Firearms Market Report – Gun Digest

A look at what sold and what didn’t, with estate tips on liquidating a firearms collection and a peek into the crystal ball.

The strong firearms market of the early 2020s continues, although not at the frantic pace of the surge inspired by COVID-19 and the summer riots a few years ago. Defensive, sporting and recreational gun purchases continue vigorously online, at gun shows and at local gun shops.

Bestsellers

GunBroker.com is the largest online gun auction sales site, and GunGenius.com reports the bestselling new and used gun models on GunBroker each month, along with an annual summary that is well worth checking out. Its most recent reports show the bestselling guns are 9mm semi-auto pistols, predominantly polymer or synthetic-framed. The two top-selling new guns for the most recently reported calendar year are Sig Sauer 9mm pistols—the Model P365 ranked No. 1 and the P320 No. 2.  

Other nines making it into the Top 20 new and used gun sales list in the past two years include:

• Sig Sauer P226
• Glock G19, G43 and G17
• S&W M&P9
• CZ 75
• Beretta Model 90
• Springfield Armory Hellcat & XD

Classic Sporting Long-Guns

Classic sporting long-guns also rank high on the bestsellers list. Many of these models have been produced for decades. Three perennial winners are the Mossberg 500 and Remington 870 pump shotguns and the Marlin Model 60 semi-auto .22 rifle, representing over 10 million guns in circulation. The two shotguns have broad applications for hunting, competition, personal defense and law enforcement, further accounting for their strong sales. 

Some of the classic-pattern long-guns ranked in the GunBroker recent year top sales list, 2023 New Guns and 2022 New & Used Guns, include:

• No. 2 Remington 700 bolt-action rifle (2022 New & Used Guns)
• No. 3 Mossberg 590 pump shotgun (2023 New)
• No. 4 Ruger 10/22 .22 semi-auto rifle (2023 New)
• No. 7 Remington 870 pump shotgun (2022 New & Used)
• No. 9 Ruger American bolt-action rifle (2022 New & Used)
• No. 18 Winchester Model 70 bolt-action rifle (2022 New & Used)
• No. 19 Ruger Mini-14 semi-auto rifle (2022 New & Used)
• No. 20 Mossberg 500 pump shotgun (2022 New & Used)

Lever-Actions

Speaking of classics, sales of lever-action rifles are strong, especially those produced by relatively new firearms manufacturer Henry Repeating Arms, founded in 1996. In addition to classic manufacturers Winchester and Marlin (making lever guns since 1866 and 1881, respectively), Smith & Wesson has also recently entered the lever-action market with its heavily promoted 1854 Models. These were first introduced in 2024 and are named for the year when S&W founder Daniel Wesson patented the lever-action design for production by Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. 

Notable lever-action rifles reported as GunBroker bestsellers in the past two years:

• No. 5 Henry Big Boy (2023 New Gun sales)
• No. 9 Henry Side Gate (2023 New)
• No. 11 Marlin 1895 (2023 New)

Revolvers

Somewhat surprising to us old-guy wheelgun aficionados is the relative lack of revolvers in the GunBroker bestseller’s ranking. The only six-shooters to appear on the most recent annual lists are:

• No. 12 Colt Python (2023 New Gun sales)
• No. 16 Ruger Blackhawk (2023 New)
• No. 20 Heritage Rough Rider (2023 New)

To see what sort of wheelguns are selling on GunBroker, consider the GunGenius.com list of bestselling new and used revolvers for the most recent month. The top five new revolvers, top to bottom, were S&W Bodyguard, Colt Python, Heritage Rough Rider, Ruger Blackhawk, and Ruger Wrangler. The top five used revolvers were Colt Python, Ruger Blackhawk, Ruger Single Six, S&W Model 10 and Colt Single Action Army.

There are a couple of surprises here. One is the prevalence of single-action models, including the original on which all the others are based, the Colt Peacemaker. The other surprise is the absence of more S&W products.

