Is it just me or are gun prices going higher

Maybe I'm just being just being silly but has anyone else noticed how it seems that guns are getting more expensive, like in the past three months they've jumped at least 20%. I'm looking at it from a local scene and looking at gunbroker, budsgunshop, gunsamerica, auctionarms, (I'm a deal hunter). I'm really regretting not getting that used Glock 29 when I could have got it for 385:confused:.

I realize the Heller decision might be helping the prices rise, not to forget the price of gas but I'm getting the feeling there is a baseless rise in gun prices.

A buddy of mine works at a gun shop that I favroably call the "Overpriced But Convenient Gun Range", ammo prices are high and luckily they don't charge for the bullets you bring in if you buy a box of theirs (14.99 for a box of 9mm 50rds), and he let me in on the skinny. Basically the shop is doing almost nothing in gun sales except for the occassional used gun that happens to be high end. He's had his hours cut to twenty-five from thirty-five (even though he's one of the top sellers, second in line to the best, and there are ten sellesr), everyone else has also had there hours cut too. He's has had more than a few days where he doesn't sell a single gun when he used to sell four or five a day everyday he went to work even on Sundays. He told me the shop is raising its prices hoping to cover its loses, of course I only laughed at that logic and we talked at length about supply and demand.

The shop doesn't have the 'specials' it used to, the S&W 642 at 389.99 and Taurus Ultra-Lite at 289.99, and Kel-Tec 259.99, even though they are still heavily stocked in the guns and they aren't moving. Oh and the ammo sales he told me has dropped by nearly half and the gun sales have dropped by more than two thirds (the managements numbers) in the last two months.

Maybe I'm being ridiculous but wouldn't a slowdown in the economy and the frightenning rise in ammo prices mean "hey if we want to sell guns, even at a reduced profit, we better lower our prices some" rather than "hey we are not selling as many guns as we were, we are nearing towards the red, lets hock those prices up even though we aren't the only game in town". Mind you other stores have raised their prices but nowhere nearly as harshly.

It's like the houseing bubble. When people run out of money they will quit buying guns.

jj

I would expect some price increases in foreign-made guns in the near future - if not already - due to the recent drop in the value of the U.S. Buck.

EVERYTHING is getting bad, I bought a 686-6 New in December for $689, but it went on sale for Christmas for $639, in February that gun went up $50 and is now $739. The 629s went over $900. And these were the low prices in town, they were higher at the smaller stores. Normally I support the Mom and Pop, but it was like $100 more for a 686.

Also not to sound like a vulture, but around Christmas my local chain store (Turners) had MANY used guns for sale cheap from people selling them before the holidays, I was un-prepared for it last year but I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for a deal this year.

The shop doesn't have the 'specials' it used to, the S&W 642 at 389.99...
Bud's has the 642 for $397 including shipping. One FFL here charges $15. That's about as good as it gets, presently.
Locally, the 642 runs closer to $450 out the door. The gun shop says they did have a price hike.

Still kicking myself for passing on the $199 870's at Academy last Christmas. Doubt I'll ever see that again and now they're $300.

No lie. I bought a Smith M&P 45 from Bud's for $480. Within a half an hour afterwards, they had raised the price to $530! Now that's what you call inflation in action!

S&W model 642's sell for $399.88 + 9% sales tax (Alabama residents only) here:

Simmons Sporting Goods
2001 2nd Ave North
Bessemer, AL 35020
PX: (205) 425-4720 or (205) 426-0490

I think inflation is driving up prices. All imported stuff like milsurp is getting a double whammy- inflation and a weakening dollar.

Agreed. The US Dollar is rapidly loosing its value and is no longer the "standard" the world looks to for currency. EVERYTHING is going up not just guns. Been to the grocery with the wife recently? Filled up the family car lately? Took a trip anywhere? Everything is going up except for salaries and jobs. We can't seem to ship jobs overseas fast enough. What jobs remain, we can't seem to find enough cheap foreign workers (legal and illegal) to fill them... Its not a good recipe, and the outlook for the country is even worse IMHO. :banghead:

The dollar going down the toilet is the main probem for all imported goods. Then you have shipping coast with diesel at +$4/gallon adding to the missery. But even so, if you are a store and are not moving product you are charging too much. It does not take an MBA to understand this. Better to make many sales with a 5-10% profit that none at a 50% profit.

