Thread: The secondhand rifle market

Fellas

I haven't been looking at the Buy & Sell section for a good while, took a tour through the first 10 pages this morning and noticed a several comments regarding pricing. Sometimes this can get a bit tetchy, but it seems regular forum members are being reasonable and polite. So this got me wondering. What is the current value of a bog standard used hunting rifle in good serviceable condition? And when should we be concerned about barrel life, and how do we test this?

So, can we test opinion and see what the consensus is, if any? Assume the following variables are the same for the listed common hunting rifles: overall "good" condition, therefore no rust, no pitting, crown is clean, rifling is good, throat is clean, in its factory stock which has only minor marks if any, no aftermarket gunsmithing mods other than threaded muzzle (e.g. drilling & tapping or half-cocks), no bases, no optics, no sling, no suppressor. Just the bare rifle.

The round count is of course open to all sorts of lies and trickery - my view is high round count hunting rifles usually have well developed patina and some accidental wear & tear marks and its usually pretty easy to tell. The ones I'm wary of are the hunting rifles used mostly at a range, burning lots of hot reloads. These days with the popularity of overbore cartridges, barrel life can be a big deal, with some cartridges killing a barrel within 1,000 rounds. So for this exercise, assume a couple of hundred rounds max.

The ones I'm most interested in are the ubiquitous... If you feel like playing the game then maybe just copy and paste the list and throw a number next to the ones you've got a good feel for. A price range is good, or be specific, up to you. Cheers.

Tikka T3 / T3x -
Sako 85 -
Howa 1500 (including mini-action) -
Browning X-Bolt -
Ruger American -
Bergara B14 -

Tikka T3 / T3x - $1100-1200

Sako 85 - $ 2000-$2600

Howa 1500 (including mini-action) - $700-$900

Browning X-Bolt - $800-1100

Ruger American - $800-$1000

Bergara B14 - $900 -$1100

At a rough guess depends on caliber and condition

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Tikka $1000-1250 or at a push $1500 if it has a suppressor, in saying that I have sold for as little as $750 for bare rifle
Sako 85 $2000-2500 but again sold for $1500 in past


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A little off topic, but my experience is that add ons really don't have a lot of value. people often want to put their own preference scope on, and maybe they already have suppressors, slings, bipods etc. It seems to be where most of the pricing issues pop up... If you're selling a package deal be prepared to get poor resale value on the add on parts and accessories.
I recently had a rifle listed with accessories and had no luck for months.
I sold the spare mags seperatly, and the scope and spare rings etc and was able to drop the price of the rifle drastically and it sold quickly at that price point.
I got the price I wanted in the end, over 4 sales instead of one.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I believe it's an important consideration when listing a gun for sale.

well seen some silly prices especially 303 maybe put it up and with a price but ask for advice if thats in the ball park - lots of very knowledgably on here will offer advice - saw one not long ago at least $1000 over price never going to sell at that - another a french .22 for $1250 I think it came down to- one here for sale locally same rifle $499 some people either dont know or are just being very unrealistic

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

well seen some silly prices especially 303 maybe put it up and with a price but ask for advice if thats in the ball park - lots of very knowledgably on here will offer advice - saw one not long ago at least $1000 over price never going to sell at that - another a french .22 for $1250 I think it came down to- one here for sale locally same rifle $499 some people either dont know or are just being very unrealistic

Big thing if you wish to sell a second hand firearm DON'T look at the prices GC are asking to gauge todays market, look at the price the brave ones who start at $1 reserve get.

Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

Tikka T3 / T3x - $1100-1200

Sako 85 - $ 2000-$2600

Howa 1500 (including mini-action) - $700-$900

Browning X-Bolt - $800-1100

Ruger American - $800-$1000

Bergara B14 - $900 -$1100

At a rough guess depends on caliber and condition

Interesting. I can buy a new Howa 1500 from Broncos for about $1,200 bare rifle (threaded) and I guess a new Tikka is gonna be $2k. Both standard plastic stocks.

Seems that the secondhand value of Tikkas is under the most pressure from what I've seen. Is that a fair comment?

