Mauser M71/84 find...

Hi guys,
There's been a dearth of gun shows in my little piece of the sunshine state lately and tours of the local gun & pawn shops haven't proved fruitful either. That changed today when I stopped at a nearby hockshop. They usually have modern , non-military guns so I wasn't expecting much when I went in however a quick check of the inventory showed several military rifles in their rack (Eddy. US M17, Gew88, Gypo FN49, Spanish M43, Mosin M44). Right in the middle of the group was a stately M71/84 made at Spandau in 1888. It was in pretty nice shape with matching #'s , lots of blueing (and old, crusty cosmoline) and an excellent bore. Asking price was $695 + tax & nic but after some spirited haggling I got it for six hundred otd. Probably too much but it was nice to end the dry spell. I've got another 71/84 that's in pristine shape and I was always leery about taking her out to the range and getting her dinged up. No such reservations with this one. Here are some pics.

Len

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Nice one! ... and the price would be considered very reasonable over here. It looks pristine.

What lovely, crisp markings on the wood! A very good buy indeed!

Yep... I know of one in worse condition for more money.... I think you made an outstanding purchase!!!
Thanks for posting pics of it!!

Is this a coincidence? Or has something happened that I don´t know about? Just as soon as I saw your posting, German e-Gun came up with this 71/84. Still got a few days to run and it´s sure to fetch a lot more with the price surging in the last few hours.

http://www.egun.de/market/item.php?id=3925781

It finally went for 256,51 EUR (but was NOT fully numbered). I`m sure the buyer would be able to make a good profit on that one even by parting it out for spares. It looked to be in very good condition.

Looks just like my first milsurp, a 71/84 pulled from a 55 gallon drum of Spandaus at "Doughboys Surplus" in El Monte CA (circa 1960). My Grandpa paid 5 bucks for it and said "here you go". It's a complete mixmaster, but it will always be my first... :clap: