Cheap surplus guns - a thing of the past?

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Would it be correct in thinking that there have been two big "reverse bubbles" of milsurps flooding the market with relatively low pricing... around the 1960s, and then the 1990s through early 2000s (the latter bubble in large part fueled with the fall of the combloc).

There are still some ... OK .... milsurp deals out there - the Walther P1/P38, Mosins, Yugo and Romanian Tokarev pistols. But, the OP is right, the pickings are a lot slimmer and the prices higher than several years ago. I was thinking last week that I have collected too much "stuff" over the past 15 years or so ... but then when I go through everything, I realize that I'll likely never see some of this stuff again, at the prices I bought them at, if at all.

You're best bet IMHO for US milsurp - at least M1 Garands - is the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Maybe more M1 Carbines may also come through the program, but I'm not overly optimistic. They have been a great source for me over the years for Garands, 1903s and M1 Carbines.
 
I just picked up a Turk M1903 Mauser this morning. Not great, but good condition with a nice bayonet for $250.00. Still seems relatively cheap to me.
 
I bought a real nice Turk Mauser in 2001 from Big 5 for $50. So no $250 sounds a bit steep to me.
 
In my opinion, the price for surplus guns in particular has increased at a faster pace than guns in general--at least the ones I'm interested in. The $99 SKS that I bought back in 2003 is now $300-350. Makarovs, Tokarevs, CZ 52, etc. have all more than doubled in price in a relatively short time. They are simply not the bargain that they used to be regardless of which inflation calculator you use. Not only is it harder to pay the added price, it's harder to justify buying many of these guns when you can get other guns that are more refined for just a little more $$$. Makarovs are great pistols but for about $50-100 more you can get a nice S&W 5906 in a more powerful and practical caliber. When SKS's were 1/4 the price of a used mini14/30 they were a steal. Now they are closer to being 2/3 the price. I would rather pay the extra money for the mini. For me, the incentive is gone. I'm not knocking surplus guns, I just think that the prices have increased so much that there are other alternatives I'd rather have for a little more money.
 
Cheap suplus guns of "Yesteryear"

My 2nd handgun, bought in or about 1960, was a VG condition, .30 cal.(7.62 mm bottlenecked) DWM Luger. Very nice gun! I paid $32.50 for it !!! That's about the price for a box of ammo today. Those were the good old days. :cool:
 
Someone asked a while back why Mosins were so universal these days, and so "loved" as a must-have-at-least-one kind of rifle. I said:

They're about the last gasp of the surplus rifle market. While you can still find a few Czech and Yugo Mausers for not too much if you know what rock to turn over, the Krags, and Springfields, 1903s/'03A3s, P.14s, Enfields, K98s, Carcanos, Arisaka, and even K-31 are all somewhere between scarce and gone. Even Garands and M1 Carbines have been coming through the CMP in fits and starts -- like an engine running on the last fumes in the tank.

Weapons technology has moved on, the armories aren't making any more of these, and eventually they will all be bought up.

And that trend happens to collide with the huge growth of gunnuttyness that has overtaken large segments of the population in the last 10-15 years. There's more of "us" now than ever, and we all want a piece of that legendary good old surplus stash -- before they're all gone!

Supply and demand. Folks used to say, "you'd better grab one of those Enfields while they're cheap. They're ugly, but someday you'll wish you could still find a cheap Enfield." Now, all that's left is Mosin-Nagants. Still cheap, because the Soviets and their satellite states made more of them than they did loaves of bread for their people. Still about as good as ever -- which isn't terrific compared to the competition, but sure is better than most people THINK. But now we all have the lesson of eventual scarcity to nag us into buying one (or a dozen) before they're all finally gone.
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As others said, no country is building vast numbers of bolt-action or single-shot rifles for their military any more. The guns that are being built and issued as primary battle weapons are not the kind of guns that we're likely to ever see as lawful imports for sale to US citizens.

The good news is that the guns that were imported as surplus for decades are still out there. You'll just have to be willing to pay more than the next enthusiast if you want to own one.
 
I think to a certain extent the "collectors" killed some of the deals one was likely to find. But I think the biggest factor is that there is only a finite amount of mausers, SMLEs, M1's tokarevs etc. and once they're gone, they're gone, Though you'll likely see them pop up as these old guys die of and relatives that aren't particularly gun savvy put them up for sale.
 
