Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors The funny thing about prices

As we all know, the prices on pre 64 model 70 rifles is soft right now. The funny thing to me is parts for these rifles are still the same price. Prices on parts like aluminum butt plates, trigger guards and bottom metal, front sight hoods, good quality stocks and even lesser quality stocks. You name it and the parts for these still demand a premium. I sell stuff on ebay and gunbroker, so I keep an eye on such things. A while back I bought a very nice condition pre 64 model 70 featherweight 30-06 locally and I paid a premium price of $475.00... A few weeks after that purchase I found a very nice re-chambered 300H&H, now a 300WBY. I paid $499.00 for that one. Here are the rifles in fact:

30-06 featherweight:

And yes, before you ask, I installed the red pachmayr and properly glass bedded the rifle. She's pretty damn sweet now and a damn good hunting rifle.

300WBY. Was originally a 300H&H:

Sorry, I need to get some better pictures of this rifle. I installed the red pachmayr, glass bedded it and scoped it and this is how she shoots:


That 300WBY has some potential, as does the 30-06 fwt. Both great rifles that I snagged because the prices have just been soft. We won't even talk about the 375WBY I bought a while back and then recently sold because I don't really have a need for such a big rifle...

Now on to the prices of parts. Damn I am always surfing the web to see what parts are selling for and prices haven't faltered a bit... When I go to local shops or when I'm out of town I am always looking for deals on rifles and parts. Parts are harder to find at shops, unless you are at a gunsmith's shop. A few months ago I ended up finding an exact era match stock for my 30-06 fwt. It actually came off the same year rifle as mine ('58), damn what a find, but I had to pay dearly for it because the smith knew what it was worth. Funny thing is he had a few featherweight and standard stocks tucked ways behind some things, but I spotted them from a mile away. I asked if the featherweight stocks were for sale and he said, "you know what those are for". I said yes. Then he said, "then you know what they are worth". I said yes... He said they were for sale... The one that caught my eye was the one I bought. He asked if I knew what year rifle the stock came off of, and I said, "I don't know, can you tell me"? Even though I knew, I was playing his game... He said 1958. I said, you know that for sure? He just smiled. I asked, well how much are you asking for it? He told me and I paid the man... The funny thing is I can re-sell it on ebay and make money: