Total Cost of Handgun Ownership

[88E30M50]

As the year winds down, I've begun crunching numbers and I'm finding interesting stuff. For instance, I find that my Ed Brown Exec Carry will average out to costing only 70 cents per month more than my RIA Compact. If I include the residual value of the gun at the end of its life, the Ed Brown is almost a dollar per month cheaper than my RIA to own. My most expensive gun to own is an aluminum framed Kimber Compact.

The basis of the calculation is the cost of the pistol when purchased, the cost of replacement springs over the life of the pistol, and the residual value at the end of the pistols life. There is a lot of guesses in there, but I think the numbers are reasonably accurate. The idea is to answer what a gun would cost you if you bought it, maintained it and ran 50 rounds of ammo through it each week. The thing that kills the RIA compact is the short spring life. My RIA Compact has a 400 round spring change interval when running Wolff springs. If I change out to a flat wire spring to extend the spring life to 3000 rounds (RIA Mod), it looks much better, but still not great.

The Cost add per round is the amount you are paying for the gun for each round of it's effective life. Most run at around a penny but with the Kimber running at around 7 cents. The Kimber suffers from a shorter life due to the aluminum frame, shorter spring life and expensive springs. Residual values are a guess. Any idea what a 19 year old, 50,000 round Glock 19 would fetch? I'm guessing around $325 but it could be higher or lower.

Anyway, there is nothing scientific about this, but I think it does help to show that sometimes expensive pistols are not that expensive in the long run and cheap pistols are not always cheap in the end.

	Kimber	Sig Railed 1911	Glock 19	RIA	RIA Mod	Glock 23	Ed Brown	CZ Compact	Glock 30	CZ 75B	CZ 75
Service Life	20,000	50000	50000	30000	40000	25000	50000	50000	50000	50000	50000
Spring Interval	1500	5000	5000	400	3000	2500	2500	5000	5000	5000	5000
Spring Cost	$ 27.00	$ 12.00	$ 15.00	$ 8.00	$ 20.00	$ 15.00	$ 8.00	$ 8.00	$ 15.00	$ 8.00	$ 8.00
Cost when bought	$ 950.00	$ 950.00	$ 550.00	$ 479.00	$ 479.00	$ 550.00	$ 1,800.00	$ 450.00	$ 550.00	$ 650.00	$ 260.00
Residual Value as EOL	$ 150.00	$ 350.00	$ 325.00	$ 100.00	$ 100.00	$ 250.00	$ 750.00	$ 275.00	$ 325.00	$ 350.00	$ 250.00
Rounds Per week	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50
Rounds Per year	2600	2600	2600	2600	2600	2600	2600	2600	2600	2600	2600
Life Expectancy in years	8	19	19	12	15	10	19	19	19	19	19
Maintenance Costs	$ 360.00	$ 120.00	$ 150.00	$ 600.00	$ 266.67	$ 150.00	$ 160.00	$ 80.00	$ 15.00	$ 80.00	$ 80.00
Cost Per Pistol	$ 1,310.00	$ 1,070.00	$ 700.00	$ 1,079.00	$ 745.67	$ 700.00	$ 1,960.00	$ 530.00	$ 565.00	$ 730.00	$ 340.00
Cost Per 20 year cycle	$ 3,406.00	$ 1,112.80	$ 728.00	$ 1,870.27	$ 969.37	$ 1,456.00	$ 2,038.40	$ 551.20	$ 587.60	$ 759.20	$ 353.60
Cost add per round	$ 0.07	$ 0.02	$ 0.01	$ 0.04	$ 0.02	$ 0.03	$ 0.04	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Total Cost with ammo	$ 5,110.00	$ 10,570.00	$ 6,700.00	$ 6,779.00	$ 8,345.67	$ 4,700.00	$ 11,460.00	$ 6,530.00	$10,200	$ 6,730.00	$ 6,340.00
Cost of ammo	$ 0.19	$ 0.19	$ 0.12	$ 0.19	$ 0.19	$ 0.16	$ 0.19	$ 0.12	$ 0.19	$ 0.12	$ 0.12
Cost Per Year max 10 years	$ 664.30	$ 1,057.00	$ 670.00	$ 677.90	$ 834.57	$ 488.80	$ 1,146.00	$ 653.00	$ 1,006.50	$ 673.00	$ 634.00
Cost per Year for Full Life	$ 664.30	$ 549.64	$ 348.40	$ 587.51	$ 542.47	$ 488.80	$ 595.92	$ 339.56	$ 523.38	$ 349.96	$ 329.68
Cost per Month for Pistol Life	$ 55.36	$ 45.80	$ 29.03	$ 48.96	$ 45.21	$ 40.73	$ 49.66	$ 28.30	$ 43.62	$ 29.16	$ 27.47
Cost of ammo per month	$ 41.17	$ 41.17	$ 26.00	$ 41.17	$ 41.17	$ 34.67	$ 41.17	$ 26.00	$ 41.17	$ 26.00	$ 26.00
Cost of the pistol alone	$ 14.19	$ 4.64	$ 3.03	$ 7.79	$ 4.04	$ 6.07	$ 8.49	$ 2.30	$ 2.45	$ 3.16	$ 1.47
After residual deduction	$ 12.57	$ 3.12	$ 1.63	$ 7.07	$ 3.50	$ 3.90	$ 5.24	$ 1.11	$ 1.04	$ 1.65	$ 0.39

 

[Hookeye]

Wasn't their some gun media test of the Kimber Pro Carry (when it came out) that after 10K rounds they said the aluminum frame showed no appreciable wear?
If so they your service life might be longer than 20K (or not LOL).

