The best milsurp for investment

Andy said:
The Italian, French and Spanish firearms confound as well, in part I think because of the myth that they're unsafe, and due to the childish notion that they weren't used by "real soldiers", i.e. "only used in surrender practice".
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After I read "The Guns of august" I went out and bought a Berthier rifle and carbine and have been looking for a genuinely nice 1886-M93 ever since.

The French soldier of WW1 gets a very bad rap these days and was, in reality, the true hero among the allies of WW1. This is not opinion - it is well substantiated fact which we unfortunately tend to forget in our rush to glorify e verything English and depreciate everything French.
 
I can see the South American mausers going up in price. Same for the Portuguese K98Ks. Prewar German quality without the ravages and losses in numbers that war brings.

Another area might be the prewar matching Yugoslavian mausers, Serbian rifles, Mosin Nagants from the Balkans. Ross rifles with U.S. markings. Military models of civilian rifles (Savage 1899 musket, Winchester Models 1894 and 1895 muskets).

But this is just speculation on my part. If I was serious I'd want to do more research before collecting as an investment. For me its a hobby. Check out the prices for some black powder muskets as an investment.
 
cornelunc said:
For what reason?? Mosin was produced tens of milions and dealers seems to have endless oportunity to aquire them.
Comparing with Mosins K31 is about 1% of their number.
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For what reason?? The same reasons all the other milsurps have gone up. Notice i said entry point forearms. The MN's are so cheap now, they have no where to go but up. When a new generation starts to collect milsurps, even if the MN's are triple what they are today, they will still be an excellent starting point for new collectors.

By all means if your pockets are deep, head towards the snipers and rare pieces, there you will get the most bang for your buck.

It wasnt too long ago, that RC 98's were sneered at, and they now have become a desirable variant to collect.

Look at the history of milsurp collecting, all the answers are there.
 
Swedish Mausers

cornelunc said:
For what reason?? Mosin was produced tens of milions and dealers seems to have endless oportunity to aquire them.
Comparing with Mosins K31 is about 1% of their number.
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Remember the Swede 38 +96's available for $50 in the 80's
 
Pretty much any military surplus rifle, in original or near original condition, will be worthy of collection. It isn't like they are still being manufactured.

More and more governments these days are being pressured by the UN to destroy their outdated surplus supply.

Eventually, even the abundant soviet stuff will dry up.
 
My understanding of the Mosin supply is that they're mostly being sourced from the Ukraine and other sattelite states since the Russians are destroying their stockpiles of them under UN agreements.

Following milsurp EE prices for the past few years, although some milsurps have popped-up dramatically in price (Garand, K98, SMLE, Ross, Longbranch, M1903, M1917, P-14, etc.) I wonder if they're close to their "investment plateau" in that you won't lose money if you buy one, but they're going to take a much greater relative amount of time to double or triple in value than most surplus rifles did since the 90s.

That said, if you're looking for a [relatively] cheap milsurp that will grow in value over the next 10 years, I'd say the K-31 (assuming GP-11 ammo becomes more readily available), the Swedish M96/M38, Carcano (particularly the "LHO/JFK" variant), Arisaka 38 & 99 and the Steyr M95. If you're patient and have a big gun safe, then grab a handfull of Mosins!
 
Claven2 said:
The French soldier of WW1 gets a very bad rap these days and was, in reality, the true hero among the allies of WW1. This is not opinion - it is well substantiated fact which we unfortunately tend to forget in our rush to glorify e verything English and depreciate everything French.
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To get a little off topic. I agree; but also for WW2 as well. When the Germans were invading in 1940, in one month over 100,000 french soldiers were killed or wounded. That is a higher casualty rate then any one month period during WW1.

To get back on topic. My opinion is to get something that you are interested in, not just something to maybe make money in the future. And when I say interested I mean the whole 9 yards. Something that you will get mountains of reference material, and spend days/weeks just learning all that you can about that particular type of rifle. I've started doing this in the last year, with Enfields (look at my signature)

For instance, look at this New Zealander. He obviously is a hard core SMLE collector. He has quite a few pieces that are rare (the MkV and the full length skeleton rifle).

Personaly, I also want to pick up a 96 or 38 Swedish mauser, and an SVT40. Not to make money, but to have as part of the collection and to shoot.

EDIT: Also work on getting all of the bits an pieces that go with the rifle. Bayonets, frogs, stripper/charger clips, slings, mag pouches/bandoliers or whole kits, armourers tools, and so on. So that if you are just in it for invenstment, when the time comes to sell, you have a complete package.
 
I would look south as an indication of what will rise in price. Since their imports have been effectively cut off for most milsurps. SVT-40s can fetch 1000-1600 dollars down there but mosin nagants are STILL CHEAPER than here. Although many of them are in worse condition. Hard to see mosin nagants not going up in price from 100 dollars though.
 
Wehrmacht weapons/collectables have increased the most so far and will out perform other milsurps just because of the brutality of the Nazi's. WW2 is a well documented and interesting war that everyone wants a piece of. I cant get excited about a Mosin but they will eventually increase in value, just not to the same degree as Hitler's stuff imo.
 
Canada will destroy the inglis high powers....so will all of the other commonwealth countries that have them...its the times we live in. Europe was ths source for all of the Inglis HP's in Canada. now they are destroying guns. The middle east had inglis HP's, but all you will find is FN/Argentine models. They are the replacement models from the 1960's. M1D Garand rifles will be the value collectable garand. Canada got all the Danish one's and most of them became parts kits for the US. There are not many M1D's included in Garand deals except for that one.
 
its still too early to know about the inglis they have been talking about replacing them from the forces for over 25 years and im sure when i retire in 19 years they will be still in the system
 
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