Why do some guns cost substantially more than others? That’s a question many of our readers have and you see it reflected in the comments, particularly when we review a more expensive gun.
TTAG reader GC recently asked . . .
That’s a question that’s either extremely easy to answer or fairly difficult, depending on how far into the weeds you want to get. Sometimes it’s understandable. An LMT MARS has lots of proprietary features for an AR platform rifle, which will always make it pricer than, say, an Anderson or PSA. What about the price difference between an HK and a GLOCK? Why does a USP cost a grand and a GLOCK around $550-ish for a standard Gen 5 model?
What makes the price of the HK nearly double the GLOCK’s? Well, for one reason . . .
Because They Can
You can’t repeal the laws of economics and the law of supply and demand is always on the table. HK can sell the thirty-year-old USP design for that higher price point because they can. At that price, plenty of customers still purchase the gun because plenty of people want USPs. They are admittedly nice guns, and for some people, they have a certain caché. It’s the gun of Rainbow Six and one of HK’s signature firearms. The same thing goes for guns like the Mark 23.
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Companies that have a proven track record building high-quality guns can and do charge more. GLOCK, Smith & Wesson, HK, SIG SAUER, and more have relatively good reputations and are household names outside the gun world. A company the public hasn’t heard of will have trouble breaking into the same market with a pistol priced like that of a similar gun made by a company. For example, Hudson’s H9 was an expensive pistol.
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Supply and demand for certain guns are one of the biggest reasons they can sell for more money, despite having odd rails, no optics compatibility, and being 1.3 inches thick. That’s a big factor in their price but it’s not the only factor.
Country of Origin
Country of origin will be one of the biggest factors in a firearm’s price, in my experience. A gun from Germany will cost more than a gun from Turkey or one from the Philippines for various reasons. First, a German’s labor is more expensive than a Turk’s, and it’s admittedly often of higher quality (or perceived to be). Everything from a country’s unionized labor and minimum wage laws to specific taxes on firearm manufacture and export can raise the price of a firearm.
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Typically, Western countries tend to have high levels of quality control and more focus on innovation. Higher wages for skilled labor usually come along with better quality control and a higher resulting sale price.
Innovation
I’ll use the term innovation to cover anything outside the norm. The SIG SAUER P365‘s magazine design and svelte frame took some serious R&D work. SIG recoups that R&D investment by selling the gun at a higher price than something like the GLOCK 43. Any time rifles or handguns use unique operating systems (or anything new, unusual or novel), we typically see that reflected in the sale price.
If you look at a nice 9mm AR that uses a standard straight blowback system, it’s likely going to be less expensive than the CMMG Banshee or MkGs line with its radial delayed blowback system.
Commonality
One of the big reasons why certain guns are so comparatively inexpensive is that they’re popular enough to be made in high volume. Machinery, skills, and manufacturing capability are fairly common. When we go back to the law of supply and demand, we see a lot of supply, so the price is steadily reduced. This is why AR-15s can be so affordable. The same could be said for GLOCK Gen 3 clones. It’s why AR mags, handguards, stocks, and more are so frequently used in other firearm designs.
Ease of Production
How easy a gun is to produce is another important factor in its final price point. We see this a lot in metal frame vs. polymer frame guns. Metal is tougher to work with and requires more machinery and work to produce.
Looking back at an old Gun Digest book, we can see the used price of these older guns. The 1989 model lists a used SIG P220 for $400. In 2023 dollars, that’s about $1,000. A GLOCK 17 in the same book was about $325 or $800 in today’s money.
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Fast forward to 2023. A SIG P220 will set you back almost $1,000 but a new GLOCK 17 can be hand for $500 or so. Over the years, we’ve gotten better at using polymer. It’s easier to work with and certainly cheaper for use in firearm frames.
On top of that, a striker-fired action is very easy to produce. It’s why so many regular Joes can easily install a new GLOCK trigger. Striker-fired guns are easier to produce than DA/SA guns and, in general, easier to produce than hammer-fired guns. A DA/SA action tends to be fairly complicated, but SAO and DAO designs are easier to produce and take less room in the frame. That’s why we don’t see any DA/SA pocket .380s.
