Market for pre-Ban (1994) ARs?

45Badger

45Badger

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I’ve stumbled across a good deal on a pre-ban Colt.

Before I get bored and realize that I need another AR like another hole in my head, what’s the market these days?

With the new ma**h*** laws, it seems that you guys can’t buy any from out of state. What does that leave me as a market to dump this when the time comes?
 
45Badger said:
$900 for competition H Bar Sporter with flat top seems like a reasonably good deal.
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only if you are nostalgically attracted to this rifle, really, and it is all intact as is, with no mods etc.
otherwise, well. it is just an AR now. the old bonanza of 'pre-ban' shit is no more, with those ridiculous $2k+ prices for any old crap.

dunno what those who dumped shitton of money on this stuff are thinking now, really, but what most were saying - like me - that it was inevitable to happen, for all so called pre-ban crap to be level set with all the rest, and it had happened, finally. any gun is evil, no matter of how and when it was made. and there are no safeguards against politicians on the war path against you.
 
New "pre-Ban" is 8/1/24. So any pre-94 stuff is "old crap". As others have mentioned: unless you're feeling nostalgic, there are far better options.
That said, let the dust settled: there are a lot of $3K AR's out there.
 
A friend of mine has New (in factory Colt plastic), Colt Match Target AR-15 HBAR purchased in MA new in 2009, in the original box with Sling. Factory pinned compensator and M4 Stock, A2 Detachable Carry Handle and No Bayonet lug. Never been fired. He is interested in selling it but would like to know the current value in MA.
Thank you.
 
MotorHead said:
A friend of mine has New (in factory Colt plastic), Colt Match Target AR-15 HBAR purchased in MA new in 2009, in the original box with Sling. Factory pinned compensator and M4 Stock, A2 Detachable Carry Handle and No Bayonet lug. Never been fired. He is interested in selling it but would like to know the current value in MA.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Pre 94 are no longer more valuable in Massachusetts as else wear.

Your best bet is to look at completed auctions on Gun Broker.

It's the entire USA where you will find more customers who like collecting old Colts.

In Massachusetts, people who wanted the newest AR's that had pre ban AWB features (flash hider, bayonet lug, collapsible stock) could only have PRE 94. Now, you can get a BRAND NEW AR with those features with a Pre Healey lower (if you believe GOAL) or a PRE 8/1/2024 lower.

No serious modern AR user would want an old Colt unless he is a collector.

Everything is better on a new AR.

It's like collecting 40 year old cars.

Most new cars are better in every way - unless you like to collect of cars.
 
Reptile said:
Pre 94 are no longer more valuable in Massachusetts as else wear.

Your best bet is to look at completed auctions on Gun Broker.

It's the entire USA where you will find more customers who like collecting old Colts.

In Massachusetts, people who wanted the newest AR's that had pre ban AWB features (flash hider, bayonet lug, collapsible stock) could only have PRE 94. Now, you can get a BRAND NEW AR with those features with a Pre Healey lower (if you believe GOAL) or a PRE 8/1/2024 lower.

No serious modern AR user would want an old Colt unless he is a collector.

Everything is better on a new AR.

It's like collecting 40 year old cars.

Most new cars are better in every way - unless you like to collect of cars.
Click to expand...
If only this was true
 
Reptile said:
Lets discuss...

I don't have a dog in this race.

I was looking at Colts for $1,500 years ago on here.

I would not pay $700 at this point unless I had a buyer lined up.

Where do you think I'm wrong in my post?
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I don’t think pre-ban features are legal on post-94 ARs. I understand the “all rules are off” mentality, but I just don’t think the law supports it. I’d be happy to be wrong though
 
Mass-diver said:
I don’t think pre-ban features are legal on post-94 ARs. I understand the “all rules are off” mentality, but I just don’t think the law supports it. I’d be happy to be wrong though
Click to expand...

I think the interpretation advanced by Guida and GOAL, and the AG’s 2016 enforcement notice, necessarily support only pre94 ARs being legal.
 
Reptile said:
Lets discuss...

I don't have a dog in this race.

I was looking at Colts for $1,500 years ago on here.

I would not pay $700 at this point unless I had a buyer lined up.

Where do you think I'm wrong in my post?
Click to expand...
Considering that a brand new M-16 style(HBAR) upper can be had for about $800, I don't think an old Colt HBAR is worth any more than any other old AR. $500 is my limit on any 40+ year old AR
 
RegAvgJoe said:
Guess I’ll keep my “old crap” & buy new & better stuff as soon as I can…. like I intended to do from the start.
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Why buy new? Keep using until it breaks.
Let's be honest: AR rifles have changed very little in the last 50 years. The only improvements one can point are the ones that are direct result of better manufacturing tolerances and machines. My M-16 from back when I was youngling, was uber reliable, considering the abuse it got from me. Don't judge! I was young and dumb. Today I am no longer young...
 
