new Gras purchase

[burb1989]

Hey all I posted this on another forum but I guess I can vet this rifle past the experts on here too. Anyway I bought this Mle 1874 Gras rifle with the M80 conversion at the local militaria show that comes through here twice a year and I saw this gun at a collector's table for $450. I have been looking for this rifle for two years and I knew if I could talk him down I would buy it. After some discussion I got him down to $400 and I bought it without hesitation. Now I have the rifle that goes to the bayonet my great grandpa brought home in WW1 and it makes one hell of a display over my desk. Anyway how do you experts think I did on the price? It is mismatched like so many others and this is the first Gras I have seen in Mississippi (the seller came down from Virginia for the show). Any advice would be very helpful. Thanks again.

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[jmoore]

I'm far from being an expert, but that price seems OK. Now that you have one, the next one you see may well be lots cheaper! That used to happen to me quite a bit. But Gras rifles and such just don't litter the countryside anymore. Even Vetterli rifles seem scarcer.

[villiers]

Certainly don´t think you paid too much for it. Especially as you´ve got the bayo to go with it. Do you intend to shoot it?

[burb1989]

Villiers, I might shoot it eventually since the barrel has excellent rifling but for now it is just a display for the bayonet. To think I went to that show expecting to find little if any old rifles just like most of the shows in Mississippi. I've been lucky with finding decent rifles and making ok purchases and even made one sale. I sold a vetterli vitali minus the cleaning rod for $400 after I paid only $150 for it a year ago. I figured I could get rid of that rifle since I was getting another one from my aunt in Pennsylvania that was a WW1 bringback also from my great grandpa (her father) and the cleaning rod that came with it broke over the course of a hundred years so I saved my cleaning rod from the other one.

[jmoore]

I sold a vetterli vitali minus the cleaning rod for $400

Vetterlis used to be considered "Gun Herpes" by most dealers. In that, once you have it, it's with you forever...

[burb1989]

thank god not anymore. I used the cash from that sale to buy a 1950 Long Branch no4 enfield and some lunches for me and my dealer friend who helped me with the vetterli sale.