Same old story. Supply & demand

EVERYTHING is going up not just guns. Been to the grocery with the wife recently? Filled up the family car lately? Took a trip anywhere? Everything is going up except for salaries and jobs. We can't seem to ship jobs overseas fast enough. What jobs remain, we can't seem to find enough cheap foreign workers (legal and illegal) to fill them... Its not a good recipe, and the outlook for the country is even worse IMHO.

Looks like the demise of the middle class.

Basically the shop is doing almost nothing in gun sales except for the occassional used gun that happens to be high end. He's had his hours cut to twenty-five from thirty-five (even though he's one of the top sellers, second in line to the best, and there are ten sellesr), everyone else has also had there hours cut too. He's has had more than a few days where he doesn't sell a single gun when he used to sell four or five a day everyday he went to work even on Sundays. He told me the shop is raising its prices hoping to cover its loses, of course I only laughed at that logic and we talked at length about supply and demand.


Quite the opposite in my area. The local shops are selling guns at an astonishing rate.

It is rediculous how prices keep increasing & the value of the dollar keeps dropping. But is all a gov't skeem to do away with the american dollar & standardize north american currence with the amero. The money is already printed & ready to go. Only thing that they're waiting for is the american dollar to drop so far in value that it will be easier to convert over to the amero. By that time they will have convinced the mass public that the amero is the best thing since sliced bread. ok I'm going to stop now before I go into a political rant :)

Hope foil hats stay cheap.

we are entering a period of "stagflation". Poor job market, no salary growth, a shrinking dollar and prices going up on all products. Happens now and then.

Metal prices are going up still along with fuel prices. That drives everything metal out the roof.

Prices increase every year. Ammo is what has me scared.Guns are like gas prices will change when our suppliers go up.

"It is rediculous how prices keep increasing & the value of the dollar keeps dropping. But is all a gov't skeem to do away with the american dollar & standardize north american currence with the amero. The money is already printed & ready to go. Only thing that they're waiting for is the american dollar to drop so far in value that it will be easier to convert over to the amero. By that time they will have convinced the mass public that the amero is the best thing since sliced bread. ok I'm going to stop now before I go into a political rant"


Not a foil hat rant, by any means. The Amero is the currency to be used by the North American Union (Canada, America, Mexico). The N.A. Union is not a joke. Look up the Trans Texas Corridor (the first NAFTA Superhighway going from Mexico through America and up into Canada). Don't take my word for it, look it up. The European Union was first, we're next. First NAFTA, Then the Superhighway. Our economy is suffering because of it (and other reasons). Guns are a high ticket item already, they will get higher as the dollar falls and supplies dwindle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Union
http://www.spp.gov/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Texas_Corridor

Unfortunately supplies are dwindling partially because some expect there to be a new AWB when the Dems take over and are trying to profit from it by stocking up now and selling later. Its like speculating on oil, which is also driving prices up. Fear is great motivator in buying weapons. Luckily, if the Dems get in, they'll pull the troops out of Iraq and then ammo prices will plummet as all the surplus comes back into the country.

and Gas used to be $.25 per gallon,and you could get a Burger for $.10! :rolleyes:

and Gas used to be $.25 per gallon,and you could get a Burger for $.10!

And if you ate at the right place you could get gas from the burger at the same time and for the same price.

We're recesssion proof. A few years ago we mortgaged our house and invested in Beanie Babies.

Local shop, Beretta 92FS $469+tx. SIG P220/226 $849+tx. Glock 17/19/22/23 $499+tx. Down the road a Glock 19 is $609+tx. Makes no sense. The only stable price around here anymore is on Sigma and XD's.

