Are cooeys worth what people are asking?
- Thread starter Gnome75
- Start date
It all depends on the individual rifle.
Some of the earlier Cooey rifles had .220 diameter bores and were responsible for giving the rifles their positive reputation of being extremely accurate as well as relatively cheap.
As far as being bargains??????????? Back in the day they were offered in several grades and models. Some had spectacular wood on them as well as rich deep blue. Others, most, had straight grained walnut of lesser grade and the metal wasn't polished but still retained that lovely deep, rich blue. You paid for what you got. Once in a while an incredible piece of wood managed to get onto one of the lesser grade rifles. I suspect it was a promotional thing. I used to peruse the gas stations, grocery stores, hardware stores and the odd gunshop looking for one with a finely figured grain. I was never that lucky until later when it was no longer important.
Most, not all Cooey rifles/shotguns are as good or better than anything on the market today at similar prices. The biggest issue you might have will be how well maintained the rifle is. If it looks good and functions as intended it should fulfill all of your requirements.
One other reason the prices have gone up is they are becoming desirable collectibles in some circles. Another is the nostalgic memories they tend to bring up for older folk.
Some of the earlier Cooey rifles had .220 diameter bores and were responsible for giving the rifles their positive reputation of being extremely accurate as well as relatively cheap.
As far as being bargains??????????? Back in the day they were offered in several grades and models. Some had spectacular wood on them as well as rich deep blue. Others, most, had straight grained walnut of lesser grade and the metal wasn't polished but still retained that lovely deep, rich blue. You paid for what you got. Once in a while an incredible piece of wood managed to get onto one of the lesser grade rifles. I suspect it was a promotional thing. I used to peruse the gas stations, grocery stores, hardware stores and the odd gunshop looking for one with a finely figured grain. I was never that lucky until later when it was no longer important.
Most, not all Cooey rifles/shotguns are as good or better than anything on the market today at similar prices. The biggest issue you might have will be how well maintained the rifle is. If it looks good and functions as intended it should fulfill all of your requirements.
One other reason the prices have gone up is they are becoming desirable collectibles in some circles. Another is the nostalgic memories they tend to bring up for older folk.
have 3 of em.. they are 40 dollar guns, a little better than crappy ! good for people starting out .... so they can use em for awhile then really really get the desire to upgrade and buy a decent gun ! then they'll have the proper appreciation for fine firearms
no love here
no love here
Ain't that the truth. When I was a kid, one would only buy a Cooey 39, if that was all you could afford. Now, as people reminisce, they have achieved a cult like classic following.
New ones are no longer being made and you pay 3 or 4 times their actual worth. Being Canadian built also adds to their value.
So why do I want a minty 39? Can't be to relive my youth. My first .22 was a Remington, which was junk, that I took back to Home Hardware.
They traded me for some Russian made .22. It was a beauty, and I took me many a 'hog with it, even with C.I.L. Canuck shorts.
- Location
- NFA country
They were 'yunk' as our swedish neighbor from the old country used to say but they did the job of killing varmints and filling stew pots and frying pans when cash to afford something better just wasn't there.
There's no way I'd be paying $200 for an old cooey when a 10/22 could be gotten for the same money.
Nostalgia is fine but that's just stupid.
There's no way I'd be paying $200 for an old cooey when a 10/22 could be gotten for the same money.
Nostalgia is fine but that's just stupid.
I think most of what I was about to say was mentioned already Gnome. I've had at least 3-4 of them in the last 10-12 years and to be perfectly honest...none of them stand-out as being great guns. Good guns? For sure. Worth more from a quality standpoint than what I paid for them? Absolutely. You just won't find build quality and materials/finishing like that on modern guns at "used Cooey" prices. Period. Now, I don't watch the used market for Cooeys like I once did, but for $250...I'd half expect an unfired gun in it's original...yellowed-with-age box. 60s/600s in VERY good condition (not collectors, no box) should be in about the $175 range +/-, but I could be a bit off on that. To me, and with the ones I've owned, the single-shots were unnecessarily fussy to load...cocking effort too stiff for my kids/nephews/nieces to manage...=the love just wasn't there.
I currently only have one, a SUPER nice condition 600 that I bought from a good friend...and he bought it new. Even though I sort of hate tube mags for anytime I'm planning on putting more than 10 shots through a gun...I thought this might be the one I keep. I still was planning on doing that, but instead, am letting it go to a friend who needs a 22 for putting game in the freezer more than I need a safe queen that won't see the light of day more than 3X a year. Beautiful specimen? Sure is, but even cycling the bolt on the 60s/600s and the effort required to make that tube mag reciprocate back and forth~just feels very odd compared to modern bolt guns.