As you note, caliber is a biggy. .308Win, 7mm-08, .243 or .223 are a much easier sell than some other more exotic chamberings. I'd agree that second hand Tikka's don't command what they used to - people were asking new prices for a used rifle and what's more - they were getting it! Now, not so much. For some reason (marketing maybe) Tikkas really garnered a following in this part of the world that not a lot else seems to have matched. I'm not sure that the new Tikka actually offers that much more over some other brands as well, especially comparing a purpose-built short action to the one size fits all Tikkas.

If I was shopping for a new cannon, I would definitely be looking in the used market first at the moment. With most hunting rifles, you'd be hard pressed to shoot a barrel out with maybe the exception being the magnums as noted a few posts up (and the .243 haha). I'd be more concerned about signs of wear from abusive cleaning of the barrel rather than round count in most calibers.

Bare rifle pricing seems roughly right from what I've seen if anything I would suggest maybe at the higher end? It seems to be the "factory custom" type offerings that get the premium now - Remington Custom Shop etc etc. Standard factory rifles are a slow mover, and if you have a custom built rifle - good luck!

Above seems to answer most of the questions,. With round count / barrel wear- in old 303s ths could be an issue, but with modern hunting rifles, the time taken cleaning and caring for it will make a bigger difference than round count- If you can afford to wear a rifles barrel out with putting bullets down range and you look after it, the ammo cost would probably buy three or four rifles in todays market...most barrels will take several thousand rounds and still shoot well, AS LONG AS THEY ARE LOOKED after and kept clean etc....Seeing as there would be a very limited number of shootrs who would put this many through, wear is less of an issue than care....

Originally Posted by BushChook

A little off topic, but my experience is that add ons really don't have a lot of value. people often want to put their own preference scope on, and maybe they already have suppressors, slings, bipods etc. It seems to be where most of the pricing issues pop up... If you're selling a package deal be prepared to get poor resale value on the add on parts and accessories.
I recently had a rifle listed with accessories and had no luck for months.
I sold the spare mags seperatly, and the scope and spare rings etc and was able to drop the price of the rifle drastically and it sold quickly at that price point.
I got the price I wanted in the end, over 4 sales instead of one.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I believe it's an important consideration when listing a gun for sale.

100%

Originally Posted by BushChook

A little off topic, but my experience is that add ons really don't have a lot of value. people often want to put their own preference scope on, and maybe they already have suppressors, slings, bipods etc. It seems to be where most of the pricing issues pop up... If you're selling a package deal be prepared to get poor resale value on the add on parts and accessories.
I recently had a rifle listed with accessories and had no luck for months.
I sold the spare mags seperatly, and the scope and spare rings etc and was able to drop the price of the rifle drastically and it sold quickly at that price point.
I got the price I wanted in the end, over 4 sales instead of one.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I believe it's an important consideration when listing a gun for sale.

Definitely the case in my limited experience. The two most recent rifles I've (partly) sold were in aftermarket chassis with all the bling. Both were broken up and sold as components in individual sales - chassis, bases, fancy slings, scopes, etc, all on TradeMe btw at silly prices tho' I sure wasn't complaining. I made more from the components combined than I paid for the whole rifles secondhand on here, and I still have the two barreled actions, so they ended up essentially "free". So yes, agree 100%.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Interesting. I can buy a new Howa 1500 from Broncos for about $1,200 bare rifle (threaded) and I guess a new Tikka is gonna be $2k. Both standard plastic stocks.

Seems that the secondhand value of Tikkas is under the most pressure from what I've seen. Is that a fair comment?

I would say yes based on their retail price inflation it’s overtaken everything to my knowledge by %increase sakos haven’t raised that much. I guess howa could have wasn’t long ago a howa1500 with a can and cheap scope was $1000 package but bare rifle tikkas have certainly shot up a lot for a factory muzzle thread?

Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

Tikka T3 / T3x - $1100-1200

Sako 85 - $ 2000-$2600

Howa 1500 (including mini-action) - $700-$900

Browning X-Bolt - $800-1100

Ruger American - $800-$1000

Bergara B14 - $900 -$1100

At a rough guess depends on caliber and condition

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Pretty sound numbers. Definitely a buyer's market for some makes and models

tikka definitely new price plus 15%

Limited market too with many people holding off on registration and most feeling poorer than a few years ago