The best milsurp for investment
- Thread starter cornelunc
- Start date
lejarretnoir
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- 162km from Connaught
Anytime I see an original sniper version of any milsurp the price never gets cheaper.
German K98's with intact Waffenampts sell almost immediately at high prices.
Low supply, high demand.
German K98's with intact Waffenampts sell almost immediately at high prices.
Low supply, high demand.
dgradinaru
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- British Columbia
The mosin carbines M38,m44 m59 are good investments.
The Finn and Polish mosins are valuable, the bog standard russian refurb 91/30 is never going to be more than a bottom of the barrel milsurp.
I agree with all the posters who cited original ww1/2 milsurp snipers. No.4 Enfields go for amazing prices and even the non-combatant countries like sweden are moving closer to $2000 for excellent examples. The German ones you have to be careful with though, anything nazi related always carries the risk of forgery. The hungarian mosin snipers are also particularly rare and valuable.
I agree with all the posters who cited original ww1/2 milsurp snipers. No.4 Enfields go for amazing prices and even the non-combatant countries like sweden are moving closer to $2000 for excellent examples. The German ones you have to be careful with though, anything nazi related always carries the risk of forgery. The hungarian mosin snipers are also particularly rare and valuable.
Get a crate of Mosins. The same factors that have contributed to the skyrocketing price of other milsurps are certain to affect them once the supply starts to dwindle. Also, grab all the K98's you can, especially the RC's (Russian captured). They came into the country at $300. I haven't seen one in a while that was selling for below the $450 mark. They will be 600 rifles in a couple of years.
There are two formerly unloved sets of milsurps out there that have only recently begun to catch interest.
Carcano variants and bayonets
Japanese variants and bayonets.
Everything else, has gone through the roof.
One other thing that's been overlooked, are East Asian arms and South American arms.
Most of the East Asian stuff has seen combat and so has a lot of the South American stuff.
The big thing with value increases of milsurp firearms, is that it happens gradually.
If you just want to shoot them, then get rid of them, just buy what's cheap and has a bunch of cheap ammo available.
If you want real collectables that will be investments. Hold out for the good stuff. When you run across a new in wrap anything, buy it, if you can afford it.
It will take another 20 years or more for the milsurps you mentioned to really gain in value.
WWII Walther P38s are a bargain right now. When the last batch of P1s dry up, there won't be any more.
One other thing to consider. About a week ago, Johnone, commented that he had just come back from Greece. While he was there, they destroyed hundreds of crates of new in grease Mannlichers and their accessories. I cried. I've been looking for a decent one of those for years. Most of what I've seen hasn't been worth the asking price or what I'm willing to pay.
Buy the best you can afford. It doesn't matter if It's a US Krag or Swede Mauser. Buy the best.
Another excellent investment are the Swiss M1906/26 parabellums on the Tradex site. They're pricey though. I betting they will double in value over the next 5-6 years. Once this recession settles out, all hell will break loose on some prices.
Carcano variants and bayonets
Japanese variants and bayonets.
Everything else, has gone through the roof.
One other thing that's been overlooked, are East Asian arms and South American arms.
Most of the East Asian stuff has seen combat and so has a lot of the South American stuff.
The big thing with value increases of milsurp firearms, is that it happens gradually.
If you just want to shoot them, then get rid of them, just buy what's cheap and has a bunch of cheap ammo available.
If you want real collectables that will be investments. Hold out for the good stuff. When you run across a new in wrap anything, buy it, if you can afford it.
It will take another 20 years or more for the milsurps you mentioned to really gain in value.
WWII Walther P38s are a bargain right now. When the last batch of P1s dry up, there won't be any more.
One other thing to consider. About a week ago, Johnone, commented that he had just come back from Greece. While he was there, they destroyed hundreds of crates of new in grease Mannlichers and their accessories. I cried. I've been looking for a decent one of those for years. Most of what I've seen hasn't been worth the asking price or what I'm willing to pay.
Buy the best you can afford. It doesn't matter if It's a US Krag or Swede Mauser. Buy the best.
Another excellent investment are the Swiss M1906/26 parabellums on the Tradex site. They're pricey though. I betting they will double in value over the next 5-6 years. Once this recession settles out, all hell will break loose on some prices.
