Really? You're gonna roll with what a gun dealer tells you about gun prices? Do you even know who S.P. Fjestad was? Or how he researched gun values? Have you ever looked at the books and understood the information provided within? I guarantee you one thing, the average "old gun dealer" knows next to nothing compared to what Fjestad knew about firearms history and values.
You DO reside in the USA, right? But you're saying that prices of guns aren't "like cars or other things?" Do you not buy "other things?" Gasoline prices fluctuate daily. So do prices of produce, dairy products, coffee, and just about anything that has to be manufactured requiring the use of petroleum.
I'd submit, that in normal times (e.g., not when a state legislature is voting on new restrictive legislation on firearms), gun prices, as well as ammo prices, are fairly stable, compared to most consumer goods.
The blue book is outdated. Why would you rely on one man’s writings when you can go on the internet and see what a gun actually sold for?
Not opinion, not conjecture. Someone actually handed over money for that gun.
That book might’ve been the gospel 30 years ago but there are much better resources now.
For that book to be useful today it requires that everyone plays along and they aren’t.
There was a similar thread on a local gun forum last year. Some old guy wanted to buy a gun for sale at the “book price” and argued with the seller. The gun sold at the asking price and the blue book guy was left standing there holding his book.
I’m not young but I’ve evolved with the times.