Arisaka T38 carbine price check

[Random 8]

LGS has such a rifle. True carbine, not cut down M38 rifle. Mum is scrubbed. No dust cover. All small parts are there, bore and mechanicals look pretty good. No cracking in the wood. Some light rust/pitting on the bolt handle and a couple of small parts. Stock appears to have been overcoated with some sort of varnish but not sanded. I think he's way high at $400, but I'd be interested closer to 3 as I already have one that is far too collectable to shoot much, which is a shame as I enjoy shooting these little carbines. This one looks like it should still be a good shooter so it would be nice to have one to kick around a bit.

Am I out of line holding a hard line at $300?

 

[WestKentucky]

300 is a good price for what you describe. It’s not a trophy grade gun so the “collectible” route is gone. I watch type 38s pretty close since I bought a reciever to build up as a fun project, and I would say that most of the rifles on Gunbroker in similar condition would be slightly north of 300, and may even approach 400 after shipping and transfer. Hard line at 300... that’s your call. My suggestion is to start at 250 and haggle as hard as you can with 325 out the door as a goal.

I missed that it’s a true carbine... I was thinking standard t38. 400 is a fair price. Haggle hard and give us a range report... dude may not realize that it’s a carbine as those bring a slight premium over the standard type 38.

 

[Random 8]

Well, I dropped off a shotgun barrel to have the choke opened up, so I'll be back in a week or 2. I walked on it today, I'm sure it will still be there. Maybe he'll part with some other dusty merchandise I'm interested in to sweeten the deal, or I'll just plop 3 Benjamins on the counter and let him look at them for a bit.

 

[Chevelle SS]

I would say $250 to $325 range.

 

[boom boom]

Depends on whether the stock and hardware are complete. Stocks for the T38 carbine and the handguard are bringing $200 at least and $50-70 for an uncracked handguard. The complete stock set plus the handguard, might bring about $250-300 alone with the buttplate, screws, barrel bands, etc. The complete bolts are bringing about $100-125. So, yeah, just from parting it out, you could clear $400 or so if the parts are all there. That is one of the reasons that you can buy an Arisaka receiver cheap on Gunbroker, including a mum, is that the rest of the rifle has been parted out.

That is one of the reasons that you are seeing a lot of shooter grade rifles disappear is that they are being parted out if the price is cheaper than the sum of the parts. Some restorers do that as it is cheaper than buying the parts they need. They buy a whole rifle and then auction off the stuff that they do not need.

 

[Buckeye63]

I bought one off a fellow at work , with Mum intact ,
overall good shape ... for $85.00 with two boxes of SP ammo .. that was a decade ago though..
I traded to a fellow who was going to sporterize it
.. He traded me a Marlin 30AS JM 30-30 and a few boxes of ammo ... Im sure he bubba’ed it up , bad .. meaning bad as in awful .. he just had that ,
Hold my beer and hand me the hacksaw , look !!