Buying guns...for investment.

allenomics · February 12, 2007, 11:33 PM

If you had...

$500
$1000
$1,500

...to buy three collectible pistols/revolvers, what would you buy?

The guidelines are pretty simple; new in box, never fired guns that you would just put in the safe.

Please list your suggestions...

AFshooter · February 12, 2007, 11:40 PM

Not really the right place for this thread but I would say Colt DA revos.
They seem to be commanding quite a bit of dough right now.
The best investments are common shooters bought for a fraction of the going rate.

Heck, ammo may be the best investment right now.

G-Cym · February 13, 2007, 12:23 AM

I'd buy gold.

PinnedAndRecessed · February 13, 2007, 12:41 AM

Guns are not an investment. You'll always get a better rate of return through traditional sources. I'm speaking in terms of entering the market right now.

Besides, the figures you're proposing are ridiculously low. Just go buy yourself a good steak dinner.

TXPROSTAR · February 13, 2007, 12:46 AM

The best investment you could make would be in the hk p7 models..

mdlowry · February 13, 2007, 12:47 AM

I'll agree G-Cym.

Buying a handgun for an investment might not be a good idea if you live in Chicago, California, etc.

rem33 · February 13, 2007, 12:53 AM

Guns are like a lot of collectables your never sure what the market is gonna do.

Crosshair · February 13, 2007, 12:58 AM

I don't know. Gold is kind of at a high right now, you kinda missed the boat if you want gold now. Should have bought it back when it was in the $400's.

G-Cym · February 13, 2007, 01:09 AM

It'll go higher though. In 10 years when it's 1500, people will say "you should have bought back when it was 700"

Playboypenguin · February 13, 2007, 01:18 AM

Quote:

It'll go higher though. In 10 years when it's 1500, people will say "you should have bought back when it was 700"

It may go higher...then again it may go lower. I seem to remember a decade or two when people lost their shirts in the gold market thinking "it'll go higher".

Gold is an up and down investment. and the way it is being pushed on TV and radio is not a good sign right now. it is like they are trying to artificially inflate the price. When something is a sure bet they seldom need to waste money on radio ads.

But, I do not really see guns as an investment. It is nice knowing you could sell them later for most of what you paid for them (sometimes more) if you needed the money but I never buy a gun with the intention of reselling it.

sasquatch · February 13, 2007, 01:35 AM

You really should attend a Colt Collectors Convention.....you would change your mind in a hurry about whether or not guns are a sensible investment.

G-Cym · February 13, 2007, 02:09 AM

With risk of going OT, gold is a long term investment. It's not day trading. 10 years is a short amount of time. Yeah there are going to be fluctuations between a few years, but in the long haul, it will always hold value. It has the longest record of holding value in human history. Gold was valuable before the wheel and will still be valuable after "faster than light" travel. It may take 50 years to really mature, but if a college kid save some money and buys gold now, when he retires, it WILL hold some serious value. Stocks, bonds, 401Ks, pensions; they all fluctuate and can be killed by the market. Companies go out of business and entire economies fail, like the USSR or the Crash of 1929. Paper money and electronic investments can turn in $0 in a split second. But if you have some real Au in hand, it will be worth something to someone. Always. In the year 3000 B.C or 3000 A.D.

As for guns, I would only do it if you already have a comfortable solid investment, and are just looking for something to do with your money. Go out and buy something with proven collector value. But don't buy a regular out of the box gun from from a store and expect it to hold value. Limited editions, like the guns presented to the Presidents would be the thing to buy if you can.

CWL · February 13, 2007, 04:39 AM

With the amounts you are describing, buy a few rolls of Silver Eagle Dollars. You can't buy 'jack' in gold for $1500.

They pretty-much are appreciating ~10-15% per year.

Search the web for prices, then start low-balling on eBay. Make many offers, you will win a few. You will make money.

Guns? Never buy for investment purposes unless you are talking custom guns.

Playboypenguin · February 13, 2007, 04:44 AM

Quote:

You really should attend a Colt Collectors Convention.....you would change your mind in a hurry about whether or not guns are a sensible investment.

