Colt 1883 .38 Rifle
I am now in possesion of a Colt .38 Rifle that has an octagon barrel and is a pump action. The date on top is 1883. It has been handed down and I am wanting to know its value.
Please email me or place your reply here. Thanks for your help.
Please email me or place your reply here. Thanks for your help.
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You have a Colt Lighting Rifle. Before anyone could help you with a appraisal, you have to give us as much data as you can regarding Condition, Finish, Markings, Barrel Length, etc. etc.
Flayderman lists at least (5) different varations, with values from hundreds to thousands of dollars.0 -
I would be more than happy to tell you anything I can. Help me out with a couple of things, markings? finish? Help me with these. When measuring the barrel, where do I measure it from. Obviously from the end but where do I stop the measuring? 0 -
No offense meant sir, but it would probably be best if you got a hands on appraisal from a person familar with this type of Colt Rifle.
This link gives a listing of collectors organizations all around the country. I'm sure if you contact the closest one, you will be able to find someone more then happy to assist you, as the collecting of Colts firearms is very popular.
http://armscollectors.com/clublist.htm0 -
Hello Jeff. The patent date and caliber should indicate that you have what was known as the MEDIUM FRAME Lightning rifle. To measure the barrel open the action and look inside. You'll see the Breech (where the bullet would enter the barrel). You then measure to the muzzel (the very end of the barrel where the front sight is located). Chances are that you have a 26 inch barrel as the carbines with their 20" barrels are rather rare. When these rifles were introduced way back when they cost about $20 brand new. All of the repeating rifles at that time were lever actions and Winchester had the market controled. Your pump action Colt was their entry into this market.
The value of a firearm is determined by a number of very basic constants: Who produced it, the numbers produced, the caliber or unusual features like non standard options (fancy wood, target sights and those sorts of things) and of course CONDITION. You are very lucky because Colt firearms are quite collectible and have a large and ready market of people who will always be happy to purchase another Colt. Fewer than 90,000 Lighting rifles in your configuration were produced during a 15 year production run (about 6,000 per year) so while not exactly rare, these rifles are far from common. If you have the shorter carbine the rifle is worth a considerable premium.
Take a good look at the rifles over all appearence; how does the wood look? Is it all the same coloring and the same general appearence? This would indicate that all the wood is original and one piece was not replaced at a later date. Are there any big gouges or chunks missing? How about DEEP scratches? These rifles are 100 years old so no one expects the wood to appear brand new, but you do want everything to be in one piece and not held togetehr with old rusty nails! Now look at the finish on the rifles metal. When these guns left the factory they had what was called a "blued" finish. This is a sort of chemical aging of the metal (a controled rust really) which takes bare steel and turns it blue (or black). Is there any of this coloring left on your rifle or is it all bare steel? Is there any rust on the gun? Worse than rust is what is called PITTING. This is rust/corrosion that has gone so far it has actually eaten away the metal. Usually this is a series of "pits" (looks like repeated hits with the tip of a nail) or it can be a big chunk! Take a look through the barrel and check if you can see any daylight? These barrels are typically very dark in the bore so don't be shocked!
If there is no pitting you are in good shape. Some light rust is okay but you want to see more metal than rust. No matter what it looks like DO NOT CLEAN OR USE ANY TYPE OF ABRASIVE CLEANER ON THIS RIFLE WHAT SO EVER!!! Leave it as it is. Collectors call this as "found condition" and this is EXACTLY the way a collector wants his gun to be when he purchases it. The temptation is great to help your rifles appearence along but all this will do is DROP its value! The amount of finish is expressed in percentages like 10%. If 1/4 of the rifle still has finish (bluing) then you have a 25% condition rifle. Most of these rifles are found in less than 50% condition so as the condition increases the value goes up VERY QUICKLY. Like new or 90% examples are never found as these were working guns so don't be disappointed if your rifle only shows 20% or less of its finish!
Nearly any decent and functional Colt Lightening rifle will bring $500. If you have a better than 50% rifle you have doubled the value to $1000. If yours looks better than 80% then $1800+ is a fair price. I suggest that you get an appraisal from a qualified expert as suggested by member rufe-snow, since Colts are a highly specialized field and actual values can ONLY be determined by a physical examination by someone experienced in these type of firearms. This simply cannot be done here on Gun Broker, even if you posted photographs. The values I mentioned were very rough guides so don't be surprised if your rifle does not fetch those amounts (although on auction it might bring more), especially if you sell to a dealer who is buying for resale to a Colt collector/customer (the dealer needs to turn a profit on the resale). Good luck and enjoy that old Colt...there are fewer and fewer left every day and new Colt collectors are born each minute...supply and demand is what drives the collectors market and there will NEVER be anymore Colt Lightenings made, but there will always be more people who'd like to own an example.
Mark T. Christian0 -
Great response for a newbie Mark. Average guys like some of us are sure lucky to have your expertise and that of others to help us out at times. 0 -
MARK: MY COMPLIMENTS ON A GREAT RESPONCE, UNLIKE SOME WHO HAVE WAY TO MUCH MORNING COFFEE. 0 -
Thank you very much for your help, and no offense was taking at all. Mark, thanks for the lesson, it was well needed. I am going to try and find a some place and have the gun evaluated and then put it up. Like I said it has been handed down so I am not in the market to sell it. Thanks again for all of your help. 0
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