Chasing full auto forever?

[TheOtherOne]

To buy a legal UZI right now, I would be looking at $5,000-$6,000. By the time I save that much money for a gun (2-3 years), wouldn't the price be alot more for the same gun ($10,000?). So I try to keep saving, but the gun just gets more and more expensive. Always out of reach.

It makes me want to go take out a loan on my car or something else equally stupid -- buying a gun on credit is just something you don't do in my book though, and especially one that shouldn't cost over a grand to begin with.

But I want full auto so bad!

I just got thinking about this recently when I realized that the ban on new machine guns being repealed is virtually zero and it's really dashed my dreams. I wonder though if they hadn't made them so hard to get, if I would really want one that bad?

 

[c_yeager]

So I try to keep saving, but the gun just gets more and more expensive. Always out of reach.

It makes me want to go take out a loan on my car or something else equally stupid -- buying a gun on credit is just something you don't do in my book though,

just got thinking about this recently when I realized that the ban on new machine guns being repealed is virtually zero

You realize that by your own words if you were to buy an Uzi it would do nothing but increase in value for every day that you owned it. Machineguns arent normal guns. There is a fixed supply and a nearly unlimited demand. It is virtually impossible to lose money on the investment. Judging by the rate that they are increasing in value you wouldnt even need a very good interest rate on your loan to keep pace.

Lets say you get a one year load for $5,000 at a credit card rate of 20% APR. You end up paying back $6000 for the gun when all is said and done. But by the time you've paid off that $6000 your gun is worth $10,000 (realisticly more like 7-8K). In other words even with financing you made 4 grand on the deal. And it willjust keep going up in value. Really machinguns are an absurdly GOOD investment. Plus, they are fun.

 

[Tamara]

buying a gun on credit is just something you don't do in my book though, and especially one that shouldn't cost over a grand to begin with.

A pre-'86 transferrable MG is the only gun I would consider buying on credit. Seems a safer investment over the short term than tech stocks or pork bellies. Over the long term? It'd take a pretty serious sea-change in US gun laws to render it untransferrable; NFA stuff is generally below the radar of politicians and gun-grabbers. They're more worried about semiauto rifles and concealable handguns for some reason.

 

[TheOtherOne]

You all are just evil. Making me think on investment terms only legitimizes my insanity. You wouldn't think it from reading my first post, but I really hadn't thought investment at all. Once I buy a gun, I tend to keep it though. I can't even bring myself to sale the one gun I don't like.

 

[MrPink]

I buy class 3 guns because I like to shoot them, not for the investment value. I have no plans to sell any of them and what do I care what they are worth to my estate when I'm dead. That being said, class 3 is only going up and up so I say buy now any way you can.

To make you feel bad, my first Vector UZI cost $2,700. The second ran me $2,800. Both factory new.

 

[TheOtherOne]

To make you feel bad, my first Vector UZI cost $2,700. The second ran me $2,800. Both factory new.

It's probably already sold, but is Group Industries any good?

http://www.impactguns.com/store/uzi_cons_rees.html

 

[Bravo11]

A friend of mine decided he wanted buy a fully auto M-4.
He talked to our local gun shop owner about a class III license
and the owner said there was no license only a $200 dollar stamp
for each gun. Now the hard part he said the M-4 was going to cost
$10,000. Holy cow! You can get the same gun in semi for less than a $1,000. From what I understand the difference is the sear. Oh, and the stock being collapsable at the same time as a removable mag.

 

[ACP230]

MACs are still cheaper.
So are Reisings.

Both also go bang fast.

I am partial to the Reising since it has that World War II aura and a wood stock. Mags are expensive but still available.

Just a thought.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

I actually went to the bank one day and applied for a loan to buy a machinegun. Surprisingly, it went through, but the interest rate was a little higher than I wanted to pay, yet lower than credit cards. They were a little shakey on the value and legality of machineguns as collateral for a loan or I could have gotten a better interest rate.

 

[MicroBalrog]

Seems a safer investment over the short term than tech stocks or pork bellies

Mark my words - a few years from now, this will be the silliest investment ever. Just a small rider bill to an Omnibus Spending Bill 200* and your expensive NFA gun is no longer unique and special.

 

[Joe Demko]

I'd also like to point out that the only way to get any return on your machinegun "investment" is to sell it. It doesn't pay dividends or accrue interest that you could withdraw while not touching the principal.
So, what you really have to ask yourself is whether you want a full-auto badly enough to pay the already high price plus whatever credit card or loan interest will apply.

 

[TheOtherOne]

I'd also like to point out that the only way to get any return on your machinegun "investment" is to sell it. It doesn't pay dividends or accrue interest that you could withdraw while not touching the principal.

True, it will most likely cost a lot more money while you own it. Ammo isn't free.