What I'd do? I've never had a hefty budget for buying toys...but have had so many inexpensive guns come and go that I've arrived at the conclusion that nicer rifles are just worth saving longer for. There will always be a place for cheap 22s in the world, and I'm very fond of Cooeys and their Canadian lineage...but at my age...I want to reach for a 22 to use for the day and love what I'm putting in the case. For you~a Norinco JW15A (compact) would be fun, offhand shooter that is fed from box mags. (way better for a gopher-rich environment) If you're shooting prone, pass on this gun and get a longer-barrel something. Better accuracy, you can mount a bipod, etc. Savage Mark II comes to mind, Marlin XT, etc. If your budget was closer to the $500+ mark, you'd REALLY thank yourself if you saved a little longer and bought a CZ452 Lux (iron-sights) or it's predecessor, a BRNO 2E. With my eyes, I thought shooting with iron sights was a thing of the past, then I tried a BRNO 2E~in a gopher patch of all places. Fell in love with the thing, and started my search. It's now one of my favourite guns, and it's yet to see a scope.
I currently only have one, a SUPER nice condition 600 that I bought from a good friend...and he bought it new. Even though I sort of hate tube mags for anytime I'm planning on putting more than 10 shots through a gun...I thought this might be the one I keep. I still was planning on doing that, but instead, am letting it go to a friend who needs a 22 for putting game in the freezer more than I need a safe queen that won't see the light of day more than 3X a year. Beautiful specimen? Sure is, but even cycling the bolt on the 60s/600s and the effort required to make that tube mag reciprocate back and forth~just feels very odd compared to modern bolt guns.
What I'd do? I've never had a hefty budget for buying toys...but have had so many inexpensive guns come and go that I've arrived at the conclusion that nicer rifles are just worth saving longer for. There will always be a place for cheap 22s in the world, and I'm very fond of Cooeys and their Canadian lineage...but at my age...I want to reach for a 22 to use for the day and love what I'm putting in the case. For you~a Norinco JW15A (compact) would be fun, offhand shooter that is fed from box mags. (way better for a gopher-rich environment) If you're shooting prone, pass on this gun and get a longer-barrel something. Better accuracy, you can mount a bipod, etc. Savage Mark II comes to mind, Marlin XT, etc. If your budget was closer to the $500+ mark, you'd REALLY thank yourself if you saved a little longer and bought a CZ452 Lux (iron-sights) or it's predecessor, a BRNO 2E. With my eyes, I thought shooting with iron sights was a thing of the past, then I tried a BRNO 2E~in a gopher patch of all places. Fell in love with the thing, and started my search. It's now one of my favourite guns, and it's yet to see a scope.
Milanczar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
If it was single shot it was likely a TOZ 8 or 12. I had a 17 with the mag as my first firearm.
Back when you could buy a Cooey real cheap I never owned one... I worked on many however... The single shot was okay for a cheap single shot not designed for scope use... but why would anyone want to own one when there are so many nicer rifles today. The bolt action repeaters were always terrible to operate... and again not deigned for scope use.
It makes me laugh when I see the gullible paying big dollars for a Cooey.
It makes me laugh when I see the gullible paying big dollars for a Cooey.
A 60's mustang was the tempo of the 60's, a first gen camaro is a turd to drive, and there was likely never a bigger pile of jello than big block B or E body mopar. And yet people pay monstrous amount for all of them for nostalgia, not because they were good cars. I'll drop $40-50 for a nice cigar, what's a $100-200 in the big picture? Nothing. Not even a power bill in most places these days.
- Location
- NFA country
'There's one born every minute' is the engine that drives much of our economy.
A good salesman's forte is the ability to convince us that we 'need' what ever gimmick he's selling whether it be a new ftx bullet that turns rusty old leverguns into long distance sniper rifles or an old bolt 22 that was in reality mediocre at best.
Years ago, I threw away by mistake the tool kit for my 357 speedster. The tools were crap compare to modern tools in terms of fit, finish and materials. New tools that could do the same work is about $30 compare to an original set, $1500. I had to buy a 2nd 357, rob it of the tool kit and use that one as a daily driver.lol.
Not saying that a Cooey would appriciate as much as my tool kit would but it is nice to have a minty Canadian made firearm in the display case in an old Ontario farm house or a classic Victorian home both of which I own. I'll be the first to admit that I hide all my black rifles, ARs, carbines, camo shotguns along with all my other .22s (the Marlins, Savages and Rugers) in one of my four safes. But I am not ashamed to display a Cooey in a lockable glass cabinet (of course) in full display in the central hall of my house. My wife really digs the fact that when people walk into our house, they say "holy crap! This house is beautiful!" And skip over the rifle cabinet, as though it always belonged there. There was a time, before political correctness, That gun caninets adorned the living spaces of most homes. I would be shocked to visit a place like Teddy Roosevelt's house and NOT see a gun cabinet which is why I was thinking of deactivating one of my no1mk3 and Cooey 82s and donating it and a display cabinet to the home of a local wwi war hero who's estate was turned into a war museum. I would pay good money for a Cooey for a project like that.
So maybe i am a sucker for Cooeys, but they said that about me when I bought my first Porsche.
