A friend passed away a year ago and his son is offering to sell me his rifle.
I remember when he purchased it in the mid sixty"s.
It is 99% comdition, only shot a dozen rounds, open sights and has a scope mounted to it.
Last time it was fired was between 1968-70.
What is a fair price to offer?

In the west, they do not sell for very much. Same with the Remington self loaders such as the 742.

I understand that they are very popular in places like Wisc.

As for prices ? I bought a Rem 742 made in 1967. Paid $175.00 for it here in Phoenix. That was less than a year ago.

Not that you want to low-ball your friends family. Offer what you think is fair and equitable for both parties, erring to the high side for your friends family.

There's one in the LGS for $450.

First the was a recall on the trigger or sear, winchester will foot the bill. Google will help you here.

Now that's out of the the way, I see prices from 450-650 for what you are looking at. My first rifle was a 100 in 308. The trigger is rough and it's a picky eater. However it points well for me and has been very reliable. I think they are the best looking auto out there.

Even though the rifle has set up without being fired and has a low round count, you need to shoot the rifle before making any offer. Chambers are bad about pitting and not ejecting spent cartridge. It is possible that if it was left unclean that it might have some corrosion. I have had 4 or 5 different ones over the years and 2 of them would not eject the cartridge. Since the 308 is the most available of the 3 calibers, I think the $450 is about right...or it is where I live.

I like the 100's, and have had a few of them. Still have one carbine version.

Mine have been very reliable, and pretty accurate.

As mentioned, Winchester will send you a firing pin and $20 IIRC to have it installed for the recall. It's fairly easy to do.

In 99% condition, I'd think $450-500 is a good deal, and fair price.

I personally wouldn't care whether it was pre-64 (with cut checkering) or post-64 (pressed checkering or basket-weave), but some would pay more for a pre-64.

If it was a carbine (with 18" barrel and barrel band) add $150.

There is no way to compare a Remington 742 with the Winchester 100 for price. The Remington "jam-o-matic" has a design flaw that destines it to fail, as per what Remington customer service told me and my own personal experience. That is why their prices are so low. The only problem with the 100 is the firing pin recall, which is an easy/inexpensive fix.

Around here in NC a 100 in .308 in nice condition would be about $600, more for a .243, and more still for a .284. You can add for the scope value, and make sure the stock has not been cut or a recoil pad added.

I have two 100s, both first year production (1961) and both have performed flawlessly. Google and call the Winchester 800# for the firing pin recall, and if they don't answer just leave a voice mail with the serial number, and they will call you back and say whether or not the firing pin has been replaced. Don't shoot it until you know for sure.

You could offer your friend $500 and feel good about it, and still get a good deal if he agrees. Hope this helps some.

I have 3 Winchester/Olin 100s, 2x 308 and 1x 243. One of the 308s was used extensively in herd reduction shoots, despite not being suppressed, and never failed to function. If it is as nice as you say, I'd think that $450 would be a fair price.

The weak link in the design is the extractor, so I'd recommend buying an extractor, extractor plunger, and extractor spring to have on hand just in case.

Thanks for the input and I see prices on GB all over the lot.
I'm going to give the barrel a good cleaning, shoot it and then off to the smith.
I know when he bought in 1964 it jammed and was repaired.

Still, I think I'll be prudent and have the gun smith tear it down and follow all recommendations posted here.

Thank you.

Bullchit....

There's a TON of issues with the M100, and I've seen them all. Maybe, overall they might be 10% better than the M742... "Might", is the operative word..

One customer here said he sees lots of them all the time at Scheel's in Eau Claire and they're asking prices upwards of $500 - and they "fly off the shelves"..

I just asked him this: "Why do you think there's so many used M100s available?" He blinked a couple times.. And I said, "it's because someone ELSE had the rifle, had a bunch of problems with it, and traded it in for something else."

I could literally SEE the lightbulb flash..

