The value of a semi or any type of action is what the market will bear. I have never lost a dollar buying expensive guns but the point was not to pay big bucks for anything rather buying guns of value for the best price I could find - sometimes looking for more than a decade.
There are a lot of rifles over 3k, do a Gun Broker search sometime for all rifles by price and sort by cost. Some will surprise you because of their unique appearance and others will under whelm you but for everyone some type of gun holds a niche.
3k is note much to spend on a good rifle as 10k or 30k is not much to spend on something of value and that is desired.
The most I've paid was 21k for a semi, I chose to sell it to help finance a divorce, the sad part was selling it but it brought 35k in return. As I said I've never been hurt by buying high end guns.
I see people post all the time about you don't need anything more than a $350 AR - anything else is a waste of money and indicates a lack of intelligence. I'd say to each his own opinion.
I doubt the latest Bren 2s on Gun broker will go for for the full 3k, but it could. Who ever gets it will do okay in the end, in my opinion.
I was not in a position to buy the Bren 2s when I did, still working on the divorce finances but I thought it would be of value, I got in late at less than 2k. I would have paid more if needed because it was heavy on the "want" part of value.
I've never bought a gun to speculate on and until the divorce I had only sold or traded 2 or 3. Fortunately, the higher price guns I've bought appreciated at a rate that the 1k guns have not. So I think there are a lot of semi autos that are worth more than 3k, I make sure I am not overpaying according to my want meter and I've never been hurt yet. Honestly, I have not met a gun I don't like!