What should I offer ?

[Johnch]

Not sure if I picked the right area , but here go's

A friends neibor just died and the widow is looking to unload his guns
Most are junk

We helped with some prices tonight
But I might offer her cash for 1 and my friend is interested in another

The one I might be interested in is a 1898 Springfeild , Krag - Johnson , with a bayonet
Most of the blueing on the receiver is gone , but on the barrel it looks to be mostly there
Wood has been cleaned , but looks good to excellent

Didn't get a look at the bore .
Will look it over more when she is not hovering, don't want to look to interested



The other is a Winchester 94 30/30 with a 20" barrel , older one , top eject
Some surface rust , about 90% blue left , wood is so so
It has a side plate scope mount and a old junk scope
I think , She thinks the Winchester is worth a lot


I have no clue about the Springfeild as to what to offer her
But I an CHEAP :twisted:

I told my freind Winchesters are going to be made again and I would not offer more than $200 for it

What do you guys think ??

Johnch

[KCSO]

A Krag Bayonet in good shape is going for $125 here and most any Krag will bring at least $400 so let your heart rule on this one. On the Winnie not over $200 with a side mount I would offer $150.

[fourarmed]

Krag receivers were not blued. They were case hardened. Most appear to be sort of gray now.

[Bluehawk]

Depends on what you want the Krag for. Carbines are worth more than the rifles . If its for a collection or to be able to re-sell to a collector then it also depends on what type sight it has ,etc . '98 Krags can be found with possibly three different types of sights and still be corrrect .
There usually good shooters if the bore is half-way decent, but they are no way as strong as modern three lug bolts

[The Double D]

I would offer exactly what you would have offered her husband. She can take it or leave, just like her husband would have.

If she accepts your offer well and good. If she declines tell her your offer stands if she changes her mind.

Do that and you will never feel like you took advange.

[OBXPilgrim]

In order to make sure that you both felt good about the value of the guns, you might consider taking her & the guns to a local gunshop/pawn shop or some other dealer. Considering most of them undercut the true value, you might offer her a percentage over what they say in advance. If they undercut the price, you'd look great in her eyes. If they felt they offered her much more than what you considered, encourage her to take the off instead.

No way she could ever feel badly about the deal.

At the last gunshow I went to, even beater Winchesters were $350-400 (western NC).

Good luck.

[Johnch]

I offered her $450 for the 1898 Springfeild , Krag - Johnson including the bayonet

My freind offered her $ 175 for the Winchester .

She said she would tell us by Sat

Johnch

[Ranch Dog]

This kind of brings up an interesting point. What do you plan on doing with your firearms when you croak? In my case, I have no one to leave them to and my wife is not savy about them. Having lost a spouse, I can tell you that you are better off letting someone else handle transactions like these. My plan is to direct a friend of mine to sell my firearms on the auction sites and give him a piece of the pie. I put this on paper, kept with my will. I don't want anybody picking through them and walking off with them so they are listed by model and SN. I want my wife to have the $$$ as she didn't mind me spending the bucks to acquire them. I probably need to sit down and do the same with all my reloading equipment because I have an 15' X 25' room full of it.

I recently sold a bunch of stuff on eBay, items I was no longer using. Archery gear and some reloading & casting stuff. It put $3000 in my pocket! Got another load I'm going to get rid of once I get a little more time.

[Lloyd Smale]

if its a pre 64 win. its worth a solid 300

[trooperdan]

... What do you plan on doing with your firearms when you croak?

Well, I suspect that I will have pretty much have lost interest in them by then! :)
Sorry RanchDog, I couldn't resist the opportunity for a laugh.

Actually I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I'm 64, already had a bypass, have a C&R FFL (which means I prolly have over 150 ex-military rifles alone) and I have a wife that is 17 years younger than me. I think my solution is to start selling my lesser grades and dupes now. My ex-father-in-law must have had something like this in mind when he started giving a lot of his "treasures" to people in the last years of his life. No matter what you put in your will, the only way to know for sure it will go to whom you intend is to place it in their hands yourself!

I have an inventory on my computer and keep the wife informed as to values. I have a couple of collector friends but, heck, they are as old as me and no better health! Best I can do on stuff I plan to continue to use to the bitter end (my M-1D for example) is to keep the inventory value current and have a list of places to put it up for sale.

[The Double D]

Dan, did I file my change of address with you for the Muscat Martini?

[trooperdan]

Double D, Yes, you did leave a forwarding address before you left! I'll keep you in mind for that piece! :)