Eddystone questions

[hemmingsenm]

Hey Guys/Gals
I went to a local pawn shop and found a Eddystone with a 9/18 barrel, SN 1.29X,XXX, with flaming bombs on barrel and receiver. It also has the OGEK stamp in the stock.
It also has a MILSCO sling on it dated 1944. Barrel is dirty so I could not get a good look at the bore. Are these accurate rifles? Why do I not see them much at CMP matches?
Anything I should know about these? What do they normally go for? What do I look for before purchasing?
Thanks,
Mike

Information

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[Calif-Steve]

You MUST clean the barrel prior to putting any money down. Frequently they will have bad bores. Expect the worse. I would guess you are looking at an ex-VFW rifle. Fired with blanks and never cleaned. But clean it.

[GUTS]

If you are planning on buying more than one .30 US Miltary rilfe(03, Garand, etc.)you might want to invest in at least a muzzle guage , the price for the guage can be justified easily by saving you from buying a rifle with a non-servicable bore. I am very glad I have a set of guages.

[Patrick Chadwick]

You MUST clean the barrel prior to putting any money down.

A tip I practise myself: before spending your time and materials on cleaning, and thus upvaluing, someone else's rifle, agree a fixed price for the rifle as it is now. Then say you will pay that price, on the spot, if you are satisfied with the condition after you have cleaned it, right there in the shop. If the seller doesn't go along with that, he should clean his rifle himself.

Reason for this method: some rifles, offered as "only needs cleaning" have in fact got ruined bores. Which the seller does not wish to make too obvious! Not even used-car salesmen have the chuzpe to offer dirty cars!

Believe me, my cynicism is based on experience!

[Calif-Steve]

Good advise from Patrick. I bought a sporterized M1917 at a gunshow a few years back. One of my buddies was with me and he wanted that rifle. But the bore was a mess, to be kind. The rilfe was discounted but I offered $100.00 less and walked out of the show at $150.00 for it. My buddy laughed and laughed at me. I got it home and after 2 hours of cleaning it turned out to have a near mint JA barrel on it. I showed it to my buddy the next day, but he got very angry with me. Mostly, however, if the bore looks bad, it will be bad.