MILSURP APPRECIATION VALUE

[jt0311]

i was reading another forum where a kid wanted to buy a rifle and his step dad told him milsurps won't appreciate in value.(bs) does anyone know if any milsurp has ever gone down in value. i own alot of milsurps and none of mine have ever gone down in value. sometimes when they were first imported they were higher priced because they were new to the market and after a while they were cheaper. this isn't the scenario i'm talking about. i'm talking about long term value. does anyone have a story where they bought a milsurp and after a couple of years you could buy one cheaper than what you originally paid for yours. i don't think this has happened but i'm curious to see if someone has a situation proving me wrong.

ps. i don't care what there worth because all mine are priceless to me.

[Warpt762x39]

Closest thing to not gaining value would be some random little ComBloc pistol I found that was selling for $89 and a year later they couldn't even get rid of them for $69. I can't for the life of me remember what kind it was but I'm pretty sure it was a 9x18mm Makarov

[The_Game]

Mosin Nagant.

/thread

[WVneighbor]

Originally Posted by The_Game

Mosin Nagant.

/thread

You haven't been watching closely then. A $59 gun went to $69, then to $89 and more depending on the model/year mfg.

[The_Game]

That's due to specific models/years being valued differently, not appreciation on any particular one. (Well, maybe some of the sought-after configurations, but the rest? Pfft.)

[roland]

I was thinking of buying an M1 Garand in the mid 80's, through www.odcmp.org, the cost was a little over a hundred dollars, IIRC. But to me that was a lot of money. I didn't get one until year 2000. The same rifle cost me $450. Service grade. They seem to be $595 now. I'd call that appreciation.

[nfafan]

Originally Posted by WVneighbor

You haven't been watching closely then. A $59 gun went to $69, then to $89 and more depending on the model/year mfg.

True on the MNs...

Missed my shot at the sub-$60.00 MNs, finally bit the bullet on one and put an RGuns MN 91/30 on layayway at Dunhams the other day for $79.00. Just grabbed one just to have as a historical piece, not that I'm a huge MN fan or anything.

Meanwhile discovered that RGuns sold out of them at $75.00, Classic Arms has them for $100.00, local Gander Mtn wants $130.00 for them.

Guess I didn't do too bad, but have no illusions that this will be a huge value-appreciating collectible... I'd advise care at looking into Milsurps as "liquid investments", at least in terms of dealer trade-ins or sales to dealers.

Basically, don't expect any dealer to pay a premo for your milsurp. They will all remember how they passed on $30.00 MNs and tell you to keep walking.

All the dealers just looked at my rather excellent shape Hakim - and merely reminisced about how Samco would sell them for pennies and pocket lint. Meanwhile, merely good examples are going for more than what I was willing to take for it at the time.

As for M1s as an investment; unless it is a highly collectible variant or you have strong doc to prove the provenance for your M1 - like it was actually used to take out a Nazi general - then forget it. You'll be in competition with the easily obtainable CMP Garands - my "spare-able" Garands were worth more to me in terms of trade-value transactions than in outright sales.

[bortle]

None of mine lost any value yet. Most of them have increased, some more than others. Nagants don't seem to gain too much, the Mausers do. All matching numbers, nice condition, correct parts for the year of issue. All this adds to the value as a collectible. Never reblue it or strip, sand and restain the stock. Worst of all is drilling for a scope and cutting down the barrel. Turns a $400 military rifle into a $150 deer rifle. The Swedish Mauser is one of my favorites.

[PPM209]

On my collection, I'm averaging a 32% return so far. From the stuff I've been selling since November, 45%! I sold a Dunham's $99 special from last year (Mauser) for $260 today...and there wasn't anything special about it other than you can't buy it from an importer or distributor anymore.

The stuff I sold are all military bolt guns from WWI and WWII...mostly Various Mosins and Yugo/Russian/Czech/Romanian Mausers. As long as you buy cheap you'll always do good...

[Warners Surplus]

Mosin's won't go up in value? Yea OK, I wish someone would tell thatto the suppliers! Two years ago I was buying them unissued by the crate (M44's) for $36. a piece Now IF I can even find a supply of them they cost me $90. each for ALMOST unissued. Now I still haven't figured out the ALMOSY unissued part but it doesn't really matter.


Rich W.