Going to a gun auction, might buy my first rifle

[69Chevy]

I am going to try to go to a gun auction saturday if I don't end up working a weekend shift and I wanted input on a few guns.

http://www.horstauction.com/Sale_bills/sale20060805_gun_listing.htm

Thats the main list, but I was interested in the garands, and the egyption AK.

R37, R42, R45 for the garands. Any recommendations on price or anthing of that sort would be helpful.

R226 is the Maadi AK. That looks like a ban model to me, maybe someone with more experience around them can verify that(or not)? And what do I look for to make sure that it is indeed an egyption model.

I have shot both versions of these guns and I am just looking for something I can take to the range and have fun with. Not really interested in hunting or anything, just plinking. Any insights or recommendations would be welcome.

 

[dfaugh]

Well, you may not like my first bit of advice...

Don't go to an auction expecting to get a deal....In fact, for some arcane reason, guns at auctions tend to go for WAY more than they're worth. In a recent estate auction, I saw an old Savage .22, rusty and missing the bolt go for $100.

So, research the value of each of the guns, check the condiiton carefully (no guarantees like you might get from a dealer)... and DON'T pay too much. DON'T get caught up in the "feeding frenzy" that often occurrs at most auctions.

 

[Chipperman]

Yep. Decide how much you are willing to pay for each gun BEFORE bidding begins.

If the bids go too high, just walk away. You're not looking for anything rare, so you can get comparable guns at the local shop.

 

[hoghunting]

I'll agree with the others. For some reason people start bidding and keep bidding and many times they pay more for a gun at auction than you would pay for one at a gun shop.

 

[Gibbs505]

R124 looked interesting as well. Lots of nice rifles there!!

I echo what the others say. Know your limits and don't exceed them!

 

[69Chevy]

I don't want to spend more than $250 for the AK, or more than $400 or so for the garands, all depending on the condition. My friend is going there for the WWII nazi items (he likes to collect WWII items). He said sometimes they take so long you get deals because people don't feel like waiting around. Either way, I don't feel like going crazy and will only buy if I can get them cheap. I know on ebay, when I bid on car parts for the 69, somethings that are junk, tend to go for a lot of money, a lot more than you would pay at a swap meet.

 

[MudPuppy]

Most importantly, tell us the outcome.

 

[Chipperman]

$250 for the AK, or more than $400 or so for the garands

Well I hope you get lucky, but I predict that they will go for well above those numbers.

Let us know how much they all go for.

 

[69Chevy]

Well I just got back, and if that auction is any indication of how auctions are, I won't be going to another one.

First of all, they were selling CMP garands, which were in pretty decent shape. One guy was just going nuts and bought all three for around $700 each. One was in worse shape, with some cracked wood, the other was in good shape. Needless to say I didn't even bother in that feeding freenzy. I guess that is a fair price for a garand, but when they were bought from CMP, they only cost $400 or so.

Then the AK came up, and I went over my limit at $350, although I still think thats fair for a pre ban egyptian AK, which is suppose to be pretty good. Then when I am about to win it, some guy pipes up and bumps it $375, meaning I would have fork over $400 for it(if not more). It is a nice AK, but still an AK. Similar ones can be bought at Dunhams on speical for $280.

My friend went for the german (nazi) WW II items. Most of it was legit, although there were fakes here and there. Didn't matter if it was fake or real, 3 or 4 guys all wanted it bad and paid well over market price it (if you discard the items that were fakes). My friend still managed to get a USMC canteen and some WWI gas masks for a good price, but that was about it.

Overall a waste of a good saturday to try and get the chance to outbid idiots.

 

[69Chevy]

I got another example. A PPsh replica non-gun went for $450.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=53772869

There you go. I saw a Colt 1911 knock off hit $1300. I saw cheap CZ pocket pistols hit between $200-300. I saw an ordinary smith and wesson .357 magnum go for $650. It was utterly shocking. There were only deals to be had on a handful of items.

 

[Will Learn]

Forget opening a gun shop, I'm just going to start doing auctions.

 

[Kingcreek]

Sounds like a typical auction to me.
Sometime you can be in the right place at the right time and get a real bargain, but you might waste alot of time standing around auctions until that happens. I have picked up a bargain or 2 but usually when its billed as a farm equip, or toy, or antique auction that just happens to have a couple guns in the mix.
Once upon a time, at a old hardware store "going out of business" auction, somebody found a NIB winchester model 70 .243 in the back room and put it up for sale. (wasn't in the auction ad) It cost me $160 because some old guy was bidding against me!
Harder to get a bargain these days at auction. The slick auctioneers will buy it themselves for resale if it isn't bringing what it's worth, and you probably won't even realize they're buying.