Savage rifles worth more in pieces?

[grouse]

Can someone explain how a savage rifle is worth more in pieces than assembled?

[Stumpkiller]

The "Henry Ford" concept. He once suggested he could give cars away and make a good living just selling the parts to maintain and repair them.

As a former cost analyst for various production firms I can tell you the bother and nuisance of keeping a record and inventory of parts for past and current production models is not cheap. They're always in the way and prone to loss or damage. And if you want to make a few extra you have to shut down a process, tool up for that part, run the parts to spec, and then store them(?). It's a nuisance. Floor space is expensive for most operations.


Parts out your lawnmower sometime. It would cost six times what a complete mower did/does.

[Robinhood]

It is kind of relative. Savage rifles have become a dime a dozen. Many models lose 1/4th their value when you open the box. Over the years items like a metal DBM, a 308 hog hunter barrel or the H-S stocks have increased the value of parts over complete rifle. Some guys have opportunities to be in contact with people who may have made a impulse buy and they sell there used stuff dirt cheap making resale of parts profitable.

Folks buying the Cabellas specials and use the rebate to get a gun for less than 250. Then sell the barrels for the cost of a inexpensive prefit(over $150), the action for $300 and other parts for change. If you have been around long enough you get to know who the guys are because you see them selling on every gun forum there is.


On a side note this is the reason many forums are starting to charge to sell. I can't say that I blame them since somebody else is making profit on their forum. Jim keeps an eye out and keeps it to a minimum. If you run a business, the forum should get something in return.

[VAFISH]

A lot of cars can be parted out for more than they are worth as a whole car. The ones that get me are the guys buying the new Savage rifles from Cabelas and pulling them apart and selling the parts for a profit.

[RustyShackle]

Well you figure they are probably making $100+ from every rifle parted out. That’s easy money if there is a market for the parts. It just requires the upfront cost to purchase each rifle. And the time to go pick them up, store them, dismantle them, and then ship the parts.

[J.Baker]

It is kind of relative. Savage rifles have become a dime a dozen. Many models lose 1/4th their value when you open the box. Over the years items like a metal DBM, a 308 hog hunter barrel or the H-S stocks have increased the value of parts over complete rifle. Some guys have opportunities to be in contact with people who may have made a impulse buy and they sell there used stuff dirt cheap making resale of parts profitable.

Folks buying the Cabellas specials and use the rebate to get a gun for less than 250. Then sell the barrels for the cost of a inexpensive prefit(over $150), the action for $300 and other parts for change. If you have been around long enough you get to know who the guys are because you see them selling on every gun forum there is.


On a side note this is the reason many forums are starting to charge to sell. I can't say that I blame them since somebody else is making profit on their forum. Jim keeps an eye out and keeps it to a minimum. If you run a business, the forum should get something in return.

This pretty much nails it on the head, though there's one more aspect that Robinhood didn't mention and that is that it's easier to sell a lot of cheaper items than it is to sell one high priced item - especially something like a rifle where all the components need to match what the potential buyer is looking for. This is why you don't see barrel and stock makers (or custom rifle makers) building barrels and stocks in advance and keeping them on the shelf - too many options and variables. Vendor has 20 stocks on the shelf in 5 different colors, but the customer wants the one color he doesn't have. Or he has a half dozen 1-8" twist 6mm BR pre-fit barrels ready to ship but the customer wants a 1-12" twist.

Parting the gun out makes it easier for people to get exactly what they want/need without having to buy other parts they don't want. Put a complete rifle up for sale for $400 and no one will give it a second look because it's the wrong caliber or they can get it cheaper somewhere else with a discount code or rebate. Part that same rifle out and you'll sell the action and barrel for fairly quick for the same money and you can either toss the synthetic stock and cheap scope or try to get a few more bucks out of them. This is even more true on custom builds that are highly personalized as odds are very slim that there's someone else out there that wants the exact same thing as you built with all the same components.

Actions aren't moving nearly as well these days as they used to though for a couple of reasons. Robinhood touched on one with everyone buying the Cabelas 12FV's and parting them out to make a buck has pretty much flooded the market with Savage actions. Now factor in the plethora of new custom actions that are coming out on what seems like a weekly basis for cheaper and cheaper prices and the demand for Savage actions decreases. Everyone and their brother seems to be making custom actions these days and the all claim theirs is the best new thing since sliced bread even though most of them are mechanically identical.

[VAFISH]

There is one other reason.

There is a large market for the parts because the rifle is so easy to assemble and disassemble. For a rifle like the Remington 700 folks will maybe buy used stocks, there is a small market for used barrels but most people going to the trouble of putting a barrel on a 700 will buy a new one. By the time you pay a gunsmith to re-barrel one you might as well spend another couple hundred and put a real nice barrel on it. And unless they are having a custom rifle built usually don't change bolt head size to accommodate caliber.

Just like with AR15's any one can take a Savage 10/110 apart with a few simple tools so you have a greater number of people willing to buy the parts and mess around with the rifle. It's so easy to change parts that people are willing to buy a used or take off barrel to try out a new caliber.

So it's Business 100 Supply and Demand. There are people that want the parts creating the demand.

[Deadshot2]

One of these days we'll see the store that sells rifles that are built to order, ordering one day and returning to pick up the next (or same day if ordered earlier enough. Having a barrel nut makes the assembly process much more simple and with the growing use of a chassis rather than conventional stock, assembling a rifle really doesn't require a gunsmith as we knew them a decade or more ago.

Picture a store (either brick and mortar or online) where you select the action, trigger, barrel, stock/chassis, optic, and other accessories from a "Laundry List". The order goes to the shop where the "technician" selects the parts you selected and assembles them. Fire one or two rounds down the test tunnel and pack for shipment to your FFL (or counter pickup). No reason why a company like this couldn't offer selections from all the popular stocks, chassis, actions, barrels (as long as they are secured with a nut), and not be restricted to whatever some marketing department decided on at the company that makes the action.

Just think of the number of unneeded parts that would NOT be offered up for sale on forums or just piled in the corner of one's work room.

[LoneWolf]

^^^ It's a great idea, but you'll still wait for parts just like every other shop out there. And it will double or triple the cost of any Savage because someone is going to be paid to select parts and put it together.

[J.Baker]

^^^ It's a great idea, but you'll still wait for parts just like every other shop out there. And it will double or triple the cost of any Savage because someone is going to be paid to select parts and put it together.

Not to mention the HUGE overhead to have all those pre-fit barrels in different contours, twist rates and chamberings on hand ready to screw onto an action. And don't forget the multitude of stocks they would have to warehouse as well because everyone wants a different color or style or features/options.

[Stumpkiller]

One of these days we'll see the store that sells rifles that are built to order, ordering one day and returning to pick up the next (or same day if ordered earlier enough. Having a barrel nut makes the assembly process much more simple and with the growing use of a chassis rather than conventional stock, assembling a rifle really doesn't require a gunsmith as we knew them a decade or more ago.

Assemble? They'll just speak the options needed and the 3-D metal printer will create one while you wait.

'Course by then there will be nothing to hunt but rats, raccoons and cockroaches, and the ranges will be indoors with polymer bullets only allowed; so why bother?