Too nice to shoot.

[RMFnLA]

I’m going through the same thing with three 2nd Gen Colts I recently acquired.

They are just so pretty, especially that case coloring!

Fortunately, I have a stainless Uberti 1858 to scratch the shooting itch, but those Colts keep whispering to me…

 

[SOLANCO]

First I shoot all my guns. But I strongly disagree about investing in firearms is foolish. You absolutely have to know which firearms are going to hold value.But more importantly like the stock market. You have to know when an where to sell them. Timing is everything .

Before I retyired, there was an axiom at work which said the profit is made in the purchasing. If you want to invest in guns, I would bear that in mind.

 

[RMFnLA]

First I shoot all my guns. But I strongly disagree about investing in firearms is foolish. You absolutely have to know which firearms are going to hold value.But more importantly like the stock market. You have to know when a where to sell them. Timing is everything .

Agreed.

I have almost always made money on my guns, probably because I started shooting/collecting when I was young (15) and just didn’t have a lot of money.

If I wanted a new gun I usually needed to sell one of mine to finance it, so I learned early on to buy right and not let my emotions get ahead of my brain.

The down side is I let a lot of awesome guns go that I wish I had been able to keep, but we all can say that.

Getting old sux, but being able to afford new guns without having to sell old ones is nice.

 

[mikesto44]

Yep it is RMFnLA

 

[wiscoaster]

First I shoot all my guns. But I strongly disagree about investing in firearms is foolish. You absolutely have to know which firearms are going to hold value.But more importantly like the stock market. You have to know when an where to sell them. Timing is everything .

Kind of like you absolutely have to know which stocks are going to up, eh? (color me sarcastic). That's how analysts and brokers get rich, not investors.

Timing the market is impossible. Anybody who thinks they can time the market will end up buying high and selling low. Then buying back at a higher price. That's three transactions that generated broker fees but in the end resulted in a higher cost basis.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre

 

[RMFnLA]

Kind of like you absolutely have to know which stocks are going to up, eh? (color me sarcastic). That's how analysts and brokers get rich, not investors.

Timing the market is impossible. Anybody who thinks they can time the market will end up buying high and selling low. Then buying back at a higher price. That's three transactions that generated broker fees but in the end resulted in a higher cost basis.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre

Hardly the same.

If a gun usually goes for $1,000 but you find one for $600 for whatever reason, odds are good you will be able to make a profit when you decide to sell it.

If the gun needs repair that you can handle you can do even better.

Stocks don’t work that way.

 

[nhmoose]

No such gun IMHO Your $4000 custom flintlock is cheaper than my Sten, M2 carbine. Cost 50% to 300% more. They got shot!

ML IMHO have always been the cheapest shooters all the time. No offence just the way it is. I am a flintlock shooter in the last 35 plus years all the game I have taken was with a flintlock, Feathered or fur, Big as in Moose to deer and bear have been taken with a flintlock.

But for trigger time to me FA has been a passion. and great pleasure. My son also loved FA but not ML. We each have our own passion.

Mine is the total fascination that a flintlock works! Why it is I hunt with one, it is for the challenge I do not need the meat as I can buy great beef and other goods.

 

[M. De Land]

I just received a T/C Hawken cap lock with a tang peep. Barrel sights too. Listed as "used". When I got it, I am convinced that it was never fired. Brass is bright and shiny. Nipple doesn't show any sign of hammer strike. I think I will go with something in a little ore "hunting condition". I am sure that somewhere in hunting season I will get a scratch on the perfect wood.
I guess there still are a few of these sitting in collections.

I don't think there is a gun in existence that is to nice for me to shoot !

 

[wiscoaster]

Hardly the same.

If a gun usually goes for $1,000 but you find one for $600 for whatever reason, odds are good you will be able to make a profit when you decide to sell it.

....

Stocks don’t work that way.

No, I'm sorry, you're wrong, because stocks work exactly the same way you described for guns. Something most people don't realize, but Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch sure did. Except for the repair part, which is something you can't personally do anything about, but might see being done and so profit that way as well.

If you've got the common sense, discipline, patience and recognition of current market value versus intrinsic value where the supply and demand of an item varies over time as public perceptions change, and their desires to buy, sell or hold change, as you've apparently done making a profit buying and selling guns, you can also make a profit on anything else subject to the same factors - which stocks are.

