Gun Valuation Books and Their Veracity???

[RSY]

Every once in awhile I'll pick up a valuation book and see what some of my arms are currently going for.

Yesterday I looked up the 94 Big Bore XTRs in "The Gun Digest Book of Modern Gun Values" while at Academy. It had a caveat that stated 10% should be knocked off the listed values for the .375 Win.

Well, today I picked up a copy of "the Blue Book of Gun Values" and looked up the same rifle. It had a caveat, as well, for the same rifle: Add 25% for .356 Win. or .375 Win.



Oh, well. Won't be wasting my money on either of those titles anytime soon, I think. Appraisals are just opinions, but the adjustments should at least be in directional agreement, in my mind.

Scott

[Hobie]

The appraisals are SWAG and nothing more. You have to apply some real world experience to get on target. Some shops don't and they suffer for it.

[RSY]

Yep, as a real estate appraiser, I always make sure everyone knows to fully read the form and see that the number is an "Opinion of Value" and nothing more. I pride myself on being a cut above a SWAG, though...usually.

On a related note, in yet another shop I went to a couple days ago they had a Colt-Burgess barreled action in the counter case. Supposedly it was found about five years ago leaning against a tree somewhere in Arizona and when it was picked up, the stock basically just fell off it in little pieces. Pretty cool, true or not.

Scott

[Sixgun]

The Blue Book and others are excellent reference material and are fairly straight on with most common guns such as Remington 700's, Browning Auto 5's etc. Even though they do have "premiums" for certain variations, they are not always right, either on the premiums or the value added.

My buddy Tom, who owns Targetmaster and myself use the "GFO" principle. That means "Go Find One". For instance, he recently sold a Model 61 Winchester serial number "16" . He got 28 c-notes for it. A buddy of mine just bought a Ruger Hawkeye, Serial #5 (I think it was 5, I do know it was a single digit#) --cost him 5 g's. First generation Single Action Colts and pre-war Winchesters are changing values almost monthly, especially in the rare calibers with special order options. There's no way a publication can predict thier values in the upcoming year.

Bottom line is that if your guns are "garden variety", the books are pretty much "on". Another way of finding values is to find a gun like yours for sale on the internet. Find several, and average the values out--then deduct about 15-20% for the real value.

But............if you have a GFO gun, you really have to do some serious studying as owners of these guns can name their price.-----------------------Sixgun

[O.S.O.K.]

If I want to know the going rate on a piece, I check the various online auctions for those with bids or sold - that shows what people will actually pay for them.

[Hobie]

I didn't think this was the question so I didn't answer it but if you want to know how to value your guns the answer is pretty much to first properly identify, then properly evaluate condition then compare on-line auction SALES and local store SALES (i.e. guns that leave the racks, not those that sit forever). The problems are that most folks don't know what they have, they think it is in better condition than it is and then they look at what other people are ASKING not what they are GETTING for their items. Applies for every kind of item.

[Andrew]

Yes, all very good advice from these posts.

I don't care for the books. I used to like looking up stuff in Kelly Blue Book but grew into the notion that it was more guessing then marketing. I prefer good ol' fashioned detective work.

[awp101]

Also the books can't predict the next "hot" model the internet forums will create.

I used to see it quite a bit when I haunted the S&W forum. A collector would either post a newly found rarity or maybe just inquire about one, eventually someone would post "there's X number of them on X, Y and Z websites/auction sites/etc". The other collectors would start trying to outbid each other, eventually artificially inflating the price.

[Hagler]

Scott,

I have noticed that the "Blue Book" usually contains some inaccurate and/or incomplete information. I realize that there appears to be an infinite amout of info about an infinite number of guns & variations, but some things are not hard to get right.

I also, recently, got my hands on the local library's copy of "The Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson". That book is quite helpful, but it makes my head spin trying to keep track of all of the various S&W offerings. The authors managed to get some small detail wrong, though: they misspelled Robert "R. W." "Bob" Loveless' last name, when refering to his series of heavily-modified Model 41s. It was spelled Lovelace, and there was no mention of his first name. Instead, "Mr." was substituted for Robert.

Based on these, and other, examples, I strongly believe that a ginormous manuscript is often whittled-down to fit in a given volume, without regard for context of its information. This produces disjointed, incomplete thoughts, with the reader hunting to piece together tidbits of facts. That is very poor publishing.

Shawn

[Ysabel Kid]

Those books are fine starting points/reference, but guns are like anything else - they will fetch the price the market (usually, an individual buyer at that time) will bear!

[Shasta]

I find it difficult to put too much stock in published values. I try to have faith in the judgement of the "experts" who publish their opinions, so I recently bought a copy of the 2008 issue of "Blue Book of Gun Values".

My faith in the author's judgement was somewhat shaken when I looked up one of my favorite rifles, a Taylor's 1876 Winchester in .45-60 made in Italy by Uberti. It lists MSR @ $1,255, used 100% condition @ $1,000, 98% @ $825, 95% @ $700, 90% @ $550.

Turning to the exact same rifle, but listed under "Uberti", it shows a MSR of $1,569, 100% @ $1,325, 98% @ $1,125, 95% @ $900, 90% @ $775. How can that be? They are exactly the same rifle except for the stamping on the barrel! Perhaps too much of the "book" estimated value is based on the manufacturer's suggested retail?

My only conclusion is to decide what owning a specific gun is worth to me and pay accordingly, regardless of what the darn book says!

[meanc]

I've spent a couple of hours in Barnes & Noble while my wife browsed he mall.

I remember looking at the 2008 releases of some of the "blue books"

I think they had a 9410 listed as somewhere between $250-400 / Trappers and 9422s - 9422mags listed about the same / They listed the Marlin 1894M 22mag as being tops $325.

Those are close to what I paid for mine, but do you think I'd let them go for close to that...

Ain't no way.

[Mike D.]

IMO, "gun valuation" books aren't worth ther paper they are printed on.

[Modoc ED]

IMO, "gun valuation" books aren't worth ther paper they are printed on.

That's telling them Mike!!! As for the prices given in them I gotta agree but I do like some of the historical/background info given in them -- especially the Blue Book of Gun Values. For me, the prices given in them are only a point to start from.

Glad to see you posting more Mike. Always like your point of view. Even the "Short and to the Point" ones as this one was.

[Jayhawker]

And don't forget the regional differences either. A Remington pump rifle in any chambering will generally bring a much better price in PA than it will in CA despite their scarcity here on the west coast.