The best investments are those opportunities in which you can purchase below present market value and then flip quickly. Otherwise, you speculate, and that's hit and miss.
Some firearms defy "logic", for example the AG42B. Not a lot produced, no more to be found in a warehouse, yet their value has been stagnant, even gone down in the past 10 years. 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". Others, like the Russian SKS, have seen their value plummet with the recent glut, same can be said for the SVT-40 and various Russian Mosins. Availability of cheap ammo is a major driver for the mass market, and those buyers seem to be transient in their interests, i.e. once the ammo's gone, so are they.
Which leaves us with collectors. There is no sure investment, but typically, excellent examples of scarce firearms will generate the surest return over the long run.
Some firearms defy "logic", for example the AG42B. Not a lot produced, no more to be found in a warehouse, yet their value has been stagnant, even gone down in the past 10 years. 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". Others, like the Russian SKS, have seen their value plummet with the recent glut, same can be said for the SVT-40 and various Russian Mosins. Availability of cheap ammo is a major driver for the mass market, and those buyers seem to be transient in their interests, i.e. once the ammo's gone, so are they.
Which leaves us with collectors. There is no sure investment, but typically, excellent examples of scarce firearms will generate the surest return over the long run.
Applefarmer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Lime Stone City
Enfield Enforcer as I suspect there are less than 400 in existence today. A few came to Canada back in the early '90's and yes I kick myself for not buying one when I had the chance.
From a historica lperspective, the best performance I have seen was on the No.4T rifles. I remember seeing them under $300 in the late 1980's and now they sell for $3000+
From your list, I doubt the K31 will inflate more than maybe double their current price over the next 10 years. It was not used in any wars and nobody is going to release a movie glorifying it. The value at present is in it's abolity to shoot well.
the K98 will continue to climb in value. Guaranteed. I expect decent bring-backs to plateau in the $3000 range.
Unissued SKS rifles will go up in value, but not all of them. Welded franken-pins will remain blasters for the most part. Riveted frankens will appreciate faster, but the welded-follower guns in Canada will command a premium because there are so ferw of them and the external looks of the rifles will be preserved. As the market creates SKS colllectors, I expect the unissued follower welded guns to reach the $800 mark within the next 3 years.
SVT40's - too early to call. Nobody seems to know when the imports will dry up. Finnish non-refurbs are already commanding an ever-growing premium though.
I expect nice (and I do mean NICE), non-refurb and non-restored No.4 rifles to go up in value. The supply is dwindling and I can see them hitting $800 for nice ones in the next few years.
Adidtionally, Arisaka's are on an uptick due to the films recently made about the pacific war.
That's a tough question, one that I too have wondered but have always been unable to predict.
I agree that k98 rifles have really topped out. I can remember when people said with the RC k98s coming into North America, we would see a decline in value of the k98 rifle. Just the opposite happened. Surprised me as well.
I don't know much about production numbers on the 91/30, but I would bet the well will run dry at some point. I just bought one of Westrifle's $100 rifles because I did not want to be wishing I did that in a year or so from now.
It wasn't that long ago I walked into Crown Surplus in Cagary, they had a huge rack of non capture k98 rifles (albeit mostly mismatched, but nice nontheless) for $100. I wish I would have bought the whole rack then. They were so cheap, why wouldn't everyone buy one? That's my thinking with the 91/30 today.
I buy for the collectivity aspect, over investment reasons. It's all history, and we're lucky to have any access to it today
I agree that k98 rifles have really topped out. I can remember when people said with the RC k98s coming into North America, we would see a decline in value of the k98 rifle. Just the opposite happened. Surprised me as well.
I don't know much about production numbers on the 91/30, but I would bet the well will run dry at some point. I just bought one of Westrifle's $100 rifles because I did not want to be wishing I did that in a year or so from now.
It wasn't that long ago I walked into Crown Surplus in Cagary, they had a huge rack of non capture k98 rifles (albeit mostly mismatched, but nice nontheless) for $100. I wish I would have bought the whole rack then. They were so cheap, why wouldn't everyone buy one? That's my thinking with the 91/30 today.
I buy for the collectivity aspect, over investment reasons. It's all history, and we're lucky to have any access to it today
