How do people pay for machine guns?

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  • Doug Hile

    Active Member
    Aug 21, 2010
    146
    bottom of St Marys
    The Sad Part,,, and the Maddening Part of this whole conversation, IS, that it took nowhere NEAR that kind of money to initially produce these guns.
     

    JTH20

    Active Member
    Feb 18, 2013
    536
    MD
    The Sad Part,,, and the Maddening Part of this whole conversation, IS, that it took nowhere NEAR that kind of money to initially produce these guns.

    An M4 lower from FN or Colt probably cost .gov a few hundred at most.
     

    rsideout

    Senior Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 11, 2009
    6,707
    MD - Capital Region
    Then you wait and watch and you be ready to lay out the money the moment the right deal comes.

    Some examples:

    A friend bought a FN FNC because he could not afford a M16. He paid $8.5K for it and sold it after shooting it for a few years for $15K. He then bought a $20K M16. This stepped approach really helps as his FNC was going up in value at an even greater rate than the M16 during that period.

    Trading up is good way to go once you start collecting. I traded 3 MGs that I rarely used any more for one that I really wanted. I traded an FNC, a Reising M50, a Spitfire, and Cash$$$ for an MP5K (w/Registered Sear). I already had other HK guns which could be hosts so it was an easy decision.

    Pretty much all of my FA purchases have been based on a good deals available at that time, more so than searching for a particular gun. Or more recently it has been an NFA item that is rare, seldom comes up for sale, and I just needed to act quickly.
     

    MaxVO2

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    An M4 lower from FN or Colt probably cost .gov a few hundred at most.

    *****The above is most likely true. I've seen videos produced in countries like Pakistan where they had fairly modest machine shops producing the stampings and other components for AK-47's as well as other rifles that were select fire and the prices were all less than I think $300 or so. They are probably not the best quality rifles but they do shoot well enough from the videos that they don't seem to jam, and are at least accurate enough to hit a barn at 100 yards.

    When I went to Argentina, there were lots of select fire rifles out in La Pampa and folks would just be out shooting supressed FN-Fals, and some other brands made for the Argentine military that found there way into civilian hands. Argentina has Buenos Aires, which has pretty strict firearm restrictions but outside of that city it is amazing what you can find. Lots of really esoteric rifles and suppressors made from industrial tractor oil filters, etc..

    Really good beef and Parillada as well. Let not forget the beef. OMG, delicious. Shoot full auto during the day, and have the best steaks and chops, and ribs you have ever had at night. Eat like a king for less than $20.

    Really nice looking women in Buenos Aires as well. Lots of blonde and blue eyed beauties with uhhh enhancements. Nice Catholic girls.. That can shoot.
     

    IMBLITZVT

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 20, 2009
    3,799
    Catonsville, MD
    The Sad Part,,, and the Maddening Part of this whole conversation, IS, that it took nowhere NEAR that kind of money to initially produce these guns.

    Most collectables are much more expensive then their production cost. Look at Lever guns and Colt SAAs and Lugers.... and there is no NFA driving the costs up on guns like this, yet many bring higher than MG prices. Actually the NFA may be holding down prices on many of the historical early MGs like Maxims... The Maxim and Gatling are 1 generation apart, yet the Gatling bring 10X the price of most Maxims. Even a repro Gatling tends to bring more than most Maxims. Sure your Mac or M16 conversion will take a huge hit but many of the C&R MGs might see a big jump in price with an enlarged group of buyers and no/minimal increase of supply.

    I really want one badly and even considered going gigolo for the coin...but my wife just poo-pooed the idea.

