Question about a box of .30 short rimfires
I am fairly new at collecting guns. I was lucky (or unlucky depending on who you ask) to acquire two old firearms that both take .32 RF cartridges.
A couple of months ago, I paid a pretty penny for a coffee can "filled with a bunch of older rimfire cartridges." I was buying it for my Remington model 4 rifle (a favorite of mine), which takes .32 RF short or long. As I like shooting it, I have been buying Navy Arms or Canuck boxes of modern ammo when I can find it (they are running ~$100 to $150 a box).
I was told via email by the seller that "all cartridges were rimfires that were the same size and bag on top in the can was marked as .32 caliber." When I received the can at my home, I was at a little disappointed to find that while the bag did contain variety of .32 short rimfire cartridges (old and modern), under it on the bottom of the can was a single, neat .41 short RF cartridge (which I decided that I am going to keep because it is cool) and a full antique box of UMC 30 RF short cartridges (which of course didn't fit my gun).
I cannot find a box of these things anywhere on Gun broker or anywhere else- to gauge its worth- but I know that the few singles I found were $12-$17 a piece (don't know if those offered were rare varieties though). An older gun dealer at a local gun show told me that to a collector of antique pistols or rifles, the box was probably worth trading for a quality firearm.
My question to any on this site: Is it worth selling on GunBroker, should I try to offer it somewhere for trade, ...or am I just having delusions [:p] about the value of this box?
A couple of months ago, I paid a pretty penny for a coffee can "filled with a bunch of older rimfire cartridges." I was buying it for my Remington model 4 rifle (a favorite of mine), which takes .32 RF short or long. As I like shooting it, I have been buying Navy Arms or Canuck boxes of modern ammo when I can find it (they are running ~$100 to $150 a box).
I was told via email by the seller that "all cartridges were rimfires that were the same size and bag on top in the can was marked as .32 caliber." When I received the can at my home, I was at a little disappointed to find that while the bag did contain variety of .32 short rimfire cartridges (old and modern), under it on the bottom of the can was a single, neat .41 short RF cartridge (which I decided that I am going to keep because it is cool) and a full antique box of UMC 30 RF short cartridges (which of course didn't fit my gun).
I cannot find a box of these things anywhere on Gun broker or anywhere else- to gauge its worth- but I know that the few singles I found were $12-$17 a piece (don't know if those offered were rare varieties though). An older gun dealer at a local gun show told me that to a collector of antique pistols or rifles, the box was probably worth trading for a quality firearm.
My question to any on this site: Is it worth selling on GunBroker, should I try to offer it somewhere for trade, ...or am I just having delusions [:p] about the value of this box?
0
-
A 10 day auction starting on Thursday evening, ending on Sunday evening, penny start, reasonable shipping cost, will net you the actual market value or more.
edit = the asking price on full boxes of .38 RF on other sites is $175 and up.0 -
Henry0Reilly,
quote:...will net you the actual market value or more.
This is only based on if there is a receptive audience with the knowledge of what is being offered and wanting to have a real auction. If you only get one or two responses and their intention is to buy cheap and resell later at a big profit, you're in trouble. Auctions do not necessarily determine the value of something because there can be a disparity in the representation of the buyers. The trick is to get the volume of interested bidders to anticipate the auction, thereby stimulating the potential value. Make the auction well known before starting the auction.
Best.0 -
If singles were selling for at least $ 12. I would multiply the number of cartridges in the box by 12. And use 1/2 that as your starting price.
It's been my experience, that some collectors of old guns. Want a box of original ammo, to go with each one of the guns in there collection.
The 30 rimfire short was used in at least 2 famous 19th Century handguns. The Colt "New Line" revolver. And the Sharps 4 barrel derringer. Both are very desirable to collectors.
If your box of UMC 30 rimfire is in very good condition? Along with the ammo. Shouldn't have any problem selling it.0 -
I think that Stevens also had .30 Rimfire Pistols back in the early years. 0 -
Thanks for all of the advice. I will try to put it in a GunBroker auction (will be my first auction to sell something [:)]). Taking the advice of Mr. O'Reilly, I'll try and start it next Thursday and price it as rufe-snow suggested. My 30 short RF box is full and in pretty good shape. It has been opened, but still connected to box top along back of box. The bullets are obviously ~130 years old and probably hit and miss as far as being able to fire (from what the guy at the gun show told me).
While I'm at it, I might as well sell my box of .32 Extra Long RF cartridges that my brother gave me mistakenly thinking that they could be fired in the Rem. Model 4. It is unopened, sealed and looks like it is late 1800's as well.
Regarding my original problem of finding ammo for my squirrel gun, it is too bad Navy Arms or someone couldn't start making another run of .32 RF's. There are lots of Rem. Pistols and Rifles that shoot the .32 RF. I'd buy a couple cases of the long and short immediately. I kind of feel bad shooting any of the antique stuff, but the Navy Arms and Canuck stock is at or above the price of the antique stuff now.0 -
I have also seen Remington Smoot pistols in this caliber. My other .32 Short RF gun is a Model 2 Smoot. I have noticed several Model 1 and some Model 2 Smoot pistols in 30 Short RF on GunBroker and other sites over the past couple of months, so I'm hoping with this many guns of this caliber out there, someone has to be looking for a box of the 30 RF's. 0 -
Remember, you can't mail ammo via the post office, it has to go common carrier so fix your shipping accordingly. Bidders sometimes tend to shy away from "Buyer pays actual shipping"
There's a sticky here about shipping ammo.0 -
if clean worth about 300 plus 0 -
I do have a Colt New Line in .30 caliber and would likely bid on the box of ammo. Be sure to share a link of the auction with us when you get them listed. 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
9 comments