Gun Boxes

[aaaaa]

For all who want to throw out their gun boxes, I will take them. I will even pay the shipping, but please make sure the gun is in the box when you ship it.

 

[kcofohio]

I keep em and I'm more inclined to buy used gun if it has the box and papers

That's me also. If someone I don't know well enough, I think without the original box and articles, there is more of a chance the gun was stolen.

 

[lightman]

Thanks for all of the replys everyone! I never expected this thread to go 4 pages!

 

[Old Dog]

I see a lot of vintage firearms with the box. Very questionable. The old timers didn’t care about the box.

I was shocked at how much old S&W, Colt, even SIG boxes are going for on the internet market. There's a thriving market for the boxes, and I've seen more than one box that was altered to make it look like the original box a gun came in... There are some clever entrepreneurs who actually forge labels for S&W and Colt boxes.

 

[jdsingleshot]

Have never bought a new gun. Only 3 of my dozen are still in original configuration. So I have saved no boxes. But I have made some....

 

[Jimbo80]

[QUOTE="tark]With some of the older S&W boxes you throw away a lot more than that. Some of them bring hundreds of dollars, if in good shape, as stand alone items.[/QUOTE]

Funny thing happened today while I was reading this thread. A friend who inherited a Remington 572 Fieldmaster had asked for help with valuation and sale. I told her to bring it by and I would place an ad on the local gun site and handle the sale for her. She had a bag of gun stuff with her (99% trash) that included this S&W box. The pistol is long gone.

 

[lightman]

Have never bought a new gun. Only 3 of my dozen are still in original configuration. So I have saved no boxes. But I have made some....


View attachment 1069164 View attachment 1069165 View attachment 1069166

Those look nice!

 

[Handshaker]

For me it depends on what it is and if the box is plastic or cardboard. A smith and wesson m@p off the shelf pistol or a standard 12 ga shot gun? no, its not worth anything in reality. The specialty guns to collect is another story. If its a plastic box it always gets saved.

 

[tubeshooter]

S&W just answered me:

"Unfortunately, we no longer have accessories or boxes available for a firearm of that vintage."

 

[The Bushmaster]

In 1966 I purchased a Colt SAA (I still have it). It came in the Stage Coach box. It seems that the box is almost as valuable as the Colt. Sure wish I had saved that box.

 

[shoobe01]

Always keep everything. Every sticker, every BS promotion, the cardboard over-sleeve, everything.

Some day all these will be sold. When I sell a gun (or scope, thermal imager, etc etc) I get top dollar by having clear and complete photos and descriptions, and by having all the stuff it came with. It adds value and implies you are a trustworthy, and scrupulous individual so the item is as it says, likely maintained well, etc.

Aside from buying bad guns, for much of my shooting life I had a serious budget so had to sell something to buy something else. More often than not, by buying carefully and selling like this, I profited off each sale. Often, a lot.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

I am just curious about who saves the boxes that your new guns come in? We are looking at a move in the near future and in the process of cleaning out the attic I ran across several gun boxes. I know that a lot of buyers like having the box.

So, who saves them and who don't? Whats your thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for any replys.

Heh! Me and a buddy were just talking about this the other day and how some people seem to think that having the original box a gun came in justifies a higher selling price!

While this may be true for some guns, it's not for many in my opinion.

(My opinion doesn't mean the market agrees with me, mind you.)

If said "box" is nothing more than a cardboard box, it's of no practical use for me. Unless, of course, one thinks of it as cockroach food and a space hog.

If it's a practical carry/storage/display case, then I'll keep it. And I'd consider a nominal increase in the price of a gun I'm considering buying because of that...but not over the current market value for a similar case.

If you think you can make a buck on it...keep it. Far be it for me to say one should turn down money. But weigh that with the other factors like storage space, fire hazards, bug problems, amount of potential profit, etc.

How much value does that extra $25 have for you over the years you're going to own any given gun?

 

[tubeshooter]

Well - if you don't have room for it then you don't have room for it, and it's fine.
And true that cardboard boxes probably won't mean much in the big picture.


But on the other side of the coin... you had room for the gun itself, didn't you?

 

[.308 Norma]

But on the other side of the coin... you had room for the gun itself, didn't you?

There WAS room in our gun safes for every gun my wife and I have. There would NOT have been room in our gun safes for any more guns if those safes were already more than half filled with gun boxes.
As I said in my post, empty cardboard gun boxes go in "the corner of gun boxes" in the basement, and empty hard, plastic gun boxes go on the extra shelves I installed in a couple of our clothes closets. Most of our guns are in our gun safes. And no, there is not room in those safes for gun boxes.

 

[tubeshooter]

Sounds like you found room for everything, then.

I didn't say anything about safes...