I am not saying I do not think they can be a good investment. I am just saying I buy every gun hoping I will never have to part with it.

Hkmp5sd · February 13, 2007, 05:01 AM

Something which may be arbitrarily banned at the whim of politicians isn't a good investment for making money.

zukiphile · February 13, 2007, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Something which may be arbitrarily banned at the whim of politicians isn't a good investment for making money.

I wonder whether gold collectors account for that.

Majic · February 13, 2007, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Something which may be arbitrarily banned at the whim of politicians isn't a good investment for making money.

There are collectors of fine wines with bottles of wine selling in the thousands of dollars and there was also prohibition.

jehu · February 13, 2007, 11:32 AM

+1 on the H&K P7 line! I think that you will always be able to get your money out if they are in good shape & not shot out. Not really an investment but a gun that will hold it's value even if you have some fun and shoot it.

AK103K · February 13, 2007, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Something which may be arbitrarily banned at the whim of politicians isn't a good investment for making money.

Pretty much everything falls under this, including gold.(Remember how great a man FDR was?

)

So much depends on what you buy and how your intuition is.

Looking back, if you had asked me 20 years ago what to do with $800, I'd have said anything full auto or HK. I didnt have much money then, and tried to get my boss to give up my pension money so I could buy a few more, as they were starting to rise quickly, but he wouldnt do it. I was talking to him early last year about it, and told him if he had cut the money loose, I would be retired now.

Yes, they can turn anything into contraband at a whim, but when they do, whats the most precious metal to have, gold, silver, or LEAD?

Mike P. Wagner · February 13, 2007, 02:25 PM

Note how they can "un-contraband" things at a whim as well. I forget what prices on various "pre-ban" high capacity mags got to, and then the ban expired. I wonder how many folks "invested" in those mags?

Read any decent investment book - at least one not written by someone trying to sell you something. Before I started in on my 401(k), I read "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Malkiel, and some Consumer Reports book on investing. Get a clear understanding of risk/reward, etc. After that, you probably won't be "investing" is pistols (or gold for that matter) for anything more than an extraordinarily small part of your investement portfolio.

My guess is that "investing" in pistols is extremely high risk, and better have a corresponding reward. On top of all of the other risks, acts of various legal entites could suddenly and dramatically decrease the value of your investment. In theory, that could happen with most investements. But there isn't a huge political machine in this country trying to eradicate corn flake ownership, so my Kellog's stock is pretty safe. Even grandfathering in existing collections is not guaranteed.

Too risky for my blood. Collect them because you like them, but don't collect them as an investement. I am guessing that investing in pistols is like building wooden sailboats - you can make a small fortune. You start with a large fortune, and after a while you'll have a small fortune.

Mike

markj · February 13, 2007, 02:34 PM

Quote:

new in box, never fired guns that you would just put in the safe

For me, a gun is a tool to be used, not an investment vehicle. I do not own any guns I havent shot, would not buy one just to look at. no I would rather spend money on art work for that

you should see my velvet dog playing poker collection

sasquatch · February 13, 2007, 02:43 PM

Quote:

"I do not own any guns I havent shot, would not buy one just to look at. no I would rather spend money on art work for that"

The 4" NIB Colt Python (nickel) in my safe is just that.........ART.

Mike P. Wagner · February 13, 2007, 02:53 PM

Quote:

gold is a long term investment

If you had bought $1000 worth of gold in 1910, and sold it in 2005, your would have been buying at $20.67/oz, and selling at $513/oz. You'd have about $25,000.

If you had invested $1000 in the S & P 500 in 1910, and sold in 2005, you would have bought at $9.05, and sold at $1248.29. That's a factor of $137. You would have about $140,000.

Worse than that, if you had invested in gold in 1980 and sold in 2005, your would have lost money. The price of gold in 1980 was $641/oz, in 2005, it was $513 an ounce. Your $1000 would have been $800. In the same period, and investment in the S & P 500 would have gone from $1000 to about $9200!