I’ll buy new guns to satisfy my want for them. All my stuff is clean & capable of shooting better than I can & will probably stay that way till after they’ve been passed on to my kids. I like everything I’ve bought. I don’t “need” more or better guns & that won’t stop me from acquiring them anyway.
As far as the topic of the thread “market value” is concerned, my wife will never know they aren’t still investments
 
Reptile said:
Pre 94 are no longer more valuable in Massachusetts as else wear.

Your best bet is to look at completed auctions on Gun Broker.

It's the entire USA where you will find more customers who like collecting old Colts.

In Massachusetts, people who wanted the newest AR's that had pre ban AWB features (flash hider, bayonet lug, collapsible stock) could only have PRE 94. Now, you can get a BRAND NEW AR with those features with a Pre Healey lower (if you believe GOAL) or a PRE 8/1/2024 lower.

No serious modern AR user would want an old Colt unless he is a collector.

Everything is better on a new AR.

It's like collecting 40 year old cars.

Most new cars are better in every way - unless you like to collect of cars.
Click to expand...

As much as I think that all gun laws are infringements, the new law is SO convoluted as to make me think, "yeah, I'm not sure I trust them with that."

I've got 2 pre-94's anyhow. So I'm stacked up already. Happily waiting for the day they are considered overpriced dinosaurs. Hell, I'll be happy when my $25 (at time of purchase) AR mags are worth basically nothing.

All of my AK mags are worth more today in "free" US than what I paid for them back in 99 and 00. (People forget how cheap AK mags were back then. We're talking $5-6 for steel and $10 for Circle-10's.)

I might ahve too many AK mags at this point. ROFL!!!!
 
Pricing for older/collectable/'formerly preban' colt ar's in ma is kinda subjective, I don't think the market has quite settled but there are trends to be seen.
Ch135 rendered pre '94 as basically meaningless in ma or anywhere else but there's still the market premium for 8/1.
This put's the colt brand ar's in a bigger pool of 'prebans' where it's no longer in the top tier, unless maybe from a collector perspective like for very early and/or military marked.

So the hierarchy of value in ma is an equation of if it's 8/1 and is it also special in some other way (ambi, premium brand or older colt in this case).
For an 8/1 'any ar' in ma, from what I've seen in the market these days I'd venture to guess that you could add roughly $300 to the 'base price' that a typical lower would bring in free states. Likely a bit of a premium to that if it's 'high tier' and/or otherwise desirable/rare. This probably holds true for most 8/1 ASF's here... YMMV...
 
not new guy said:
I think the interpretation advanced by Guida and GOAL, and the AG’s 2016 enforcement notice, necessarily support only pre94 ARs being legal.
Click to expand...
Not this sh*t again.

Dude, your user name is "Not New Guy", you have been around since 2009 with over 30K posts.

You have read this conversation 100 times.
 
For me, as already pointed out earlier, pre-94 lowers are not of any interest since I'm not a collector. All of mine are post 2012 production. I also prefer the billet look over old school forged look. Lowers that are forged, but appear billet (like the Sharps Bro's Livewire) are the best of both worlds.

IMO, current production processes and material science makes new products a better choice. Well, if you're not prevented from getting them by the state you live in. Same for magazines. In free America, you can get whatever capacity and material magazine you want. I'd trust a gen 2 or 3 pmag over a 30+ year old plastic mag.
 
paul73 said:
only if you are nostalgically attracted to this rifle, really, and it is all intact as is, with no mods etc.
otherwise, well. it is just an AR now. the old bonanza of 'pre-ban' shit is no more, with those ridiculous $2k+ prices for any old crap.

dunno what those who dumped shitton of money on this stuff are thinking now, really, but what most were saying - like me - that it was inevitable to happen, for all so called pre-ban crap to be level set with all the rest, and it had happened, finally. any gun is evil, no matter of how and when it was made. and there are no safeguards against politicians on the war path against you.
Click to expand...

Good lesson not to derive value from things that only exist cause of stupid government rules. Of course we do this a lot without realizing it.
 
not new guy said:
I think it remains to be seen whether pre-2016 is in fact meaningless in the eyes of The Law/State. GOAL, advised by the self-proclaimed "leading expert on Massachusetts firearms laws and regulations," says:

View attachment 956498
Click to expand...

This is like digging through your own poop looking for something valuable. Probably not worth the effort.
 

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