Went to my first gun show...disappointed.

[crushert]

Originally Posted by ken_mays

Where was this show, in Memphis?

Yeah, Ken, it was in Memphis. I didn't even know about it until my neighbor came over the night before and asked if I wanted to go. Would have loved to have found one of those $250 Rem 1100 20ga for my daughter.

[Brickboy240]

Yeah, sadly, the gravy days of good gunshows are pretty much gone.

Oh, how I can remember those gunshows in the early 90s....

tables and tables of new Russian SKSs - 75 bucks apiece; nice British WWI and WWII Enfields for about 65 dollars apiece - 303 ammo was 20 dollars for a 250rd crate; Swedish Mausers for around 100 dollars apiece - nice ones and a 60rd ammo sleeve of Norma made surplus 6.5mm went for 12 dollars; Nice Czech VZ-24 Mausers were 79.95 apiece and everywhere; Steyr straight pull 8mm carbines for 60 dolalrs apiece and Nazi made Rottweil ammo for the rifles was about 1.50 per 10rd pack; cheap 8mm Portugese ammo was about 50 dollars for a pristine crate; awesome Greek made 303 British ammo was everywhere and sold for what you'd pay for 223 these days; cheap 9mm surplus was everywhere too - Austrian, Belgian FN, Isrlalei surplus...cheap, cheap cheap! We also bought surplus Greek 30-06 at today's 223 prices as well and our Garands and 03's sang away for hours at the range for pennies.

Oh...those were the good ol days!

Did I mention that I bought a nice Rock-Ola made M-1 Carbine in 1990 for 125 dollars, too? You couldn't even buy the stock for that price today.

Does this tell you something? Hell yes! All those cheap Yugo SKSs, Bulgarian Makarovs, Swiss K-31s and Russian Mosins being sold by importers right now, need to be picked up by you younger collectors as you can afford them...who knew in 1990 that my M-1 Carbine could be unloaded today for at least 600 bucks?....my Swede Mausers for 350-400?...my Russian SKSs for 300 bucks?

-Brickboy240

[hobocircus]

I'm glad I "harvested" the good stuff when it was around
Still could use a few extra items, but I ain't desperate

[Brickboy240]

Yeah and then wierd stuff happens like the Swiss K-31 rifles.

You can now buy a nice K-31 for 100 dollars or less. When I bought mine, I thought 250 was a good deal...and at the time...it was. There were simply not many in the country.

Ditto for Makarovs and CZ-52s. I can remember seeing a Russian Mak going for a little over 1000 dollars and a CZ-52 for 1200. I also saw a Yugoslavian SKS sell for about 900 bucks back in 1991, but then again...I had only seen one in my lifetime. These things were very rare...now they're cheap.

Who knew?

That said, any US military arm or nice Mauser is never a bad investment. I have a feeling that someday, all this iron curtain surplus stuff WILL be sought after as collectable and be worth more than it is now. I also remember Dad's tales of rows of nice Garands, 03s and Carbines for sale at Woolworth's dept. store in downtown Houston in the early 1970's for 65 bucks apiece.

It never hurts to pick up a a few of the cheap pieces now and squirrel them away for later.

-Brickboy240

[ken_mays]

Originally Posted by Brickboy240

That said, any US military arm or nice Mauser is never a bad investment. I have a feeling that someday, all this iron curtain surplus stuff WILL be sought after as collectable and be worth more than it is now. I also remember Dad's tales of rows of nice Garands, 03s and Carbines for sale at Woolworth's dept. store in downtown Houston in the early 1970's for 65 bucks apiece.

Yes, it will all appreciate in value, as the importers sell it all to the secondary dealers and they sell it to private collectors. Soon the boatload of whatever it is dries up and the prices begin to climb.

I wish I had bought a couple pallets' worth of E.G. Makarovs a few years back. Same with Sistemas.