Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Old Mausers

I asked this on Hunters Campfire and have received no response . Where do you guys think the market will be in twenty to thirty years for old Mausers and Springfields . It seems that younger people want cheaper rifles and I wonder where the blued steel and walnut world is heading .

I hate to see it. I think its because of the prices of walnut/blued rifles are around $1000.now.

Their value will be as complete, original rifles.

I don't see Mausers and Springfields as donor rifles for building in the future. I suspect the originals unaltered will be where the money is.

These days buying a rifle that shoots MOA is a $399.00 effort, so i think many millennials and Gen Xers llike me won't bother to build up a rifle. Additionally, parts for Mausers are drying up. I recall, for example, that Midway used to sell jigs and parts for building custom Mausers, but they no longer have the jigs, and the parts selection is not as robust.

Meanwhile parts for Remington 700 actions abound.

The actual demand for the top of the top level of mausers and springfields will be steady. The quality that is involved can not be understated. However, most people are moving to EDM custom synthetic Stainless sporters designed to be light and accurate.

Time marches on, and I'm glad I won't be around to see the ultimate demise of blue steel and walnut should it happen. I'm old enough to still view a greasy old Mauser as the basis for a custom sporter, not as a collectible relic. About the only thing I wouldn't touch would be a mint G33-40 simply because of its insane value. Beyond that, they're all fair game as far as I'm concerned. I think it harks back to the time when all that stuff was viewed as "spoils of war", to be done with as one saw fit. I think too, it was a natural reaction of a generation of folks (and their children) who witnessed the horrors of war and had a subconscious need to transform the tools of that horror into tools of peace- sporting arms with more sensitive aesthetics if you will.

What better way to further erase the stigma of the Nazi's, for example, than to tear apart every 98K built between 1933 and 1945 and transform it into a sleek pretty sporter? My uncle shipped home a minty BRNO 98K from France in 1945. I did quite a number on it years ago, and would do it all over again now.

I think the market will be close to what you see today. The well done customs by talented smiths will still fetch premium prices. The originals will only go up in price. We have already passed the point were it makes sense to take one apart for a custom. It's a shame but it had to end at some time.

I'm glad I was around for a small part of it. IMO, some of the best true hunting actions ever made.

One thing I am sure of, if you are building one now and may want to recover some costs (sell) at a later date only use the best quality parts/stock/smith you can. Anything less can be perfectly serviceable but will bring pennies on the dollar.
That being said, I think there can be some great bargains on a rifle already done.
Not that many north of the border that come up, but I keep my eyes open, just in case!

Very well said. Good Post.

I got my first Mauser at age 14 in 1965 for $10 at auction.
I now have ~ 90 Mausers.

guns, guitars, and Gold 3%/year compounded return

Al Gore [net worth 2000 to 2016] 41%/year compounded return


Obviously selling Carbon credits, radio networks, and buying Apple stock works better than holding guns.

Mosins are the new Mauser -- cheap to acquire, easy to work on, fun to play with.

Walked away from a 6.5 Swede that was a beautiful sportedized rifle last year. Too much $$ for the play time I have for it.

Two NICE custom Mosins:

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9411043/m/8351083722

Time sure does march on, but not everybody including some allied veterans chose not to carry that stigma about Nazis.

The Mauser of WW2, will one day be the prized historical rare possession in a museum just like the Roman or Norsemen
era weapons are considered today.

Famous war veterans like Douglas Bader didn't turn to such pettiness after the war , but instead became good close friends
with German aces like Adolf Galland., which makes the negative mindset toward an inanimate object like a Mauser seem ridiculous.

And if you tried to destigmatise by wrecking the remaining German WW2 fighters like the BF-109...many war bird enthusiasts in
USA and England would think you are bonkers.

I converted Mosins to 7mmRemMag and 300WinMag at 3.34" by drilling for a button to push the ejector out of the way to unload unfired long cases. The ejection port cannot be made any larger in front or back as both are camming surfaces.



But in that pic you linked, I wonder how he unloads the chamber with that long cartridge when unfired.