 

[RMFnLA]

No, I'm sorry, you're wrong, because stocks work exactly the same way you described for guns. Something most people don't realize, but Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch sure did. Except for the repair part, which is something you can't personally do anything about, but might see being done and so profit that way as well.

If you've got the common sense, discipline, patience and recognition of current market value versus intrinsic value where the supply and demand of an item varies over time as public perceptions change, and their desires to buy, sell or hold change, as you've apparently done making a profit buying and selling guns, you can also make a profit on anything else subject to the same factors - which stocks are.

It sounds like you know more about the stock market than I, but I still don’t agree.

To expand my point, if I see a nice Colt SAA that someone is unloading for whatever reason, I can take it to the next gun show or put it online and sell it for a profit, especially if it needs an internal tweak to work properly.

How is that paralleled in the stock market?

Who is selling stock at lower than market prices?

How can I buy it and then re-sell it for market price?

How can I improve it to increase its value?

All serious questions… thanks!

 

[mikesto44]

My statement was for a general comparison an that's all. I bought three guns once at an estate sale. One was a Colt 45 military with holster. The other was a Model 70 Winchester pre 64 , last a Remington shotgun. All for less than a grand. The lady who had them was not interested in hearing about their value.
Just wanted them gone..!
I tripled my money invested because I knew when an where to sell. Quite in my opinion like the stock market. That is why I compared the two...!

 

[wiscoaster]

It sounds like you know more about the stock market than I, but I still don’t agree.

To expand my point, if I see a nice Colt SAA that someone is unloading for whatever reason, I can take it to the next gun show or put it online and sell it for a profit, especially if it needs an internal tweak to work properly.

How is that paralleled in the stock market? (1)

Who is selling stock at lower than market prices? (2)

How can I buy it and then re-sell it for market price? (3)

How can I improve it to increase its value? (4)(5)

All serious questions… thanks!

1. You look for stocks that are selling for less than their Fair Value. Think of Fair Value of representing what the stock should sell for if it was neither overpriced nor underpriced. I capitalized Fair Value because it's an actual number determined by a rather rigourous financial analysis and mathematical process. However, if you can't do it yourself, you can subscribe to a service that calculates it for you. Morningstar is what I subscribe to. But basically it's buying something for less than it's worth, because the general public hasn't yet discovered its worth. eg your Colt SAA.

2. Nobody*. Market price is the price. Though there is a spread between what the buyer pays and what the seller gets, usually fractions of a cent to a couple cents, and the broker gets a slice of that spread, the exchange gets a slice of that spread, and any other intermediary gets a slice. Market price is determined by supply and demand. More buyers than sellers and the price goes up, and visa versa.

3. See #2.

4. You wait until the general public recognizes its Fair Value. Or until the company reports earnings and profits much better than expected, and the general public wants to buy, making it a "hot" stock. But that's trading and not investing. Nothing wrong with trading, but most people lose money doing it, because they're victims of the same psychology that makes the general public chase something that's "hot". eg Gunbroker, hah!

5. Basically you do nothing to "improve" the value of a single stock. If it's a stock of a successful company, it will increase over time as their business grows and along with that your little "piece" of ownership represented by your stock. Increase is not straight-line. There are ups and downs. So you hold a portfolio of the stocks of great companies and their individual variations to some degree balance out. Warren Buffet's holding period is "forever". Never sell. That's investing. The objective is to improve the overall value of what you own: ie your net worth.

* There are exceptions for certain types of financial instruments that enable buying or selling at a pre-determined price, but you pay for the privilege.

... end of off-topic (hopefully) ...

 

[RMFnLA]

1. You look for stocks that are selling for less than their Fair Value. Think of Fair Value of representing what the stock should sell for if it was neither overpriced nor underpriced. I capitalized Fair Value because it's an actual number determined by a rather rigourous financial analysis and mathematical process. However, if you can't do it yourself, you can subscribe to a service that calculates it for you. Morningstar is what I subscribe to. But basically it's buying something for less than it's worth, because the general public hasn't yet discovered its worth. eg your Colt SAA.

2. Nobody*. Market price is the price. Though there is a spread between what the buyer pays and what the seller gets, usually fractions of a cent to a couple cents, and the broker gets a slice of that spread, the exchange gets a slice of that spread, and any other intermediary gets a slice. Market price is determined by supply and demand. More buyers than sellers and the price goes up, and visa versa.

