All I wanted to do was put a 4x scope on my husband's .22 so I could go squirrel hunting.
The day after I dropped the gun off, the gunsmith called me. "Please don't put a scope on this gun," he said. "It's a collector's item, and it's much more valuable the way it is than it would be with a scope on it. If you're really set on having a scoped .22, I'll trade you for another one. Or just let me buy this one."
I didn't sell him the gun. But I also didn't insist he put the scope on it.
We customize guns for a lot of reasons. The stock may be too long on one, the comb too high or too low on another; a hunting rifle may need optics. But many "working" guns, like my husband's .22, are of higher value if they are not customized. I recently talked to John Underwood, the owner of John's Guns & Fly-Fishing in Tallahassee, Florida, and the gunsmith who refused to scope the .22, about some of these collector's items.
John said it's hard to define what kind a gun a collector will be interested in. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," he said. "Basically, any gun that was well-made in its day, was not a mass-production gun by today's standards, and is no longer available on the market from the manufacturer is a potentially collectable gun." In other words, it doesn't have to be an antique.
For example, in 1964 Winchester changed the design of the bolt on its rifles. "The pre-'64 guns became collectable in the next year or two," John said. "The price has escalated ever since then."
When someone mentions collecting guns, the first thing most people think about is old finely made shotguns. But any kind of gun, whether handgun, lever-action rifle, or whatever, can be collectable. So how do you know whether you have such a firearm? "You need to ask someone with experience," John said. "A lot of times a book value will list just the price. But in a local area, a particular gun may go for much more than the book value. There's a regional desirability of certain firearms."
If you find you have such a firearm, you should try to preserve it in its original condition. This means don't make any permanent changes in it.
"Collectors want guns the way they were released from the factory, not with after-market add-ons," John said. "Any permanent alteration on a gun reduces its value. For example, if you have a Parker shotgun and cut the stock off and put a recoil pad on it, then you have hurt the value of the gun. But if you take the same gun and leave the stock the full length and take the butt plate off and put a recoil pad on without cutting off the stock, then you haven't hurt the value of the gun."
But this doesn't necessarily mean you can't use it. "If it's a gun you want to maintain as a collectable but use also, and it's getting old, then I suggest you order the parts most likely to wear out under normal usage," John said. "Order an extra sear, some firing pins, springs that might get weak. Keep the gun well-maintained and don't ding the stock. Then if something breaks you can replace it with an original part, which does not affect the collectible of the gun."
So even among your "working" guns, you may have one or two potential treasures. It's worth checking out which ones may be collectable, especially if you have children to whom you'd like to leave them.
John Underwood's List of Collectable Guns
Many guns--handguns and long guns, recent and antique--have collection value. But John Underwood has several "favorites" he says are of particular interest:
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