This may have more to do with Smith & Wesson’s practice of having a wide range of revolver model names (model numbers) than with the brand’s popularity in the market. This could result in S&W not breaking into GunBroker’s top sales figures because of the vast number of models produced. Consider the following.

According to the most recent available ATF Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Report (AFMER), S&W ranked No. 1 in total firearms manufactured over the last three years for which statistics are available. In viewing these stats, it’s important to note that only American-manufactured guns are reported and that stats were unavailable for some major brands for some years. Also, the statistics for the most recent years aren’t yet available. That said, here’s a look at Smith & Wesson’s current product line, which includes 184 different models, 117 of which are revolvers. It seems likely that splitting the sales among that many models tends to diminish S&W’s rankings in GunBroker bestsellers lists. While 9mm auto pistols lead the current defensive handgun market, it’s likely that if all S&W five-shot J-frame .38 Special revolvers with 2-inch barrels were grouped into a single model instead of 29 different model designations, they would easily break into the bestsellers’ listings. The recently introduced S&W Lipsey’s Ultimate Carry (UC) revolvers are especially enjoying a surge in popularity.

America’s Rifle, The AR platform

There is no question that the AR rifle is the most popular long-gun in America. So, why isn’t an AR on the best-seller list? This is probably because no single model or manufacturer currently dominates the very active market for these rifles. Most patents expired in 1977, and other firms began producing AR-platform rifles. Note that on the list of America’s leading gun makers above, No. 8 Anderson Manufacturing, No. 11 Palmetto State Armory, No. 15 Aero Precision, and No. 17 Diamondback Firearms are primarily known for their ARs. Also, No. 1 S&W, No. 3 Sig, No. 4 Springfield, No. 18 FN and No. 19 Colt offer AR-type rifles in their product lines, while No. 6 Mossberg produces .22 rimfires based on the AR platform.

It’s estimated that nearly 20 million AR-pattern rifles have been manufactured since 1990, with around 500 different companies manufacturing these popular guns and their parts. The AR is easily customizable, with most makers using mil-spec interchangeable parts. “Build-your-own” ARs have gained wide favor, starting with the basic receiver. The widely repeated trope is that the AR is “Barbie for boys” in customizing and accessorizing.

Leading American Firearms Manufacturers for Three Years:

A Buyer’s Market?

Few people watch the firearms market more closely than Blaine Wade, NRA Gun Collectors Committee Chairman, who says he sees an emerging buyer’s market with collectible and utility firearms. “The current interest rate on savings accounts is around 5 percent, according to most financial institutions,” says Wade. “There appears to be less liquid funds available from other collectors and firearms enthusiasts, too. Collectors and enthusiasts with funds for investing often opt to earn interest in the financial market instead of commodities.   

“This apparent market condition is noticeable with the firearms I seek. For the last several months, a buyer can compete in auctions for somewhat scarce collectible firearms without the usual pressure from other buyers. Bargains can be had with the occasional exception of the rare pieces that always command individual attention.”   

Wade says he’s noticed that this trend extends to gun shows, which usually have a local premium compared to the internet sites. Dealers from shows, he says, are advising that they are not producing their standard volume and that the market is “flat.”  

“It is definitely time to look for the collectible firearm that can normally be 20 percent or so more expensive than the current market is bringing. I have found more rare or extremely rare firearms in 2024 that have been reasonable on auction than ever before; it reminds me of 2017 prices,” he said. 

While Wade doubts that the trend will continue, our national economic and political situation drives the firearms market, and buyers should take advantage of the opportunity while it lasts.

Collectible Firearms

Rick Hacker, NRA Publications Field Editor and Gun Digest contributor, is seeing an influx of seldom-seen models. He says that as big-time collectors pass on, their families liquidate lifelong gun collections, flooding the market with rarities to tempt even the most frugal collector.

