New Shooters Like OLD Military Guns.

[Buckshot]

Looks like you've got a pretty good start on your collection so far.

.............Buckshot

[ulav8r]

$100 invested in the S&P 500 in 1965 would be worth $27,000 today.

In 1965, $100 would buy 3 M-1 carbines worth $5000 today
Or 6 SMLE’s worth $2500 today
Or 2 M98’s worth $1000 today.

Guns are rarely a wise investment.

Maybe not, but they are a very enjoyable investment.

[Adam Helmer]

dverna,

I think guns are a wise investment, especially when cops are defunded and they are only minutes/hours away when seconds count. An S&P 500 stock account is less useful than my M1911 when a home invasion is under way in the middle of the night. LOL.

Adam

[john.k]

Well.if I could go back to 65,I know what I would buy......crates full of army surplus WLA and Indian parts..... new headlights that were worthless in 65,now sell for $1000 each ,new speedos sold for $1.each,now $1200+.............and what did I buy ? .

[Larry Gibson]

My Grandson a few years back shooting my (he now thinks it's his....probably will be) Argentine M1909 at 600 yards. He's a Sgt in the Army over in Germany right now.

[dverna]

dverna,

I think guns are a wise investment, especially when cops are defunded and they are only minutes/hours away when seconds count. An S&P 500 stock account is less useful than my M1911 when a home invasion is under way in the middle of the night. LOL.

Adam

You missed the point.

Only a fool would not have a decent armory of guns for self defense. IMO that is a necessity. But how many guns is that, and what types? Lots of opinions on that, but I will share mine if you will indulge me.

Necessary guns:
Two pump action 20 or 12 ga. shotguns
2 Glocks in a caliber of 9mm or larger
2 AR15's in 5.56

These are, IMO the best fighting guns for most people. Plenty of firepower, easy to maintain and easy to get ammunition for. We can get into a pissing match over details (like 1911's being better than Glocks) but the premise remains the same...a couple of good shotguns, a couple of good pistols and a couple of battle rifles.

The rest of our guns are either hunting guns, collector guns, competition guns, or toys. My point was that none of the guns used for hunting, collecting, competition or (as most of them are) toys are good investments. I have a lot more guns than the basic armory outlined above but shooting is my hobby and I can afford to piss away some money for fun activities. I make my money on other investments that offer a far better return than 20 or 30 Mosin's, M98's, pre 64 M70's, K38's, SMLE's, Kimbers, Marlin lever actions, etc etc. I can think of only one exception and this is full auto Class III guns as they have gone crazy over the last 15 years.

I have very rarely lost money on a gun but I have never done better than the stock market. About the best money to be made is buying components and .22LR and selling the stuff during the panics that happen. Easy to double and triple your money every 4-8 years.

If someone is making more money on guns than the stock market over the long haul (10 years or more), they have a poor financial advisor. Just my experience.

Now, things change if/when the SHTF. That $100 Mosin someone bought 20 years ago might be worth 2 oz of gold to the guy who does not have a gun to defend his family.

[todd9.3x57]

Steel, be it blued or Parkerized, and wood, be it walnut, birch, beech, etc., possess a charisma lacking in aluminum and plastic. The latter has so become the norm that the old stuff seems unique to the synthetic generation despite millions upon millions having been made.

DG

can i +1 too?

[georgerkahn]

Last week it was 70 degrees and sunny at my nearby gun club. We have six benches under roof. I am usually alone mid-week. Last week four young new club members showed up and wanted to know about my Garand, M1903, M1917 and Swiss M1911 Carbine.

I gave a tutorial on each and then let them fire cast boolits out of all arms. It was uplifting to see young shooters interested in old arms.

Adam

You are indeed lucky to have had this audience, and kudos to you for taking the time to teach them a bit about each! Four of five years back (? time flies?) I acquired my dream of a genuine M1 Carbine, and took that -- along with my pride and joy Garand -- to the range. I actually had thought of wearing my WWI Campaign Hat, too, but deciding not at the last minute as it might have been a bit too much .
Anyhoos, I had a few ftf's with the carbine, and a sage advised "all it needs is some oil in the right places" which I applied, and it began shooting 100%. I was thrilled as I had just given "too-much" money for it, to not have it function 100%? Whew! I then took the Garand out of my truck, and a group of four kids -- I'd guess they were all in the 18-21 year age group -- came over, and albeit they were polite, they began a diatribe of dissing both of my prized firearms.
One kid -- the oldest (?) had an AK variant; another had a bolt-.22, and the other two each had a Ruger 10/22. BUT, these young pivots of wisdom went into great detail as to how the carbine was pure junk and could not even penetrate a winter jacket unless it was less than five or six feet away! And all the poor soldiers who got shot when their enBloc hit the ground and the enemy -- hundreds of yards away heard it.
This encounter-- albeit, again, they were "good" kids -- made an indelible impression upon me! I thought, but did not bring to any of their attentions, the countless graves throughout the world whose residents are there thanks to the Garand or M1 Carbine...
I am, again, ever so happy to hear of YOUR experience with the youngsters. Thanks for sharing! I pray there are more youngsters out there like these!
geo

[GregLaROCHE]

Young beginners are always fascinated more with mil surplus and often asked if the gun has killed anyone in a war. I tell I don’t know for sure, there was a good chance of it!

[Giggles]

I have two acquaintances that are ~25-30 yrs of age and FFLs. They both tell me that their contemporaries, well, most customers under 35-40 years of age who purchase military surplus firearms do so because they have selected those specific weapons when setting up to play shoot-'em-up video games in their childhood, youth, or even present day pastimes.

There are no scoped pre-64 Winchester Model 70s, or Remington ADL/BDLs as selection options in these video games, and given the decline in the number of younger hunters (presumably because there's no smart phone app for deer hunting), my two young FFL acquaintances tell me that their contemporaries almost never buy scoped wood and metal sporting arms.

Noah

sure the video games are all m16 and ak.. but the mainline thing is political in nature.

[todd9.3x57]

i gave my both of my sons sporterizeds 91 Mauser in 7.65x53. the oldest one is a carbine(1892) and the other is a rifle(1893). both are Lowes. while mine is a 1900 rifle version, DWM. i loaded up 50 cartridges each of the 185gr Lee rn gc and rel 7 and gave them to my boys. now i have reload them........AGAIN. my youngest son is about 1 hour away, while the other is 10-11 hours away.

they really like the guns, my oldest said that he will use bolt action over semi every day day, but sunday. he will use the bolt twice.

[Adam Helmer]

georgerkahn,

Thanks for your interesting post. The Battlefield is a noisy place and the "ping" of an empty Garand clip being ejected would be hard to hear. My several uncles were army and marine WWII veterans and all laughed at the "ping" story. Not all guys in a platoon ejected a clip at the same time, so any clip ping meant nothing.

There are 67 counties in PA and mine is the most rural; it is said we have more cows than people here and that suits me just fine. Our young folks are sensible and appreciate history. For 10 years I substituted as a high school teacher in local high schools about 30 days a year and I know most young folks, or they know me. All are farm kids. Most hunt and are good young citizens far from urban pollution.

Be well.

Adam