Good revolvers tend to be more expensive to produce and generally more costly due to their overall design. Revolvers aren’t quite clockwork, but they’re pretty close. American-made revolvers tend to be priced fairly high compared to American semi-automatics, and European-produced revolvers like the Manhurin guns tend to be very expensive. The same goes for lever action rifles. Compared to ARs, they are relatively less common and are comparatively more involved to produce.
Historically, we’ve seen this trend as we moved to mass-production models. Guns like the Winchester Model 12 were discontinued and replaced by the cheaper and easier-to-produce Model 1200.
Designs and Features
The design and features of a gun will also drive its price up. You’ll be expected to pay if you want an optics cut, removable backstraps, suppressor-height sights, a rail, and all the modern fixings. Stuff like ambidextrous controls or HK’s famous grip insert design on guns like the P30 don’t come free.
Add match-grade barrels and more refined triggers and we the price go up even more. Refinements require more time, effort, better materials and more skilled hands, increasing the final price. If you have a DAO trigger with a 17-pound pull weight, you can bet it’s just been slapped in there without much thought or effort.
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Some guns require builders while others only need assemblers. There’s a big pay difference between those two positions. That’s not to say a gun is bad because it doesn’t have all of the refinements of one with more features.
Material Appeal
What a gun is built from will also affect its price. MIM parts are cheap and can be perfectly fine. Ruger does MIM well, but not all MIM is equal. If you’re not careful, it’s fairly easy to mess up and turn out fragile MIM parts.
Early owners of the Smith & Wesson M&P Sport AR-15 likely learned that a MIM trigger group didn’t last long under high round counts and abuse. It didn’t feel as nice as a machined trigger either. (The M&P triggers are much better now than those early ones back in the day.)
Aluminum is less expensive than steel and easier to work with. A blued finish is beautiful, but it’s tougher to do right compared to Tenifer. A good finish will last almost forever and withstand substantial amounts of abuse, while a cheaper finish can show wear in the first year of a gun’s life.
In the good old days of wood stocks, the checkering was often offered in different grades, greatly affecting price. These days, we see the same thing in the modern polymer frame world. GLOCK pistols have a great texture, but the Shadow Systems or ZEV pistols have a better texture in most people’s opinion.
Different levels of craftsmanship and molding methods also come into effect. It’s common to see the seams from where the frame meets during construction with more affordable firearms. That’s not necessarily a detriment to the gun’s operation at all, it just shows a relative lack of refinement.
Does a Higher Price Mean a Better Gun?
Ah…that, of course, is the $64 million question. Price alone doesn’t necessarily indicate a good gun. Christensen Arms makes a 9mm AR, and I’m sure it’s quite nice, but at $1,700-ish dollars, it’s still a straight blowback 9mm AR. That’s tough to swallow compared to similarly priced radial delayed blowback CMMG designs.
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At the same time, a DPMS and a BCM both make ARs, and there tends to be a huge gap in price between the two. That gap is warranted because BCM pours more time and attention into their rifles. They ensure the parts and components are configured correctly, that things like bolt carrier group are HPT/MPI (high pressure tested/magnetic particle inspected), and that parts are staked and typically available in modern configurations.
That said, price is more often than not a good clue to the quality and material used to make a firearm. You can typically expect a more expensive firearm to be more featured-filled and quite modern. With that said, are there times when a cheap firearm is “better” than something that’s fairly expensive?
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Sure. I love the .32 ACP cartridge and own several guns in the caliber, including the KelTec P32 and Beretta Tomcat. But if I had to pick between the $200-ish KelTec P32 and the over $600-ish Tomcat for concealed carry, I’d pick the KelTec. It’s lighter, holds the same amount of ammo, and has less recoil than the blowback-operated Tomcat.
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The Tomcat is also more ammo sensitive, and you can’t use any ammunition with more than 129 foot-pounds of energy. If you use more powerful loads, the frame can crack. Sure, the Tomcat has a better single-action trigger, and I enjoy the gun, but its high cost doesn’t make it a better option.
All of that makes the KelTec better for me. Does that make it a “better” gun? That depends on what you want it for and how you’ll use it.
Clearing Up Some Misconceptions
I know I’ve likely missed a few reasons why some guns cost more than others, but I think I’ve covered the bulk of the reasons. Price doesn’t necessarily guarantee a better gun, but more often than not, the price does help ensure you’re buying a well-made, feature-filled, modern firearm.
Do you have more questions like this one? Send them to thetruthaboutguns.com and we’ll try our damnedest to answer them.