Stumbled onto a great deal

[wittzo]

A 20-something year old guy's dad died a few months ago of cancer involving Agent Orange from when he was in Vietman. I haven't met the guy, but hope to, soon. He inherited about 700 different guns, including blackpowder and transferrable machineguns.

A local dealer is selling them on commission for a fair price, but the sheer volume of guns...He said he's got a lot more blackpowder stuff coming in, I can't wait to see what he's got next week.

He has a Pedersoli Brown Bess in perfect shape for $850, with sling. I didn't think to look at the bore, it might have never been fired, the leather holding the flint looked brand new.

He had a couple of replica pistols in the case, one with a removable shoulder stock, I think they're repro 1842 Astons, but I'm going to take a better look Monday, and probably pick up the one with the shoulder stock.

What caught my eye was a Euroarms of America .54 caliber 1841 Mississippi Rifle. It was marked down from $250 to $150. It looks like it was fired no more than one shot and put away, uncleaned. It's still got a light coat of grease on the ramrod. It didn't come with anything, but the least expensive one I've found in it's exterior condition is more than $500. It doesn't have any dings or scratches on its stock or any scratches or anything on it's brass or barrel. Just the bore is lightly rusted. The bore is lightly rusted, I'm going to clean it good and soak it in Breakfree.

I can't take pictures to do it justice, but I just ordered a repro bayonet kit and some other things for it, so I'll take post pics of it then.

 

[madcratebuilder]

He inherited about 700 different guns, including blackpowder and transferrable machineguns.

He's selling them

 

[PT1911]

SADLY, this happens all too often... daddy dies and son/daughter/wife sells everything he spent his life collecting...I find it is awfully difficult to hold a stack of money and remember your (enter loved one.) HOPEFULLY, the son caught his dad's love for firearms and will only be selling what he himself is not interested in rather than liquidating everything.

 

[flintlock62]

If I were you, I would use brake fluid in the barrel.

700 firearms? Dang!

 

[Hawkeye748]

Mind sharing where this dealer is? I am not too far away to go take a peek.

 

[DammitBoy]

Yeah, where is the seller located?

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

I Googled Saltillo, MS gunshops and got around 10 of them in the area. One of them has to be it. Good hunting.

 

[wittzo]

He's not selling ALL of them, just the ones he doesn't have room for. It's not for money, if that were the case, they would be selling for market value and then some.

There was a guy who won 30 Corvettes, one for each year of production, he ended up donating half of them to keep from going broke paying taxes on them. He might not be able to afford to pay the storage fees or want them stolen while in storage, I don't know.

I can't imagine how a person can store that many securely, but I would love to have that problem . I had a tough time storing less than 20 without a safe..I had them in every closet and under every bed in cases. I can imagine there's a lot of redundancy in his collection. It filled 5 gun safes.

My buddy wanted to buy a snubnose .38 Special when he's already got a .357 snub, but then again, I owned 4 different AR-15's. To a normal person they were identical, but to me they had their own purpose, just like the guys here that have 10+ Colt Revolvers.

The guy is selling the guns through David Carr at Carr's Gun Shop in Saltillo, MS. He's got a Brown Bess that was fired one time and put away. I checked the bore with a flashlight. There's some light rust in the bore, it's priced at $850.

The other pistol in the case is a Flintlock Pedersoli Model 1805 Harpers Ferry Pistol priced at $180.

David told me there's going to be a lot more blackpowder and other guns coming in from the collection.

 

[wittzo]

I ordered some bullet molds from Track of the Wolf last night. I like Lee Molds, so I got a .530" ball double cavity mold and a .533" Minie. Dixie recommended their .535" Minie balls, but that's the closest I could find in a Lee mold. I'll use my softest lead for them.

I shot it this morning. I used a Lee .457" ball and patched it with a dry duck canvas patch that's at least .020" thick. It was sort of tight going into the barrel. I was able to hit an 18" steel gong at about 50 yards. Not bad considering this is the heaviest rifle I've ever fired using a ball several times small with a lightly rusted barrel. The duck did wonders on the surface rust. It looks like it knocked a lot of it out.

I bought a repro sword bayonet with a mount kit and frog and all the other accouterments I didn't have for that caliber.

I bought the Palmetto '55 Dragoon Pistol Carbine this morning at opening. $250, it too was fired once and then stored uncleaned, but there's only a touch of rust on the bore. I'm going to shoot it a few times, then clean it and work on the rust. If I cleaned up the rust, I wouldn't want to shoot it right away.

 

[Hawkeye748]

Wittzo,

I think you will find the Minie need for an Italian 54 Mississippi is actually going to be .544-546. I had one myself. Ultimately re-barreled the gun and shoots great. It shot patched round balls great though. In fact, the original 1841 used by the 1st Mississippi Regiment in the Mexican War shot the patched round ball.

 

[wittzo]

Dang, Dixie Gunworks was recommending a .534", but the closest I found for Lee was the .533". I hope the .530" round mold works okay for the .54 and the .58 Dragoon.

 

[qajaq59]

I can't imagine how a person can store that many securely, but I would love to have that problem

I have a friend that has collected over and under shotguns forever. When he ran out of room in his safes 30 something years ago he had a company come in and steel line a spare bedroom and install a safe door. It cost him a bundle, but a burglar would have cost him a lot more.

 

[rattletrap1970]

I just lost my Dad from the same thing this past Veteran's Day, F'ing ironic isn't it. I think it's reprehensible that this guy would sell the man's collection. But, I guess it's better that he do that then let them rot away or <gasp> turn them in.

 

[Acorn Mush]

I think it's reprehensible that this guy would sell the man's collection.

Rattletrap1970, my condolences to you on the passing of your father but please don't be too rough on the fellow. He is having a hard enough time.

Many years ago a very dear friend of mine, now deceased, told me about the difficulty of having to split up his own father's gun collection after he had passed away. There were over 900 guns of all types, stored in a dedicated building on the man's farm. This was back in the days long before the pervasive drug culture, gangs, and such. Anyway, my friend said he and his two brothers divided up the collection, each taking as many as they had room to store, or interest in. The rest they sold and gave the money to their mother. They would have liked to keep the collection intact, but their life circumstances just would not allow it.

We all have to make hard decisions in life whether we want to or not.

Your last sentence hit the nail on the head, though.

But, I guess it's better that he do that then let them rot away or <gasp> turn them in.

We are all merely caretakers of our firearms, be they works of art or merely pieces of machinery. Our obligation, in my view, is to use them and enjoy them now, then pass them on to succeeding generations to use and enjoy after we are gone. In so doing, a bit of ourselves is passed along too.

 

[wittzo]

Found another deal. I'm going to go broke with these bargains.

A .69 caliber Interarms replica '47 Springfield smoothbore for $250 including a bayonet. The ram rod was rusted in place, I polished it and oiled it with Ballistol. Some specks of rust on the barrel. Lots of rust in the bore, but I'll fix it.

 

[BHP FAN]

I'd swiftly go broke if I were in any proximity to these deals...I've got a SERIOUS stocked pistol fetish I've been fighting for years!

 

[oldsoldja]

Run Up the Charge Card

That 1841 is a STEAL! If there are more buys like that, run up the charge card, resell the non-keepers, and you have yourself some free firearms! Wish I could be so lucky!

 

[wittzo]

He marked down the Brown Bess to $250, but I swear it's not the same rifle he had marked $850 last week. It doesn't look the same, but he insists that it is. If it is, it's got a different sling on it. But if I'm wrong, he's got a $1000 Brown Bess replica marked down to $250.