Everything is going up as commodity prices increase, the dollar devalues and petroleum goes through the roof. Petroleum price increase effect everything due to both transportation and manufacturing cost increases. Its not just energy prices, petroleum is an indgredient in all plastics, polymers, etc. At $113 a barrel oil prices are just nuts.

I pay a little attention to the pre lock S&W revolvers at the gun shows. What you could buy for $300 last year is $400+ this year.

I paid $700+ for my FN 5.7 pistol a couple years ago and the only one I saw at the show last week was $999.:eek:

Is it just me or are gun prices going higher
No, the value of your dollar is going down, since it's no longer commodity-backed. Abolish the Fed! And the ATF...and the IRS... :)

i dont know how many of you do the food shopping, but guns and ammo arnt the only things going through the roof. good thing i have some ammo. I've been losing weight from cutting the food budget.

What have you noticed that is dropping in price?

Realestate (your biggest investment, so they say)

my LGS wanted $650 for a Glock 21SF and $599 for a Glock 23...

Guys a total RIP OFF

The dollar has lost 19% against the Euro in recent weeks, which is going to affect the price of any gun manufactured across the pond: Glocks, HKs, Sigs, Walthers, you name it. Dealers who were quoting prices of $560 for the new Walther PPS short weeks ago, for example, are now quoting $635. In case you haven't noticed, our economy is in free-fall; and with fuel prices approaching $4 a gallon (and already well over it for diesel fuel), everything -- the price of guns included -- is starting to climb simply because of transportation costs.

Hmm...

I'm reading the same themes here that I've heard every other place lately. We are headed for (or arriving at) some problems! To recap:

1) Dollar is losing value. And we import a LOT of our stuff.

2) Fuel is through the roof... which drives everything else up along with it.

3) Metal prices are way up, which certainly doesn't help shooting sports, but has an impact even in everyday life

4) The job market is in the toilet, and many folks are having trouble finding/keeping a job right now

5) The housing market is in the toilet, which is eating away at the equity that a lot of folks have built in their homes

6) The average American (even while not including their home) has turned towards deficit spending... We are typically more in the red than we are in the black these days, with credit card debt and the like. Instead of measuring Americans by their net worth, we are often measuring ourselves by our net debt!

7) We are exporting a lot of our jobs, and importing a lot of our products and services (heck, if I even try to call about my mortgage I talk to a call center overseas). In short, we are losing our ability to self-sustain.

Why don't we just bring the jobs back to America since the dollar isn't worth as much now? Give people more jobs and circulate that money back into our economy. Makes sense to me.

Nope -- the prices are higher for me too! :neener:
I noticed wholesale prices going up last year but the advertised MSRP not changing....thus cutting margins. I think this price increase is a result of dealers not being able to survive otherwise

we are entering a period of "stagflation". Poor job market, no salary growth, a shrinking dollar and prices going up on all products. Happens now and then.

Yep. Happens when you have a Federal Reserve Bank that needs to pump massive amounts of liquidity (i.e. massively inflate the money supply, thus destroying the value of the dollar) to bail out corrupt insider banks and Wall Street firms. Tends to kill the economy and destroy the middle class as it shifts bank losses to the taxpayers, but it sure saves the wealthy well-connected folks who really matter!

Why don't we just bring the jobs back to America since the dollar isn't worth as much now? Give people more jobs and circulate that money back into our economy. Makes sense to me.
Think again...

My previous employer was able to hire 6 workers in Mexico or 21 workers in China for what he had to pay 1 worker in the USA. What wage are you willing to work for (without benefits)?

My daughter traveled to China last summer and always ate out -- $5 covered 3 meals daily.

My son may spend the next year or two there. $500/mo will more than cover all expenses while in-country.

The real price of things never goes up. It's the price of the US dollar that fluctuates. And if you think it's bad now, wait until the summer when the government will dump $150 billion in rebate checks. Then you'll see inflation really hit the fan. Don't be stupid and think the money is free and spend it on a 52" plasma. If you spend it foolishly, at the end of the year you'll be short just that amount because the cost of all goods will have adjusted upward to reflect the new diminished value of the Dollar. It's called inflation.

