How to know the worth of a gun I want to sell
 

Ok guys, I need your help.

I have a S & W .38 special Mod 60 I want to sell. Whats the best way to go about this to get the best price, and what is a really good way, and by good I mean factual, way to find out what it is worth?

I have no idea how to figure out when it was manufactured. It was given to me by a policeman about 7ish years ago. It has numbers on the bottom of the grip and it has numbers on the cylinderl piece when you open it up. I dont know if the Mod 60 that is stamped in it tells anybody what they need to know...but it holds 5 rounds.

If somebody can guide me that would be fantastic and I would really appreciate it.

I'd look on gunbroker.com to see what the same model is going for. That will likely give you some idea of what the gun is worth, understand that you will NEVER get anything close to the real value of the pistol if you sell/trade it to a dealer, or a pawn shop. You will do ok if you sell it to a private party. As far as identifying how old it is, the numbers on the bottom of the grip are likely the serial number, if you give S&W a call they may be able to tell you the year of manufacture.

When new, they go for anywhere from 400-500. You can probably get half to two-thirds of it for a lightly used gun.

edit: just noticed you said 7 years ago, you'll probably get something in the 100-200 range for something older and used.

I talked to one person last nite who is big into guns....(one of Dave's cousins) He told me that because of the safety mech behind the hammer and the fact that its stainless steel, not titanium, that it was manufactured sometime in the 80's and that I shouldnt take less that 300 for it and that I should ask for 350. He said something about the fact that since it IS stainless steel that it holds the value better.

I did look at gunbroker.com and the ones manufactured in 1984 are going (if its the exact same gun) for 300.

I really wish I understood this stuff.

Does anyone have one of those blue books for guns?

A good gun dealer would let you see the blue book value for it.

I know that some older (20-50yrs) model S&W pistols can be quite valuable, but just guessing from the online description 300-350 sounds reasonable to me, especially if you have seen the same model posted elsewhere for this.

Well...I took it to a gun shop on the way home from work, they told me from a private individual I could get 300 very easily for it and that if it were his he'd try for 400. I did find out that its pre 1983 (something about something that was on the barrel) and in perfect condition.

He said he'd only give me 250 for it if I sold it to him, cause of course he wants a good profit.

His suggestion was for me to go to the gun show this weekend and sell it, starting at 400 and working my way down....has anyone here ever tried to do something like that? I dont want to do the wrong thing hehehehe

Some shops will do a consignment if you feel funny going the gunshow route.

Otherwise, a lot of people will just take it and wear a sign and walk around. That way you don't have to bother with a table.

i would definitely do a consignment and set a reserve price