 

[88E30M50]

That's true. The lifespan of the aluminum frame is a guesstimate based on the wear I see today after 1500 rounds. There's noticable peening around the area where the guide rod contacts the frame VIS. I'm guessing that if not addressed in any way, it will progress to being an issue in another 18,500 rounds. On the upside, I only put around 500 rounds a year through this gun, so the issue may not present itself for another 37 years. If I shoot weekly, I'd probably see it in as little as 8 years. Even at that, if I shoot this gun 50 rounds per week, 52 weeks a year, I'd be happy with it running 8 years.

 

[Drail]

All you "bean counters" will be the end of us all....... And aluminum is for beer cans and aircraft. Chrome moly steel is for guns.

 

[churchmouse]

I have always been one to get the better "Tools" for the long run. I am a buy once never replace kind of guy. I have broken/lost tools but the same mindset applies.
When folks suggest the deals at Harbor freight I just smile and ignore although I have bought a few things in there but mainly low use jack stands/air hoses etc.

Interesting graph. I wonder how mu modified 1911's would stack up.

 

[NyleRN]

I applaud you sir for putting in the time for that table. That's interesting

 

[churchmouse]

All you "bean counters" will be the end of us all....... And aluminum is for beer cans and aircraft. Chrome moly steel is for guns.

 

[halfmileharry]

IF I looked at the cost of a gun like the charts I probably wouldn't own any guns.
"Shoot it 'til it won't"

 

[88E30M50]

All you "bean counters" will be the end of us all....... And aluminum is for beer cans and aircraft. Chrome moly steel is for guns.

Nah, I'm not a bean counter by trade. I just found myself not shooting the Kimber as much as other guns and decided to run some numbers to see what kind of lifespan I could expect out of it if I shot the heck out of the thing. Then I added costs and started to wonder about other guns too. My takeaway was two things: First, that small 1911s with short spring life can be more expensive to run and second, buying quality adds very little to the cost of shooting a gun in the long run. If you put 20,000 rounds through a gun, the cost of the ammo will be the largest expense and saving a couple of hundred bucks for a gun you don't love may be a false economy.

 

[gundoc111]

Lots of work there. I am impressed. If I find a gun I like I guy a second one, extra Wolff springs, 8 mags and I should be set for life.

 

[VERT]

I find it hard to believe you are only getting 400 rounds out of a recoil spring on the RIA. I tend to agree with a 5000 round spring change interval though. Also I understand compact 1911s chew up springs faster. But 400?

I would agree greed that guns that hold value better tend to be cheaper to own over the lifetime of the gun.

 

[Mike Elzinga]

Keep a new spring handy, when the original is compressed 3 coils, replace it. That may be 1000 rounds, may be 10,000, depends more on your ammo selection than anything. Im also curious how the service life was selected. Ive shot a variety of competitions for the last 14 years, and have known 2 people that truly wore a gun out. Both of those guns were over 250K round count. I personally have 2 guns over the 100k round count and they are nowhere near worn out. Almost all guns will show the vast majority of their wear in the first 2000 rounds, and after that, probably not much more than finish wear for the rest of their life, regardless of round count. You clearly put some work into this table, and I applaud you for that. If the table helps you feel better about spending the money for a premium firearm, thats great, but I have serious reservations about the "service life" of any gun, and that number will dramatically affect the rest of the chart.

 

[NyleRN]

Service life lies directly in hands of the end user. Mom always told me, you take care of what you have and you won't have to waste money later on to replace it

 

[88E30M50]

The service life I used is loosely based on my own expectations. It's roughly the point I would probably retire the gun from EDC and replace it with something newer. I tried to reflect the remaining life in a gun in the residual value. Service life is less the total life of the gun, but more, the useful EDC life to me.

The 400 round spring change interval is the Wolff recommendation that came with the replacement springs. It's awfully short, but with the amount I shoot the RIA in the last year or two, is livable. When compared to other short barrel guns, I think it's in line with what I'd expect. My Kimber has dual recoil springs and a 1500 round change interval. The RIA has just a plain old music wire spring at either 22# or 24#. I've read that they'll run past 3K with a flat wire spring, but have no direct experience with that. The 400 round change interval is backed up by the onset of issues at about the 500 round point I've seen. Those were with reloads though, so it may not be completely spring related.

 

[Classic]

Wolff springs for the Kimber were considerably cheaper than the $27 number in you spreadsheet, seemed like I got 3 for that price Just a few months ago the and I have been told that Kimber buys Wolff springs for their production anyway.

 

[Mike Elzinga]

ISMI also makes great springs much cheaper and are located here in Indiana

 

[snowwalker]

WOW, Kimbers are really overpriced for what you get, if the info holds true.

 

[halfmileharry]

WOW, Kimbers are really overpriced for what you get, if the info holds true.

Numbers are what they are. In this case personal estimates and overall won't reflect actual cost. YMMV. A single model out of a manufacturer's line isn't an indication of lifetime service cost.

 

[88E30M50]

Kimber is not over priced, it's just the only gun on the list with an aluminum frame. Remember, I based the service life on what I would be comfortable with carrying and depending on every day. All of the guns on the list would run way past the listed service life, but I would not carry most of them beyond that point. Realistically, the Sig 1911, Ed Brown and full size CZ would most likely be fine for carry indefinitely with an overhaul and maybe a new barrel once every couple of decades but I decided to cap at 50,000 rounds figuring at that point, it would be retired and replaced.

If you accept the premise that an aluminum framed 1911 is not as durable as a steel framed 1911, then the Kimber numbers would apply to all lightweight 1911, not just Kimber. It could be that I'm wrong about a lightweight, compact 1911 being somewhat tired after 20,000 rounds. It's hard to find lightweight, compact 1911s that have run that high. High round count guns tend to be full size and either steel or poly based.

 

[dyerwatcher]

I like the logic. Thanks. I'll buy my Wilson. My Wife will hate you