I made an observation the other day that the prices of new bolt-action rifles of any kind of quality seem to have crept up over the $1,000 mark. (I make exception here for the “budget” rifles like the Savage Axis line, by the way.)
But it’s even worse for that old stand-by of the impecunious, American mil-surps. Here, some guy sounds off about this phenomenon, and he’s absolutely right.
Given that mil-surp rifles were almost by definition produced in the jillions, they should cost no more than a few hundred dollars, even supposing that a half-jillion people want to buy these old beauties (unlikely) and especially during these times of Bidenflation. [FJB]
Here’s a random sample from Collectors:
Even an old beater is over $500:
Don’t even get me started on the Garands and M1 Carbines:
The furrin bolt-action rifles of the same vintage aren’t any exception:
These old bolties shouldn’t cost more than $600, even today. They have outdated (ergo expensive-to-feed) chamberings and are mostly battered beyond belief. That’s always been their charm — that, and the fact that you could pick one up for a few hundred bucks.
Nowadays? No chance.
In fact, the only “bargains” below $1,000 are the crappy Arisakas, Carcanos, Mosins and such. (The good Arisakas — not the “last-ditch” ones made in uncle Yoshi’s garden shed — fetch prices very close to the Enfields and Mausers as above.)
(A special mention goes to the Swedish 1896 and Schmidt-Rubin 1911 rifles, which remain well below the $1,000 red line and are still excellent rifles, albeit expensive / hard to feed, especially the latter because of their ammo costs. Even Prvi Partizan stuff is spendy.)
“Yeah, Kim,” I hear you say, “but those are Collectors prices — and they’re not known for bargains.”
Tell you what: go to your next local gun show, look for quality rifles of the above makes (i.e. that haven’t been bubba’d and have matching serial numbers and decent bores), and if you find one below a grand, buy it, send me pictorial proof thereof and I’ll send you a box of ammo for it.
The surplus is running out. Same reason cheap commie ammo is now expensive commie ammo. The wall fell 35 years ago and we’ve burned through all of it since then.
Agreed! No more are in the pipeline either! The current administration would melt down any surplus before releasing evil guns into the general population.. and even if they wanted to what would they release? Google says the only boltie left in active use is the M24 – currently selling on gun broker for $15000! With most guns used by armies since 1990 having selective auto, any surplus would have to go to melting pot because full auto is an ATF no-no for your basic homeowner.. unless you are the Taliban, then it’s ok and you get them for free.
The surplus on bolt-action rifles ran out ca. 2005. About the only reserves left that I can think of MIGHT be something in Russian arsenals. Royal Tiger has been bringing in stuff from Ethopia…which is in sorry shape.
Of course I’ll age myself, but it was either a couple years ago or maybe several decades, seems like it was recent but the 90’s also seem recent. But anyway some Asian country was returning their stockpile of Garands we’d given them back during the Korean conflict or something. Word got out that OMG there’ll be a fresh batch of Garands on the market. People debated about the condition, were they ever used, did they just sit in the armory, were they even shootable, etc. Then whatever fucknuts administration at the time decided NOT to receive those back into the CMP where they could be sold to the public. Nope, they decided to have them all destroyed. Hell, it might have been the Clinton admin now that I’m thinking about it.
So yeah, the mil-surp market is crazy and getting some old wall hanger or range toy is just too damned expensive. I have one wall hanger bought years ago but yeah, I’ll never be rich enough to get the full set. (My full set would be the Krag, the 03-A3, the Garand, and one of those Mattel rifles).
IIRC it was the Obammy administration. I was waiting for some Garands to flood the market a little too, then that fuckwit blocked the importation.
The Garands were lend-lease to the Phillipines and a hostile president can refuse to let the army accept them for import. These rifles would be released from the Aniston AL army depot to the CMP Civilian Marksmanship Program to be sold to qualified civilians. CMP warned up front that the Phillipine Garands were generally in poor condition but they are still available but most have new barrels and wood. South Korea was blocked from exporting them to Aniston by Obama. I am hoping that the Korean rifles if they were not destroyed will be returned to the US by president Trump. MI rifles that were sold to foreign countries or manufactured in Italy by Breda or Beretta generally had the parts kits sold after the receivers were destroyed. The Danish made great barrels and wood that were mostly used to refurbish lend-lease rifle but they also bought receivers from Italy.
