I use the Blue Book as a guide as to potential value and then lower my expectations 30% as the book is always high compared to local pricing. I frequently am ask when quoting the book, "When was last time the author bought a gun from you?" or " Go sell it to the author for that price I ain't paying it". Hope that helps.
Mike

 

I go to the Blue Book just for reference purposes, then I go to gunbrooker.com and check what the guns have recently sold for, and even this isn't the best way to determine a guns value, but it helps somewhat.

 

I go to the Blue Book just for reference purposes, then I go to gunbrooker.com and check what the guns have recently sold for, and even this isn't the best way to determine a guns value, but it helps somewhat.<br><br>

 

Pretty much what I do as well. I've not bought a new Bluebook in years as I have very little confidence in the prices. Some are way high and some are way low, however the notes have always seemed to be pretty accurate to me.
Bob

 

^^^ Yep, what he said. ^^^

 

Like most others, I used the BB for reference on prices (with many grains of salt, usually). However, there is a lot more information in the book than that. In the back of the book you will find a trademark index (with names, addresses and sometimes phone numbers and e-mail addresses); a glossary of firearm related terms; a list of firearms related abbreviations; a list of museums; a list of firearms/shooting organizations with addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses; names and addresses of conservation organizations; three pages of reference sources; a list of firearms periodicals; a store brand cross-over list; serialization tables for many manufacturers (including Colt); a list of proof marks with illustrations; a section on the BATFE and curio & relic firearms and a list of major gun shows (including the Colt Collector's Association).
I don't buy a new BB every year, usually about every three years.

- - - -Buckspen

 

always thought the blue books were best utilized in the outhouse and not for reading purposes.

 

My guess is the only way a blue book could be accurate in todays fast moving market with the auction sites would be for it to be an online source which monitored all major auctions and adjusted accordingly on a monthly basis.

 

The BB has a website and " supposedly" update information every 4 months on the markets that change frequently such as Colt and S&W. I use it basically as a model reference w/additional notations I may not be aware of. I rarely use it as a price point in the Colt market as it seems to lag behind current values. Sometimes handy, sometimes not. If a guy pulls one out from under his table at a gun show, I'm usually 2 tables over before he cracks the book open.

 

This has been my experience with the Blue Book and gun shops in my area. When inquiring about a used piece currently in stock the gun store owner usually pulls up the completed GB listings of the same gun and prices his gun within $75.

When I ask about trading one of my guns in he usually pulls out the Blue Book and gives me the price of the gun in the 60-70% condition range, regardless of the condition of my gun.

When I ask about the disparity between the two numbers I typically get the response, "I'm here to make money, not give full retail". I understand that these guys are in business to make money, but, give me a break. Quoting me $600 on a 2 1/2 inch Python? I just chuckle and leave.

Sorry for the rant......

Z

 

The BB serves to describe the different versions/models and their characteristics but as far as being a price guide, with the advent of the internet, the BB is twentieth century and we are in the twenty-first.

 

To me the only info that I use in the BB is in the back. They do make damn fine coasters though.

 

Yes, I look at the Blue Book values. I mostly figure there probably is "some" validity to their published value based upon condition. Then I figure that it is just is an average over the entire USA,so in some places it may be more or less.

Then ,of course, in the back of my mind,it may be that the Blue book is not so valid, and the "researchers" don't really exist or if they do, aren't really that motivated or don't have any idea what the "market" values are, or they really don't do any research, that amounts to anything. but then I figure- well I doubt that it is thaaat bad, so--

I figure that if I buy a gun UNDER what the blue book value is, I probably didn't get TOOO badly burned.
I go to gunbroker also and look at sold prices, but I figure some people are "Filthy Rich", and have more money than they know what to with, and they are wiling to throw money at the wind, simply because they can. So, I don't pay much attention to what( I think) are foolish bids. A fool and his money are soon parted -as Ben Franklin( I think ),said.

Then I look at what I see at gunshows and dealers and see what certain guns actually SELL for, and factor in blue book values, and I get "SOME idea" of what certain guns are worth.

There are cases, like the Officers Model Match where the Blue Book value is actually MUCH HIGHER than the sold prices, on GunBroker for instance. Some of the Big buyers I imagine, are well aware of this, and are buying all they can of these models at the "low" prices, thinking they will sell them at a Huge premium in a year or so.

So, I try to base value on everything available -Gun Broker, Blue Book, other books, gun stores, gun shows, and whatever else, including what I paid for similar condition guns.

 

I too have a bit of a time figuring out how folks price guns and what I should reasonably pay. Every time I'm at a gun show they have the Blue Book under the table and consult it often. Relative to a lot of what I'm seeing the Blue Book is underpricing guns. I understand what folks are saying about other folks with a lot of money but that just might be the way things are going now that there are a lot more people able to see what is out there on the internet. And it seems to me it would be foolish for a gun dealer not to use the internet considering all of the extra traffic you receive by listing some if not all of your firearms there.

I might be one of those fools and his money as I've purchased off of the internet, maybe I'm impatient and am willing to pay more. I'm not sure that is true but I'm willing to consider it. I sure do like the options but not being able to handle a gun is huge. Of course now that the guns are all tied up at the shows it's often hard to get a good look anyways. It is still good to be able to look them over. Funny thing about the guns shows is I often ask if they have shot them and 9 times out of ten they haven't. I shouldn't be surprised but it is hard for me to have a gun in my possession and not shoot it. But I'm not a dealer and not trying to make a living selling guns.

Anyways thanks for all of the responses I appreciate everyone's input.

 

A lot of accurate opinions about BB here. Like Buckspen said, I've found the back of the book info very helpful... Even used it to answer a few questions on the forum, such as someone asked Colt model number of a certain configuration of SAA. I keep an online account also. I find the BB is most useful for pricing of current production brands of all sorts. I get calls from friends and family asking about pricing, and I can give them an instant answer with the grain of salt added of course, that we have to check internet auctions and sells - repeating Saintclair's sentiments, we are in a different century. As said so many times on the forum- it's worth what someone is willing to pay, and the Internet can reveal a snapshot of what people will pay.

 

No real use to me. I just do a web search looking for sold prices and judge from that

 

I agree that the blue book prices are sometimes way too high and other times way too low. However, when it comes to Colt values, people laugh because they think the low prices are a joke. In "reality" the prices are actually pretty close to what the guns are worth. People laugh and disagree because the internet provides an arena where hype and artificial inflation can be easily created. Everybody knows that if it's on the internet, it must be true. Since majority of the public are gullible fools, they go online to research prices and see where "reputable" dealers are telling them these guns are so rare and buy now, now, now, they are too eager to jump on the bandwagon. Hence, the current state of the Colt DA revolver market.

I'm sure there are a few people on here that I really strike a nerve with when talking about prices, but I am not one of the "majority of the public". God bless America for freedom of speech, love it.