And with this last rant, I made Senior member. Yeah!

Congrats from us rookies Gallo! :)

the thing I am noticing is how fast a used gun is in and out of the local shop - if I go in and see something used that is marked LN I know I might have a day to make a decision - after that it is gone. Lots of people are looking for the used ones - and lots of people are selling - I was in for an hour last week and five people walked in to sell. Yikes.

I am not sure how things will go but I am not upset by it.my house in Mass that I paid $6300 for in 1955 gave me back $400.000.was that right??I took it and ran.you must be my age if you remember 25 cent gas.and colt 1911s at $35.
if we stopped giving billions of dollars away to "save the children" we might be better off.their sending food to africa worth billions.why not teach them to grow their own.stop welfare and illegals.straighten out the schools.and teach trades.:uhoh::rolleyes::fire:
how much markup is on a gun.hipoint$89 msr139 selling price$189

If we stopped throwing away billions into that bottomless pit called Iraq, we'd be the richest country in the world.

I had noticed increases at area gun shows. Prices were up since last December. A S&W model 642 was around $25 more at a variety of tables.

"If we stopped throwing away billions into that bottomless pit called Iraq, we'd be the richest country in the world."

I still wonder why we don't get to keep some of the oil from a country that we freed. That would help out quite a bit

Gun prices are going up? Yes, for new guns. Due to the fall of the dollar and increase in production costs.

Gun prices are going up? Not for used guns (90% of them). While perhaps steady in some locales, lots of guns come on the market during times of recession. Prices fall due to supply and demand. Quick cash makes for fast sales.

A couple of years ago, you could hold out for the price you wanted. Today, the firearm had best be priced conservatively to sell. Granted they'll always be the occasional nut job that has more money than sense and buys accordingly, but the average Joe has overspent and under saved.

Firearms are seen as an extravagance and often have to be sold so lights go on, water can flow and food can appear on the table.

Basic guns will always have value, that's not the issue. But the apparent dichotomy between rising new gun prices and falling used gun prices are part of the present economy.

Just be glad you bought guns. Those $2000-5000 home theater systems you bought five years ago are probably worth 15-20% what you paid (if you could even sell them).

Your firearms, however, have probably held their value and even made you a little return-on-investment (less than a savings account mind you) but you've got to own them, use them, dream with them, and experience the pleasure that firearms offer.

That's not a bad investment in your mental health and physical well-being.

Steve

Guns are basically toys for grown ups, that's not to suggest they don't have a practical purpose, but when the money starts to dry up, people will stop buying them and prices will fall.

Face it, the cost of living is going up (for a number of reasons already listed), and the cost of living it up is also rising. The only thing that one can dois to purchase quality in durable goods (I think firearms fall into that category, haven't seen one dissolve in the rain lately).

Maybe I should take retirement from where I've been for 20+ years, and apply for the job in a local gun shop.

inflation is driving up prices

Indeed. And it would be a good thing for folk to know what factors drive inflation. One of which is the money supply. Like the value of many commodities, the greater the available supply, the less value it has. One of the reasons why diamond suppliers restrict availability though inventory is high.

It is a product of the explosion in commodities on a Global basis. By the way, the dollar had it's best up day reversal in 5 years last week. So we are either at or near a top, We should pull back here, so keep an eye on comodities and the dollar for the next few weeks. Although it may be temporary, when they start holding up bags of rice on the goodmorning america show, we hit a top. We should see metals and the like come down soon, so don't run out like the sky is falling, although it may be.

Yes prices are up a lot. Went to a Gun Show in Fayetteville, couple weeks ago and the prices were through the ceiling, needless to say I came home with nothing.

I still wonder why we don't get to keep some of the oil from a country that we freed. That would help out quite a bit

I'm sure a lot of the big American oil companies are keeping most of the oil via contracts handed out to them by the Bush administration and its cronies. That, of course, does not mean the average Joe will benefit.

