I don't believe there is anything special about an SX-1
being new in the box as opposed to just new condition.
It comes down to what is a box worth? In the event you
are buying the gun to shoot, it really makes no sense
to me to pay extra to get one new in the box, because
after you use it, it is no longer new in the box. It
is not even new. Now you have a used SX-1 and a box.
Going even further it makes no sense to me to price
the early ones the same as the later ones. The
early one have the issues that you might have to lay
out money to take care of, so they should not bring
as much money, if you are buying to use it.
If you are buying for posterity, then I guess the
NIB makes sense.
If you are buying to shoot you can get any number
of SX-1s at pretty low prices. The last one I got
was $450 for a new condition stage III gun. Most
of the SX-1s I used I had very little money in.
I have had two that were new condition, an early
one and a late model. The early one cost me $400,
and the late model cost me $450, and I believe that
one is possibly the best deal I got, but maybe not.
I had two used trap models that I had hardly any
money in. One I paid $400 for and it had a release
trigger, and was in perfect shape. I sold the
trigger for 175 and replaced it for $150. Then
I sold the perfect wood off of it for $150 for Monte
Carlo butt stock and $100 for that large target
forearm. Now I was down to $125 in what was left.
I modified an 1100 forearm that I paid $10 bucks
for, and built a butt stock for about $50. So I had
$185 in that gun, and it was my regular shooter.
Another trap model I bought for $450 and it had
an adjustable stock on it. I sold that stock for
$250 and the large forearm for $75. Now I was
down to $125 in that one. I put an 1100 forearm
on it that I got for $20, and a Bishop stock that
I got for about $50. Now I was up to $195 in
that one. I gave that one to one of my sons.
As you can see, I don't fall in love with these
guns, and try to keep them just the way Winchester
made them. Some I bought to use, and some I
bought, just because the price was so low I
could not turn it down. The ones I bought to
use, I put stocks on that fit me. If I used
the Winchester wood I sanded down the checkering
enough to remove the sharp edges, because under
high volume shooting the sharp edges are abrasive
to my hands. That is one reason I like the
Remington forends. They are cheap and have nice
smooth pressed in checkering that is easy on
the hand. It does take about half an hour to
modify one to fit on an SX1 though.
Everyone has their idea on what the gun should
be and how it should be used. I am a function
guy, and that influences what I am willing to
pay, and also the market influences it. You
have to pay what the market asks, pretty much,
but there are plenty of low cost SX1s out
there. The low cost really worked out well
on my last two. The reason is that they were
stolen. In retrospect, it was nice that I
did not lose a lot of money on them.
Prowler pretty much has to figure out what it
takes to suit him. NIB may be just his thing,
but maybe not.