“We are seeing a phenomenal number of extreme rarities coming on the market—Ulrich-engraved Winchesters, factory-engraved Colts, etc,” Hacker said. “In many cases, these guns have been hidden away in private collections for years. However, they are being bought up piecemeal by monied collectors who, nonetheless, are unable to acquire an entire collection at once. They must be built up, gun by gun, much as the old timers did it.” 

Hacker also sees fierce “bidding wars” among collectors chasing after the same gun, which he cautions is driving prices beyond realistic values. “This, in turn, creates a false image of worth that, in many cases, cannot be recouped by the buyer should he wish to sell sooner rather than later. I have dropped out of many an online auction when the price got out of hand because I knew I could never get my money back, let alone make a profit before I would be ready to sell,” he said. 

“I think there’s a moral there somewhere—only buy what you feel reasonably comfortable spending and don’t overbid. You will live to regret it unless it is something you really want and don’t plan on selling that gun in the very near future.”

In the near term, Hacker recommends watching EDC-type handguns, quality British revolvers and anything from now-defunct companies.

Gun Shows & Collectible Ammo

According to Jackie Smith, collectible, military, and Western antique guns have all increased roughly equally across the major auction houses. “Used firearms are increasing by 25 percent and are bringing basically MSRP,” said Smith. “New guns are bringing a premium as well. Particularly Glocks and HK pistols.”

Smith sees niche collectibles in the ammunition field increasing by around 40 percent. “I have been selling John Bolerjack’s collection for the past three years, and I have seen individual rounds bringing up to $100 per round and .22 boxes bringing $20 to $40 per 50-count box to well over $100 for antique boxes. Modern .22 boxes are bringing $10 per 50-count box.  

“I really don’t know if the trends are sustainable, but it sure seems like they are. Guns and ammo seem a better hedge against inflation than stocks or precious metals.” 

The Gun Show Situation

Texas’ Kurt House doesn’t hide his bias: He forgoes the local and state gun shows that offer black guns and—in his words—“foreign junk, jerky, bottles and rocks and security systems hawked by buxom gals in low-cut T-tops.” Instead, you’ll find him at the higher-end shows that specialize in antique guns, such as the Las Vegas Antique Arms Show, the Colorado Gun Collector Show, the Texas Gun Collector and Tulsa Wanenmacher bi-annual shows, as well as the Colt Collectors Annual Show and some of the Western collectible shows such as the Old West Events show in Santa Fe. 

Trends in gun buying and selling? For House, that’s an easy call: Auctions have replaced the shows as the primary source of high-quality antique guns. “When I started gun collecting 61 years ago, the only way we could get collector guns was at a gun show,” said House. “Now the auctions have almost taken over, with Internet gun sites close behind. A friend of mine who owns what is probably the largest gun store in the United States once confided to me that when he first started his fledgling website in the 1990s, his sales were about 10 percent internet, with 90 percent walk-in traffic. Through the years, it went from that to 40 percent fairly quickly, and now he reports it ranges from about 50 to 75 percent on used, or collectible guns, not sporting, defense or competition-type new arms.”

House admits frustration in trying to analyze historic gun sales. “Judging from record auction prices for Teddy Roosevelt’s factory-engraved Colt Single Action, a French Boutet garniture belonging to Napoleon, the automatic Colt 1911 of Bonnie & Clyde, a factory-engraved Colt attributed to the Dalton Gang, or a 16th-century German wheelock of European royalty, sometimes they fetch higher prices than when last sold, but sometimes not quite as much. Why is this? Are buyers less or more interested in history now than in the old days, what I call ‘The Golden Age of Gun Collecting’?

“Just when I think I can state that ‘prices of quality arms have always increased,’ I find that a particular historic gun sold for $215,000 in 2007, and when it recently sold in the past few months (2024), it sold for $228,000. Well, OK, it did increase, but not significantly compared to other forms of investment. I have always believed quality arms, even historic arms, to be a good investment, but as I stated at the beginning, I am biased. I have collected guns with the most fun imaginable for 61 years now, and I buy them because I enjoy them; they are symbols of the past, and I like history. They tell the story of this country,” House said. 

