Question Regarding Volley or Long Range Sights on the No 1 Mk III

[Roy]

I consider them rare as they rarely come up for sale. there are plenty of collectors out there with a dozen MkIII's with volley sights in their collections. however these days the acquisition of a totally correct MkIII with volley sights is difficult, and fairly expensive unless you get a lucky deal, the last MkIII I saw for sale here in NZ on the open market was nearly $1000. I agree with Bindi that if your rifle is as it was issued after a rebuild modifying it will devalue it, also it is quite likely that is left BSA without volley sights anyway. However if its already a mixmaster and you have maybe less than mint forend with the 'bulge' for the dial sight, i'd go for it if you have the skills and tools. I did it for my NZ marked BSA 1908. I had a ratty forend which I pulled form a boneyard in OZ, I used a pillar drill, sharp curved chisels and some spade bits which I filed to the exact size. I was also lucky enough to have the sported forend which provided the pattern which I also did a practice run on. If you's like some pics of my work ill post them up

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[Colonel Enfield]

I consider them rare as they rarely come up for sale. there are plenty of collectors out there with a dozen MkIII's with volley sights in their collections. however these days the acquisition of a totally correct MkIII with volley sights is difficult, and fairly expensive unless you get a lucky deal, the last MkIII I saw for sale here in NZ on the open market was nearly $1000. I agree with Bindi that if your rifle is as it was issued after a rebuild modifying it will devalue it, also it is quite likely that is left BSA without volley sights anyway.

This has been my experience too - I cannot remember the last time I saw a Mk III (no star) with the cut-off AND the volley sights AND the windage adjustable rear sights for sale. Like yourself, I have no doubt there are plenty of them in private collections, but they don't seem to leave those collections often. I asked around recently looking for one, without any luck at all - a surprising number of people didn't know they even made .303s with volley sights or windage adjustable sights. I'm told the Mk IIIs come up for sale sometimes at the twice-yearly big arms auction in Melbourne, but the prices from that frequently seem waaaaaaay out of my budget.

[Homer]

This has been my experience too - I cannot remember the last time I saw a Mk III (no star) with the cut-off AND the volley sights AND the windage adjustable rear sights for sale. Like yourself, I have no doubt there are plenty of them in private collections, but they don't seem to leave those collections often. I asked around recently looking for one, without any luck at all - a surprising number of people didn't know they even made .303s with volley sights or windage adjustable sights. I'm told the Mk IIIs come up for sale sometimes at the twice-yearly big arms auction in Melbourne, but the prices from that frequently seem waaaaaaay out of my budget.

But isn't that the point. They are priced according to availability.

[Roy]

High price due to low availability = Rare.


Just noticed a nice looking 1910 LSA on 'our site' has not hit reserve, vendor has a few nice pieces, will not allow a viewing.

[5thBatt]

High price due to low availability = Rare.


Just noticed a nice looking 1910 LSA on 'our site' has not hit reserve, vendor has a few nice pieces, will not allow a viewing.

Go Wanganui!

[Colonel Enfield]

But isn't that the point. They are priced according to availability.

Well, theoretically. I don't think the usual economic laws of supply & demand apply to military surplus guns though - a fairly average condition .303 is running to at least $500 in Australia nowadays, despite every gunshop I've been in having several of them in the racks and often several more out the back which they haven't worked out what to do with yet. If it's in pretty good or better shape, you can be looking at $750+

Luger pistols in the US seems to be same - fetching silly money despite in no way being rare. (They're rarer in Australia because their barrels are too short for ownership on a sports handgun licence, but they're still about on the collector's market, also for silly prices).

Now, I'm not saying an original Mk III shouldn't be expensive - they're clearly rare - I'm just backing up Roy's observation they hardly ever seem to come up for sale, and when they do, they're very, very expensive. I think it's important to back up people's anecdoatal experiences in these situations if they match your own, because in my experience if you say something like "Mk IIIs are rare, they hardly ever come up for sale", you're quite likely to get a (well-meaning) poster saying "That's not true, my local gun dealer in Moose Wedgie Creek, Wyoming has a rack full of them, all matching, for $425 each", and then the original poster looks foolish when it's the second poster whose experience is unusual (and likely to receive an inbox full of PMs asking for the dealer's contact details )