Why are guns expensive?

Alot of guns are very expensive while they are cheap to make, is this due to a large sum of taxation, high cost in manufacturing or simply politics? or are we paying for fancy names such as Glock, Colt, etc?

It's kinda frustrating for me that I can't even afford to defend my self and that I actually need to save for a tool...a tool no more complex than most electronics, a freaking keyboard is more complex than most guns!

So my question is, what are we REALLY paying for?

Uh... you could goto Wal-Mart with 700 bucks and leave with a small arsenal, if you wanted.

Not the best quality guns, granted.... but they'll still shoot!

EDIT: Then again, hunting rifles aren't exactly going to save your life if someone points automatic weapons, or worse, at you.

[edit on 10-4-2006 by firebat]

Glock makes about $250 on each $500 pistol they sell. Part of it is that people will buy them at the price they are at. Part of it is that it takes a lot of R&D and precission tooling to make a quality gun.

You can get a Hi-Point for about $150 if you want an ugly piece of junk, or a Sig Sauer for around $800-1000 for a fantastic piece that'll last a lifetime.

Well considerinng that NORINCO makes copies of SIG 228 for 350€ and Norincos finish and fitting is poor and their guns usually reguire "minor detailing" by a gunsmith or owner in order to operate smoothly... So with 350€ You can manufacture a gun that works but not smoothly and without any R&D costs

Same gun built by SIG costs 1050€ (in Finland) this price includes high manufacturing tolerances and finish quality and R&D costs.

so lets say a good gun costs 1000€
350€ = "bulk" machining
350€= Finishing and fitting
300€= R&D + Profits for the company

These costs are standard for any high tolerance, complicated machine parts and you just can't circumvent them and higher quality = higher price in all machining.... and gun tolerances need to be really high due to high pressures and fast moving parts

I hope this explains why guns cost so much as they do

Ps. I stude mechanical engineering and own a gun (and know a lot about them) so ask i wasn't clear in this post (written in a hurry)

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRoIt's kinda frustrating for me that I can't even afford to defend my self and that I actually need to save for a tool...a tool no more complex than most electronics, a freaking keyboard is more complex than most guns!

A keyboard isn't potentially going to kill you if it fails due to poor manufacturing.

I actually disagree with some posts only slightly.

its true machine parts need to be replaced and are relitivly expensive but over there life cycle they are vey cost effective. Gun's are not expenisve to make if you look at alot of the guns on the market they reuse the same designs over and over again infact the only thing they change is the design slightly so they are not violating any patents or sometimes they by licenses from companies to use there designs or components in there own guns.

The only guns that have high R&D are the one's which try new stuff in there design and new materials that are custom made for a small scale product cycle for testing otherwise the guns use the same standard materials used in other gun's.

Guns are relitivily cheap to manufacture even one's made from polymer. A large majority of the gun price is labour and importing/exporting gun's from other countries and getting licenses to sell/distribute gun's.

For example take a look at most companies gun collections like the Glock's they reuse the same design and material over and over again in different models the only difference is the barrel lenght and a few other changes while the mechanism's are the same and the materials such as polymer and the heat resitant coating is the same in the all the gun's. Im pretty sure Glock broke even after a few months of selling those guns.

What people are paying for most of the time are Names/Brands & labour.
It's like buying an Armani shirt for $100 when that shirt is made in a 3rd world country for no more then $1 and there charging $99 profit for the name. Similar with guns depending on which country they are made in they could be charging anywhere upto 50% to 70% profit on the gun obviously then you have to take out things such as manufacturing licence costs, Taxes etc.... for the guns companies and you would realise that making guns is a very profitable business. Next time your looking at a gun comapnies website take a closer look at ther guns and design's you will realise they keep on recycling the same design over and over again just make minor modifications to the lenght and size and then they sell it off as a brand new gun when infact its just as the same as there other guns.