Help with friends guns

[DaveHH]

A close friend, a plumber turned 80 and is selling some of his stuff. He has a good nose for values. In 1963 he heard from Andy at Cinnabar Rifle shop in Petaluma that Winchester was going to be changing how they built Model 70s. He bought two 30-06 a Standard and a Featherweight both new in the box. He put them away and the standard remains NIB unfired. He's selling the Standard and has no clue about value. It is just a standard rifle, no scope, No recoil pad. Any ideas ?

[eb in oregon]

Kind of the wrong forum for such a question. However Gunbroker and a few other sites may give you a reasonable answer. Remember though, an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

[browningautorifle]

Of course your area will be different too. Around me the market would be false toward the actual price of this hard to find firearm.

[ssgross]

However Gunbroker and a few other sites may give you a reasonable answer.

I've had good luck selling a some things on Gunbroker. Take a month or so and search for similar items every week. Track those with active bidding by saving to your watchlist. You can then sort to see those items after they end, and see the winning bid. If it meets your expectations, set the starting bid of your item a little under that and you are off.
Only pay attention to active bidding though. There is a lot of junk people are trying to pass off rare and collectible with exhorbitant min starting bids . Those typically stay at 0 bids unless the seller starts to bring it down when they re-list.
The highest prices are usually achieved by the penny auctions ($0.01 starting bids). But for small timers like us, it is very risky. The power sellers get buyers directed to their items, so they can afford the risk of the penny auction. The middle ground is pick fair-and-reasonable based on past auctions. For a fee you can have access to all gun broker's past auctions. Almost all my local gunshops that sell consignments use this.
The last thing to note is that as a small seller, traffic to your item will be slower so it might take a few re-lists to sell. If you start fair, it will sell. Just be patient.

I've been trolling and looking for the right pre-64 model 70 for some time - but I'm not interested in the pristine or the NiB. I'm more of a find the heart-break and restore it kind of guy. Good Luck!

[DaveHH]

I'm the same way. The average deer rifle has maybe 100 rounds fired through it in its lifetime. Just as good as a new one and not a safe queen. thanks for the help.
D

[Roy W]

contact pre64win.com

They have lots for sale and can advise on pricing

[jimb16]

I'm the same way. The average deer rifle has maybe 100 rounds fired through it in its lifetime. Just as good as a new one and not a safe queen. thanks for the help.
D

My deer rifle has had a lot more rounds through it than that! I have an 1873 Winchester clone from Uberti. I load cast bullets for it. It took several hundred rounds just to find 2 loads that shot the way I wanted; 5 shot sub 1 inch groups at 50 yards. Now I take it out for joy rides a couple of times every year, plus deer season. It is a .45 colt. I use the same ammo in my alternate deer gun; an 1873 Colt Cattleman revolver, also in .45 colt. I have full confidence in that load at 40 yards. It also goes to the range regularly. I have to shoot it more often to maintain my edge with the handgun. My third deer gun is a .50 cal flintlock rifle. It doesn't get shot as often, but it also goes out for squirrels with a much lighter load. So I guess all 3 of my deer guns have a lot more rounds through them than the average hunter puts through his deer guns. BTW, the flinter will hold 2 inch groups off the sandbags at 100 yards with 75 gr of BP and a moderately loose patch! If I use a tight patch the groups open up to 12 inches. Go figure!?? I thought that was against the rules for muzzle loaders.....

[Sapper740]

I'll hazard a guess. A NIB Pre-64 Model 70 in a popular caliber like .30-'06 Government should fetch between $3,000 to $4,000.

[usabaker]

You should head over to Pre-64 Winchester https://pre64win.com/ Good folks there and are your best source for the information you are looking for. NIB Unfired, my guess is that they may even make you a nice officer on the rifle. I'd be interested as well but know that the rifle will be well out of my range. I have two of them already, anyhow. The price swing range I have seen is between $750 to $1800, his being NIB Used Never fired, and with the box and paper, should yield for a 30-06' someplace in the 1700 to 2000 range depending on how long you want to wait to sell it and where you list it. Consignment through a gun store, Gunbroker self-list, or auction with companies like Rock Island, Lock Stock and Barrel, etc..

[DaveHH]

The standard weight brought $3500, he is keeping the featherweight. I suspect that the 30-06 helps. There are a lot of really great calibers, my choice would be a .270 a classic. I would have to look at ammunition in the future. Chances of finding something like .257 Roberts or .220 Swift will be slim for the foreseeable future. My Dad had a friend who using a .257 shot all of the big animals, Moose, brown bear, elk, etc. I remember when people would haul all of the kids down to Pedottis Reef N/O Bodega and get 5 abalone for each kid. He took that .257 and shot a seal, picked it up by the head and moved that seal about 30 feet backward, completely out of the water. A Remington Gamemaster .257 Roberts. In those days we had few seals as they were shot as a nuisance animal by fishing boats. Consequently we could free dive without fear of White sharks. Now, the seals are protected and we have more Great Whites than Australia. We surfed and free dived a lot, you could put a gun to my head and I wouldn't go in that water today.