Hi everyone:
This is a general question about investing in these rifles. When I was in high school, the Swedishicon Mausers came out, and one could buy the pick of the litter for $49. I used to trade them back and forth, and they seemed plentiful. Now, I wish I had bought about 30 and socked them away, as they are now in the $400 range. Same with the Long Branch Enfields, and although I don't collect them, Garands (even the Franken-Garands) seem to be fetching silly prices now compared with when they came out a few years back. Same is true of the so called "Russianicon Capture" Kar-98s.

So, as I look at the crates of Russian SKS's sitting in local gunstores, the same thought crosses my mind. Are these going to go up in value in about 10-20 years as well? If one buys a nice selection of them in a crate, with accessories, leaves it in a dark corner for a decade, doesn't reblue, restock, mount scopes, etc, will those also appreciate, or are they in a different category?

I enjoy shooting (when I have time) and definitely enjoy collecting the old military rifles, and hope they are a good investment--I expect that my Rosses and such should be worth more when I sell them or pass on than when I bought them. I haven't bought guns before purely for investment purposes, but really, when I look back at the opportunities I've missed over the years and then look at my RRSP portfolio (for those in the US, that is the Canuck equivalent of the 401K), I think I couldn't POSSIBLY do worse by purchasing a crate of SKS's and sitting on them. Or could I?

Ed
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