K98 fair price
Hi Experts,I want to start buying my son a few reasonably priced old guns to start a little collection for the 12 yr old. He'd love a K98 mauser and I see several on auction. What is a fair price and is there anything I should be watching out for both positive and negative? Just a shooter grade one would do.Thanks, as always, experts!
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Your talking about apples and oranges here. A ORIGINAL, All Matching German 98 K would be very big bucks.
Recent imports of Russian captured and refurbished 98 k's or Yugoslav Model 48's ( very similar to the 98 K ) have been imported recently in great quanity. You can pick up one in VG to Excellent Condition for under $200. Check out the on-line auctions, usually you'll find a lot of the rifles on them.
My 2 cents, this would be the best and most inexpensive way to get your son started in Milsurp firearms.
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The Russian capture guns that I have looked at have been very nice from the standpoint of shooters...good bores etc. I bought a 41 J p Sauer and it shoots very nicely. Although they don't have much collectors value now, they will some day. They are after all the guns that the Red Army picked up all along the Eastern Front. Certainly there's some interesting history to learn about there as well as shooting. Although the parts have been mixed around the receivers are dated. Try for an early war or prewar dated one if you can as after 1943 the RAF and US Army Air Corp were trying awfully hard to make things difficult for Hitler & Co. Later rifles are still safe, except for some last ditch stuff that would be out of your price range, just not as nicely made. I'd also look for one with milled barrel bands, etc. Once again just a little nicer. Think about picking up a good book on Mauser rifles as well. It's an interesting area for collecting and still pretty affordable. 0 -
The weapons from Eastern Europe have the wrong kind of top wood if you want something similar to what was used in WWII. They are K98k's to be sure, but a variation.
A Russian captured weapon is shooter grade and may one day be collectable. Another option if you can find one and the best as my thinking goes is an Israeli 98k in .308.
Genuine Nazi weapons rebarreled to .308 and used in most of the Arab/Jewish conflicts. Cheaper ammo, good barrels, and some real historic weapons.
Stolen from, and with thanks, to Kiwibird0 -
You are right, have to start his collection early... I assume he has already had safe handling engraved into his memory.
Hey, my wife not only bought off on that, she (usually) went along for a second similar piece because I have two boys. That is seriously true, and I started when they were about 12 too. Now they are 19 and 21....and I keep very good care of 'their collection'.
Before I/we spout out our recommendations....do you have the ability to shoot fairly often, or is this pure collection ?
If we do not hang together,
We will most certainly hang separately.0 -
Thanks for the input so far. I just want a decent shooter, really don't care too much about collector value, just want an authentic weapon. Any and all suggestions are appreciated 0 -
If there are gun shows in your area you should be able to get a good shooter grade rifle for under $200. Take your son with you and let him help with the "search" ... it will be something that he may remember for the rest of his life ... being with dad and picking out his first rifle.
Make a full circuit of the show before you buy anything. You'd be amazed by the number of people that have bought at what seemed like the first good deal only to find a number of other (better) deals further along.
And, a second piece of advice ... don't pay the sticker price. Heck it's a gun show, haggle some! Not much of that done anymore and that's a shame as there can be a lot of enjoyment in "jawing it down". If one fella won't deal, another will ... just take it all in, and have a good time with your son. If you don't buy at that show, there is always the next one.
If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!0 -
Check these guys out!!!
http://www.mitchellsales.com/rifles/hist_m48/index.htm
Larry0 -
I agree with what the other guys have said, but especially ContenderMan. Look around at the shows and see what's out there. The hunt for his first rifle can be almost as good as a first hunt. Look at the bores and action more than the wood. Some of the sport shops and even a farm supply here have the Russian captures at a pretty good price, some under $100. I picked up a couple Yugo 48's for under $100, and honestly, they looked new. The
Mitchell's are nicer tho pricier. You might also look at a Mosin for cheap shooting from the other side of the war line. Bought a very nice Mosin 91 for $65, it is very long rifle but seems to be a soft shooter for a .30 caliber.0 -
I got my collection going late in life. But I now have 8 shooting Mausers of various calibers and countries. And, I still want more. My suggestion would be to keep eyes out for deals and look at the auctions a lot. Someone took an Argentino 1909 off GB for 310 bucks last month. You couldn't ask for a better deal.
The Yugo's are great (I own two). They were built for the cold war then went right into storage as Yugoslavia went to semi-autos. The BO version for export never went anywhere either. They are probably in the best condition of any out there.
The easiest to get hold of are probably the Czech VZ-24's though. A lot of those were made for and used by the German Army by the Czech's. If you want good shooters try to find the ones made before or early in the war. You may end up rebarrelling them to get a really good shooter, but the actions are solid. Mid to late in the war quality went down so look out for those.
Buy a book first and learn to identify which ones you want would be my suggestion. -good luck
We have the second amendment so that all the rest are secure....UNK>0 -
One other thought too. If you want American rifles get a CMP or other Garand before they are gone and if you get the chance to find the odd P17(American Enfield in 30-06) get it. I missed out on an Eddystone P17 once for 200 bucks...felt dumb when it was gone.
We have the second amendment so that all the rest are secure....UNK>0
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