I'm curious as to wheiher or not investment in high end AR components can be recovered if you have to, or chose to, resell your AR.

Do buyers (in general appreciate the value of billet uppers and lowers, premium quad rails, CHF barrels, etc.?

Buy a factory built Colt.  Don't worry.

This is true.
Use dose play a part though.

Having seen this pop up a few times now ill put my 2 cents in.  I currently work for an FFL so this is how i do it at work for "preowned" firearms.

Take the base 100% new value of your gun subtract 30% and that is what the store might resell the firearm for.  Take that price and subtract another 30% and thats about the cash offer you will receive from the said store.   Now there are other factors like holster wear or cosmetic blemishes on receivers etc etc.

First off, you will NEVER recover the money you've put into your rifle. Consider this before you start down the road to building you dream gun. A factory built rifle will carry more worth if the time comes to sell. With so many people building AR's these days, the question of who built it and did they build it correctly comes into play. A factory built still carries a warrenty as well. The only way you'll recover most of you money is to part it out. Sell it the same way you bought it, piece by piece. Oh, you'll still lose your ass, but you'll at least get the majority back. If you are buying a rifle to sell later, better put your money into a Colt, Knights or Noveske.

Having worked at Steeda for many years and guiding customers through the process of spending many thousands of dollars modifying their cars, I always chuckled when they asked me about "resale value" or "added value" of the modifications. Believe me, those things have far more intrinsic value to you then to others. If you want to maintain the highest possible resale value, then buy the highest quality piece you can to begin with. If you add a bunch of furniture, optics, and modifications you're typically better selling them individually. A stock Colt carbine will have better resale value then a stock entry-level DPMS or RRA because it began life far more valuable.

With a rifle, there are things which work to your advantage as a seller. A car displays mileage...but there's no "round counter" on a rifle. I sometimes peruse the Equipment Exchange and see guys selling complete rifles with "less than 500 rounds through it" for near new value. If you look up some of their posts you see them boasting of using the rifle in tactical classes, or torture testing, or  using thousands of rounds of such-and-such ammo with no FTF's and just shake your head. Were they lying then or are they lying now? Optics suffer the same problem. You'll find dozens of "never mounted" and "new-in-box" optics for sale at new or oftentimes MORE than new pricing. I see lots of used H-1's attempting to be sold for $500 and up when there are no less than three online retailers selling them new for sub-$450 prices. The "less than 500 round" rifle and the "never mounted" optic are the same as those old lines about cars such as "only highway miles" or "driven by 60-year old grandmother" and the ubiquitous "garage-kept." Sure, some may be true but it's statistically impossible that they ALL are.

So what does this mean for you and resale? If you want a quick sale with little to no haggling then you need to price it accordingly. If you want top possible dollar value and extra cash for "never mounted" optics and supposedly minimal round-count rifles then you need to be patient and someone will probably come along sooner or later and buy your story...and your rifle!

As for taking it to a pawn shop or gun store I'd recommend against it. Just as with a vehicle, if you take it to the dealer for a trade-in versus selling it to a private buyer you're going to lose money. This is because a private buyer is purchasing it for their personal use. A dealer is purchasing it to resell it so two parties need to make money...you AND the dealer. So obviously with a limited resale value having to be split between two parties, you're getting less. Hope this helps and the final point of this long-winded diatribe is to BUY WHAT YOU LIKE AND SHOOT THE PISS OUT OF IT!!

Thanks for the detailed reply.  That's helpful.

For the 'Buy a Colt crowd', thanks but if you reread the OP, I wasn't asking which complete rifle I should buy to maximize resale value.

Might suck but that's the way it is. Most people who are buying an AR really don't understand what benefit those high end parts bring and just want to shoot. Those that do understand will probably just do their own.

around here that high end AR won't be worth any more than a run of the mill Bushmaster or DPMS because these are the only brands stores stock and everyone thinks they are the best. I sold a slightly upgraded CMMG with a BCM bcg to a lady at a gun show and she was hesitant to buy at first because she never heard of CMMG or BCM and didn't know if the gun was as good as the stock DPMS at the next table.

I rarely consider resale value when buying or building a "modern day" rifle. I know going in that I will probably never get my money back. Breaking even would be the goal that is rarely achieved. Yes there are some cases I've actually made money, and lots of it, but rarely on a "modern" gun. I've done well buying old milsurp long ago and selling later on but thats a whole different area. As far as my AR15's and AR10s go, I bought/built them without regard as to what I will eventually lose on them. I got them because they filled my then current "desire" to have a weapon like that. I think I have about 10 of them now, all different configurations, some impingment and some pistons, SBR, carbines, rifle, varmit/sniper types etc.  My current yearning is to build one with my own custom engraving on it. Like the others, I know already I will never get my money back on it. That being said though, I've done the best on resale with factory Colt's as long as they are kept in excellent original condition and sold private sale, not to a dealer. Beat on them and scratch them up and the resale value drops off quick. On rifles I've customized, I've done my best by taking off the add-ons and selling them seperate and then selling the rifle with its stock parts back on it, if they are still in my possesion. On the Colt's I've sold in the past, I broke even on each one except for one I actually sold for more than I paid for it. The secret was that all of them were bought used to begin with, I got them for a decent price, they were in like new condition and I kept them that way while I used them so selling them for what I had into them was not to hard to do. I also have some RRA and Armalites but I doubt when I sell those that I will be able to do the same thing as I bought those new. Like it or not, Colt has the name and with it the value. They may not be the best out there anymore but they seem to be the best when it comes to resale. Just compare used gun prices in gun store racks or online.

I don't buy guns to sell, but I have sold a few and I've always made money. I buy quality rifles and would only sell them
if there was a profit to be made. Prices go up and down just like the stock market, according to various reasons. I have also built a few, but I don't ever plan on selling them. The thing to remember is knowing what you intend on doing with your purchase up front and buy accordingly. If you just buy one to use, then use it and expect to loose money if you sell it. It's called depreciation.

I don't buy or build any gun with the intention of reselling it.  I prefer shooters.

Resale would only become a potential issue when finances go dramatically bad (job loss, etc.), or when I kick the bucket.

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So you would offer approx $490 for a used colt 6920?  30% <> 30%

Not from what I've seen. I mean, if you want something because its for your high end build, the go ahead and do it. But the next guy might not want all of the same features you chose, so I wouldn't expect to get as much back out of it when you sell it. Just makes sense.

This is about right. Sell it to a dealer for $490 or sell it yourself for $700. Although we all like are AR's the used market right now does not command a top dollar.

Yes some are worth more than others but used guns are just that.... used guns. Just like this used Colt, for a few hundred dollars more you can buy new and get that new gun smell.

...Nevermind

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Guns are not investments. They don't go up in value.*

Even (especially) Title 2 stuff is near worthless*, even considering it's high initial price point.

There are 3 ways to look at resale value
-Some people want a return on investment (guns are not investment, when adjusting for inflation you won't really ever make anything).
-Some people want to know how much cash they should get back once they get bored and want to get something else (many seem to expect a 1:1 trade on like priced guns).
-Some just want to know which will hold as much value as possible should their kid need a heart transplant (these are more realistic in their appreciation that their heavily fired gun is not worth the new price + the $5 it cost for the krylon they used to rattle can it)




*MGs, extremely limited and now banned imports, and rare prototypes being an outlier in this case.

Only real way to sell a rifle and get top dollar for it is to sell to someone who should not get their hands on that rifle. Plain and simple...... and sad, but true.