    Why is your wife in this conversation? My wife does not ask me if its ok if she buys some expensive girls stuff...
     

    woodline

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 8, 2017
    1,947
    I don’t have a lot of interest in machine guns beyond kind of wanting a belt fed because I think the NFA is unconstitutional and I should be able to buy one in a store if I want one, but if you want to get into them you need to decide what’s important to you. I’ve known people who probably own $10k+ in .22lr plinkers because they can’t pass up a cheap .22 rifles and have been buying them for 15 or 20 years. Most of us own a lot of firearms that we don’t shoot regularly. If I offload everything historic that I own, along with the ammo I’ve collected for those firearms, I could probably buy a low end machine gun or a decent night vision setup. I know many on here own a lot more than I do. That doesn’t even cover those with really expensive hobbies like classic cars or motorcycles. If that does not describe you and you can’t get it out of your head, spend a few years investing into the stock market instead of buying random stuff and see where that gets you. Most likely by the time you have enough saved up to buy a machine gun, you won’t want to lose out on investment returns, but you can keep it in your back pocket as an alternative investment the next time the market goes bear on us.

    At any rate, I’m happy with what I’ve got for now, but if you really want to own a machine gun, you can make it happen.
     

    ken792

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 2, 2011
    4,480
    Fairfax, VA
    *****The above is most likely true. I've seen videos produced in countries like Pakistan where they had fairly modest machine shops producing the stampings and other components for AK-47's as well as other rifles that were select fire and the prices were all less than I think $300 or so. They are probably not the best quality rifles but they do shoot well enough from the videos that they don't seem to jam, and are at least accurate enough to hit a barn at 100 yards.

    The Pakistan market is interesting and they also have quirks resulting in wildly varying costs. A Pakistani collector I spoke to said they don’t consider the $150-300 AKs all that shootable except for locally made blanks and possibly some locally made ammo. Instead, they prize original foreign factory made AKs, which go for $2-3k.

    There’s also the issue of permits there. Licensing can be national or or provincial only. The prohibited bore license, whether to own a $150 handmade AK or a $3k real AK, only costs about $70 for the application fee, but will rack up about $1k in bribes. I believe the jurisdictions even issuing prohibited bore licenses currently do so on a quota system, so it takes some effort to get to the front of the line. It’s an expensive pursuit if someone actually wants to be 100% legal.

    Various NGOs estimate that the vast majority of firearm licenses in Pakistan are actually fake, so it’s not that hard to bypass the expensive licensing. Lurking around on the Pakistani gun sale groups on Facebook, I see a lot of people selling “all Pakistan licenses.”
     

    IMBLITZVT

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 20, 2009
    3,799
    Catonsville, MD
    Big difference between an expensive purse and something which costs as much as a car

    Yeah the expensive purse will end up in the Good Will pile and the MG will grow in value.

    True story: I bought my MG08 Maxim for $8K, mostly all paid with selling other gun stuff. I got it shipped to the door. I brought it in and set it up. I thought, you know, you don't want to even seem like you are hiding this from the wife. So I went up and say "you want to see what I got in the mail?" She said, not really. I said "ok" and that was that.

    However it does go both ways. When I got laid off and my car died, my wife was very worried about how we were going to pay for it. I said I got it. I then bought a car with no money out of our savings. She was wondering how I did it. I told her I sold off some gun stuff. She had a new respect for that back up source of income if the needs are great.

    ... Most likely by the time you have enough saved up to buy a machine gun, you won’t want to lose out on investment returns, but you can keep it in your back pocket as an alternative investment the next time the market goes bear on us...

    Like most, I have a good amount of money in the stock market. I have never once considered that I would rather have my MG money in the market but I have many times considered I would have rather had that money in a MG...

    You are of course correct, buying a MG as strictly an investment is probably not the way to go looking for returns. However the amount of fun and stability you get with it I think much more compares to owning Gold and Silver. Its not a high return but its not AIG either...
     

    teratos

    My hair is amazing
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Jan 22, 2009
    59,775
    Bel Air
    One of the greatest things is when you are showing your collection to a non-gun person and they jokingly ask you where your machine guns are. Never gets old.
     

    IMBLITZVT

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 20, 2009
    3,799
    Catonsville, MD
    One of the greatest things is when you are showing your collection to a non-gun person and they jokingly ask you where your machine guns are. Never gets old.

    Actually I have to explain that some of mine are not actually Machine guns...

    The actual machine gun really are hard to find...

    GRoomPan (1).jpg
     

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