I Feel Like I'm Going Through Some Sort of Withdrawel

Well, I did not feel ill-used as there is really nothing I am looking for; my collection is pretty much complete.

That said, I could not believe what stuff was put out for price wise; or how new collectors can get in the game. There was a sanded 1942 Malby in decent shape for 500. Had a post war MK I rear sight, clean but not mint as it had been sanded. The kind of gun that would have been priced 150 or 160 (at most) a decade ago. 500 was the asking price, and it sold, though I do not know what the final figure was. The prices are such that I do not see how the young chaps can put together a nice collection for a reasonable sum of WWI or WWII rifles.

I recall when I first got interested in getting some rifles in 1981. I was initially interested in civil war muskets, but a rough example was 250. So instead I focused on the cheap guns I could buy for 65 dollars and less, which was an awful lot in the period from 1982 to 1985, especially in the WWI era guns. In any case here I am 34 years later and I still do not have a 1861 contract musket or a 1860 Colt revolver, both arms I really wanted as a 17 year old.

Now I notice going to the shows that the prices of civil war arms have dropped over the past 5 years, the old guys sell off their collections accumulated in the 1950s through the 1980s. It seems there are less collectors coming at the price point today than are getting out. I wonder if that will occur sometime in the old milsurps, after all I see very few collectors who are not grey haired.

Milsurps seemed to buck the trend when the gun craziness went on a few years ago. Everyone wanted AK's or black guns. Since that craze ended, milsurps in the past year alone have gone through the roof. I have picked up a few good deals recently, mostly pretty beat stuff. The good stuff is now out of my range and a lot of the things I picked up over the past few years I am now glad to have. Best recent deal was an Argentine Mauser for $170. Looked pretty bad but cleaned up very nice. Missing the cleaning rod but everything else matched. Butt plate was solid rust but even that cleaned up a lot better than I thought it would. Just took some time and elbow grease. I got that one at Harrisburg after seeing it three weeks earlier at York. Couldn't believe it sat there through two or three shows. Next lowest Mauser price I saw was $300

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Originally Posted by Frederick303

Well, I did not feel ill-used as there is really nothing I am looking for; my collection is pretty much complete.

That said, I could not believe what stuff was put out for price wise; or how new collectors can get in the game. There was a sanded 1942 Malby in decent shape for 500. Had a post war MK I rear sight, clean but not mint as it had been sanded. The kind of gun that would have been priced 150 or 160 (at most) a decade ago. 500 was the asking price, and it sold, though I do not know what the final figure was. The prices are such that I do not see how the young chaps can put together a nice collection for a reasonable sum of WWI or WWII rifles.

I recall when I first got interested in getting some rifles in 1981. I was initially interested in civil war muskets, but a rough example was 250. So instead I focused on the cheap guns I could buy for 65 dollars and less, which was an awful lot in the period from 1982 to 1985, especially in the WWI era guns. In any case here I am 34 years later and I still do not have a 1861 contract musket or a 1860 Colt revolver, both arms I really wanted as a 17 year old.

Now I notice going to the shows that the prices of civil war arms have dropped over the past 5 years, the old guys sell off their collections accumulated in the 1950s through the 1980s. It seems there are less collectors coming at the price point today than are getting out. I wonder if that will occur sometime in the old milsurps, after all I see very few collectors who are not grey haired.

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I think part of the reason Civil War items are going down in price is primarily because there is so much faked stuff out there, you really have to know your stuff before you go out buying which in turn makes it difficult for new people to get into collecting it. There also isn't nearly as much exposure to it as there used to be (how many civil war movies have come out in the last 10 years compared to WWII movies?).

As a young guy (in my 20s) I do manage to acquire a fair bit of Milsurps but I also am not looking for M1 Garands or 1903 Springfields, rather I am looking for the less expensive but still interesting firearms (recently I acquired some M95s, I also acquired a 1907/15 Berthier-Lebel, both not items most people go looking for right off the bat). I am trying to put together a WWI collection, and so far the only major countries I am missing a example from are the Ottomans/Turkey (which I will wait on as it is difficult to find one in the original 7.65), Germany (hard to find a Gewehr 98, even harder to find one which is in my price range), and Imperial Russia (waiting for the right Imperial M91 to show up).

The thing I have noticed with many guys my age is they want stuff like a M1 Garand, or a Lee Enfield, or a Ross (both the Lee Enfield and the Ross mainly because I am in Canada) but aren't interested in the majority of milsurps. They are just seeking the main competitors of WWII for the most part, and the main reason I feel they are doing this is because of all the movies and tv series out there on WWII at the moment (look at how the prices of Arisakas have gone up since the Pacific came out).

I feel milsurps will hold there own for a while yet, though I wouldn't mind if the price came down (I don't really do much selling so I wouldn't really feel the effects).

Turk 7.65's are almost non-existent. I went with a GEW 88 for Turkey. I don't have a GEW 98 either. Had a line on one two weeks ago but the guy was acting extremely weird and then acted like I wasn't interested so he claims he sold it to someone else. I suspect he's not being truthful but what are you going to do. He just decided for some reason he didn't want to deal with me. Live 15 minutes apart. Wanted me to commit to a $500 purchase without sending me photos or allowing me to examine the rifle first. Acted like I was going to offer him $100 for it. I would have paid the $500 if it was as he described it but not without seeing it first.

On a positive note, I snagged a VZ24 with a lion crest tonight. Different guy, described it perfectly, sent me photos, answered a few questions honestly and we made the deal. I accepted his price without question. It's well used but all there, stock is pretty decent but the metal is nearly without finish so it was not rearsenaled after the war. I love the way it looks. Guys have been asking $400 at the shows for ones with beat to crap stocks and rust, this wasn't anywhere near that.