Diversifying your investments is generally a good idea and having physical assets to add to your portfolio can be a way to increase that diversification. Enter guns. Do guns actually appreciate in value, and can they actually be considered assets? Let’s dive into that here.
Now maybe you just really like guns, and you’re looking for an excuse to buy more. Nothing wrong with that. And how great of an investment would that be?
To be able to buy something that you enjoy and want to collect regardless of whether the value of it will go up makes it worth asking the question.
We should always be looking to buy assets that will either gain in value, or that at least don’t quickly depreciate. So what about guns?
Do Guns Appreciate in Value?
The general answer is that it depends on the gun, but they don’t typically appreciate in value at a high rate, however, they do tend to hold their value quite well. There could be exceptions where your gun could massively appreciate in value, but that’s typically the exception, not the rule.
Now of course a gun that may have some historical context or was previously owned by someone famous, or that has some extremely rare features could worth enough to make you rich.
But that’s not really what we’re talking about here.
What we’re really wondering is if you can go buy a gun at a gun store and have it appreciate in value over the coming years.
Now first off, before we even start to look at prices, one thing to understand is that a well-made gun that is well taken care of can last a century.
That alone makes guns good assets to hold.
Many of the things we buy, especially in modern times, depreciate in value at a high rate. In other words, we’re pissing our money away on things that won’t last.
Not with guns, they should last a long time and hold their value regardless of what you go with.
But, let’s give an example here to get some perspective.
There are thousands of guns to choose from, but I’m going to look at a gun I personally like and is something that would be considered a quality gun that would kind of check all of the boxes for something that will last “forever”.
The example we will use is a Smith and Wesson revolver. Smith and Wesson is one of the most trusted gun manufacturers and the revolver is a type of gun that is likely going to last a long time.
So let’s look at the Smith and Wesson 686 plus, specifically the 4.125-inch barrel. It’s a revolver that was introduced in 1981. As I’m currently writing this it’s sold directly on their website for $914. Looking back a year ago it was listed on their website for $874.
That equates to a 4.38% gain in 1-year. Less than inflation, however better than most stocks over this time period. Not too shabby.
And while I couldn’t find this listed much further back on the official Smith and Wesson website, doing some more research on this specific weapon I found this quote from a 4-year-old YouTube video “The MSRP on this particular revolver is $849” and then mentioned you can find them for $50-75 off.
Again, this suggests a small increase in value over the years as the MSRP now is higher.
What about over 40 years ago when this gun came out? Well, I couldn’t find a specific value on this specific gun but it sounds like revolvers were going for just under a hundred bucks in the 1970s.
I mean everything was less at that time, but if you’re wondering if a gun is a good asset, then the fact that they last a very long time gives you the answer that yes, indeed, they are good assets, at least in a general sense.
Guns As an Investment vs Real Estate
Now, let’s blow your mind a bit. Because if we look at the numbers a bit more…
Via wideners.com
Ok, I just mentioned the current price of a Smith and Wesson revolver, and actually, older revolvers that are well kept up tend to sell for even more. They obviously vary a lot in price but it’s pretty likely they go for at least $1,200.
So ball park figure, that’s a 12x on your money from 1970.
The average price of a house is around has gone up recently from the low 200s to about 350k in 2022. That means that after this recent surge in home prices that’s about a 15x from 1970’s 23.4k average price.
This puts guns on par with housing! In addition to that, there is less upkeep.
Keep in mind we’re looking at a type of gun that is likely to last a long time, so you likely won’t see this increase with guns made of different materials.
Either way, they seem to be a solid investment, again, in a general sense.
Summary
We used an example here of a gun that will likely last decades. That was one example out of thousands and of course there are a multitude of factors that will determine whether or not a gun will increase in value.
Remember, just because something may increase in value doesn’t mean it goes up in a straight line. That’s pretty much never the case.
However, buying guns not only for personal protection or sport, etc. could make sense because it’s an asset that at the very least isn’t going to depreciate in value.
Now granted, owning a gun and being able to sell it is relying on gun laws within your country. Where I’m at in the United States I don’t see this as an issue, but clearly in other countries this question may not even be relevant.
What about you? Have you bought guns that appreciated in value? Do you think this is worthy to consider when buying a gun? Or is this just a good excuse to buy more guns and add to your gun collection? 🙂 Let me know in the comments below!