For me I've been looking at these rifles since I was a kid so having just hit 63, by my calculations, that means I've had my tent pitched in the 99 camp for about 53-years. Are 99s worth as much as they are going for now? Obviously they are worth what the market will bear but the increase in price means I will be acquing fewer, albeit my "acquisition" has always counted on the humble side. My personal trend has been to trim down my 99 "needs" even more and to start looking at other firearms that seem to have been a little less affected by the inflated market. To address Roy's question, I think its obvious that "collecting changes" will be far fewer 99s acquired by many guys, especially those just sarting out. And my advice to them would be to figure out what you are interested in and save your pennies for that prize, and to avoid grabbing the first cheap rifle that came your way. I think we've all did that and learned that they too became problem children. In that context I would not walk away from appropriately priced 99s that had been altered by previous owners by drilling and tapping and additions of kick pads if the work was done decently. I might take such a 99 and put on a period correct scope and mount to end up with something the average guy would have been proud to have had in our parent's generation. Good question Rou, thanks for putting it up!
You bring up an interesting point. The market is flooded with the "problem child" 99's you describe, but for some reason they're still priced at 2x what a good one used to cost. Are they selling?
