The high price of #1 furniture

Brand new EFD wood, all except the butt, delivered to my door with the customs grab was $300. This has the cut outs for volley sights and mag cut off that I needed for my 1914 BSA restoration. I am sure the cost of the material was under $20. It is labour though, and a very small amount of people doing it. The profit margins are up there with heroin!

There is likely a good cottage industry making good walnut stocks for milsurps.
 
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Would you believe that the PPCLI stock set came back to me. I opened my email and the set came back on a buy now for $225 shipped. The deal with someone else fell through I guess. The set has all the wood and all the hardware.
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The Second Chance Offer on eBay is a legitimate tool, used by sellers when they have more than one item to put up, or if the top bidder backs out or gets suspended, etc. Just make sure it's not a spoof directing you to another site; if it's an eBay web address it's legit., and you should be able to access it through your My eBay page without even clicking on the link.

If the bidding got out of hand on that set, it wouldn't be surprising that the winner and under-bidder who drove it up finished with cold feet, and thus the offer comes to you if the seller doesn't want to wait for a re-list and another frenzy fiasco with a chance of the same results.

You DO have eBay/(FRAUD ALERT) Buyer Protection on it just the same as any other transaction on those sites, for what it's worth. It can be a hassle to go through, but the buyer usually has a lot more power in their dispute process.

I haven't checked the original auction, and don't know the seller, but there *could* be potential problems. Maybe he saw how much more he got for it than expected, and said ‘I've got more of these; might as well sell 'em while they're hot!’ Except the other items aren't exactly the same as the first one listed, and he's too stupid or lazy to know the difference. Or maybe anyone ahead of you backed out when a previously un-disclosed defect came to light.

Best to communicate with the seller and clarify that you are getting the original one listed, with the markings as pictured, and complete with the hard-ware, and he didn't drop and crack it in the mean-time.
 
A friend has a sported SMLE with CDN marks. Really nice barrelled action.
Set up in that stock set, it would be a restoration, but I bet it would sell for more than the cost of the parts.

Getting good parts isn't becoming any easier.

Sometimes you get lucky. I bought a complete set of furniture & fittings, in excellent condition, from a '42 Lithgow that was scrapped, rather than being registered. Then turned up a sported '42 Lithgow with an excellent barrelled action. The forend and nosecap serial doesn't match the receiver, barrel and bolt number, showing that the rifle is a restoration, but it is a very presentable Lithgow. Picked up a fine Aussie made bayonet to suit.
 
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i bumped into the guy at the last gunshow and posted his contact info lately. i believe he was charging 200 for a full bottom and a bit more for matching top guards. i saw his work, it was nicely done. also google, 'gun stock maker, AB' and that should give you a few leads
 
There was a guy at the Burnaby gun shows that was making them but I haven't seen him for a while. His prices were fair. This particular one comes to $225 with 90% of the metal bits. Even with a bit of repair work on some of the cracks it makes it a pretty good deal.
 
Ebay has a problem with "shill bidding" where the seller or someone working for him bids along to drive the price up and I never go for the "second chance" offer as I feel the bid has been gamed along by sellers. Another trick is when you see the item get bid to some crazy amount when its placed up for sale. Then the seller gets a picture of the "Maximum amount" you will bid at which he "backs out' of his bid knowing what you will pay up to. It just takes a few a-holes to screw things up.
 
Well, we can put all the doubts to bed. The seller shipped yesterday on receipt of (FRAUD ALERT) and I got it in the mail this morning. It was in better condition than I expected. Restore starts today. I have a very nice 1918 BSA Mk3* I bought last year. I had put it into a nice Monte Carlo stock till I could find the right furniture.
 
"...on Ebay..." And part of that $550 went directly to the likes of Cooky Cukier. E-Bay is owned by a rabidly anti-firearm ownership empire that financially supports the anti's and steals money from firearm parts and other related items dealers.
"...their shipping charges are hefty..." Gunparts does not set the shipping costs. The carrier does. Plus there's a premium for cross border shipping.
 


And after all of that, here she is in all her glory. Canadian PPCLI furniture on British issue rifle. If I can find a broad arrow marked rifle some day I might swap the furniture to it and make it a bit more correct. But till then, I am happy.
 
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