 

[MrPink]

Theotheone,

Registered receiver Group Ind UZIs are suppose to be pretty good - the Vector Arms UZI are made from GI stamped flats (the form 4 will actually list the manufactuer as GI). However, VA used construction techniques that make this the best UZI, according to the experts. Even better than an original IMI. This from Peter Kokalis and the Small Arms Review.

If its a GI bolt gun, it depends on the quality of the conversion.

Keep in mind that you should be able to get a VA UZI for less than the $6k you mentioned.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

FWIW, back in the early 80's I asked a local dealer what a full auto Thompson would cost. Transfer and all, about $1200. I could have afforded it then but I said, "Nah, I'll spend it on something else I want more". :banghead:

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Just a small rider bill to an Omnibus Spending Bill 200* and your expensive NFA gun is no longer unique and special.

It wouldn't matter to me if the value of every NFA gun I own dropped to $50 if they would make them no longer unique and special. Pleeeeeeeze do away with the '86 MG ban!

 

[CleverNickname]

It wouldn't matter to me if the value of every NFA gun I own dropped to $50 if they would make them no longer unique and special. Pleeeeeeeze do away with the '86 MG ban!

Exactly. Instead of the one MG I have now, I could have 10. Right now, unless I win the lottery or some unknown great-grand-uncle twice removed dies and leaves me a million dollars, the one MG I have is all I'll be able to afford.

As for buying, if you really want one, bite the bullet and buy now. I originally planned on waiting until I pay my car off in April before buying the Uzi I wanted, but eventually I decided I shouldn't wait. In the ~20 months since I bought it, the price has gone up $1500-$1700. Don't wait.

 

[MrPink]

And another thought: given the price of a Vector Arms UZI, it may well be of benefit to look at a Ruger AC556, which can be had at a nice price. Granted quality factory or PMI hi-caps are a pretty penny but if the AWB sunsets in September, I imagine mags should be pretty cheap. Also Ruger will repsect the lifetime warranty and service commitment and refurbish them at a very nominal charge.

An AC556 is no M16, but its also no UZI - it fires from a closed bolt with the thump of a 5.56. Get one with a short barrel (or saw it off) and you get a gun just like I like my women: LOUD, FLASHY and FAST.

 

[larry_minn]

I had the urge to get a H&K MP-5SD real bad. Seems it is almost impossible to get one legally transferred in MN.

 

[Kenneth Lew]

To buy a legal UZI right now, I would be looking at $5,000-$6,000. By the time I save that much money for a gun (2-3 years), wouldn't the price be alot more for the same gun ($10,000?). So I try to keep saving, but the gun just gets more and more expensive. Always out of reach.

Have you considered just liquidating some of you other guns that you will not miss. I've done that to get the money to purchase my M16 a while back. Its a lot easier than trying to save.

Kenneth Lew

 

[Tracy Hightower]

To make you all feel bad, I take that back, to make me feel bad and show how old I am. I bought my first in 1980
An Original unfired M-11 and suppressor for $275.00. An IMI Uzi was $550.00, New M-16A1 for $659.00, Reising, unfired for $225.00 and M-60 re-weld belt fed for $2500.00. Silenced 22 Ruger 77 for $450.00. Ruger KAC556F for $650.00. The list goes on but I cannot (sniff) continue. The really sad and depressing part is that I only have a couple of them left and most sold when they got to the outrageous and unheard of price of $2000.00 Sometimes I just want to cry.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Have you considered just liquidating some of you other guns that you will not miss.

Yeah, for about half a second I considered it. I can't even bring myself to part with the one I don't really like though. If money got tight and it came down to a choice of starving to death or selling a gun, I would probably starve to death.


Anyways, even though it probably would be a good investment. I've decided I can't really justify it that way. I've got to decide if having my very own machine gun is worth the cost. I do want one more than anything right now but that's just a ton of money (that I don't have) for a chunk of metal.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

I can't even bring myself to part with the one I don't really like

I have that problem too.

 

[Kenneth Lew]

Anyways, even though it probably would be a good investment.

Do not consider NFA items as investments.

I've decided I can't really justify it that way. I've got to decide if having my very own machine gun is worth the cost. I do want one more than anything right now but that's just a ton of money (that I don't have) for a chunk of metal.

Don't talk about wanting to get one, GET ONE! A wise old man once told, "No matter how expensive an item is, it someone really wanted it bad, they will find a way to get it. People will shift their priorities to get the item. Don't complain, its the market driving the prices upward as there will be people with more money wanting to purchase the item. If you really wanted it, you will find a way to get the money.

Also forgot to mention that in 2002, the Vector Uzi's were going for $2,900. I bought one for that in September 2002 and another for $4,200 locally in March 2003.

Kenneth Lew