Hey Could anyone explain why USA milsurp is so expensive?

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bonan

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Such as Springfield M14, M1A or M1 garand, even 1903 is worth twice or 3 times than milsurp from other countries.
I dont think USA milsurp was made with higher quality than the milsurp from Swiss or German. So why why why? is it due to quantity they made??
 
bonan said:
Such as Springfield M14, M1A or M1 garand, even 1903 is worth twice or 3 times than milsurp from other countries.
I dont think USA milsurp was made with higher quality than the milsurp from Swiss or German. So why why why? is it due to quantity they made??
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300,000,000 buyers, and a government which exported most of their surplus to other countries militaries.
 
Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Enemy at the Gates, Fury....and Couch Potatoes holding their favorite milsurp while watching their favorite movie!
 
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Demand. US - centric movies and video games make them more widely known and then more desired. Same with German to a lesser extent.
 
In Canada, I will see a 500 Enfields and Mausers for every M1903 or M1917 rifle. M-1 Garands demand has gone through the roof with no supply in several years.
 
A friend of mine who was a dealer had five cases of 1903 Springfield that got sold in the Vancouver when he
died. Do you see them? There was 10,000 m1 Garands brought into Vancouver, I don't remember how many
became US parts kits, plus what went to Montreal, 1,000 more, what didn't become parts kits. How many do
you see. That is why there are thousands of receivers here , then there are the thousands that the ATF seized
coming from here. US military guns are collected by everyone, Canada got lots when America couldn't have
them, where are they. M1 carbines, 1917 en fields etc
 
JP said:
In Canada, I will see a 500 Enfields and Mausers for every M1903 or M1917 rifle. M-1 Garands demand has gone through the roof with no supply in several years.
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Hmm... I still see a fair number of M1917's and M1903's in my area. Most are rebuilt, but so are the Enfields and Mausers I typically run across. There still seems to be a lot of Garands listed on the EE, just again mostly heavily rebuilt and a lot more money than even a few years ago.

-Steve
 
b72471 said:
SIMPLE; SUPPLY AND DEMAND. Plus the Americans have more money than we Canadians!
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Your wrong, I'm an American and my wife is the finance minister and wants to go on a European river cruise.

So I don't bring home expensive high demand firearms. And I like eating and not being served cold shoulder.

I do not have a 03 Springfield but I "had" many cheaper Enfield rifles. And sold them for over three to five times what I paid for them.

Your are correct about demand thats caused by the Liberal Democrats and their anti-gun laws and people buying firearms faster than they are made here.

Example, I can get a email from http://palmettostatearmory.com/ with AR15 related items on sale and by the time I go to their site they are sold out.
 
b72471 said:
SIMPLE; SUPPLY AND DEMAND. Plus the Americans have more money than we Canadians!
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You're only half right. Many US military surplus firearms are actually more expensive in the US than they are here. Springfield O3s and variants for example. Same for Garands and 1911s as well as Colt/S&W martially marked revolvers.

There is one good reason for this. It's not so much that there is a limited supply of these firearms because that just isn't true. Korea/Viet Nam/Laos and many South American as well as European nations to name a few had or have arsenals full of them. They were never purchased but "Lend Lease" firearms that were loaned in return for services rendered or to help stabilize the governments of nations where the US was interested in preserving their interests or property. Under US law, those firearms can't be imported back into the US. More often than not, they are stripped for parts, which can be imported. All but the receivers of course. Then there is the problem of condition. Most of those firearms are used/abused and often non functional or reliable.

We do import a lot of those firearms into Canada but with the costs/corruption now associated with those imports it's almost impossible to make any money on them. Hence, we see what we surmise are inflated prices. International agreements as well as the US government paying the nations they loaned the rifles to in the first place to destroy those firearms is making the surplus market a very iffy business. Not because there isn't a demand but because the products have been made artificially unavailable in quantity.
 
More people tend to be interested in American arms. More people also tend to be aware of American arms. The Colt 1911 and the M1 Garand are one of those few firearms you can mention to someone who knows nothing about guns and they usually have a idea what your talking about (like the AR-15/M16 and the AK-47). There is tons of history, and more importantly tons of recorded available history on them around. The US has also done a excellent job preserving there position in WWII in the mind of the modern population, and with that comes a lot of people interested in owning things related them in that war.

They are also very well made (maybe not as high end as some, but certainly far from the bottom of the barrel) and for the most part are in a common caliber (.30-06). The fact they also tend to have aperture sights (peep sights, most people prefer them, to each there own) and tend to be fairly accurate firearms also garners them a fair bit of interest (expecially since most milsurps have notch sights instead). Finally the M1 Garand happens to be the only semi-auto rifle in Canada you can use 8 rounds in the rifle with the rifles magazine (not using a pistol magazine) and it is non-restricted.

All of this combines to be relatively desirable. The other thing that keeps them desirable is the fact people consider them so. If tomorrow no one cared about them the value would be worthless, but since I doubt that is going to happen the value will likely stay strong. What I mean by this is I know someone who was going to sell a M1 Garand and asked me what it was worth. He said he was looking for at least 300$. When I told him it was worth at least 1200$ he decided all of a sudden he didn't want to sell it. Value is in the eye of the beholder, and currently most believe they have value.
 
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