Are parts kits collectible? Any potential there

[AntiqueWeapons.org]

While browsing for accessories from various distributors I see these parts kits for various AK, cz58, suomi & other smg, etc ..

really I see these as useless other than for show, just to have.. What's the point really, other than to just have it.

Anyway, seems these are cheap & I'm wondering if they're collectable and if there's potential or is it money pissed out the window?

If I spend that $100+ for a Finn SMG or $75 for a CZ58 parts kit to assemble as a useless dummy showpiece, would this be an item that would increase in value years down the road since there's not going to be any more imports?

Or are they just expensive wall decorations that will be worthless later on?

 

[jhrosier]

My take on it is that parts kits are only going to increase in value if there are receivers available to build legal firearms from them. It is a real crapshoot and if the distributors thought that they would increase much, they wouldn't be selling them cheap. Of course, the distributors of these "kits" are buying them at scrap metal prices and selling them for 10X their cost.
I've been buying milsurps as a hobby since the '60s and have seen them appreciate considerably. If you want to make an investment, buy the best condition guns that you can find and just sit on them for a few years.
The Norinco SKSs were sold for $65 just a few years ago and are selling for 4X that now. The Finnish Mosins have gone up about 3X in the past three or four years.
How much will a nice Mosin M44 be worth five years from now?

Remember that condition is everything. Excellent condition firearms sell quickly for top dollars. Junk is always hard to get rid of.

 

[LoginName]

The sub-gun kits (Suomis, Stens, Carl Gustavs, etc), would be waste of time and money. Finding legally configured receivers can be difficult (most of the time they're 80%, unfinished flats or blueprints/schematics to cut the receiver). Another problem is that they can be difficult to build in a legal configuration. Obviously they can't be capable of full-auto fire, but they also
have to be built so they can't fire from an open bolt. They'd still need to be 922r compliant, unless the person wants to shell out $200.00 for a tax stamp, they can't be built as an SBR (a Sten with a 16" barrel just looks assanine), and if living a ban state, can't have more than one "evil feature".

FWIW... as far as any supply issues are concerned, it isn't because "there's not going to be any more imports", it's because of the ATFs ban on imported barrels.

The other parts kits (minus receiver and barrel), will continue to be imported as long as the supply lasts.

The kits worth stocking up on are the ones that are popular have some usefulness for a builder... AKs, Krinkovs, RPKs, FALs, AMD-65's, Draganouvs, Galilis, etc). Some of the ones I mentioned are getting harder and harder to find (especially in very good to excellent condition).