Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Need some advice from good people on my father's guns..

my father, and lifelong hunter (and on every continent), has fallen ill and I am unfortunately forced to sell some of the firearms. I dont want to make a tragic mistake (for both sentimental and financial reasons), in deciding which guns to sell and at what price..2 rifles i am scared to sell are:
1) my grandfather's Colt Sauer 7mm REM MAG CR3666. It has a Zeis Scope(Diavari-C 9x36) mounted for a right handed shooter, but with a blind right eye (scope is mounted offset to left)
2) my dad's 7x57 Mauser- i know its old as my grandpa, dad, and i (and possibly my great grandfather), all shot their first game with it. #116197 and it is unique in that it's Zeiss Scope (Zielvier #67221), can be snapped on and off in seconds but ithout losing any accuracy or needing to be re-adjusted. it has wood all the ay up to the barrel and as my dad's prized possession.
I would appreciate any of your input on my situation and if possible an estimate of what each may be worth.

Sincere thanks,
August

I would check out gunbroker and see what guns like your fathers are selling for.

www.gunbroker.com

And check out this site to see if they have the guns on there.

http://www.usedprice.com/items/guns-and-scopes/

thank you. I have looked and am finding a range from several hundred dollars to tens of thousands...what markings or other identifiable characteristics should i look for to help narrow don this range?

thank you again,
August

Sorry to hear of the predicament you're caught in. A couple of thoughts... bills come and go but once an heirloom is gone, it's gone. Don't sell the Mauser, you'll never quit regretting it.

The Colt Sauer would likely bring better total $ if you sell the scope separately from the gun, there's just not a lot of right handed, right eye blind shooters looking to purchase a rifle.

Before selling the gun to a "stranger", are their any other relatives of your grandfather who may be interested in buying the gun? They may be willing to pay more than "blue book" value just because of the sentimental value.

My first advice would be to convert the last digit in those serial numbers to an "X".

example: 11619X

GunsAmerica is also a good "frame of reference" pricing site. Good luck.

Thank you all, and especially NWRancher; I will likely sell a kidney before the Mauser and thank you for reminding me of why. If nothing else, taking stock of what is there and what options are available in a worst case scenario makes me feel a little more in control.

thank you.

is it a bad idea to make that public?

I have never thought so.

The Colt Sauer w/ the Zeiss could get between $1500 and 2k. I'd scrub toilets for money before I parted with the Mauser.

There is no need to make the full numeric public, a couple of x's in place of the last 2 digits will still let people date it. Unscrupolus folks could use it to make a false stolen gun report with the whole SN and when one shows up they could claim it and cause all manor of grief for those involved.

34 posts in the first day. I'm surprised to see nothing over in 'free classifieds'.

He's from Chicago.

Agreed,
Heirlooms are priceless, to you.
But are always sold for WAY less

Like my Great Grand-father's 1830's musket.
It is just another musket to a buyer. Worth? $50 ?
But to my son, it is an heirloom that as been in the family for 7 or 8? generations