Firearms import --UPDATE

Original post.

Sorry, no pictures; I have yet to lay eyes on these guns. The gun smith in South Africa who is handling the export paperwork had this to tell me, but I'm still a little confused about what I have. (Note, the exchange rate is about R7.15 per US dollar.)

quote:Now: The part that I am a little concerned about, is that these firearms are not really worth much- with the exception of the Westley Richards. I will try hereunder to give you a bit of a summary as I see it. Do bear in mind that I automatically tend to value guns as for the South African market, and the USA values may be different. However, do also remember that I am a gunsmith, with a lot of experience, and I really do know my "stuff" at least reasonably well when it comes to this type of thing.
1. Bernadelli Vets Pocket Pistol, 6,35mm (.25ACP). Condition is "Mint", basically "NIB", with original box & tag. Both mags are still with it. The executors of the estate have unfortunately stuck a few labels onto the box, probably not knowing that it may actually detract from the eventual value of the gun. The pistol is, however, classed as a "Saturday Night Special" in USA parlance, which may oy may not affect value your side. Local value is ?R250.
2. Jelly. Air rifle (Pellet gun). Condition is "Fair". However, it really is not a great quality piece to start with. I rate this one as "No Value", local or overseas.
3. BSA. Air rifle (Pellet gun). Damn nice piece when it was new, and I rate these quite highly. The condition is only "fair", but if you give this baby to a decent smith your side for proper restoration, it can be a lovely airgun to admire and use. Local value ?R150.
4. Mannlicher M88 rifle. This one is a damn shame, because it could have been a "star". The rifle should have been quite valuable, but the condition is pretty bad. The stock has been broken, and there was an attempted "repair" by a person who did not give a damn. I do not think the stock can be salvaged after all these years, and the gun's value has been permanently destroyed. You may be able to source a replacement from Gun Parts Corp. in the USA, otherwise let a good stockmaker make you a replacement stock in European Walnut. The rifle can be made "pretty and nice" again, and you will be able to get a lot of enjoyment from using it, but the value will never be very good, I'm afraid. Local value would be ?R800, for the action only. (Incidentally, the rifle is licensed as a 7mm locally. However, I measured the bore, and it definitely is 8mm. I cannot verify the actual cartridge without making a chamber cast, but it is probably the 8x57J, or the 8x56 Mannlicher-Schoenauer)
5. Lee Enfield No. 4 Mark 2. Condition is OK to good. There are huge numbers of these rifles in SA, so the value over here is close to nothing (about R100), but it may well be different your side. It used to be the British military rifle for many years. The caliber is the standard .303 British, and you could use it for hunting the odd deer, but bear in mind that scope mounting on this one is not a great idea as the stock was designed for military use with a big drop-at-heel. The rifle does not have a magazine, but if you want one we can easily find new ones (5-shot or 10-shot) for you at R350 each, or the original ones (10-shot only) at R250 each.
6. Westley Richards .450 No.2. Falling Block action. This one is definitely the best of the collection, and in a very good condition for the age of the piece. There are a few "dings & scratches" on the stock, as is to be expected, and the blueing is a little worn in places. The cleaning rod is missing, and the front sight bead is broken, but these little faults can easily be corrected. This can really be a pice to be treasured as a family heirloom, and will increase in valuse considerably with time. The value locally would be approximately R5000-7000.


So the Bernardelli is easy to figure out, but I find it interesting that the value he gives it (R250) is many times less than the value the 2006 blue book gives it ($250), or even the price asked on the auction side here ($150-250). Manufactured 1945 - 1948. I might import this one just because the idea of bakelite grips amuses me.

Does anybody know anything about the air guns? One of them is an heirloom so I'm pretty much obligated to import it. Unfortunately I don't know which one is the heirloom.

The Mannlicher M88 doesn't appear in the blue book. Does M88 mean Model of 1888? Is his value of about $100 for the receiver reasonable (seems low to me)? Not that it really matters: it's another heirloom so I've gotta bring it over.

The Enfield is worth about $15 in South Africa (!) but according to the Blue book, about $200-400 here, depending on a few details I don't have. I'll probably be able to recover about what it's worth by importing it.

And then there's the Westley Richards. I did some searching and figured I had one of the "Free State Martinis" listed here (#4 under the Boer fire-arms about half way down the page). But my academic adviser--who is much more knowledgeable about this stuff than me--thought that unlikely. He hasn't given me all of his reasons yet but I do know he didn't think the Free State Martini would be worth the $800-1000 that the gun smith is quoting.

I'll post an abbreviated version of this on the Experts forum too.