Where is "gun collecting" headed?

[Mongo59]

I'd have been awful tempted by that Enfield! I've gained a new interest in sporterized rifles. If you look at them for what they ARE and not what they WERE, it kind of changes your perspective, or at least it does for me. It also lets me afford some rifles that might be out of reach if they were in original configuration. The Ross 1905 I just got is a good example of that.

One of my local gun shop owners retired a couple of years ago, he had the same shop since 1962. When he started he said he would have two crates on the floor, one full of 1911's and 1911a1's and the other was full of Lugers... your choice for $25 each. He told me I would cry to know what customizing he had done to those icons but back then they were just cheap surplus. Oh how times change.

 

[Mongo59]

Practicality and usage are more important to me than collectability. I've had some nice wood and steel guns over the years. They sat in the safe and I was afraid to use them. My guns are tools and will be used as such. I do appreciate older firearms, but I am not a collector and want to use them without fear of reducing their value drastically simply because I scratched something or gave it holster wear. I'm a shooter and have that mindset.

I personally got tired of some 90 year old guy in upper state New York that hasn't smelled burnt gun powder in decades trying to tell me what my guns are worth. I have an old Remington 11 made in June 1929 that is near mint except for some deep scratches on the side of the butt stock where the owner used it to push down some wire fencing while hunting. I could run all the "what-ifs" through my head until I got a phobia wanting a 99%+ gun. I could fix it, have it fixed or replaced OR I can use it to tell a story of times gone by and the way things were. I am personally much happier with the latter. Guns to me are history, art work and tools all rolled into one. I love them just like family, perfect or not but I still want to get a good days work out of them.

 

[Herr Vogel]

It's exactly what happened with cars: White dudes hit their 50s and 60s, have money to burn, and start bidding up the stuff they're nostalgic for until they're the only ones who can afford it anymore.

To extend the simile further, look at what happens on the far end of that particular bell curve. You can get an absolutely beautiful, pristine 1920-1930 something touring car for less than the price of a brand new econobox. Why? Because the generation that was nostalgic for those cars is all but dead. Given enough time, everything comes around.

As to Indiucky's comment, I wonder how many of the older guys were raised in a generation that considered bubba-ing a rifle as an improvement?

There are some instances in which it can be excusable. I remember seeing a Remington-made 1917 in a shop that had been turned into a target rifle -- back in the 60's. Ears ground off, bolt and floorplate straightened, drilled and tapped, bull barrel, restocked, rechambered in .300WinMag. It had been put through the wringer in pretty much every way possible, but it was done well enough that if it wasn't for the bit of markings poking out from underneath the scope base you might not have been able to tell. Apparently it was built for some prominent competition shooter of the day and used to win a couple of national matches. Something like that, given the craftsmanship and provenance of the piece, has value on its own merits.
But then you get people who butcher increasingly scarce military rifles because that's what's Pappy did back when they were cheap and plentiful and bless their heart they don't know any better.

 

[Deuce]

Every damn room in my house...lol