Here's a simple chart (BTW, I read the "neutrality" comments on the page, and no one disputed the chart):

http://www.answers.com/topic/gold-as-an-investment

That's not to say that there are not times when gold out performs the market. Certainly, if you knew in an advance that a market crash was coming and moved from stocks to gold before the crash, and then moved from gold back to stocks at the bottom of the market ...

Quote:

It may take 50 years to really mature

You can play with the chart. It wasn't obvious to me whether you could find a 50 year period when gold out-performed the S & P 500. Is there such a period in there? (I am not being sarcastic - I really can't do math in my head).

Mike

pesta2 · February 13, 2007, 04:41 PM

I don’t buy safe queens. Every firearms I buy, I buy to shot. What is the purpose of a gun setting in that safe not being used. Best part about a firearms is shooting it. I don’t care it is drives the collectable price down it is worth the joy of using it and then some.

JN01 · February 13, 2007, 04:57 PM

The other posters are no doubt correct advising that there are much better investments than firearms.

However, if you HAVE to put your money in guns, I would think that a Colt SAA has a better than average chance of increasing in value.

February 12, 2007, 11:33 PM	#1
allenomics Senior Member Join Date: January 20, 2007 Posts: 1,536	Buying guns...for investment. If you had... $500 $1000 $1,500 ...to buy three collectible pistols/revolvers, what would you buy? The guidelines are pretty simple; new in box, never fired guns that you would just put in the safe. Please list your suggestions... __________________ NRA Benefactor Life Member Knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is power!

February 12, 2007, 11:40 PM	#2
AFshooter Senior Member Join Date: January 17, 2006 Location: Eastern Nebraska Posts: 375	Not really the right place for this thread but I would say Colt DA revos. They seem to be commanding quite a bit of dough right now. The best investments are common shooters bought for a fraction of the going rate. Heck, ammo may be the best investment right now. __________________ 03 FFL, Certified Glock Armorer, Nebraska Concealed Carry

February 13, 2007, 12:46 AM	#5
TXPROSTAR Junior Member Join Date: March 2, 2006 Posts: 2	p7 The best investment you could make would be in the hk p7 models..

February 13, 2007, 12:47 AM	#6
mdlowry Senior Member Join Date: December 15, 2001 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 417	I'll agree G-Cym. Buying a handgun for an investment might not be a good idea if you live in Chicago, California, etc. __________________ My PGP key

February 13, 2007, 12:58 AM	#8
Crosshair Senior Member Join Date: December 16, 2004 Location: Grand Forks, ND Posts: 5,333	I don't know. Gold is kind of at a high right now, you kinda missed the boat if you want gold now. Should have bought it back when it was in the $400's. __________________ I don't carry a gun to go looking for trouble, I carry a gun in case trouble finds me.

February 13, 2007, 12:23 AM	#3
G-Cym Junior member Join Date: September 27, 2006 Posts: 366	I'd buy gold.

February 13, 2007, 12:41 AM	#4
PinnedAndRecessed Junior member Join Date: November 12, 2004 Posts: 449	Guns are not an investment. You'll always get a better rate of return through traditional sources. I'm speaking in terms of entering the market right now. Besides, the figures you're proposing are ridiculously low. Just go buy yourself a good steak dinner.

February 13, 2007, 12:53 AM	#7
rem33 Junior member Join Date: March 31, 2006 Posts: 1,528	Guns are like a lot of collectables your never sure what the market is gonna do.

February 13, 2007, 01:09 AM	#9
G-Cym Junior member Join Date: September 27, 2006 Posts: 366	It'll go higher though. In 10 years when it's 1500, people will say "you should have bought back when it was 700"

February 13, 2007, 01:35 AM	#11
sasquatch Senior Member Join Date: December 14, 2005 Location: Western WA Posts: 1,347	You really should attend a Colt Collectors Convention.....you would change your mind in a hurry about whether or not guns are a sensible investment. __________________ Just my 2¢.

