The Firearm Blog

The Blue Book of Gun Values is the definitive source of gun values. It is immensely useful if you are buying or selling used firearms.

If you do not do a lot of buying or selling, and do not want to purchase a US$30 book every year, then the Blue Book of Gun Values online database may be very useful.

A lot of the Blue book content is available for free. The modern/popular manufacturer, such as Marlin and Ruger, information costs $10.

The database is available here.

This Is Awesome!

AM15 full auto UPPER RECEIVER allows you to shoot slightly modified.22LR American 180 drums, in either 165 round, 220 round or 275 round capacity, on your M16 host receiver. The full auto AM15 upper receiver conversion is a BATF APPROVED OPEN BOLT .22LR rimfire caliber conversion that ejects through the AR mag well.

It uses fire control parts that are similar to Colt Light Machine Gun parts, which will be provided with the AM15 conversion. The AM15 conversion at this time will only work on registered receiver sear drilled M16 lowers. We are working on reliable solutions for owners of drop in auto sears.

Check out the videos

Hat Tip for the 2nd post in a row to Traction Control (via SaysUncle). Check out the Traction Control blog, its a good read.

Two years ago, an M16 automatic rifle could fetch $5,400 or more in the Palestinian West Bank. Now buyers at Hebron’s clandestine gun market are asked to pay more than double.

Four months after Islamist Hamas routed secular Fatah in the Gaza Strip, fears that clashes between the Palestinian rivals could erupt in the West Bank and uncertainty ahead of a U.S.-led peace conference are fuelling a scramble for guns.

Dealers at the gun market in Hebron, the West Bank’s most populous city, say weapons sales have jumped by up to 70 percent since Hamas took control of Gaza, while buoyant demand and supply bottlenecks due to tighter security have inflated prices.

In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, every bullet for an AK-47 rifle costs 35 Israeli shekels, or more than $8. In Hamas-controlled Gaza, an AK-47 bullet goes for 4-6 Israeli shekels, $1-1.50.

I have heard it said that gun prices reflect upcoming conflict….

Also, I wonder where they get M16 or AR-15’s from.

More here.
Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

Bitter, on this blog entry, had this to say about my attempt to find out who pays too much for firearms:

A) The laws aren’t consistent. If only members of the military and law enforcement can purchase firearms, it’s hardly an open market.
B) Culturally, it’s not a big thing in most other countries and that will also influence the market.
C) There is no such thing as “paying too much,” and important premise in his attempt to study prices

I am going to try to answer her 3rd point. I will try not to make this a full economics lesson. Here is an open market for guns, with no government regulation:

Ignore the diagram on the right. I have only included it for the sake of completeness.

This shows a perfect competitor, a gun dealer named Steve, and the local gun market.

The S curve shows supply. As price increases suppliers/producers are willing to produce more.

The D curve shows demand. As price decreases consumers are willing to purchase more.

The eventual price is the agreed price between suppliers and consumers. In other words where Supply=Demand (S=D). This is called the equilibrium point.

The point P is how much you should be paying for a gun.

Here is the market for a gun dealer after government regulation and compliance costs:

For anyone who has studied economics at a college level, this is showing the long term effect, I do realize that negative economic profit will be made in the short term.

As you can see above, supply decreases from S to S1 therefore driving up the cost

On the unregulated market you would pay P. Now you are paying P1.

I am sure I have made some mistakes on these diagrams. I am not trying to blog a course in microeconomics. I will leave that to the college professors!

To answer Bitter’s other points:

A) I am looking at what consumers, not the military, pay in other countries. I am really trying to find out how much government interference there is in other countries.

B) Yes, demand certainly influences price, you are right about that. Some countries will import more than others which will in turn decrease the costs per item.

I may do another post showing how world price effects gun supply and prices.

I hope that I have made sense.

This is why I am a big supporter of small government and the deregulation of all things, including firearms.

If you found this post interesting I highly recommend reading The Undercover Economist (non affiliate link).

I have been having problems with my blog and posting comments sometimes does not work. If it does not work for you please try it again.

Hi Gun bloggers and gun enthusiasts,

I am trying to compile a “Global Gun Price Index” to see how the price of firearms compare in different parts of the world.

If you are able to help me or have suggestions please feel free to email me. My email address is on the top left sidebar of my blog (The Firearm Blog) or you can post a comment on the blog.

Unfortunately I only speak english. Finding the gun prices of non english speaking countries is not easy. Nor is it easy in foreign english speaking countries as I do not know the best online gun stores to get prices from.

So far I have been researching the Remington .308 700 SPS (blued). I chose the 700 SPS because I thought it would be a common gun found world wide. I would like to expand this to many other types of guns such as the Mossberg 500 shotgun, Ruger 10/22 rifle and Glock 17 pistol.

I have found prices for the Remington 700 SPS rifle in the following countries:

• USA
• Canada
• New Zealand
• Australia
• UK

Here is a graph showing my findings for the Remington 700 SPS .308 (blued):

Below is a picture of the spreadsheet I have been using. I will be uploading the actual spreadsheet soon. I am busy tidying it up and may use Zoho to host it so anyone can edit it. Once I upload it I will update this page.

If you have catalogs, knowledge of overseas gun websites or know people in another country who can look up prices then please let me know.

I am especially interested in the following countries:

• South Africa (an english speaking country but I could not find any prices online!)
• EU Member States
• Russia
• Israel
• Middle Eastern countries

Any information I received and publish on the “Gun Price Index” will be freely available to the entire online gun community under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License so that everyone benefits.

Thanks for any help.

UPDATE: Unfortunately although many people have wished me luck none have been able to give me gun prices. If you are able to supply me gun prices from your country please contact me.