Marketplace Questions Answered

Rex Halfpenny, an aging boomer with a 357 Magnum habit, tackled our marketplace questions. What guns are in demand now? Halfpenny sees super-fast flat-shooting calibers and rifles like the 6.5 PRC driving long-range shooting in the hunting category. “It also appears to me shotguns and shotgun hunting have weakened,” Halfpenny said, “perhaps viewed as old man sports.”

The personal defense arena is always hopping, but one type might lead the pack. “Pistol-caliber carbines are the new pump shotgun—less costly and widely available pistol ammo, high cap, and maneuverability,” Halfpenny says.

Other trends Halfpenny noted include lever-action rifles, high-capacity polymer pistols, and anything black and tactical. He identified a more troubling trend in gun shows turning off enthusiasts with “higher entry fees, poor selections, and greater incidence of non-firearm tables.”

According to Halfpenny, commemoratives still don’t sell as well as the same model without the embellishments.

His advice for gun buyers, sellers and collectors? “The best time to learn about firearms and participate in the legal activities afforded by our Constitution is always now. Enjoy it while you can,” Halfpenny said.

Estate Tips: When It’s Time to Sell

As much as we enjoy our collections, none of us can take them with us. Even if you don’t choose to liquidate during your lifetime, your estate must deal with it. To date, no gun safe company has offered a coffin model. It’s worth it to give it some thought ahead of time.

Whether it’s a few personal shooters or an extensive lifetime collection, there are several considerations when selling:

Legalities

Ensure your sales are legal. This is not always simple with federal, state and local laws and regulations to comply with. A thorough discussion is well beyond the scope of this article, and your locality may have additional restrictions. Also, laws change. This ain’t legal advice—check with your lawyer. 

That said, if it’s a one-time sale, under federal law, you can currently sell personally owned handguns directly to another individual in the same state or long-guns to an individual in any state in a face-to-face transfer so long as that individual can legally own the firearm (adult, not a convicted felon, etc.). Some states have additional restrictions or will require that you perform a background check. However, if you’re repeatedly buying and reselling firearms, you are considered “in the business” and must have a Federal Firearms License (FFL) to make these transactions, with all the attendant paperwork. (Guns manufactured before 1899 are currently considered “antiques” and are not subject to these restrictions under federal law.) 

Legally shipping personal guns that you sell is a whole ’nother box of worms. Most folks selling multiple guns find it easier and less worrisome to sell through an existing FFL dealer and let them handle the compliance issues.

Sales Venues

You can sell to or through a local gun shop or FFL-licensed pawn shop. Some shops will sell for you on consignment, taking a percentage of the sales price. You may get less going this route than other options, but it is quick, easy, and legal. It can be a good option for selling a few personal guns with minimal hassle. If you have a specialized collection, there are excellent specialty dealers who don’t necessarily have a brick-and-mortar shop but are well-connected with the collecting community and will often take collections on consignment.

Gun shows can be a good venue for private sales. You can rent a table to sell to the attendees, or you can bring in one or two guns and walk them around, offering them for sale to table holders. If you go this route, research the values ahead of time (have I mentioned that the Standard Catalog of Firearms is an excellent resource for this?) and ensure you comply with legal sales requirements. If walking your guns around the show, look for tables offering similar items and get several offers. Haggling is expected at gun shows. The buyer generally wants to buy as cheaply as possible, but you will find motivated and interested buyers.

Online venues are popular and effective. As mentioned, GunBroker.com is the largest of several online auction sites. Guns.com facilitates online gun sales through licensed dealers.

