The problem with such schemes is they hold thier value during the times when inflation devalues currency. When administrations are printing lots of new money (and creating many more computer entries which are never printed) and devaluing existing currency.
Gold in the hand stays about the same value, which appears to increase constantly because it takes more of the decreasing money to purchase the same amount. With other people having the same idea the demand for gold can actualy even increase its real value more than just the change in exchange for currency.
Then comes the time when things stabilize. So you have tons of gold, thousands of other people are also trying to offload thier gold. As more and more people unload large sources of gold onto the then more stable economy the value of gold decreases as the supply increases.
Where do you sell your gold? Do you know places that will actualy buy your gold for the going rate?
Sure lots of people will buy your gold from you, but not for the going rate, they want a large profit margin.
Sure many more such places exist now when demand is high, but when thousands of people are offloading gold there is not commercials and internet and radio adds offering to buy jewelry and gold.
You need to know how to offload your gold without losing a sizeable chunk of your investment.
The same situation can happen with firearms. With a bad economy, and the fears of crime and gun legislation the demand has skyrocketed. People cannot purchase enough firearms. The cost of something like a new AR has gone up significantly since Obama's election.
Now imagine the time comes when millions of people with more firearms than they know what to do with begin to sell them.
When the fear of impending crisis ends (hopefully right?) and the selling begins.
The market is flooded with sellers, the spiked increases in value seen in just a few months time are completely undone, and the prices begin to fall even further. There is so many on the market that the purchaser has a large selection of competing sellers.
The actual dollar ammounts will not tell the whole story. Since currency always devalues over time, just "making your money back" actual means you lost money. Even making a slight profit means you actualy lost money. You need to make at least as much money as what amounts to similar buying power when you invested to just break even.
If most other goods worth $750 today are priced at $1,000 when you sell then you need to make a 25% profit just to break even when you sell your guns.
Additionaly if legislation does pass it can increase or decrease prices. If part of the legislation says people cannot privately transfer or purchase certain types of guns past X date, then the value of those arms plummets. If private transfers are allowed then the value increases.
This can cause gun owners to become thier own worst enemy sometimes. If your collection will suddenly double in value are you less likely to defend 2nd Amendment rights as permanent reductions in freedom are occuring? Would you opposed legislation that made your guns worth far less, like say opening the NFA up or throwing it out all together if you own many such arms?
If the line in the sand moves, antis target new freedoms and new gun types. People who own certain things or use certain things in defense go from being mainstream to gun wackos as new firearm owners no longer are major owners of those items. So you become an "extremist" gun nut, the kind so extreme they even have "assault weapons" or some newer buzz word of restricted arms like during the previous AWB!
So you can have conflicting personal, idealogical and financial interests.
So for both logical and political reasons I would not encourage stocking up on firearms as a monetary investment. It can work in some situations, but people who do so can have a conflict of interest in fighting for gun rights.
Stocking up for personal ownership, or family ownership to preserve a right is fine.
