Ross/Milsurp collector question

[Slash5]

I was looking at two Ross .22 training rifles.
One has worn blue, good bore and a nice clean stock. Dealer tells me he has fired it and it shoots well.

Other has better blue, bore is good but maybe not as good as the other one.
The stock has many interesting stamps - lots of them crossed out and new ones added - a real piece of history. BUT, it's also stamped DP in a couple of places. Nothing on the metal.

The dealer says he figures the DP was for a bad barrel and the barrel was replaced (from the bluing, it's possible). Or that the stock came from another gun. I know this dealer and am not worried about the gun working or shooting OK - he would refund my money without any problem.

I'm worried the DP marking will kill any resale value of this gun or affect collectability. The DP marking is not reflected in the price - the cleaner Ross is actually cheaper. I'm not really a collector, more of a shooter but I like military trainers.

I think I'll go with the unmarked Ross - what would you do?

 

[tiriaq]

The unmarked rifle may be a civilian version, the well marked one will have been a training rifle. As a collector, it may be more desirable, but for a shooter, obviously the better bore would make sense. The DP stamp just means the rifle was for training. It could have more to do with obsolescence than function. Most likely wound up in a cadet corps.

 

[sunray]

Might have been DP'd before it was converted to .22. Or the stock may have come off a DP'd rifle. I suspect that even a DP'd Ross would still have collector value. DP meaning 'Unshootable, for Drill Purposes only'.