Why Didn't You Buy Those C&R's?

I'm a university student that
A) Can't afford the guns I want.
B) I have all but three of the guns I want for my collection, of which only one is C&R.

My goal is to have something is every "major" Soviet caliber.
{1895 Nagant, Makarov variant , AK-74 is what I'm missing}

I have some C&R guns. I bought hands on. I prefer to physically inspect any used gun i buy. My wife does not complain about me buying guns. She has some of her own guns too.

Most all the firearms I wanted were for sale in the '50s and '60s. I couldn't afford them then, having no income of my own. By the time I had a real income, they had gone up in price ten-fold. Many of the current surplus arms I have little or no use and less desire.

C'est la vie.

I'll say it's a matter of hindsight.
Some gun values had been virtually stagnant for 20+ years, then quadrupled in the last decade.
The market was flooded with them for years, then as supply dried up (and political pressure ramped up) demand increased and prices skyrocketed.
So most of us never imagined we'd ever see the day an SKS sold for $500, or we woulda bought up bunches.
As far as personal use, I never wanted one when they were cheap...so I definitely don't want one now that they're not cheap.

The overall thought that they’d always be available at the cheap. The golden days of C&R are long gone though. Anything cheap is going for double or more of the original price. Hindsight is always 20/20. I bought a lot with my C&R but I should have bought more.

When I was younger and they were cheap, I couldn’t afford them. Now I can afford them but don’t wait to pay the price. Funny how that happens.

Same as most. I was young and poor. And I thought normal inflation would take hold so the $250 BREN kits would be available 10 years later for $500, not disappeared and the semi-guns are rare and $7,000.

I did find a few god cheap things. Some I sold, also because poor, as trade for other stuff. But for example I do still have my CZ70. Told my friends, bought FOUR of them to spread around, at around $70 each even once you have transfer costs. Kept the best one for myself

Do you need to give the Feds your prints for a C&R? That would be a deal breaker for some folks.

That $30 C&R was the most expensive $30 I ever spent…

Mostly, it was not having much money even when they were "cheap". I'm thankful that I got in on what I consider the tail end of Milsurp C&R rifles.

Jeff B.

Jeff B. said:

Mostly, it was not having much money even when they were "cheap". I'm thankful that I got in on what I consider the tail end of Milsurp C&R rifles.

Jeff B.

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Same here. I had just gone through a divorce when I had my C&R, mad money for extras like guns was very tight.

I did buy a K98k and a Spanish Mauser, other than these, nada.

Stay safe.

I wish I had bought more cheap Soviet bloc guns back 15 years ago. I did get the shooters I wanted at good prices, but I wish I had picked up a few extras to sell today.

There’s something out there right now that’ll go way up in price at some point. Know what it is??
Neither do I or I would be buying them up.

Well Swiss long arms (1896/11, K1911 Carbines) ,are still pretty affordable for the quality one is getting. $500-700 depending.

Enfields still pop up now and then for $500-600 which would be a good buy.

And one of the best current buys would be Garands from the CMP for $650-700.

Those three would be good ones to pick up currently, even at stated prices.

Carcanos for $250-300 aren’t bad but their quality is poor when compared to the Swiss guns or Garands for a couple c-notes more.

I wouldn’t own any of that commie garbage if you gave it to me for free.



Seriously, I started on Nagants and Simonovs back when they were pretty affordable. Working a minimum wage high school job didn’t leave much cash leftover after spending it on chasing tail, hotrods, cigarettes and cheap booze.

Sad to see them go the way of the doodoo bird.

Most guns aren’t a good investment. The guns were worth $60, $100, $150 at the time. No one knew they'd jump up in value to $450, $550, $750 etc. They had "always" been at low prices historically and there was no telling when the supply would dry up. It seemed like every couple of years the supply was going to dry up but it never happened until it did. From what I can tell when Obama took office gun sales went bonkers and most of the supply actually did dry up at that point.

Once the foreign supply of those old guns dried up the supply and demand curve flipped. Rather than than unlimited crates of milsurps out there to choose from you have to be willing to pay someone enough to make them want to sell their gun.

Anything that has historical, intrinsic, and value as a tool that is no longer being produced eventually will become scarce and its value will climb.

Anyone who cannot see a $650-700 Garand or the Swiss long guns as a great value right now I don’t know what to tell them.

I didn’t because I had no use for a crate of cheap milsurps.

Hindsight being 20/20, I would have much rather invested in things like lightning links, $150 MAC 10’s and such, that go for north of $7k these days…

For me it was pretty simple. The guns that I wanted for $X via a personal C&R were $X + $30 to $50 at the LGS or the gun show, and I got to do the hand select myself.

Terry G said:

I've seen this come up on numerous Forums: "I could have bought a crate of 10 Chinese or Russian SKS's for $60 each" "I saw Walther P-38's for $150 each." "CZ 82's with two magazines, holster and cleaning rod for $180.00 shipped." Usually goes on and on with just about every Military Surplus Firearm available. The Golden Age of C&R lasted for years, so a temporary lack of funds can't be the reason. I never really get an answer to this question. A C&R License cost's $30.00 and it's good for three years. It's also a snap to get. M-1 Garand's, Enfield's, and Mauser's to your door. I posed this question and the only true answer I got was "The Wife wouldn't let me."

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I did buy some of them, and I sold them all. Out of all of them, I only regret not keeping one gorgeous Finnish M39 that shot like a laser. The rest were fun to play around with, but I don’t miss them much.

I think part of the wild price increase in some is the internet hype about something like the Mosin Nagant being “apocalypse proof” and so on. But having owned and shot many of them (and fixed a couple), I’d choose a Marlin 30-30 or a midlength AR-15 every time. Except for that one Finn I let go. I do regret that.

reddog81 said:

The guns were worth $60, $100, $150 at the time. No one knew they'd jump up in value to $450, $550, $750 e

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Now factor in inflation. Those "profits" are not what they seem.

Here is a different perspective.

I was not old enough at the time to participate in the so called golden days of milsurps. However, I was old enough when the Mosins really started coming in but I was a little late to that as well. The Mosins were all $100 when I could buy them but most remember they started much lower than that.

As far as I was concerned, I had already missed out on the good deals. Now they are in the $400+ range.

I don’t regret it though. The only reason I think they were popular is because of the cheap ammo that also came in. The rifles themselves are not special. Finn or not.

People say they wish they'd bought a particular stock when it was introduced that has shot up in value, etc. Part of investing is being able to sit on your money. If you are a cash strapped student, burdened with student debt, just starting out on your working career and not earning that much, demands of family, etc...