In the not too distant past our sources for firearms values were limited to who gave them to us, who was trying to sell them to us or folk lore. Since new and used firearms and related items are such a big business, new models are created every other day, and the passing of time adds to the old models on a continuing basis, we are fortunate to have good sources of information to give us a guide to current values. We are doubly fortunate that most of these sources are updated annually.

The guide by which all others are judged is the Blue Book of Gun Values, now in its twenty-eighth edition. The newly revised edition includes the new 2007 makes and models, in addition to updating the values of modern and antique guns. Among this issue’s 2, 080 pages is the enlarged Photo Percentage Grading System with 80 pages showing all of the commonly encountered firearms condition factors. Every percentage of conditions for pistols, rifles, and shotguns is pictured in detail. NRA condition factors are also shown in full color. This allows us to accurately grade the condition of most firearms. The most important gauge of value for antique or used firearms is condition.

The new Blue Book contains over 325,000 firearms prices and over one million words of content. Handy sections include How to Use this Book; Anatomy of a Handgun, Shotgun, Rifle; Buying or Selling; and dealing with our friends at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The section on serial numbers allows us to find the date of manufacture of many firearms. When the guy says, “This was carried by Custer” and the book shows it was made in 1962 you will know it is time to pass on that great deal.

The twenty-eighth edition Blue Book of Gun Values is available by phone at 800-877-4867 or online at www.bluebookinc.com.

An excellent cross-reference for your library is the 2007 Standard Catalog of Firearms. This is the seventeenth edition of this large format catalog. This one covers pricing for the world’s commercial firearms manufactured between 1836 and 2006.

Here we have 26,000 models of firearms that are described in six grades of condition and 115,000 prices. The greatest attribute of this big book is that it contains 7,500 photographs so we can say, “So that is what one of those looks like.” An interesting section is the Introduction to Firearms Auctions offering some insight to live and internet auctions.

Another section, Factors that Add to the Value of a Firearm takes a look at scopes and sights, condition of wood, previous ownership and potential historical association. Thumbing through the Firearms Trade Names we discover that Long Tom was the name of a shotgun sold by Sears and that some of the creative names applied to cheap pocket revolvers made through the years include Little Giant, Gut Buster, Dead Shot, Red Hot, Bang Up and Plug Ugly.

Since today’s purchase is tomorrow’s antique your interest may lie in what is new. For the pistol packers the busy Gun Digest publishers bring us Handguns 2007.

This nineteenth addition catalogs both commercial and semi-custom handguns and covers cartridge, blackpowder and airguns. They include choices of add-ons such as laser sights and grips. Of special note is the expanded and updated reference section on firearms laws by state and the NRA’s current Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Guide. The best of this book are the articles by some of the country’s most noted firearms writers. It is most helpful when we can read someone’s opinion about what it is like to drop the hammer on one of these items before we commit to a purchase.

Some of the features are Revolvers, Single-Shots and Others by John Taffin; Service Pistol Shootout by Chuck Taylor; Handgun Hunting: Guns, Gear and More by George Dvorchak, Jr.; Handgun Ammunition, Ballistics and Components by Holt Bodinson.

Most firearms fans I know are also knife nuts. You may be sitting there wondering about the value of Grandpappy’s Barlow knife or Uncle Billie’s three-blade tobacco knife. Blade’s Guide to Knives and Their Values can help.

Billed as the “complete handbook of knife collecting” it is nearly six hundred pages of more knife information than most of us have seen. There are thousands of illustrations and descriptions to help identify and date knives. There are tips from the experts on starting a collection and displaying blades and some very important information on care and preservation. The section on learning about fakes could come in very handy.

This book goes way back as demonstrated by the section on Masters of the London Cutlers Guild from 1584 to 1922. Special sections such as United States Military Fixed Blade Knives and the History of Bowie Knives make for some interesting reading. They cover everything from America’s great custom knifemakers to letter openers and from scout knives to whittlers.

The 2007 Standard Catalog of Firearms, Handguns 2007, Blade’s Guide to Knives and Their Values and many other special interest books may be checked out and ordered from Krause Publications by phone at 800-258-0929 and online at www.krausebooks.com.

Reprint courtesy of Texas Outdoors Journal