Consignment to an FFL-licensed auction house is often the best option for estates and large collections. If the collection is large and includes high-value collectibles, one of the national outfits that publishes printed and online catalogs with photos, live offers, and online bidding may be the best choice. The largest of these is Rock Island Auction Company, based in Moline, Illinois, and Bedford, Texas, which conducts more than 20 auctions a year, including a few Premier Auctions, any one of which may gross $20 million or more with 2,000 to 3,000 lots. Other large national-level auction houses include Morphy Auctions in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Poulin Antiques & Auctions in Fairfield, Maine; Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, and other locations; and Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The national auction houses make their nut off large collections and high-profile individual pieces that may bring record prices. They can get national and international exposure for the finest examples of rare, engraved and historically attributed firearms, reaping premium prices from motivated buyers competing to acquire a special treasure. However, smaller collections and less valuable generic sporting guns can get lost in the crowd. They are sometimes grouped into lots of multiple guns that bring less per gun than if they were sold individually. A smaller FFL-licensed regional auction house may be a better choice for smaller collections and groups of common sporting arms. Many of the best of these will have national reach through their websites. 

Most auction houses charge a percentage commission or premium to both the seller and the buyer—15 to 25 percent is not uncommon for the seller’s commission (deducted from the gavel price). The buyer is often charged a 10 to 15 percent or more buyer’s premium added to the gavel price. Most auction houses can get your guns sold and paid out within three months to a year.

A Case Study

I’ve recently had the opportunity to closely follow the liquidation of four collections of nearly a thousand guns through consignment to a prominent national auction house. The two largest collections were specialized collectible firearms—one a group of antique revolvers and the other of early semi-auto pistols, each of a specific brand and type. Since either collection could flood the market for that specific type of gun if sold simultaneously, we spread the sale over a couple of years. A few guns sold for five figures, even a couple that broke into six figures, and some went for under $100 each. Here are my general observations.

Estimates Vs. Results

A consistent factor in auction sales is that some guns will go higher than expected, and some will go lower. If you’re selling a significant number of guns, the odds are good that the high and low sales will average out to the actual market value. If you’re selling a single gun, there’s a risk that it will be one of the guns that sell low. For the most valuable guns, most auction houses will accept a reasonable reserve price set by the seller below which the gun will not sell. (The problem with reserves is that if the gun remains unsold, and if offered again at a future auction, an attentive bidder may ask, “What was wrong with it the first time?”)

As with all major auction houses, an estimate was made of each gun’s likely sale value in the catalog description. This is often a fairly wide range. Typical examples might be $1,500-$2,500, $500-$800, or $30,000-$50,000. It’s easier to estimate the probable value of a common and widely used sporting gun than a scarce collectible model simply because the comparable sales for the former are much easier to find. It’s especially difficult to estimate values for collector guns that may have significant value added due to rare high condition for their age, artistic period engraving or historic attribution to a famous person or event. 

Since the guns in these collections were generally scarce to very rare, the estimated values were a bit speculative, as expected. Even so, a sample of the guns cataloged shows that almost half sold within the estimated range, more than a third over the estimates, and less than 20 percent under.

General Observations

Watching these collections sell, the following trends were observed:

Days Of The Old West Are Over

As with previous collecting generations who first sought flintlocks, then long rifles, and then percussion revolvers, the hot market for post-Civil War six-shooters has passed. As with the earlier generational trends, prices are not necessarily dropping, but interest has dwindled, and the value growth rate has slowed to a crawl.

Milestone Guns Can Surprise You

One-offs such as prototypes, experimental models, or the first gun produced of a model can bring substantial premiums, especially if the manufacturer or model is significant.

Top Condition Still Brings Top Dollar

This applies only to guns that are old enough that most surviving specimens show significant wear. The very few stashed away and still pristine warrant substantial premiums. Again, the more important the make and model and the older the gun, the higher the premium. Word to the wise: Watch out for refinishing and restorations.

Junk Guns Bring Junk Prices

In these collections, there was a significant batch of guns that, although old, are generally ignored by most collectors—small-frame hammerless revolvers such as European velo-dogs and cheapo pocket guns by I.J., H&R, H&A and the ilk. Most of these were sold in groups of three to five in a single lot, and the price realized per gun could be as low as $50. Might they have done better in a regional auction where they could be sold as individual lots? Maybe, but probably not by much. It would have taken decades to get them sold individually at gun shows. Notwithstanding, I still think they’re sort of cool. I have terrible taste.