I have:
2 – 1903 Springfield rifles purchased from CMP, I would like to find original wood.
1 – 1917 US rifle (AKA US Enfield)
2 – 1903 A3 Springfields, very nice
2 – M1 Carbines The Winchester was a gift from my father who paid $40 in 1964, this came from the ancestor of the CMP
3 – Three M1 Garands One was abused by the ROK army and I bought a new 7.62 NATO barrel and the other two were from CMP, one CMP rifle is a box of parts.
Colt 1911A1 1943 from the CMP
The communists play the long game….welcome to the two minute warning of the fourth quarter.
Some of this is just inflation. Can’t get away with that.
But it’s supply and demand too.
But it’s also–and this is just noting, not condemning or shaming–that there are many collectors out there that are…more like “hoarders”. How many guys who have an actual milsurp M1 Carbine have *one*? And how many do you know that have a half dozen or so?
And then one day they’ll pass, and their grandkids will turn all those in to a gun buy back program and get a $50 gift card to walmart.
Thank you, David Downer.
Raise your kids _right_ so they raise your grandkids right, and you don’t have to worry.
Interesting timing. I just saw this as a recent local listing on Armslist:
For sale: 4 rifles
1943 Lee Enfield No.4 MkI. .303 British. Decent condition, few small scratches and blemishes. Imported by CIA (Asking $500)
1940-1945 Arisaka Type 99. 6.5x50mmSR Japanese. Decent condition includes AA sight, several small blemishes and few medium blemishes on stock, ground imperial markings. Missing cleaning rod, stock was refinished before I got it. (Asking $700)
1943 Mosin Nagant M91/30. Produced in Izhevsk. 7.62x54R. Decent condition, non-matching serials from import. (Asking $400)
1943 German K98K DOT43. 7.92x57mm. Excellent condition, serials matching. (Asking $1100)
Price for all 4 rifles together: $2500
I collected several rifles with insurance money during COVID, because I saw the writing on the wall. The last big warehouse of pre-modern battle rifles was the Ethiopian warehouse a few years ago, and most of those were crap. The CMP is running out of everything but Garands, and they’re getting rare.
The era of 5 gallon buckets full of $50 surplus guns is over, even if a mystery warehouse gets found. Like 19th century furniture, prices will eventually go back down (or inflation will consume the value of these prices), but the sheer volumes of post-war surplus that drove prices to near scrap value can’t happen again.
If you want a cheap bolt action, go buy an Axis….
Yeah, clinton was the guy that sent a few thousand M-14s to Lithuanian and had untold thousands chopped up. And apropos to your original post, Kim; for a while now I’ve been trying to find a _drill purpose_ P-14 that didn’t cost $700-800. . . Good luck with that.(Those used to be $100-150 guns.)
When I started getting into milsurps and firearms in general in the mid to late 90s, Lee Enfields were under $200. Now they push $500-600.
Mosin Nagant rifles were under $100 several years ago and now are pushing $500 or so.
Everyone says “buy it cheap, stack it deep.” The problem is that I hadn’t realized decades ago that those were the times of cheap prices. You could get a crate of Mosins or even SKS rifles for less than $1k and now they’d be worth quite a bit more. ammunition has done well too. Any .30 ammunition is close to $1 or far more frequently higher than $1/cartridge.
The Ruger model 77 Mk II that I bought in 2002 has been replaced by Ruger with the Model 77 Hawkeye line and that is about $1k now.
There has got to be a crash in prices as the older generations pass on and their kids don’t want their father or grandfather’s old gear. Hopefully this gear gets sold at gun shops or gun shows at reasonable prices.
Simple answer. The supply is drying up. The warehouses are running empty. and the old shooters are still desirable.
Y’all should come to Kansas in October, and shoot mine . . . Garand, M1 Carbine, Enfields, Mausers, Arisakas, 1903, 1917, K31, etc.
BTW – the local WWII museum is raffling off a Springfield Legacy 1911, with a pistol bag, a 2 gun range bag, and 3 mags. $10 bucks a ticket, and limited to 400 tickets. The tickets should be printed soon; Kim has my e-mail if anyone’s interested . . .