10 Guns Everyone Thinks Are Valuable — They Aren't

10 Guns Everyone Thinks Are Valuable — They Aren't video from Ivan's Journal.

Summary:

Go and look in the back of your gun safe. If it is like most, there is an engraved commemorative in a velvet box that nobody has ever fired, a certificate of authenticity tucked in the lid, and a quiet belief that it is the family retirement plan. And leaning right next to it, a scratched-up plain rifle that might be worth more.

I once watched a man set a gold-engraved commemorative on a gun-store counter like a winning lottery ticket, and watched the guy behind the counter offer him less than a beat-up working gun in the rack. That look on his face is why I made this.

So nobody writes in about it, here is where I stand. I am not knocking anybody's guns. I have bought, sold, traded and second-guessed myself for years, and I have made most of these mistakes with my own money. If a gun came from your father, keep it forever. Just do not confuse what it means to you with what it brings at the counter.

Age does not make a gun valuable. Engraving does not. A certificate in a fitted case definitely does not. The market pays for three things, genuine rarity, honest condition and real demand, and almost nothing sold to you as collectible has all three.

There is an old saying among collectors that took me a long time to respect: guns are not scarce, condition is scarce. Thirty-seven million Mosin-Nagants were made. A commemorative Winchester came off the line in runs of around twenty thousand. You cannot hold a rare object that thousands of other people were sold on the same promise. So which one is in your safe?

What we go through:

The Mosin-Nagant M91/30, thirty-seven million made and drifting down in price The Nagant M1895 revolver, the gas-seal cylinder and a twenty pound trigger The new-in-box modern gun bought as an investment, and why mass production depreciates The poorly preserved antique, and why a bad cleaning can wipe out a survivor Franklin Mint and "historical society" display guns, zinc castings and non-firing replicas Small-frame factory commemoratives that stay flat for thirty and forty years The 2020 Colt Python reissue, and why the name transferred but the scarcity did not The sporterized Springfield, K98 Mauser and Lee-Enfield, and the value a drill bit erases NRA banquet guns and "special issue" catalog pieces, and checking who really made yours The commemorative Winchester Model 94, the Buffalo Bill and NRA Centennial editions, and the fifteen percent gap Why firing a commemorative can knock about a third off its value The honest exceptions on every one of these

Said plainly on the exceptions: Mosin sniper variants, Finnish rebuilds and early hex receivers can bring real money. A truly original pre-Soviet Nagant climbs above the pack. A rare antique in honest condition can be very valuable. A genuine limited run that stays scarce can climb. Those are specific, verified guns, not the import-stamped one your buddy swears is worth thousands.

There is no shame in any of this. Plenty of these are wonderful guns that put meat in the freezer or hang on the wall with pride. It is only that nobody makes a living telling you a plain working rifle might beat the gold-accented one in the box. I wrote down the guns I misjudged and the money I left on the counter at ivansjournal.com if you want the long version.

Before you count on any gun as money, find out how many were really made, and find out what a plain one actually sells for. Those two numbers will save you more than any certificate.

Tell me in the comments which one of these is sitting in your safe right now. And be honest: did you think it was worth more than it really is?