Type 53 Value?

[Santosh]

Hi all,
Value/price question: I found a nice looking 1955 Chinese Type 53. The stock has been refinished, and I suspect the rifle may have been reblued, but it’s hard to tell. It’s listed for $350. Is this a fair price, or is this highway robbery? Any guidance helps!

[millman]

I wouldn't pay that for a refinished specimen.

[SA1911a1]

I wouldn't pay that for a refinished specimen.

The value of these rifles is their "collectability." That is lost with a refinish, so that the value of the rifle becomes that of a shooter. For $350.00 you can find a fairly nice, used, American made "shooter." Altering, changing, improving, outside of the original arsenals, military surplus firearms generally halves the value.

[fchaus]

To expand on 1911's response, value is a very subjective term. When it comes to collectables, cars, guns, anything really, I have heard so many times, . . . man, thats not worth X, Y, Z, but the bottom line is the value of something is what someone is willing to pay. Consider what you want to buy the carbine for. Is it mostly for a shooter and a little bit for collectability, or purely an investment, or another reason entirely, who knows. I am very new to collecting old/milsurp firearms and I tend to buy stuff for my own personal enjoyment/shooting. With that said I have bought a few firearms for purely investment purposes so in those cases I will only purchase them if the price is on the low retail or lower (stupid good deal). Things that are for my personal enjoyment I try to consider how hard it may be for find another example of something in the future as to how high I am willing to go on these. If you do an advanced search of GB for completed auctions you can get an overall idea of what might be a good deal vs paying to much. Now with THAT said, I have found with the Mosin Nagant rifle family there are so many variations that the market can be a little overwhelming and it seems that the "chinese" guns seem to have a stigma of "chinese is crap" and would therefore be priced lower than a rifle from another country. Is this true or not, I will leave this to people with much more knowledge about all the individual types or rifles and countries of origin than me, but from my reading/research leads me to believe that chinese guns are for the most part equal or better quality as the other rifles out there and if you can get them cheaper than say, a Russian or Romanian M44 then awesome. Now, that brings us back to your question, is $350 a good deal? In the short time I've been paying a close watch on the Mosin Nagant (around 2 years) the prices have gone up and continue to do so. $350 at the current time seems to be high end of retail for a Type 53, so is it a great deal? Maybe not great but not bad from my perspective. If you plan to keep the carbine for a while it becomes a better deal.

So, That was a long winded way of saying, If you like it and you have to money, buy it.

[steelbuttplate]

Hi all,
Value/price question: I found a nice looking 1955 Chinese Type 53. The stock has been refinished, and I suspect the rifle may have been reblued, but it’s hard to tell. It’s listed for $350. Is this a fair price, or is this highway robbery? Any guidance helps!

That's about right in todays market. A matching bolt would make it uncommon. If its a factory 26 add a little $. Some of those type 53 have bores that are less than ideal. a lot less.

[Rongo]

Hi all,
Value/price question: I found a nice looking 1955 Chinese Type 53. The stock has been refinished, and I suspect the rifle may have been reblued, but it’s hard to tell. It’s listed for $350. Is this a fair price, or is this highway robbery? Any guidance helps!

I wouldn't pay more than $200. Scratch that; I wouldn't buy it period. Save your money & wait for the right gun... Don't force it.

This forum was created to promote the preservation of Surplus/Antique/Historical firearms as they were commissioned to retain their historical & intrinsic value for future generations to enjoy. To me a beat to hell stock with character is far more beautiful than a sanded down polyurethane stock. Anyone with rudimentary skills can sand a stock & slather some finish on it. Sadly many people not knowing any better go ahead & modify these fine old weapons. Once the damage is done they usually regret what they did. In fact, I'll bet the seller is selling this for that very reason. Again; I wouldn't buy it nor would 99.912846% of serious collectors in this country.
So to summarize, a refinished stock ruins the significance of it being a surplus gun & thus degrades the value... Period. With the stock refinished the collector buying market as a whole will frown upon this gun & refuse to consider it as a historical piece & or collectible. It is nothing more than a used gun now & has no value in the collectible market.

I hope this helps you in your declension. Good Luck & welcome to the forum!