Nostalgia plays a large part, and don't forget to add that, it was an utilitarian rifle, for the most part made of metal and wood. Later models had their share of plastic that became brittle with age. The Model 60, IMO, well let's say I just never liked it too much. My main beef being that the bolt required the rifle to be dis-assembled to be removed.
My son took a neglected but not shot much "Rabbit" gun and refinished it. The barrel was shortened, a new front sight was fitted, a new trigger guard fabricated from aluminum and later the rear sight was replaced with a Lyman folding one.
All a boy really needs is a nice 22, a Swiss army knife and a good dog.
We had a table at our local gunshow and my son sold it for $225 to a gentleman and his son. They looked at pretty much every 22 at the show, and came back and bought ours. They said it was the nicest 22 at the show.
Bottom line, they will get the job done.
Beautiful photos -- thanks for posting those.
About my original comment about "$200+ can only be justified for mint examples": when I wrote that, I had in mind rifles that were in used and un-restored condition. I've seen such beaters trying to be sold for $200 or more and don't think that price is justified for rifles in such condition. So just to clarify, I was thinking of well used rifles in un-restored or perhaps even amateurly refinished condition. I think those should be around $100 to maybe $125 or so.
Now, the rifle you show in the photos is certainly worth what you got for it. Cooeys that have been carefully restored and even enhanced -- I'm looking at that beautiful trigger guard -- can indeed command a $200+ price.
Gone are the days...
About 7 years ago I bought 3x, functional rimfires for $80 at a show. Two of them Cooeys. I haven't seen a sub $100 Cooey in the EE for ages. MILLIONS of these rimfires in this fair nation, and at one point (at least in my hood) almost every door had one behind it to keep unwelcome critters out of the gardens, and birdfeeders.
Why priced so high now? Cooey-fever. A malaise similar to Mossberg-itis, winchester-osis, marlin-lepsy, etc (all on the rimfire-ism spectrum). It's not a terminal affliction, but given no new Cooeys are being made if you want one, you'll buy one. (or dozens: it is a sickness) Focus on the model 82, and you'll have the 'surpy fans to bid against. As it always is: something is worth what someone else will pay for it.
....I'd probably pony up $200 for a model 35...
If you just want a functional, affordable rimfire there are better bangs for buck in the current market than what some folks feel a Cooey is worth. Put the word out locally, and among shooting peers, family, etc...you could probably still find a Cooey that's not listed, because it's just been tucked away. One owned by someone who has guns, but no feel for "cyber" gun love. Certainly an affordable, functional rimfire of any sort can be found this way.
Given very few folks know about NAACO, I'd personally pay more for a functional 10,20,30 than I would for the equivalent conditioned Cooey.
About 7 years ago I bought 3x, functional rimfires for $80 at a show. Two of them Cooeys. I haven't seen a sub $100 Cooey in the EE for ages. MILLIONS of these rimfires in this fair nation, and at one point (at least in my hood) almost every door had one behind it to keep unwelcome critters out of the gardens, and birdfeeders.
Why priced so high now? Cooey-fever. A malaise similar to Mossberg-itis, winchester-osis, marlin-lepsy, etc (all on the rimfire-ism spectrum). It's not a terminal affliction, but given no new Cooeys are being made if you want one, you'll buy one. (or dozens: it is a sickness) Focus on the model 82, and you'll have the 'surpy fans to bid against. As it always is: something is worth what someone else will pay for it.
....I'd probably pony up $200 for a model 35...
If you just want a functional, affordable rimfire there are better bangs for buck in the current market than what some folks feel a Cooey is worth. Put the word out locally, and among shooting peers, family, etc...you could probably still find a Cooey that's not listed, because it's just been tucked away. One owned by someone who has guns, but no feel for "cyber" gun love. Certainly an affordable, functional rimfire of any sort can be found this way.
Given very few folks know about NAACO, I'd personally pay more for a functional 10,20,30 than I would for the equivalent conditioned Cooey.
^that's a rifle I might pony-up $200 for.
Naturally, an all-original military one with the more desirable sights. As a wall hanger, can't see shooting it. With that said...I'm pretty sure my Cooey rimfire itch has officially been scratched. Didn't stop me from buying a model 84 shotgun in 20ga a few months back.
I should mention one the most accurate rimfires to pass through here was a worn, scarred, whale bellied model 75 with a folded matchbook for rear sight ramp.
It is very close to the top of my "regret selling" gun list.
It is very close to the top of my "regret selling" gun list.
hometownhero
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Toon Town, Sk
$100 they are decent. Anything more then 150 is overpriced in my opinion. For $250 I would look at something else.
Thanks for that. I enjoyed reading it with tongue firmly in cheek while I sipped Armagnac.
LOL..as far as I am concerned all cooeys are worth $100 max, I dont know why people are gullible enough to pay these over inflated prices for guns!! I have this opinion for all firearms though..which is probably why I laugh while scrolling the EE and dont buy very much.