February 13, 2007, 02:09 AM	#12
G-Cym Junior member Join Date: September 27, 2006 Posts: 366	With risk of going OT, gold is a long term investment. It's not day trading. 10 years is a short amount of time. Yeah there are going to be fluctuations between a few years, but in the long haul, it will always hold value. It has the longest record of holding value in human history. Gold was valuable before the wheel and will still be valuable after "faster than light" travel. It may take 50 years to really mature, but if a college kid save some money and buys gold now, when he retires, it WILL hold some serious value. Stocks, bonds, 401Ks, pensions; they all fluctuate and can be killed by the market. Companies go out of business and entire economies fail, like the USSR or the Crash of 1929. Paper money and electronic investments can turn in $0 in a split second. But if you have some real Au in hand, it will be worth something to someone. Always. In the year 3000 B.C or 3000 A.D. As for guns, I would only do it if you already have a comfortable solid investment, and are just looking for something to do with your money. Go out and buy something with proven collector value. But don't buy a regular out of the box gun from from a store and expect it to hold value. Limited editions, like the guns presented to the Presidents would be the thing to buy if you can.

February 13, 2007, 04:39 AM	#13
CWL Senior Member Join Date: May 23, 2001 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 1,576	With the amounts you are describing, buy a few rolls of Silver Eagle Dollars. You can't buy 'jack' in gold for $1500. They pretty-much are appreciating ~10-15% per year. Search the web for prices, then start low-balling on eBay. Make many offers, you will win a few. You will make money. Guns? Never buy for investment purposes unless you are talking custom guns. __________________ Vae Victis

February 13, 2007, 05:01 AM	#15
Hkmp5sd Senior Member Join Date: December 15, 2001 Location: Winter Haven, Florida Posts: 4,303	Something which may be arbitrarily banned at the whim of politicians isn't a good investment for making money.

February 13, 2007, 11:32 AM	#18
jehu Senior Member Join Date: March 21, 2005 Posts: 433	+1 on the H&K P7 line! I think that you will always be able to get your money out if they are in good shape & not shot out. Not really an investment but a gun that will hold it's value even if you have some fun and shoot it.

February 13, 2007, 02:25 PM	#20
Mike P. Wagner Senior Member Join Date: January 25, 2001 Posts: 453	Note how they can "un-contraband" things at a whim as well. I forget what prices on various "pre-ban" high capacity mags got to, and then the ban expired. I wonder how many folks "invested" in those mags? Read any decent investment book - at least one not written by someone trying to sell you something. Before I started in on my 401(k), I read "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Malkiel, and some Consumer Reports book on investing. Get a clear understanding of risk/reward, etc. After that, you probably won't be "investing" is pistols (or gold for that matter) for anything more than an extraordinarily small part of your investement portfolio. My guess is that "investing" in pistols is extremely high risk, and better have a corresponding reward. On top of all of the other risks, acts of various legal entites could suddenly and dramatically decrease the value of your investment. In theory, that could happen with most investements. But there isn't a huge political machine in this country trying to eradicate corn flake ownership, so my Kellog's stock is pretty safe. Even grandfathering in existing collections is not guaranteed. Too risky for my blood. Collect them because you like them, but don't collect them as an investement. I am guessing that investing in pistols is like building wooden sailboats - you can make a small fortune. You start with a large fortune, and after a while you'll have a small fortune. Mike __________________ PCV Yemen 84-86 Past results are no guarantee of future performance.

February 13, 2007, 04:41 PM	#24
pesta2 Senior Member Join Date: June 1, 2006 Location: Fairmont, WV Posts: 1,682	I don’t buy safe queens. Every firearms I buy, I buy to shot. What is the purpose of a gun setting in that safe not being used. Best part about a firearms is shooting it. I don’t care it is drives the collectable price down it is worth the joy of using it and then some. __________________ http://www.stevekonya.com

February 13, 2007, 04:57 PM	#25
JN01 Senior Member Join Date: May 16, 2005 Location: E Tennessee Posts: 828	The other posters are no doubt correct advising that there are much better investments than firearms. However, if you HAVE to put your money in guns, I would think that a Colt SAA has a better than average chance of increasing in value.