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Contributing Member
Originally Posted by
Brewer
Perhaps I can shine some light on this a little. First off it is only a sales gimmick and about as secret as McDonald's secret sauce.
Awesome information Brewer! thank you..
Veteran US Navy Seabees - US Army Corps of Engineers - American Legion Post 0867
" Only two defining forces have offered to die for me. 1.) Jesus Christ 2.) The American G.I. "One died for your soul, the other for your freedom! "
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07-01-2019 11:14 PM
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Legacy Member
I really dislike that sale gimmick garbage. Most of us have seen a good bit of it over the years. People new to milsurp collecting do not always know the difference and buy into that song'n'dance and over pay for run of the mill surplus. While stating the obvious to 99% of us here, for that 1%, i'll call it out. Not much harm in doing so.
Any one remember the late 1990's the m44 carbines with the Pu 4 mounts and scope that were siberian forest service carbines... made in Century arms monkey technical institute in vermont? Or the sketchy No.5 Enfields made out of No.4 parts cut down and jankie ishapore furniture by some shady work shop in New mexico? i saw one of those for $850 once and some one bought it.
Also Micky D's secret sauce is thousand island dressing
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Thank You to beachdog77 For This Useful Post:
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Legacy Member
The advertising gimmick I love is when someone puts 'rare' in their ad. Truly rare items don't need to be advertised that way, the parties recognize they are rare by looking at them not because someone put that in the title.
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Legacy Member
clarification
As others have noted the "Secret workshop" is a marketing ploy but, however, it is not totally without truth.
Yugoslavia began refurbishing rifles in 1946 beginning with surplus German Mauser mod98 (K98k) acquired by a variety of means. The war had left Yugoslavia's arms works literally in ruins. Refurbishing and making of new barrels early on was all they were capable of. In '47 they began conversion of the pre-war M1924s into M24/47s, converting dual sling mount equipped 'carbines' into 'rifle' sling configuration only along the way.* It wasn't until 1950 that they could manufacture a whole rifle from the ground up, which they did beginning with the M48.
While the majority of such work, refurbishing and manufacture went on at Kragujevac (factory 44) under it's many guises, general repair and refurbishment was conducted at a number of, call them 'satellite' shops. The work was dispersed for a number of reasons. One of these was security. During the war such shops guaranteed a steady supply of weapons. If the Nazis found and destroyed a shop it put a dent in the flow of supplies but did not stop it entirely. Located as Yugoslavia was, between two hostile super powers, it only made sense to continue the practice. Following that line of thought, it was only logical that the location and specific operations conducted by those shops be kept under wraps. So w/in normal military security it could be said that such shops were in fact, "secret." So you see, strictly speaking, the seller wasn't lying.
Now, concerning the cost, I gather a starting bid of $499 is the sticking point? I'd have to say that while steep, it would not have been unreasonable, IF the finish wasn't boogered all to heck and gone. But even so, it could be considered a $400 rifle. It has nothing to do with "secrecy" but the fact that RA 124 is a pretty darn rare shop code. The wood finish really isn't a deal breaker.
You see, the Yugoslavs maintained their warehoused weapons. In rotation, every 5 years rifles were taken down, cleaned, inspected, a few chosen at random for test firing, then put up again for another 5 years. By the time a Yugoslav rifle reached us, a once oiled stock's "original finish" had become cosmolene. So clean off that paint, maybe stain a little (old motor oil would work great as that was often used in the field by the JNA as did others including the Germans) and carefully apply some BLO taking care to wipe it down after oiling to prevent building a commercial finish and you've got it well 'restored.' It would only be right to make that information part of the rifle's permanent history for any future buyers.
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Thank You to Jim For This Useful Post: