blue book of gun values anyone?

[Adam Lee]

Friends,

I am looking for help here in determining what the most recent "blue book" values are for a particular Stevens shotgun.

Stevens Model 520 12-gauge pump (early double hump) and Stevens Model 520A 12-gauge pump (later single hump) and the condition range/dollar value spread is what I'm interested in.

This has nothing to do with any 520's I may be discussing with fellow forum members here on this site. A local guy to me seems to think that his 50% condition early 520 with extra barrel half is either $900, $600, or best offer. I think he is high on dope, but I wanted to be sure.

Again, notwithstanding any discussions I may have with fellow forum members I felt that in 50% the best I'd do would be a fraction of what he is telling me.

thanks - Adam

[imfuncity]

I believe you are correct on value, and as the Blue Book indicates the "store guns" really have lilttle collector interest. At his price, he'll be enjoying his for a long time - then his wife can give it away after he is gone.

[Roger]

Hey Adam, the value in Iowa is still pretty low for the Stevens 520/ western field m-30 s. You can buy 12 guages in reasonable shape for less than 200.00 .However they aren't on every street corner either. Twenty's and 16s bring a little more money,but not a huge amount. The military stamped versions do bring quite a bit more money,but I would never want to pay a huge amount for any of them. A major gundealership here in the des Moines area just purchased a military collection from an old school collector. There were 2 Stevens 520 riot shotguns, military stamped, in this collection. One sold for 500.00 and the other sold for 400.00 .This was only 2-3 weeks ago. I don't know what the dealer paid the guy for them,but they normally work on a 30-35% deal. So you can do the math. These weren't mint condition examples,but they were both pretty good considering they were ww2 era units.
Thanks for your time,
Roger

[Adam Lee]

thanks guys.

I've been surfing auction and sale sites for a while, never in my life did a generic, worn, 50% Stevens or Westernfield or Sears version of a 520/620 cost more than 250 bucks - most can be found for under 200 with patience.

Well, there has been lots of crazy false inflation of all gun prices by those capitalizing on the recent gun scare. Sad that it is not due to supply and demand in many cases, like it has been for all the AR-15 guys, but just those who think any gun is now automatically doubled in value for some unknown reason.

I think this guy is just one of those dudes capitalizing on the buying frenzy.

Personally, I don't allow the political nonsense to faze me. When the dust settles, I'll still have gun happiness - plenty of things that go BOOM will still be around.

Adam