ARs as an investment.

[Will_Power]

I posted this in another thread.."
Advice from a firearms manufacturer.
Buy a Colt AR
Buy a BCM AR
Buy a LMT AR

Buy all 3 if you can swing it over time.
Then, make a hobby of collecting lower receivers of every manufacture.
They are $100ea, and most people can handle buying 1 per month. Look at it as a retirement account. They don't take up a lot of room, and you won't lose money on it.
They are fun to collect and trade.

I don't know if you've seen the Exchange recently, but there's tons of folks looking to offload ARs and M1A SOCOMS and other such scary black rifles that were presumably purchased during the scare.... and they ain't moving them.

If it were me, I'd be buying up ammo rather than guns/lowers.

Especially when I hear tales of battlepacks of 7.62 NATO surplus going for twenty bucks.

Ammo is only going to be going upwards.

 

[PDXSparky]

Really, if you are considering firearms for investment purposes, it would be hard to beat the ROI on FA guns.

 

[powermad]

Some still think these are an investment.
A guy at the shop was stoked about an ar he was looking at for $2000
A bushmaster with a dangle down donkey dick on the front and some mags.

I explained that if he'd go look at Wallmart they are selling Colts and Sigs for less than $900 the last time I looked.
I told him nothing is wrong with a Bushmaster, it's just not a $2000 gun. Unless it comes with a pallet of ammo.
After explaining that if you spend around 2K on an AR it had better say Daniels, LMT or one of the other high end rigs.
I pointed him towards NWFA and the classifieds and right up top was a Stag with a dangle down grip and red dot for $800.

Another option I gave him if he had 2K to spend was to look at an FNC. Spend a bit more and get a real rifle, as in not a clone. Now you have a host gun for an Auto sear.
From an investment point, I would go this route over an AR. Unless the AR was an original AR 10.

 

[Truenorth]

Especially when I hear tales of battlepacks of 7.62 NATO surplus going for twenty bucks.

Bought a few of those. The big russian tuna cans, 280 rounds each I think. They were $60 not $20. Still not bad, great ammo.

Back on topic...

Even if a reciever went up a 100% in value over 20 years it's still only $90 profit in 2033 dollars.
If inflation continues at the same rate is has for the past 20 years, that $90 profit is already spent.

Old Colt 1911's or Winchester lever actions seem to gain steady and decent value over time.
I have an unfired 1970 Colt 1911 Model 70 thats gone up in value just since 2007 when I aquired it.

 

[JulianH]

Really, if you are considering firearms for investment purposes, it would be hard to beat the ROI on FA guns.

Unless the post '86 ban is lifted, then watch the value of FA guns plummet. Same with ARs, if there is an AWB instituted that bars the transfer of banned weapons, you're screwed. Both seem unlikely, but far from impossible.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Unless the post '86 ban is lifted, then watch the value of FA guns plummet. Same with ARs, if there is an AWB instituted that bars the transfer of banned weapons, you're screwed. Both seem unlikely, but far from impossible.

The ban will never be lifted, but, banned weapons tend to bring a premium.

If they banned all pistols tomorrow, next week a glock would sell for thousands.



When FDR banned the private ownership of gold, do you think the people who kept theirs were screwed? Hardly.

 

[The B]

I've never bought anything with the INTENT of selling it. I have, however, effectively, done just this for most of my adult life. When times are fat, I tend to buy up stuff... I love to build ARs, have built probably over 75 in the last decade.. and frequently sell/trade them off.. when times get lean, I know I always have a stockpile of ARs and parts that I'll at least get what I paid for out of. I've gone from tens of thousands worth of guns to almost nothing and back up several times over the years. I've survived basically incomeless months by nothing other than selling off ARs and parts...

I wouldn't call it an investment, but it's definitely a viable saving plan, if nothing else.

 

[JulianH]

The ban will never be lifted, but, banned weapons tend to bring a premium.

If they banned all pistols tomorrow, next week a glock would sell for thousands.

When FDR banned the private ownership of gold, do you think the people who kept theirs were screwed? Hardly.

I don't know... I think it actually could happen, although it obviously wouldn't be easy. However, in the case of an AWB that bans transfers (and they were/are talking about this), unless you manage to sell everything "extra" before it takes effect, you're screwed. Unless you want to risk 10 years in a federal "pound me in the ***" prison, then you're just screwed...

Also, FDR didn't ban gold ownership. It was a ban on ownership of more than 5 $20 coins. As long as you didn't have more than 5 in the same place, you had plausible deniability to avoid confiscation. In fact, there was actually very little confiscation of gold.

 

[PDXSparky]

Unless the post '86 ban is lifted, then watch the value of FA guns plummet.

That's a risk I'm willing to take. I'd actually be quite happy to loose money on my 1 FA firearm it if meant that I could buy a new MP5 at retail price.

Same with ARs, if there is an AWB instituted that bars the transfer of banned weapons, you're screwed. Both seem unlikely, but far from impossible.

I disagree. Monkeys will fly out of my butt before the 86 ban is lifted.

 

[rick benjamin]

Here's a link to a sell-off
New AR-15 Rifles (2 available) - $700 each - LA area - Calguns.net

 

[oneharmonic]

If we're speaking about investments, there are much better ones than ARs and parts.

That may be true, but firearms are an intersection between a hobby and an investment for many people on this forum.

I have no idea (nor do I have an interest in learning) how to invest in oil paintings. Regardless of projected returns, if I tried to invest in something I have no interest in learning about, I'll probably lose my shirt.

There is one universal rule when it comes to investing: the greater the reward, the greater the risk. Firearms are relatively low risk/low reward compared to fine art, or individual stocks.

 

[cookie]

Neither are SKS's, but I wish I had bought a truckload when they were $100.

So do I!