither rare nor interesting, usually priced at $800 and up, Arisakas for $600, etc. Makes me wonder - who buys that stuff? Maybe nobody does, and these are some money laundering operations? And if they do buy it - why? I think the fun thing about collecting is finding the right thing at the right price. Otherwise, if you do not care about prices, you can find almost anything and buy it TODAY. But then what? And what is the fun of that? But, most importantly, beyond things like the recent M39 madness where people actually BUY things, albeit at crazy prices (why - beats me), there seem to be even more listings that nobody even seems to be interested in. Some of them remain unsold for not weeks or months, but YEARS (no kidding - I kept seeing an FN 49 listing on GB that was there at least for three years due to crazy reserve nobody wanted to pay). I just don't get it...
This issue isn't limited to just collectible firearms. Overpriced collectibles is pervasive in a whole host of collectible markets, ranging from coins to muscle cars. Sellers with these ridiculous prices, and large inventories, probably believe they have monopolized a large extent of what is available at the retail level (there are not many retail establishments with a large inventory that have decent prices), and this explains why items quite literally just sit for years. The sellers have no concept that buyers can simply just not buy their products, and wait, as many above have said, for the right deal. There is NO shortage of collectible firearms out there, there just is LESS for sale at any one given moment in time, but if you wait, stuff does come up for sale, and the prices are MUCH MUCH less than retail. This also indicates that demand is far below actual supply, but prices at at retail level are as if that isn't the case. Also, the sellers with large inventories probably have no pressure to sell either, and can get by on high margin, versus high volume. My advice is the same as what others have said, simply wait for the one that you like, in your budget, don't let some dealer dictate what something is worth to you.
Here's one that left me SMH. I've noted more and more low # feedback and "NR" bidders on gunbroker, over the past year or so, driving prices into the bubble zone.
It's amusing how opinions about stuff change over time along with "values" of items. I have a collection of old Mac and Apple computer hardware from the late 80's to the late 90's. Nothing special, some cool stuff, mostly just things that were actually thrown away and that I dug out of the trash or picked up for nothing at school auctions.
That old trash is apparently worth some coin now. I have slowly been selling off the low end hardware and it's amazing how fast it gets snapped up and for absurd amounts of money - I really don't understand why, and ironically, the few higher end items I had took forever to sell and I got low balled a lot. What people are paying for this stuff just totally defies all logic and common sense.
Just one of the idiosyncrasies of collecting stuff, I guess.
I have really slowed down on gun buys during the last couple years. I'm still a sucker for cheap stuff but I need to focus on actually shooting instead of filling the safe with stuff that gets fondled once and put away.
I hear you, I just sold off must of my "collectable" stuff and got good coin for it..
I'm keeping some WWII shooting rifles and bought a new AR platform rifle in 308 along with way too much ammo..
Seems like I am nearing that age where I have to think about what my heirs would think of and/or do with a safe full of matching number whatever's.
My daughter who's in her 40's has no idea of the importance of WWII, America's involvement and captured Nazi rifles. .my wife just yawns when I try to tell her about the historical importance of same..
No such thing, my friend! The question I always ask myself is: "If guns and/or ammo were outlawed or otherwise became unavailable tomorrow, would I have enough ammo to get me through any emergency unrest?" And then I grab another handful of brass, reload it and add it to the hoard.
My daughter who's in her 40's has no idea of the importance of WWII, America's involvement and captured Nazi rifles.
Konstanty is right. WWII is taught in public schools as a prime example of social injustice, given the internment of Japanese-Americans and the exodus of women from factories after the war. That seems to be the most pertinent aspect of the war to many "educators" today.
The only need if I had one...41 -22 S
so I go into a show ....money ..... trading guns in hand .....
I,let the show show me what I want need, or want to experience ...
or can leverage invested profits... Higher......that can be arranged through my mystical powers of accumulated bartering ......that's the joy I now get .....it's not the guns after all these years.....it's bartering!
I put in a few bids at the Rock Island auction. Not only did I not win, I never even came close. the prices were incredible. SKS's that looked to me, and I'm no expert, to be run of the mill, selling for $400-500. That does not include the fees and shipping. I think the auction continues tomorrow, but if you log in I think you can see the selling price. If I could get prices like that, I'd sell out and retire a bit early. May be time to take stock.
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