Buying Used Guns and Bluebooking Prices
When purchasing a gun, there are some things you need to take into consideration. Quality, condition and price. So if you have access to a bluebooks for guns then go check out the gun you are thinking about purchasing. You can also check prices on sites like or FirearmsPriceGuide.com
If you have collectables, these may increase in price and value as much as yearly, every other year, or it could be every five years, you won't know until you do your research. This includes guns such as the Colt Python, which is no longer made (stopped production in 2005).
It also includes guns that are rare or hard to get a hold of. This happens with new guns, when the gun first comes out no one has it, so people will go and pay a premium to obtain it. Which is fine, but if they want to sell the firearm down the road, the gun price will have dropped because there will be more on the market, and you will not make back what you spent on it.
Via BluCore Shooting Center
You also have inflation to think about. As an example, you go to buy a $700 Smith & Wesson revolver. If the inflation goes up then the gun price will go up, it is unlikely that the price for that firearm will ever go down. Most guns do not deteriorate in price, they will either stay at that price or go up. If you have a lot of cosmetic wear on your firearm, you will take a hit on the used price. People are more likely to go for the gun that looks the cleanest, versus the gun that has shot fewer rounds.
Here are some common terms when buying used handguns,
- Used
- New in box (NIB)
- Unfired
- Carried but unfired (weird)
- Fired but not carried
One thing you need to know is that you are never going to know for sure how many rounds were fired from a certain gun. You could tell me that a certain gun has 200 rounds through it, but it could have 8,000 rounds that went through it, you just don't know.
Depending on the person you might like used guns that look immaculate from the outside but some internal wear and that's the perfect gun for you, or you might be the person that likes the gun with some external wear, scratches and scuffs but a perfect interior. It all depends on the person and what matters to them.
Here is a list of a few used guns that were bought and what their positive and negative attributes are.
Glock 17
A police trade in, it had a lot of wear and the exterior was worn out and was shiny from being put in and out of a holster consistently. The black on the slide had faded into silver along the slide. He polished the barrel and had the slide polished into a chrome finish. The slide was then so slippery that he couldn't rack the slide anymore.
Personalized etching will decrease your gun's value
He then cerakoted it, but then he started getting weird patches of discoloration along the slide. He had the gun etched with Humans 4 Targets, and this means that the gun will have very little value. It might be an awesome gun, but the fact that it has a personal etching means its value has deteriorated severely.
Glock 26 (Baby Glock)
He has one of the first baby glocks that came into the US. Since it was one of the first ones, it doesn't have the checkering on the grip where the finger grooves are.
One of the first “Baby Glocks” made in 1995
It also comes with a flat black finish, now the newer glocks come with a shinier finish with a teflon like feel. This is an older gun which came out in 1995 and is a gun that you would not want to sell for the price of a new one even though it is used.
Desert Eagle
It was purchased with 3 magazines and 2 1/2 boxes of Hornady ammo, all for $800. This gun is not in excellent condition, but it is in good condition. It has some marks and scuffing along the slide of the firearm.
The Desert Eagle is hard to get and expensive to shoot
The biggest detractor on the value of this Desert Eagle is the fact that the hammer has a divot from where it hits the firing pin. This shows that the gun was actually fired quite a bit.
H&K USP .45 Auto
This gun was about $425 and has had a lot of carry time. The extractor is discolored and is an overall good gun. This is an older model with the markings etched into the steel versus painted on. For a quick check on the gun, just rack the slide back and look at the rear most portion under the slide.
Good example of a worn gun but still shoots well
By doing this, you can see a bit of what's going on without having to open the gun up. You can also check the barrel when you rack the slide back and if the barrel has the shiny rings around them you will know that the gun has been used a bit.
You can also check out this full video on Buying Used Guns and Bluebooking Prices
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Apr 22, 2015, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