3. See #2.

4. You wait until the general public recognizes its Fair Value. Or until the company reports earnings and profits much better than expected, and the general public wants to buy, making it a "hot" stock. But that's trading and not investing. Nothing wrong with trading, but most people lose money doing it, because they're victims of the same psychology that makes the general public chase something that's "hot". eg Gunbroker, hah!

5. Basically you do nothing to "improve" the value of a single stock. If it's a stock of a successful company, it will increase over time as their business grows and along with that your little "piece" of ownership represented by your stock. Increase is not straight-line. There are ups and downs. So you hold a portfolio of the stocks of great companies and their individual variations to some degree balance out. Warren Buffet's holding period is "forever". Never sell. That's investing. The objective is to improve the overall value of what you own: ie your net worth.

* There are exceptions for certain types of financial instruments that enable buying or selling at a pre-determined price, but you pay for the privilege.

... end of off-topic (hopefully) ...

Sorry to continue this, but you’ve proven my point. Fortunately, my response is a bit shorter than yours.

The SAA already has a value known to the general public, the seller either doesn’t know it’s value or is just dumping it for some reason.

That doesn’t happen with stocks.

 

[wiscoaster]

....

The SAA already has a value known to the general public, ...

....

...., also known as market value, a variable price determined by buying and selling, supply and demand, just like stocks, and you can make a profit when you discover an item selling for less than it should sell for, again, just like stocks, and finally, the sure way to make money on guns is to own a collection of them for a long, long time, yet again, just like stocks.

Sorry the explanation of the discovery process you sincerely (I thought) requested, and put a lot of time and effort into composing to answer your questions, was so over your head. Hopefully, this short comparison is more helpful.

 

[RMFnLA]

...., also known as market value, a variable price determined by buying and selling, supply and demand, just like stocks, and you can make a profit when you discover an item selling for less than it should sell for, again, just like stocks, and finally, the sure way to make money on guns is to own a collection of them for a long, long time, yet again, just like stocks.

Sorry the explanation of the discovery process you sincerely (I thought) requested, and put a lot of time and effort into composing to answer your questions, was so over your head. Hopefully, this short comparison is more helpful.

And yet I somehow manage to always turn a profit with guns, my ignorance and your personal insult notwithstanding.

 

[wiscoaster]

And yet I somehow manage to always turn a profit with guns, my ignorance and your personal insult notwithstanding.

Good for you. Apparently you have some luck or sense of the gun market most gun owners do not. Your ignorance extends only to the stock market, not to guns. It's a maxim of investing that you should only invest in what you understand. So you're on solid ground wrt guns. If you understand the gun market better than most people, you're likely to profit from it, so go with it.

Though I dare say investing just in guns isn't going to provide enough for you to retire on.

 

[Appowner]

Investing in guns like everything else involves risk. If you're OK with the risk then have at it. Whatever trips your trigger. But I fear most people have no idea just how risky guns can be.

I don't invest in guns for investments sake. I buy/build guns I want to shoot and enjoy. The eleven guns currently in my safe would today bring a profit of 10-15k. Some of them I've held for over 40 years. Some of them still new enough to incur a loss if sold. Time is a factor in this as well.

My brother in law is into gold and silver. I suggested he consider societal conditions that would require precious metals for bartering purposes. I then added that my lead and brass would easily free him of his gold and silver.

 

[RMFnLA]

Well, I wouldn’t say I invest in guns since my real interest is the guns themselves, not any profit I might make, but it is nice to do well on a deal.

Plus, I love fixing broken stuff, especially guns.

The real good news is these days I can afford to buy what I want rather than have to give up one to get another.

Cheers all!

 

[morehops52]

What would the $$ difference be between an unfired T/C and one that's used with a scratch on it? It's not like it's going to fund your retirement account. When you have a nice 8 point on the ground and take a pic of the deer with your ML laying across it who's going to say " yeah, but what about that scratch on the stock"?

 

[Beaverman2]

Good for you. Apparently you have some luck or sense of the gun market most gun owners do not. Your ignorance extends only to the stock market, not to guns. It's a maxim of investing that you should only invest in what you understand. So you're on solid ground wrt guns. If you understand the gun market better than most people, you're likely to profit from it, so go with it.

Though I dare say investing just in guns isn't going to provide enough for you to retire on.

Stocks?! legalized gambling and in todays market your better off going to the casino!