Fired or un fired??

[rickpa]

If it's a gun made in the 1770's and unfired, to me it would be worth more unfired......... If it's a gun made in the 2020's , the value is the same to me, fired or unfired......... It's not an antique so the value is not determined by use as long as it's made with good parts and assembled in a workmanlike manner.......and my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

[Whughett]

No guns have ever passed through my hands without getting fired, usually a LOT. I can't imagine owning a gun and never firing it.

There's an old allegory about a violin for auction. As the auctioneer went through the items for sale he finally came to the violin and called for bids. Two or three in the audience did bid on it but only a very small amount. Over several long moments of waiting no other bids were made. Then before the auctioneer could call SOLD an elderly gentleman raised his hand and walked to the front. He picked up the dusty violin and began to play. For several minutes the audience was entranced by the beautiful and exquisite music coming from the man's rosined bow. Then abruptly, he put the instrument back down and went back to his seat. Silence still filled the room when a hand went up and shouted a high starting bid. It cascaded from there to very large bids.

The violin was still the same dusty relic from someone's attic, so what had changed? The only difference was the touch of that gifted master's hand.
A fine rifle built by a master builder isn't a relic, it's a treasure to be used.

Non shooting Collectors are the bane of the shooting world. They can drive prices of otherwise ordinary guns to insane levels.
Witness the “Snake” guns or the “2nd 3rd gen Colts.

 

[Penske]

I guess my question to you would be why ask this question in the first place? It is your Fowler and only you can make that decision. Why build it and not shoot it? As stated in above replies why collect firearms to not shoot.? Personally I would be more interested in a firearm that had some history in taking some game or being in some historical battle rather than being unissued or unfired. My two cents.

 

[Ed Pilkington]

Used guns for sale always have a questionable shadow over them for me. Why is it being sold? WHATS WRONG WITH IT? To my mind, “new” means a virgin gun that i can put my MARK on, adjust, carve on, knowing the springs, barrel, stock are virgin new and will hopefully soon become a part of me. 3n1

 

[Eric Krewson]

If I was buying a gun sight unseen, it was listed as unfired and had bore pictures to prove it I would be much more interested in this gun than one that had been fired. I don't hang guns on the wall. If I don't shoot them I don't keep it, I even sold my Kibler SMR the other day because the rear sight was too far back for my 74 year old eyes to see. I couldn't shoot it accurately for this reason so off it went.

I have seen way too many guns with questionable bores listed as having a "shiny" bore, I wouldn't trust anyone's bore assessment until after I looked down the bore with my Tesla bore scope.

 

[Coot]

IF the builder test fired/sighted in the gun, I consider it still to be new. With factory guns, it is only new in the box until the owner fires it. One problem is the old saying about condition descriptions - "one man's "good" is another man's "poor". "Shoots good" can also mean only cracked at the wrist, honest dings & gouges, not too much rust & only sometimes misfires.