But I think the biggest factor is that there is only a finite amount of mausers, SMLEs, M1's tokarevs etc. and once they're gone, they're gone, Though you'll likely see them pop up as these old guys die of and relatives that aren't particularly gun savvy put them up for sale.
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And that's really the whole point. There aren't vastly fewer Mausers, Enfields, Garands, Carbines, Krags, etc. in the world now than there were in olden days (though probably 50% of what were produced in total were indeed destroyed or lost or worn out and discarded, or "sporterized") but those which were made available to the civilian buyer have almost all been sold off.

They still exist, they just aren't the unwanted waste commodity they once were, before gun nuts realized what a value they represented. We don't mourn that they are GONE. We mourn that they aren't available by the barrel-full, for less than the cost of a nice meal in a restaurant.
 
Cheap surplus goodies

Also in the early 1960's , I traded an old model Stevens double barrell 12 ga., with the firing pins hanging up ,but in otherwise "good" condition, along with a $5 Bowie Knife, for a Walther P-38 , WWII - "cyq" code, 9mm in VG Plus condition. I still have it !!!!:D:D:D I sure miss my WWII Mauser K-43 8mm semi auto.
 
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Try taking those numbers from yesteryear and running them through an inflation calculator - you'd be surprised just how cheap guns are today
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Ammo too. Saw some old hunting mags from the 50's and surplus .45ACP was like $25/100

Unless the ad was a misprint and should have said $25/1000 that was a lot of money back than.
 
Somebody already asked about inflation.
With the dollar's value included, are typical SKS prices much higher than what was paid in '03, '95 etc?

How about the CMP Service Grade Garands?
 
A lot depends upon the pending election ! If/once we get the pendulum swinging conservative the gun community needs must push like hell ! There's a lot of WW2 era arms still out there and soon coming on market. By the same token why shouldn't superceded versions of the 5.56mm M-16 series be available to the public ? Or even M-4s " ? I don't see the auto/semi sear issue as posing a problem - unless of course - if government "creates" one ! >MW
 
I'd like to see a surplus of 'nam era M16A1 'parts kits'
That would be awesome.

Sure would drive down these ridiculous AR-15 prices.
 
A lot depends upon the pending election ! If/once we get the pendulum swinging conservative the gun community needs must push like hell ! There's a lot of WW2 era arms still out there and soon coming on market.
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Really? There are "a few" M1 Garands and M1 Carbines still overseas which might come home but reports are they'd be graded pretty poor and might not be worth close to what they'd have to sell for to make re-importing them worthwhile. Do you know of other sources that are "soon coming?" What guns? From where?

The Brits aren't still making Enfields for their troops. The Germans aren't still making Mausers in military quantities. We aren't building more Krags, Springfields, '03A3s, Garands, and M1 Carbines. The last Carcanos were built during WWII -- the last Mosin-Nagants were made in the late '40s. And so on.

There will continue to be a few pockets of surplussed rifles (mostly M-Ns, no doubt) that are released from warehouses in tucked away pockets of the world, but in an ever more sporadic and dwindling numbers. The production of this TYPE of military weapon has stopped and won't return.

By the same token why shouldn't superceded versions of the 5.56mm M-16 series be available to the public ? Or even M-4s " ? I don't see the auto/semi sear issue as posing a problem - unless of course - if government "creates" one ! >MW
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The government created an "issue" with selling surplussed full-auto weapons -- or weapons that were EVER full-auto -- decades ago and the thought that that "issue" might go away someday is a fond but far distant dream only a few of us hold any faith that even our grand kids will ever live to see.

No M16s, no M-4s, no M-14s (even though few were ever full-auto capable anyway) ... heck, they won't even sell surplus handguns to citizens.
 
AR-15 & M-16's

Never liked AR-15 or M-16's for two main reasons : 1) Didn't like shooting a little .22 as opposed to a .30 cal. bullet for self defense & 2) Didn't like the 'Nam malfunctions I heard about. I've always liked the M-14 , but never was able to afford one. Don't mean to start any arguements, and I've heard a lot of reasons the 15's & 16's are reliable, etc. Each man or woman to their own poison (or coffee). I wouldn't throw one in the trash, if somebody gave me one.;):)
 
So what will the future look like? Just commercially produced firearms, and an occasional surplus rifle being sold for like $500?
 
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