-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
Milsurp prices
- Thread starter headednorth
- Start date
Hardwired
NES Member
Those make good shooters, which I like.
Watching- thanks!
That shiny humped RC MM will probably go for 650ish. I've picked up legit bolt mismatches for another $150 or so.
I dont think we will see much of any decline in value of the "old" guns until the Korean/Vietnam war era guys start domping what they have to pay for medical bills. this may or may not be happening now? I know in the last 5-8 years we seen several really large collections go through the auctions from older estates. RIA had a huge military surplus auction last fall.
Moving back to OP's original question:
Currently milsurp prices are getting worse at auction. Check out last Amoskeag auction (March?). A 1903 in excellent original condition went for $17K if I recall correctly.
Prices overall were so high that if it wasn't a legit auction house I'd be tempted to call bullshit. Some went for typical high GB prices but I think the buyer pays a premium on top of that? There were a bunch of USGI 1911's going for ridiculously high prices- guess folks are flipping those CMP 1911's. Maybe a couple at reasonable prices but I'd guess there were issues. Seems like GB prices for 1903, a3, and M1's are holding or raising.
Trying to figure out how to get to a CMP store for a 1903a3 at a reasonable price. We have a plant near there and I'm overdue for a visit but my domestic travel for work has been banned for who knows how long.
Mike 53
NES Member
And me...
Very tempting but I'm going to stick to my guns, so to speak, regarding not adding any other calibers to my milsurps. I'm shooting 30 cal in every CMP class now: the M1, M14 for Modern Mil, the K31 in Vintage, and of course the 1903 NM. Also I wouldn't mind keeping it but have listed the Mosin PU sniper for sale as it's really not 7.62 caliber. I will be keeping my Finn M39 which shoots better with projectiles slightly over .308. If I see a good deal on a good shooter Israeli Mauser in 7.62 I'd be all over it. Not Milsurp but I shoot 6.5mm and 7mm, so something in those calibers OK too.
Hardwired
NES Member
That's a 3k specialty item with very limited availability. The darn mag costs more than entry level milsurps.
daltrey99
NES Member
There are more around than people think. I can also say that K98's, P38's, Lugers ect are only going up in price as well. Here are the last 7 that I picked up. Two of them I have to finish with some parts and a stock. I have a box of parts coming in from the Netherlands next week.
smokey-seven
NES Member
You mentioned the Vietnam/Korea vets, don't forget the boomers that inherited the WWII stuff from dad are getting up there too.
We are just old and remember what we could have / should have bought at ridiculously low numbers.
Didn't Lugers drop in price in the middle 70's with a large import? They did not stay low for long.
D
Deleted member 67409
Every niche of milsurp gun is a "specialty item with very limited availability." None of these guns are being made anymore, except for clone guns like new M14s, FALs, M1 Carbines, 1911s, etc.
The batches of guns imported into the US often rarely exceed more than a few thousand per import batch. Like Albanian SKSs. Albania only made about 15,000-20,000 SKSs. NATO peacekeepers destroyed a lot of them to the point where people thought they were "extinct." Then a few thousand showed up and got imported into the US, to the point where the majority of extant Albanian SKSs are here in the US. Same deal with Lebels and Berthiers here in the US. French gun laws preclude ownership of "military" cartridges, so in France, Lebels and Berthiers in original 8x50r are extremely rare in private hands. Here, they're about $200-500 guns and the vast majority are in their original chambering.
With G43s, there's a perfect storm of buyer fapping:
*WW2
*German
*Semi-auto
*Relatively uncommon in comparison to the approximately 14.6 million K98ks
*More accessible to the typical C&R collector than a StG44
*Reasonably available ammo - passes the "local gun store" availability test in most cases and 7.92x57 is easily bought online or handloaded
In terms of rare guns, $3000 really isn't that much money. Is it more than most people are willing to spend? Sure. But its not that much. A real semi-auto FN FAL costs around $6000.
Last edited by a moderator:
eh , problem is back in the late eighties early 90s the milsurps where just old junk. My dad would always say "what do you want with the worn out surplus junk" even still though the stuff was not all that cheap at least for me being 18 in 1988... For me a good deal was the $22 22s in the bucket at kittery or the stuff in the gunsmith corner. I thought a great deal was the SKS and the AK from kittery $89 and free case of corrosive ammo with each purchase.
I dont remember the 80s and 90s being affordable ?
Damn, imagine buying a few crates of those!
I'd guess 60's? edit- may have been late 50's.
There's some urban legend that Winfield Arms Corp. was a front for the CIA and they supplied such surplus rifles to 'friendlies' across the globe.
smokey-seven
NES Member
Even when things were for sale in the 60's - 80's, the prices hurt. A week's pay (take home after taxes and deductions) might buy a great long gun or hand gun. I recall 1.5 weeks pay being what I would have to spend for something I wanted. Hell, I was buying Belgian Browning O/U 12 gauge, used, but in great shape for $325. When you found the sleeper in that Browning rack, you had it made. Think skeet or trap gun with mechanical triggers and not recoil activated.
Early 70's I was single and could waste money on fun stuff. $100 to $150 for Colt US Mil property 45's with decent finish and barrel. Remingtons were cheaper. Oh the stuff I let slip past. Even at these numbers the stuff was not, "cheap".
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
Must resist...
Jay77
NES Member
What would be a good price for a K98 in reasonable condition that would serve as a shooter? How about the repurposed ones on classic firearms or RTI? Figure I would pose the question to the experts?
