Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Bears and Bulls and Bullets...

People are reporting sick things happening on the internet auction sites. I heard rumors of an AR bolt-carrier group selling for $265, a completed Rock River lower bid up over eight bills. Writes one guy at Pistol-Forum.com:
I put a hacked on Glock 19 on there for starting bid of $.01 with no reserve and it was already to $405 before I could edit the description with some HTML to pretty it up, like 90 seconds later.
Back around '04-'06, I made a very conscious decision to change my focus from gun accumulating to gun collecting, and began to divest myself of "flat-black people-poppers".

I kept the customized 1911s, since I carried them, but all the various Glocks and SIGs and HKs and Berettas got turned into more old S&W revolvers. Similarly, I kept a brace or so of AR carbines for practical reasons, but unloaded everything from the old Norinco AK underfolder and the custom .223 FAL to the full-pimp HK-91 and the Beretta AR70 in favor of old Mausers, Springfields, Mannlicher-Schoenauers, and the like.

Now I'm seeing the craziest price bubble I've seen since the Dutch went long on tulip bulbs.

I'm feeling a little sick.

I wonder what that AR70 would fetch on Gunbroker right now?

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I happen to have a full-pimp 91, and have been debating turning it into something else. Like, maybe a new F-250, or if the trend line continues for a couple more weeks, a beach condo in Florida....

Joe said...

I love how, in fear of a ban on standard-capacity magazines and bayonet lugs, people are buying up every flashlight mount they can find.

ZerCool said...

I'm very consciously not buying anything at inflated prices. I've placed a few orders and backorders at pre-panic pricing, and when things get here, they get here. In the meantime, I dropped a complete mixmaster lower on GB the other day. It sold 36 hours later for six bills. Obviously he wants it more than I do. ;-) The money will (of course) be funneled into more-fun-for-me bits and bobs.

Bil said...

Seems like all the "old" stuff that commanded high prices isn't making much change. Galils and AR70s are still running about the same. Newer stuff like SCARs and the like though....almost double the MSRP. And mags are going insane on prices.

Critter said...

Being a fan of interesting old revolvers I'm just waiting for the hooha to die down.

Wilson said...

Bil has is right. ARs and the newer stuff is what is going nuts. I bought a SCAR 17 a month ago and could double my money right now. I could easily triple my money on the mags I bought for it just two weeks ago.

rickn8or said...

Tam, if you'd held onto that stuff, there would be a run on Russian M-44's and Ballerina Molesters.

Me, I've just been accumulating 9x18 dispensers.

Firehand said...

Yeah, last fun show I went to, very nice bolt rifles and revolvers were going unloved, while EBRs were kind of evaporating.

Angus McThag said...

There's some hope.

My buddy has an assembled AR lower listed and no bids for the past four days.

His starting price was merely MSRP.

His PMAG is languishing at the $1.25 that I pity-bid on.

blindshooter said...

Might not be so far in the future that you can trade a pork shoulder for that AR and brace of Pmags if our fearless leaders keep printing fake money. Sooner or later the world will decide to dump our petro dollar that we keep abusing so much for something our fed can't inflate at will. Welcome to 2nd or maybe even 3rd world USA. Thanks DC!

Theredneckengineer said...

These auctions haven't sold.
Yet.

I'm waiting to see what happens after the next time our gunseller-in-chief says anything about gun bans.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=323727432

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=323750436

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=323692795

Top those off with a pair of 500 dollar Pmags, and you've got a winning combination.

wizardpc said...

Speaking of old smiths....

I've got a top-break in .32 short I had bought for my grandfather, but he ended up not wanting it. It's the hammerless in this picture: http://gunscarstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_1509.jpg

I've got no use for it, so if you're interested, let me know. The other revolver in that picture was bought--used--by my great grandfather in 1910ish so it's staying in the safe forever.

Scott J said...

I've not owned an AR since 1994 when I discovered that I could flex my Colt Match HBAR (only thing heavy about that barrel was the part forward of the front sight).

I traded it in to erase a large chunk of my credit account at the gun shop and get a Polytech M1A.

I have since added an SKS and Garand to the collection.

Never really thought any more about mouse guns until Palmetto State Armory put their lowers out at $60 shipped in 2011. I bought a couple and figured I'd build M4geries as I stumbled across good deals on parts (like the complete upper and bcg I snagged at that Spring's Knob Creek shoot for $80).

I now have everything to assemble except a barrel and gas tube. I hope to order those in the next couple of weeks if I can find them.

With the way things are going I can't decide if I want to continue on course or just unload everything for quick cash. It's not like I have a bunch of 5.56 or .223 ammo stashed away.

Tam said...

wizardpc,

"I've got no use for it, so if you're interested, let me know. "

Let's talk! Email me. :)

Bubblehead Les. said...

So yesterday, I'm visiting with my Relatives for Christmas. My Nephew the Navy EOD Tech was able to come home, before he leaves for a year in Afghanistan. His unit was just rotated back to the States from Rota, Spain to their new base in SoCal. Since he has some nice ARs and H+Ks Pistols, I asked him what he plans on using for Home Defense when he and his Wife head back to Kalifornia in a year or so (she staying here until he returns). He broke out a Marlin Lever Gun in 38/357, because he said the Kalifornia Guns Laws are so screwed up he doesn't dare take his Semi-Autos back there. Then he asked me to get him a nice .357 Revolver while he was gone. Since he is an Ohio Citizen, I can purchase one or two w/o having to deal with that Silly "Straw Gun Buyer" nonsense.

So while a lot of the rest of the Gunnie Community is going Bug Nuts, guess who's looking for a nice Smith K or L Frame in a 4 inch Barrel? Old School, of course. And it will be nice to hit the Gun Shows knowing that I don't have to be standing at the Plastic Fantastic Rifle Tables.

Who knows, maybe I'll get a Lever Gun for myself. But I do feel good knowing that I am Shopping, not Freaking Out.

mustanger said...

Have y'all seen the 1000rd cases of .223/5.56mm on gunbroker? I'm hearing of PMC selling just over $900 and Federal marked up to $1100. That's what I hear today.

I wonder how many will wind up wishing they still had ammo. I also wonder, in the event the panic proves to be over nothing, how many will be kicking themselves after paying 10x what it's usually worth.

Anonymous said...

Hell girl, I do believe you could do a hell of a lot more damage with your turnbolts than a squad full of blue helmets with AK's.

global village idiot said...

Here's an outlier...

My first smokeless pistol was a Broomhandle. Still own it. Paid $125 for it in 1992.

Stopped by a gun shop in the town I go to Lodge in, and on the wall are three C96s, none of them shooters, all going for $700.

Since when?

gvi

ASM826 said...

Gunbroker prices for AR70s appear to be running just on the high side of $3000.00, although several of them have 4 or more days left before the auction closes.