Well this is embarassing...

[NLMosin]

I cant be the only one that got the email...you want to know whats really embarassing? Selling M39's in rough shape for full retail and once you dont have anything decent left trying a 50 dollars discount and when that didnt work drop it to 100 and thinking anyone will fall for it. Now THATS embarassing...

[Junk Yard Dog]

Nope, they didn't even attempt to pull that shit with me, $100 for any M39, even recovered from the ground, is a good deal .

[NLMosin]

The discount is $100 not the M39. Selling the 'damaged' ones for $249-$279. Something got lost in my Brooklyn translation....

[SA1911a1]

I feel the same way about those jokers as most of the rest of you, but at $250.00 I might roll the dice, if I didn't have one. If all of the material is there you can fix nearly any cracked stock. Rust can be removed. This is about the price of a run-of-the-mill 91/30 now days.

[B24]

Is the cream of the crop gone? Maybe or maybe not. I can see it about a year and a half from now. Brutus says.....Just discovered
in the back of the warehouse a crate of forgotten M39s. We are proud to bring these to you for the low price of $799.

Just like the crates of hexes that have recently been popping up. I got in this game late, with the higher prices my purchases
will probably become less frequent, if I can even find them. My first and only Mosin purchase from Classic was three years
ago last month for the low bargain basement price of $149.99.

[MadisonAV]

Aside from the quality issues, there is also a real lack of M-39 variety available from dealers. It was a lot easier to build a somewhat diverse M39 collection 4-5 years ago when I was working on mine. I have 12 M-39s and only two pair are what I would consider to be duplicates, two generic VKTs (one is my shooter) and two straight stock Sakos (I just couldn't pass the second up). My three sources at the time were GunBroker, Empire Arms, and Pat Burns. At the time people were saying I was paying premium prices -- and I was. But they are all decent to excellent rifles.

I can't imagine what it would cost to assemble the same collection today.

[NLMosin]

I can't imagine what it would cost to assemble the same collection today.

Or five years from now...We are all paying higher prices now but if things continue those prices should hold their own. Something changes 'over there' and we could see a flood, unlikely. What we will see is collectors who bought gems for 69 bucks selling for 269 and making a killing. And us new collectors arent competing against those guys for these new offerings. You read it here all the time. "I wouldnt pay that much for a [insert mosin variant here] if you held the gun to my head!" But us new collectors will because its one of our only options. So I say power to those guys making money. Power to the guy that just sold his $2500 when new '65 Mustang for $25,000. Thats the nature of the game. Our day will come. Its cyclical. They bought at the prices then. Sell for the prices now. We buy at the prices now(of course higher). Sell for the prices later.

Its harder and harder to find the gems at a good price. But beware of the dealers who say "Last Ones Ever", "No more being shipped". There are good values out there. I prefer to buy the $269 rifle from the guy who bought it for $69. He bought it. Enjoyed it. Took care of it, and if there werent a $200 profit to be made would never part with it.

[Fledge]

Or five years from now...We are all paying higher prices now but if things continue those prices should hold their own. Something changes 'over there' and we could see a flood, unlikely. What we will see is collectors who bought gems for 69 bucks selling for 269 and making a killing. And us new collectors arent competing against those guys for these new offerings. You read it here all the time. "I wouldnt pay that much for a [insert mosin variant here] if you held the gun to my head!" But us new collectors will because its one of our only options. So I say power to those guys making money. Power to the guy that just sold his $2500 when new '65 Mustang for $25,000. Thats the nature of the game. Our day will come. Its cyclical. They bought at the prices then. Sell for the prices now. We buy at the prices now(of course higher). Sell for the prices later.

Its harder and harder to find the gems at a good price. But beware of the dealers who say "Last Ones Ever", "No more being shipped". There are good values out there. I prefer to buy the $269 rifle from the guy who bought it for $69. He bought it. Enjoyed it. Took care of it, and if there werent a $200 profit to be made would never part with it.

I prefer to buy from folks downsizing their collections rather than a distributor like Classic. I think you get a much better idea of the gun you are buying and most of the time a better price. Collectors generally know how to ship a rifle better too. I have no problem with a collector who had a gun for twenty years making money on it. Good for them, but when these distributors artificially manipulate the price it makes me mad. I don't see how the hobby can grow and maintain itself with the prices going up. New collectors are never going to be able to accumulate a hoard like some of the older collectors have. How that effects price remains to be seen.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Having been actively collecting US milsurps in the late 1980's and early 90's I know all about what happens when supply diminishes, and demand increases. You think I was dropping over a G on M1 Garands back in the day? I would have to today, and that's why I used to be a US milsurps collector. Some of my M39's I bought for a hundred bucks, some of my other finns for less than fifty bucks and they include the M24 and the Finn M38. My most expensive M39's like the late dates, or the unissued ones were cheaper back in the day than a rough ordinary date one is today. What happened with the US rifles is now happening with the Mosins, all of them, supply is short, demand is high, now you have to pay to play.