I've come to the point where if I can't get used for 60% of the brand new price, I won't bother. I've decided not to buy any ammo I don't get in bulk 500-1000 rounds that doesn't come in three or four bucks under retail after shipping, all the ammo will be reloadable, even though I already have a ton of brass and plan on collecting more everytime I go. I will start reloading in the next month or so and work to make my casings worthy of shooting two or three times before retirement.

I'm sitting on a little over eight hundred bucks from my last trip to the casino and was thinking of buying a gun or two....now unless I go to the local pawn shop and get a great deal or find a used at the gun show in a private sale, I'm done till fortunes reverse with the cost of everything.

<Climbs on the soap box> A professor of mine always talks about the capitalist system and I applaud him for it generally but the one time I spoke to him over lunch about the capitalist system and how we the American people (excepting big business, politicians, and oil companies, because they don't really fit the mold of Americans as I see it) need to organize and start working to maximise our purchasing power while working to avoid paying prices we don't have to pay. He basically said to me that the system would fall apart "people still need to by cars," and I replied to him "sure they do and there are plenty of cars that people who are not skilled laborers or those types of employees who work less then 40 hours a week can maintain the vehicles well past their market assigned lifespans (I have 99' Durango that still runs great and will likely continue to do so for at least another four years if I stay vigilant)" he wasn't very happy with that response.

I don't know if there are any laws against organized boycotts or such but we and if there then I won't promote it but if there isn't then we the American people need to start looking after our own interests. Yeah only purchasing goods at acceptable low prices (only allowing for a fifty percent markup when there's usually a four-hundred percent markup) might make companies have to tighten their belts but the money is there to keep the company running in the 250 million dollar a year paychecks (it happens more than you can believe) to CEOs who are by my standard useless, we just have to stay vigilant to prevent government bailouts, if it means we must feel some pain at first with stores going out of business, it will give a chance to small chains and goods stores to compete who are prepared to sell at the accpetable prices.

Now some could say this is socialism or Communism, if it was government initiated and maintained idea then yes but this is an idea created by the people in a non-government regualted capacity, basically a consumer's union as I coin it. A consumers union of people prepared to buy in bulk at lower prices and distribute amongst its contributing members till stores at retail are forced to lower their prices. Now it would take a significant percentage of the populace to realize this buying power and take back their rights but still it is not an impossible idea if enough people are willing and as things become more desperate for people its feasibility only grows.

We the American consumer drive this economy not the big business, not the oil companies, they don't sell enough outside this market(America) to be able to afford ignoring us. If they fire people en masse then we stop buying from them, if they pay their useless CEO's exhorbitant wages we then go to someone who doesn't, if they hire illegals we take our business to those who don't and if that isn't possible...oh my God we might have to start a business that doesn't using our crop of consumer union members purchasing directly from suppliers because the possibility of doing it might jsut exist. It's still capitalism, it's just organized capitalism instead of lettign chaos run to be only be reined by the rich and privileged. I'm a fundamental capitalist and that means the power of capitalism belongs to us the people.

If you think ammo and gun prices have gone up, wait until the summer when the government dumps $150 billion in rebate checks. Then inflation will really kick in and prices will go even higher. The fed know this and the politicians too, but both have agendas that don't include the American public best interest. Mean while, a lot of people think they are getting 'free' money and have already made plans to spend it. They don't realize they'll need the rebate just to keep up with inflation.

Well I got my guns and I'm stocked on ammo and Snap Caps. More dry fire time and not as much live fire. It happens. Bad times come and go. The past several years have been pretty good, but nothing lasts forever.

Keep your head down and your powder dry. What else are you going to do?

I bought a SIG P239 about two months ago for $699 (not a bad price for **********). Today I looked in the same case at my gun store at an identical P239 for . . . $889. The first Springfield Mil Spec (parkerized, non NM serial #) I've seen in 6 months is going for $660 and that seems like a steal.

Yeah, prices are going up. $3.95 a gallon for regular here in San Diego. Oil just hit $122 a barrel today and I hear rumors of near $5/gallon by the end of summer. I predict $1500 for a six-pack of beer by Labor Day.:D