Return On Investment

I had access to the year the owners bought them and what they paid for over half the guns in these collections. We were able to figure out how they had performed as investments. Most guns were purchased for the collections 20 to 30 years ago, with an average ownership duration of 26 years. The cost of sale—the seller’s commission—was deducted from the gavel price to reflect what the owner received.

Considered as a group, the return on investment was 4.2 percent per year. This was skewed by a single piece that sold exceptionally high. With that piece removed from consideration, the return on the total investment was 2.7 percent per year. Not all were money makers; approximately 2 percent of the guns netted less than their original purchase price from two to three decades ago.

Of course, I couldn’t stop fiddling with the numbers there. I examined particular factors that impact the value of collectible firearms, specifically rarity, period engraving, and historical attribution. 

Rarity

Guns acquired because they were rare variations of a particular model—non-standard caliber or barrel length, special factory features, etc.—may be slower than expected. The owner generally paid a premium for these features when buying. Still, they did not increase in value as rapidly as the standard models, with an average return on investment of only 1 percent per year on the rare variations. It seems likely that a relatively small number of collectors currently chase obscure variations of a particular model, resulting in a limited resale market.

Engraving

Professionally period-engraved guns have always brought substantial premiums, valued for their artistry and rarity. They continue to do so, sometimes bringing multiples of what a comparable non-engraved specimen would bring. However, these auction results suggest that the market for these may not be increasing in value quite as fast as the general market. Interest may even be slowing. A few in these collections showed a 2 percent annual return on investment.

Historic Attribution

The guns with credible historic attribution to a famous or semi-famous individual tended to show a slightly faster increase in value than other collectible guns, with this sample averaging a 4 percent annual return on investment. These also tended to be the guns that brought the highest prices, depending on the significance of the history associated with them. The strength of the provenance and documentation is everything.

The samples were relatively small and certainly not statistically significant, but they did tend to confirm my hunches on trends in firearms collecting.

With an overall average 2.7 percent return on the collection, would the money have done better in the stock market? Probably. The average yearly return on the S&P 500 has been over 10 percent for the last 20 years. In a CD? Nope. The average rate on a five-year CD over that same 26-year period was about 2.1 percent. Would the collectors have had as much fun holding onto a CD or fretting over the fluctuating Dow Jones? You tell me.

It goes back to what I’ve said too often. As hobbies go, gun collecting is a pretty good investment. As an investment, it makes a nice hobby.

The Crystal Ball Says …

And what of the firearms market in days to come? You, gentle reader, are living in the future. At the time of this writing, the event that could have the biggest impact on the firearms market, as suggested by several of our experts above, has not yet occurred: the 2024 elections. What could possibly happen?

If a Republican victory incites Antifa and BLM-style riots and burning of cities, look for a rush for personal defense firearms.

If a Democratic victory introduces the likelihood of future gun restrictions, expect a surging demand for AR-type rifles, double-stack auto pistols, and any other arms that are likely targets for bans or confiscations. The market should be especially strong for those that can be legally bought “off the record” through private party transactions (at least while that option lasts). So long as pre-1899 antique firearms are exempt from restriction, registration, and regulation, there may also be increased interest.

And if a group of concerned citizens questions the legitimacy of the election and peacefully parades and mills in a government building funded by their tax dollars while accompanied by capitol police, while pearl-clutching swamp-dwellers flee, panic, and fume … I dunno. Maybe expect buying opportunities as they have to dump their guns on the market to try to pay for their legal fees and feed their families while they’re in prison. Your guess is as good as mine. I’d rather not think about it.

(Did I mention that we still need the NRA, warts and all? Reform.  Rebuild. Support.)

Now go buy some guns.

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt of the 2025 Standard Catalog of Firearms, 35th Edition.

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