Auction sale of 1911

[Aragorn243]

Local gun auction had a 1911 today. Not a bad looking rifle. The stock was pretty abused but still had it's markings. Looked like it was a tiger stripe but the pattern was faint. Most of the metal retained most of it's bluing but the bolt pull and the bolt had some rust on them. Numbers matched with the exception of the rear sight.

Sold for $385. Seemed a bit high to me but I don't know a lot about these. Is that a reasonable price? I'm wondering if the tiger striping bumped the price up.

Bore looked perfect.

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[Patrick Chadwick]

Sold for $385. Seemed a bit high to me but I don't know a lot about these. Is that a reasonable price? I'm wondering if the tiger striping bumped the price up.

It does seem rather high. There are plenty of Swiss rifles around, and they seem to me to be generally undervalued. That price should have bought a perfect example, not one with a "pretty abused" stock. Maybe we are soon going to see an upwards trend, as frustrated shoooters look for a better price/performance ratio than is offered by a lot of the more usual models.

Bore looked perfect.

And that is why I think they are undervalued. The quality of the Swiss rifles I have seen up to now has been excellent. I have a very late (almost the last) G96/11, and it is the best "out of the box" open-sight shooter with original ammo that I have ever had in my hands. Apart from acquiring a higher foresight, I have done absolutely nothing to this rifle other than clean and oil it. The barrel was already free-floating as made, and the combination with the GP11 ammo is wonderfully accurate. There was such a lot of GP11 for sale about a year ago, in hefty 470 (?)-round block packages, that I think the Swiss must have cleared out a depot. It seems to have dried up now.

The trouble is - the sights. I have occasionally seen add-on diopter sights sold, but only for the K31, and the prices are shocking. Like more, much more than my rifle cost. One fine day, I am going to mold a clamp-on sight system for my G96/11.

[Aragorn243]

I was kind of hoping, and I realize at this auction that's a lost cause, to get it for around $200 or so. That is the price the auctioneer started it at and someone bid at that immediately which is odd in itself. They usually always let the price go down before starting and these auctioneers tend to overvalue the price with their first bid price.

As they sold a Mosin Nagant reworked import wtih bag-o-stuff for $350, it's hard to figure out what is a good price and what is way out there. I had never seen one of these at this auction before.

[Patrick Chadwick]

IMHO, for the same money you will get a much better Schmidt-Rubin than Mosin-Nagant.