Does stippling a gun add or decrease value for resale?

99.9% of modifications decrease the resale value. That includes "upgrades" like stippling, triggers, cerakote, springs, etc.
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Really? 99.9%? That's a lot! Not 87.8%?

A gun with night sights, an Apex trigger, extra mags, well done stippling and the original parts kept along with the original box and papers could very well bring you closer to the original price of the gun and possibly over it. With used guns you don't get close to the original price without extras and some quality additions to the piece. While some will turn away others, in the market for a used piece will look it over and pay more for the extras and the work if they want it and if the work is well done and the gun passes it's tests.

Getting close to the original price is a gain. A used gun that has been worked on in many cases exceeds the price of used guns without it in many cases. Obviously not all. Knowledge of firearms and what is and is not desirable and useful makes the difference.

There are gradations here and exceptions to set "rules". It's knowing the exceptions that makes the difference.

tipoc
 
tipoc,
I don't know many collectors but the few that I do know don't even own glocks. They do have some beautiful rifles and pistols. some of the most valued guns look like they were abused in their first life and they sit in glass in rooms where the only light is artificial because sunlight will further degrade these relics. lots of guns may become collectible by folks who are attracted to that type of gun make or model but it is unlikely that those guns will be around in 100 years. The real collectibles have already been around for 80 years or more.
 
There are Glock collectors and H&K collectors. Also folks who collect and trade Sigs and Berretta's. There are collectors of police duty sidearms which by definition are used. Over to the S&W forum there was a lively debate among fellas who liked to collect gunsmith modified pieces, etc., etc.

The image of collectors who keep there guns in private rooms away from daylight is not true of the majority of shooters who collect.

tipoc
 
The only way I could ever see stippling increase the value of a Glock over its retail price is if the government bans stippling as an "evil feature" on handguns.

This isn't particular to Glocks and stippling. Lots of custom stuff done to a variety of guns makes them harder to sell on the used market.
 
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Skans said:
The only way I could ever see stippling increase the value of a Glock over its retail price is if the government bans stippling as an "evil feature" on handguns.

This isn't particular to Glocks and stippling. Lots of custom stuff done to a variety of guns makes them harder to sell on the used market.
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Some folks don't like anything that isn't factory correct -- but others like additions or modifications, if the changes or upgrades are well-done and increase the weapon's functionality. Some buyers will also pay extra for changes to the gun's appearance.

The point not addressed in this discussion is whether the costs of the changes or upgrades are fully recovered by the person who paid for them. Sometimes they are, but often they're not -- and that's part of the cost and risk of having them done. That said, they can and often do bring more in resale or trade or values than you'd expect.

Some engraved guns, for example, will bring a great premium over a similar plain-jane factory-correct model, and even when later sold used, will still bring a premium price. Whether that engraved gun will bring back as much as the original engraving cost will depend on the gun and the engraver who did the work!​

When I first got my C&R Firearms License about 20 years ago, MILSURP long guns that had been customized/bubba-ized always sold cheaply. Nowadays, there's a collector's niche, and beautifully upgraded/modified surplus guns can bring higher prices than some unmodified (but otherwise nice) guns.

Making broad statements about what will and won't sell at good or poor prices is a losing proposition -- as there's no accounting for taste, and tastes change. :eek:
 
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I'm not particularly an advocate of stippling.I have not stippled a gun,I don't have a stippled gun.I'm quite skeptical of Dremel grinding a polymer frame (Grip reduction) and then stippling.It has to do with wall thickness and structural integrity.

I just don't align well with the idea that "exactly as it came from the factory" is somehow sacred.

I have made and modified critical parts for 747 landing gear,aircraft magneto drives,governors that serve on military submarines to aircraft,or "most Dangerous Catch" diesels.Big bucks and life and death parts.
I'm one of the guys who makes the stuff that comes from a factory.
I seldom buy a complete gun.I get a Mauser receiver at a gunshow or a 1911 slide from a friend or a box of leftovers from a 3 gun shooter.
Or a board of Bastogne Walnut or a barrel blank to cut tapered octagon.

I'm not scared.Its just a bleeping gun. I have skills and confidence.

I have a vision of what I want,and I create it.

I really don't even think about what it might sell for.I make what I cannot buy.

Its OK to preserve a factory gun as built.Its equally OK to look at that as a starting point.

I just picked up a foot long bar of titanium alloy.I have some 1911 frames and slides.I intend to build a 10 mm with comped race gun tech .I have access to a 40 yr old 38 super racegun that has held up to a LOT of 40,000 +psi loads over its lifetime.I will steal ideas.
I'm going to chop the slide to take a commander length cone comped barrel.
I'm going to make the cone/comp out of the titanium.I'm going to make an identical replacement comp at the same time.
I'm thinking I'll have Doctor optic CNC the slide for a hardened Doctor sight
The slide is blank.I'll cut the serrations.I'll checker the frame.

You don't know my name.You never heard of me.You won't pay $3500 for my work. I don't care!! The point is,I won't pay $3500 or $4500 to have SOMEONE ELSE do it. Maybe I'll pay $235 for a Kart bbl,and $125 for a hammer/sear/disconnect.Etc.
It comes out just what I want.Each time,I learn.I get better.I make or buy more tools.It gets easier.

So,if I should decide my Tupperware gun is too slippery,I can look at my checkering tools,I can look at tape,or I can say"What the heck",and use the soldering iron.

I'm free because I just don't care what anyone else thinks of my gun.

What is funny is turning down people who want to pay me to do it for them.

I don't have an FFL,I can't legally take on work,and I have plenty of my own projects.I'm having fun
 
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Having the skills to craft and finish a custom 1911 from a billet of titanium is a far cry from someone taking a soldering iron to a Glock or cerakoting their Kimber. Obviously you are adding value to the chunk of titanium by turning it into a 1911 frame. Is it worth $3,500 for one of your completed guns - perhaps - heck post pictures here!!

I'm not immune form customizing guns - particularly AR15's. I have spent way more on the two custom ones I assembled than I will likely ever get out of them. I've purchased grips for handguns that I will likely only get a small fraction of my money on if I were to sell the grips. Remember, the question was does stippling add/decrease value of a polymer gun. Anytime you narrow the buying base, it decreases value.
 
I was not clear enough.I'm going to make the cone/comp of titanium,not the 1911 frame.
 
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Skans said:
Anytime you narrow the buying base, it decreases value.
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I think you're confusing THE POTENTIAL FOR A QUICK SALE with the MONEY YOU ARE LIKELY TO MAKE WITH A SALE.

VALUE is also determined by the buyer... and not everybody looks at things the same way. Just because there are fewer potential buyers doesn't mean the seller will necessarily get less.

Only one of maybe 5000 potential buyers will buy the gun if the buyer pool is large, and only one of maybe 500 potential buyers will buy it if the buyer pool is much smaller. The size of the pool, alone, won't necessarily determine the price you get...
 
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I modified my Glock for me. I have no plans to sell it so I do not care about resale. It is a tool.
 

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Just my input- I'm not a Glock owner or a fan of polymer guns.

Stippling is a permanent alteration of the frame. Every image I've seen of "stippling" on a polymer frame, looks like somebody took a hot nail and melted a bunch of dots into it randomly. It's not the same as a uniform checkering or grooves, engraving, or anything else I'd perceive as (potentially) aesthetically attractive.

Since a lot of proponents of polymer guns tout the guns as "tools" that function, rather than "pretty works of art", I'll view this as buying any used tool.

If I looked at two used drills with plastic frames, identical, and one had been "stippled", the other in original condition, I'd pay less for the one that had been stippled. It's an alteration I can't change.
 
Good analogy!! Now,if you made your living using that drill to put in drywall screws all day long,and your handswere less tired or you put in 8% more screws in a day,(stippled)would you care?
And if you bought another drill to drive screws,and the grip was smooth,might you stipple the drill?
 
I can't speak for other people, but stippling greatly decreases the amount that I am personally willing to pay for a gun. I have also yet to shoot a semi-auto that I found difficult to hold onto though (which I assume is the point of stippling).
 
decreases value if not done by factory

the only stippling that ever looks good is if it's done by the original factory

home made stippling jobs almost always look like cr@p
 
If you like stippling, it is your gun and Glocks/striker fired pistols are not collector pieces so that is your call. However, you have decreased its value. How much it is decreased has much to do with how the stippling looks and how functional it is.
 
Good analogy!! Now,if you made your living using that drill to put in drywall screws all day long,and your handswere less tired or you put in 8% more screws in a day,(stippled)would you care?
And if you bought another drill to drive screws,and the grip was smooth,might you stipple the drill?
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Maybe, but I wouldn't pay more for one that some drunken maroon attacked with a soldering iron.

I'd have to get a hell of a deal on that drunken soldering iron job, which is likely.

Aren't we just going in circles here? Or is this thread about done?
 
* * * I have also yet to shoot a semi-auto that I found difficult to hold onto though (which I assume is the point of stippling).
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What many folks have missed here about stippling, at least when it's done by a reputable custom outfit (in my case, BTC), is that it's almost never done without other ergonomic mods to the frame. So yes, while stippling makes otherwise slick polymer material "grippier," it's typically not the only frame mod done, at least to Glocks.

So on both my 10mm Glocks, BTC eliminated the hump on the backstrap (in the course of doing the stippling work), added a beavertail, and removed material under the trigger guard at the top of the front-strap for a higher purchase. (I also had the option to have the finger-grooves on the front strap removed and that area stippled over, but chose to keep them).

All the work was professionally well-done, and both Glocks now point and handle like 1911s. The humpy, bulky, Glocky frame-girth is gone.

I've kept the work-orders and receipts as documentation, and if I ever go to sell either one of them, I'm confident there's a buyer out there who'll find value in these mods.
 
We are going in circles.

There have been a number of fellas here who have said that because they don't like Glocks and they don't like stippling (or other mods) no doubt stippling will lower the value of the gun at time of resale. Things like this topic are determined by a market that's bigger than one person's opinion.

Ten guys walk into a gunatorium and look at a modified used gun an say "Who butchered that piece?" The 11th person walks in, looks at it and says "That was done by Bill Laughridge! Gen 2. $750. with 4 mags and original box and papers! Let me have that."

tipoc
 
I agree, Tipoc, and with what Walt Sherrill said in post 69. I had been staying out of this thread because it was getting so emotional, but the economic realities, as I see them, are that when you make a permanent modification to a gun you are narrowing your potential buyers from people who want that model to people who want that model with that modification. People in the former group may well want to pay less, but those in the latter may be willing to pay more because they finally found exactly what they want and can get it without going to the trouble of doing the mod themselves or shipping and having their gun away from them while they have it done professionally. The corollary to that, then, is that unless almost universally popular, a modification is likely to produce either a slower sale or a lower price.
 
I agree, Tipoc, and with what Walt Sherrill said in post 69. I had been staying out of this thread because it was getting so emotional, but the economic realities, as I see them, are that when you make a permanent modification to a gun you are narrowing your potential buyers from people who want that model to people who want that model with that modification. People in the former group may well want to pay less, but those in the latter may be willing to pay more because they finally found exactly what they want and can get it without going to the trouble of doing the mod themselves or shipping and having their gun away from them while they have it done professionally. The corollary to that, then, is that unless almost universally popular, a modification is likely to produce either a slower sale or a lower price.
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My thinking and experience as well.

tipoc
 
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