How do you price used custom rifles?

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Sasquatch807

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A friend wants me to sell some of his rifles on the EE. Problem is I don`t know how to go about pricing them because most of them are not so common. For example, there`s a whole series of assorted caliber hi-tech synthetic Winchester mod 70's that were custom ordered from the Winchester custom shop. There`s some African calibered Weatherby Mark V`s, a Sako M-995 in .338 Lapua Mag and a Kleinguenther K-14 in .300 WM.

How does one go about pricing stuff like this? Most of them are in near new condition.
 
For customs, 50% of what he has invested...:) The rest can be found on gunbroker, etc for comparison...
 
blargon said:
For customs, 50% of what he has invested...:) The rest can be found on gunbroker, etc for comparison...
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Yup 50% is about right. That's what I got on my last custom. I did a little better because a bit of horse trading happened as it was a trade and not a sale. My recommendation is don't build a custom unless you plan to keep it, or want to loose your shirt.
 
Wookie316 said:
Yup 50% is about right. That's what I got on my last custom. I did a little better because a bit of horse trading happened as it was a trade and not a sale. My recommendation is don't build a custom unless you plan to keep it, or want to loose your shirt.
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I know custom rifles that have sold for more new than when originally purchased. Not all custom rifles are created equal and not all commissioned blueprints are either.
 
Your friend owns these guns and wants you to sell them for him. The least he can do is tell you what price he thinks/hopes each should fetch and what he will ultimately let them go for, after however long he is willing to try. Then list them asking his thinks/hopes price and keep bumping them up on a schedule agreed with him and dropping the prices by increments he agrees to until they sell or he wants them withdrawn.
 
chuck nelson said:
I know custom rifles that have sold for more new than when originally purchased. Not all custom rifles are created equal and not all commissioned blueprints are either.
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True, there are some with nice woods that are built more for display than for use. I was thinking more along the lines as a "tool" rifle with your basic upgrades. Stock, match grade barrel, all the machine work done to it. If that is all work you cannot do yourself, you usually do not get out of it what you put into it including parts & labor, unless you find a buyer looking for that exact setup. You may break close to even then.
There are a variety of styles for customs on the spectrum, and I guess it depends what it actually is you have.

Right place right time comes to mind.
 
Wookie316 said:
True, there are some with nice woods that are built more for display than for use. I was thinking more along the lines as a "tool" rifle with your basic upgrades. Stock, match grade barrel, all the machine work done to it. If that is all work you cannot do yourself, you usually do not get out of it what you put into it including parts & labor, unless you find a buyer looking for that exact setup. You may break close to even then.
There are a variety of styles for customs on the spectrum, and I guess it depends what it actually is you have.

Right place right time comes to mind.
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The customs are Mod. 70 factory custom shop orders of the hi-tech kevlar/stainless variety. The Weatherby's and Kleinguenther are factory stock, except possibly for the muzzlebrake on a .378 WBY Mag Mark-V.
 
TheTooner said:
Your friend owns these guns and wants you to sell them for him. The least he can do is tell you what price he thinks/hopes each should fetch and what he will ultimately let them go for, after however long he is willing to try. Then list them asking his thinks/hopes price and keep bumping them up on a schedule agreed with him and dropping the prices by increments he agrees to until they sell or he wants them withdrawn.
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My friend is moving out of the country and has no time to deal with any of this. As a favor to him I accepted they be transferred to me and I`ll sell them for him. This might seem as a lot of trouble but he`s an OK guy and deserves the help. Plus, he`s letting me keep one of his guns for my trouble.
 
Custom shop guns do not suffer from the same price drop that custom guns do, I would price the custom shop guns 20% above the same factory std. gun. This is if they are just changes to plastic stock and/or barrel changed to stainless, it does not pertain to guns with fancy wood/checkering/engraving, etc. Your friend has some very nice guns there, and all should demand some higher prices for used guns.
 
I don't have anything against your friend, and how much trouble it all is entirely a subjective thing between you and him. He wants/needs to sell them. Whether he does it himself or has a good friend who will do it for him, he can come up with some idea of what they are worth to him, and at what point getting them sold becomes more important than getting a certain price for them. I guess that also depends on how long his good friend is willing to hold on to them for him.

For a starting point, I would take the price I would have paid for the standard version of each rifle, and allocate 60-70% of that, then add 50% of the extra cost that each custom feature had added when I purchased them new. Then I would look at that figure and compare it to the current new retail price if the models are currently available. If it seemed my used price was too close to current new prices, I'd adjust it. See if any retailers locally and the bigger online sellers have anything comparable in their used racks. Then I would have a starting price, and carry on as I said in my first post.

So, which one are you getting?
 
I think these custom shop guns are just diff. stocks(kevlar) and maybe SS barrels, not like F-grade Remingtons or some such, and I'm not sure that Joe Average would pay too much of a premium.
 
Wookie316 said:
True, there are some with nice woods that are built more for display than for use. I was thinking more along the lines as a "tool" rifle with your basic upgrades. Stock, match grade barrel, all the machine work done to it. If that is all work you cannot do yourself, you usually do not get out of it what you put into it including parts & labor, unless you find a buyer looking for that exact setup. You may break close to even then.
There are a variety of styles for customs on the spectrum, and I guess it depends what it actually is you have.

Right place right time comes to mind.
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I know some McMillan stocked "working" customs that are not losing value.

I would price the custom shop rifles 20% UNDER what he paid.
 
chuck nelson said:
I know some McMillan stocked "working" customs that are not losing value.

I would price the custom shop rifles 20% UNDER what he paid.
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:agree: McMillan stocks are one of the best but still overpriced. People will still pay it including me because the product is good. Since the addition of the edge, who can blame them when they have a 5 month waiting list.

Can't work without a tool, so really as far as I'm concerned we are using the same terminology here.

My issue was more of a wildcat issue. If it's a caliber no one wants it becomes a buyers market and not a sellers. Some wildcats are quite popular while others are not.

I'm a Lone Wolf it seems when it comes to the 338 Gaillard. Everyone seems to be using a 338 Edge or 338 Lapua AI. The guy who bought my 338 Gaillard is a gunsmith, so he rechambered to 338 Lapua & fluted the barrel then opened the bolt face.

Customs in a common caliber probably hold there value better than customs in weird wildcat chamberings. I had dozens of guys willing to pay my asking price if it had been chambered 338 Lapua.

It worked out great though as I got some gunsmithing in return as part of the deal for a rifle that he was able to taylor to his liking.
 
Hmm, didn't see that one coming. To each his own, but I'd take a custom shop M70 over that anyday...:)
 
That's a good friend, Sasquatch807.

They are still making M70s and still customising them, and I am still not buying them. (A Sako would be wasted on me, too.) I would go for the Enfield.
 
TheTooner said:
That's a good friend, Sasquatch807.

They are still making M70s and still customising them, and I am still not buying them. (A Sako would be wasted on me, too.) I would go for the Enfield.
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I had borrowed it from him a couple of years ago for a shoot. I had worked up some .308 loads with 168 gr. HPBT Noslers and discovered what a sweet shooter this rifle was. That same weekend, my wife used it and beat over 40 other shooters to place first in the Iron Sight class of an informal club shoot. Like you said, I can get a good hunting rifle anywhere, these DCRA's are few and far between.
 
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