Hello,
A recent discussion between a friend and I inspired this question; is their types of firearms (non-NFA) that are new commercial production that would only go up in value over time, rather than decrease or remain the same cost? The first thing that comes to mind is imports, they seem like easy targets for regulation. Other than that, I don’t see any federal level ‘‘gun control’’ measures being passed again, so my guess is the idea of investment firearms is a bit silly.
Quality, well made ones.
Modern, mass produced, commercial stuff is not going up in price unless the dollar’s purchasing power significantly decreases, an anti-gun law comes into to cap supply, or there’s some sort of urgent need that creates scarcity.
Buying / hoarding guns in anticipation of anti-gun laws has its own problems. If you are buying for your own use, then so be it. If you are buying with an eye towards reselling during a time of scarcity, one of the issues is you don’t know what the new law will say. You could be confronted with a CA style law where you can keep what you have but you can’t sell, trade, or transfer it to another resident of your state. And if that type of law was on the federal level, it would be something where your money would be stuck in the firearm.
Not saying you are wrong or anything like that.
But having collected firearms for the last 30 years there is a general consistent trend of “they don’t make them like they used to.” And for that reason, quality well made firearms are usually a safe place to put money into. Now only in certain circumstances will it be like having Apple stock from 1979 and that is why I don’t think they make the best investments as far as “getting rich.” But they are probably safer than most 401ks.
Look at old smiths. They are in no way banned or at risk of being banned (except for a very few short barrel models) and they are hardly a “in demand” modern configuration. But the quality of old smiths keeps prices going north as collectors know that kind of firearm will never exist again.
Junk is basically junk and always will be. The only exception is banned junk where an artificial value is created by limited supply and sufficient demand so that people consider even the junk. Even if we did get a new AW ban, given the existing supply it would be a LONG TIME before those CAI WASR 10 AKs became valuable collectible firearms, but eventually it would happen. But without a ban, they will never become valuable and you would be lucky if values kept up with inflation of the dollar.
But if you buy right and focus on quality your money is safe. I don’t know if it will make your rich, but you aren’t likely to lose your ass.