US rifles - my take

[Curtis]

Ok, I see post after post on here about how expensive the US surplus rifles are.  Here is my take:  I could buy $3000 worth of Mosins, Yugo Mausers etc. with no hope of appreciation in value because the market is so flooded with them, no secure place to put them (unless I want to buy another couple of gun safes) and no relavent historical significance to me compared to arms of MY country.  ........OR for the same money I could have four or five US rifles that IMO will continue to appreciate in value, take up less room, and be of historical import to ME.  So .........am I wrong?

Curtis

[mtbugle]

Not far off for me. But most of my american military were bought when were 1/3 of what I would have to pay now. I do enjoy shooting them and It is strange the different sence of pride when handling them.
Thanks Don.

[S.S.]

far too expensive for what you get.
especially when many foreign rifles were
superior in design and far superior in quality.
Don't get me wrong, I like them all but I will take a
swede over any turnbolt ever produced here.
FN49 is equal to or better than a Garand.
Exception to me is the little .30 Carbine,
I would not trade mine for a brand new AR.
But, it is a given that American weapons bring
the coin better when sold later. In this country
any way.

[Curtis]

FN49 is equal to or better than a Garand

Well, not exactly the comparison I was thinking of, but being unfamiliar with the FN49 I went snooping.  Neat gun alright, but the four I glanced at on GunsAmerica were $1100, $789, $1000 and $1200.  I have three Garands all bought within the last 18 months and have less than $1600 in ALL of them together.  One is a hand picked CMP.

From everything I've read or heard, I agree with you on the Swede.  I've got to get me one of those if I can find a good one for the right price.  However, the 30 Carbines I've seen were DEFINATELY overpriced for what you get.

Thanks for the response,
Curtis

[dynomike1x1]

I guess it depends on how you think. Up untill this year you could not give me a forign gun now i have about 12 of them. Dont worry about the price it will go up. If you like to shoot alot and dont reload this is the way to go, also i agree w/SS my 91/30's are shooting .5" to .75" @ 100yds how can you beat that for the price. I dont have a problem w/ what you said about heritage i just cant afford to buy U.S. of course buying is the fun of it to, to me. It's all in your own opinion. I use this as an example 1973 or some where around there Wallmart had 98 Mausers 8MM $80.00 Look at the price of them now. I am not nessilary collecting to make money on them but my son and grand kids will have something that might not exsist 30 years from now. Once they dry up the price will change. My M57 Tokav 7.62x25 is the sweetist pistol i have ever shot for the power it has.

[mannyrock]

   As far as investment purposes, you are totally correct.  Buy a nice M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and Springfield 03 or A3, in very good condition, at reasonable prices, and they will continue to appreciate in value.  Shoot them lightly, clean them well, and make sure you don't get any rust.  In ten years, you will more than double in value.

Manny

[Curtis]

Previously my interest was purely in shooting and modern arms, mainly my Contender pistols.  I started collecting by accident when I bought a few to help out the widow of one of my shooting buddies.  A year or so ago I had to admit that I must be a collector as for the first time I was having trouble finding time to shoot all of them.  Investment is the primary reason I continue to expand my collection since I DO love guns and thought "why not combine the two?".  Also I think key words in your post (mannyrock) is "in very good condition".  Sadly, rifles and bayonetts I had seen at previous gun shows were priced like premium grade but looked like they had been dragged behind a truck.  Same for the Enfields I saw.  Especially true for the many M1 Carbines I've run across, they seem to have had a hard life.  I don't know how far those sellers could be talked down, since I wasn't looking for junk.

Luckily I recently found a collector that was divesting a few rifles from his collection.  I was able to reap the benifit of his many years of "labor of love" in hunting down great examples of several US rifles.  I feel I gave a premium price (still less than the gun shows) but I got a premium product.  I will be shooing these, albeit lightly like mannyrock said.  Eventually I may even pick up a mosin or more likely a swede or other mauser, but they too will need to be in excellent condition.  As far as US rifles, I still need an A3, an Eddystone and an M1 Carbine.

Keep your thoughts coming,
Curtis

[S.S.]

the little carbines are expensive, but they are kind of
like Coffee. You have to develop a taste for them and after you do
you are grumpy without them

[Victor3]

 I'm not a collector nor investor, so while looking for a particular milsurp I'd like to own I try to find one nice condition shooter as opposed to a 'good deal' on multiple lesser examples. I don't mind cosmetic issues; gimme a good bore + solid mechanics and I'll get a lot of satisfacton out of refinishing a diamond in the rough.

 About ten years back I got my buddy into milsurps and he got his C&R. Cheap SOB that he is, he went nuts on Century's "U-fix-'em" rifles and stacked up mosins, turk mausers and others like cordwood. The majority of them are still in need of a U-fix and he's wishing he'd taken my advice.

 On more expensive rifles (like the US stuff), I always advise friends to just put $20 a week into a coffee can and get what they want whenever what they really want happens to come up (it usually does eventually, and the longer you wait the more money you have to spend). I don't often think about how much I paid for a rifle years later if it's something I treasure. On the other hand, I always regret money wasted on something I 'settled for.'