[qz2026]

I think Pat probably made out very well. I don't think Classic is going to run out of M-39's any time soon based on what I saw come in to their warehouse and their pricing strategy. But, me thinks that she kept the rare and uncommon ones to sell. I agree with SA1911 - from their descriptions of the stock cracks and "rust", you could end up with a pretty nice gun with some elbow grease. At least the are being upfront about some of their inventory. To get the nice ones will require a hefty amount. But, as usual, you don't know what you are going to get. It's still a crap shoot. Unfortunately, their pricing strategy (and corner of the market-they have pretty much reset the pricing on these guns) may be their undoing. Pat pretty much had a monopoly, as well but her prices were reasonable (until towards the end) and you had a fair idea of what you were going to get based on individual pictures and the descriptions.

There is also this thing about the economy. We are in for very difficult times. My thoughts, although I have no proof of this, is that someone wrote a pretty good check for Pat's inventory - probably an outside investor or a bank. To me, an investment fraught with substantial risk. This wouldn't be the first time companies over extend based on these artificially low interest rates. When the economy crashes, they will be sitting on a ton of inventory (not only the M-39's) but the loan will still have to be paid. When this occurs, there could be some great deals to be had and not only from Classic.

[MadisonAV]

It was interesting to see the Pat Burns pricing strategy evolve over time. When I started buying from her, M39s were priced based on condition, not necessarily scarcity. So I was able to pick up a no name no date, a no name late date, a no name 48, two Sako straight stocks, and a few others for about the same price as other M39s in similar condition.'

Later on scarcity came into the picture in Pat's pricing. So I paid more for my Tikka than I would have for a more common M-39 in the same condition. But it wasn't that much more. So as long as I was patient I could wait until Pat threw out a 7 or 8 on the rarity scale and snap it up. For a while, I was checking her listings every day.

Now we are down to one dealer selling very common M-39s. Did Pat hold some back? That remains to be seen.

The rarity scale ratings for my M39s range from 4 (common VKT & Sako) to as high as 8 (No Name 1968, No Name 48, No name No date, Sako Postilious). Those 8s were bought for the same dollars or slightly more dollars than the 4s. The fact Pat threw out the scarcer rifles at about the same money or a bit more than the common ones held down the prices of the scarcer M39s.

Unless Pat held some back, the only place to go for the scarcer varieties now is collectors. I'm not sure that the scarcer varieties are going to be cheaper from collectors than from other sources as the other sources have dried up. I don't think the market price of the scarcer M39s has fully adjusted yet to a M39 world without a Pat Burns.

[F Matthews]

A year ago 91/30s were at every shop for $125-150. Now the curve is up to $225-300 and they're all 'fresh from the case', so you've got to put time into cleaning the cosmo off of them. Any ready-to-shoot Mosins left around here are at least $225 and have a rust patina or terrible stocks. Cabela's cpuldn't keep them in stock for $169. I bit for a '42 Izhevsk 91/30 this week at a shop fresh from the crate that had tons of cosmo for $229 on sale, since the ones they had left were in much better shape than anything I've seen in a while. They aren't getting cheaper and to my mind, $229 for a solid shooter isn't unreasonable. I passed up some hex Dragoons from the 1920s at a shop that had two cases for $299 each. I'm not willing to go that high yet, but I think that's pretty much where the market is here now (PA). Grab anything under two bills if you can!

[Junk Yard Dog]

I would hate to have to do the one for each year from each arsenal thing as I was doing ten years ago. Today it would take a lifetime and require four times the money.

[NLMosin]

....and when I was a kid bread was 30 cents a loaf and gas was 35 cents a gallon. My dad made 10 grand a year and we lived like kings. All this is starting to sound like a familiar song...everything goes up folks...everything.

[escobert]

....and when I was a kid bread was 30 cents a loaf and gas was 35 cents a gallon. My dad made 10 grand a year and we lived like kings. All this is starting to sound like a familiar song...everything goes up folks...everything.

That's always my first thought, "and how much were you making an hour back then compared to now?" inflation is a stinker :p

[qz2026]

Of course everything goes up. That's government Progressive spending and the effects of the FED. But, least you forget, when your father was younger, the US economy was generally in a boom. There were jobs for anyone who wanted one and wages were on the increase. And 1.5 trillion dollars (printed out of thin air) was not earmarked for welfare. The difference now is that most jobs have been cut to part time as a result to Marxist policies in DC and Obamacare. The additional result is that wages have actually lowered. So, yes, everything has gone up but discretionary income has virtually disappeared with the exception of those who live day to day using credit cards. And, that will come back to bite these folks and the general economy. The economy now vs. the economy then are two different animals.

[NLMosin]

Geez. All I said was everything goes up. You forgot to mention we gave this country away when we decided to give the bankers a different set of rules than we have and create an entire industry whose products are dependant on foreign oil. You know what killed Rome? ROME!

[qz2026]

I'm not being critical - really. Unlike the other site, we are all friends here

[NLMosin]

I'm not being critical - really. Unlike the other site, we are all friends here

Well sure we're all friends...dont you like debating with your friends? Some of my best friends have completely different opinions as I do but I have their backs and they have mine...friends can agree or disagree. Thats what makes it interesting.

[steelbuttplate]

I'm gonna buy one o them Sako's......no I'm not, don't need two, hell Their won't be no mo for $300.....What if it's better than mine What am I a Man or a girly boy that can't buy a gun........SHIT....I dunno......What about you FNG's? Would someone please buy a M-39