There's no factual basis in that statement. Contact Remington CS about the 742, and they will tell you that they "all" will fail, it's just a matter of time on any particular rifle. They will not receive them for repair, it a lost cause. That is why around here (where semi-autos are popular for deer hunting) a Model 100 will sell for 2x to 3x what a 742 will.

You mean other than he's a gunsmith. LOL.

I've owned at least a dozen Winchester/Olin 100s over the years and the only problems that I've had with them were chronic failure to feed issues with the 284s. I found that the 284s would feed fine with some magazines, irregularly with some magazines, and not well at all with some magazines, but the magazines appeared to be physically identical.

I've not had any troubles with the 243s or 308s and the one 308 that was used in herd reduction shooting was used hard without any special effort to maintain it. One of my favorite woods deer rifles is a 308 with a 17" barrel because it is short/handy, points reasonably well, and multiple followup shots are available instantly and without me having to do anything more than keep the center of the reticle on target and squeeze the trigger.

Despite member Redneck's experience as a professional gunsmith, in my unprofessional, just a user, experience the Winchester/Olin 100s are a much more robust design than the Remington 740 family as pertains to longevity and reliability. The Remington 740 series' weakness is that a feed rail design that works fine in the manually operated 760 series will almost certainly be damaged by the much more violent action of the 740 series' semi-automatic operation and as noted earlier, it is only a matter of time before the cumulative damage causes failure to function issues. The Winchester/Olin 100s that I have owned or shot have been very reliable if chambered in 243 or 308, but less so due to magazine sensitivity issues in 284.

Despite having hundreds of non-bolt action CF rifles to choose from, one of my two preferred still-hunting rifles for tight cover is a Winchester/Olin 100 in 308 with a 17" barrel. While it isn't super accurate, 2 to 3 MOA with whatever brand of 150 grain factory ammo I feed it, I wouldn't use it if it wasn't reliable.

Well, yeah, they were built with a 600 round lifespan. They haven't for many, many years - and I don't accept them any longer either. Winchester won't accept the M100 either - and haven't for many, many years. There's only one (to my knowledge_ place in the US that WILL try to repair those things and ya better bring yer wallet when you bring it in.. Last one I called them on they quoted something north of $400 to fix.. IF - it could be fixed..

I could list all the maladies the M100 has, but my time's limited..

FWIW, Rem won't accept 7400s in either - which was a somewhat better design.. Their M750 is so bad that local stores refuse to stock 'em.. And Rem STILL refuses to change their pos magazine design - which is a major cause of feeding issues with those pos rifles..

Also, FWIW, the ONLY centerfire semi-auto that's worth a hill of beans is the Browning BAR..

Forgot to add:

I've got over 18 years experience with Winchester and Remington semi-autos, and I've refused the 740/742/7400/750 models since '13....the M100 since '15...

Good info Redneck, thanks.

The 742 was once the preferred deer rifle in eastern NC, especially among dog hunters when using a rifle. In the 1970/80's eastern NC was literally flooded with them. Now many have died, everyone knows about their problems, and a used one will sit on the racks forever. Winchester 100s on the other hand are still highly desired.

One difference is that when a 742 fails the bolt locks and it usually can't be cleared in the field, or continue to be used as a single shot.

Personally, I have owned two 742's and two Model 100's. The 742's were sold for parts, and the 100's are still functioning fine, very accurate with no failures.

PT Barnum said there is a sucker born every minute, any semi auto with a carbon steel chamber is just a rain shower away from becoming a single shot. Early M16's had this problem in that small Asian country some might remember, there were also powder and lack of cleaning issues as well but that is a fact.

Benelli has hard chromed their R1 chamber and now Browning is hard chroming their BAR chamber. Buy a Win 100, find magazines if you can, have a pitted chamber you might, broken parts not available....go right ahead but I would not do it.

Most civilian shooters are seldom faced with the challenging climate conditions that the military is expected to operate in, so building a sporting rifle to "mil-specs" usually isn't necessary. I've had at least one Winchester/Olin 100 for the past forty (40) years and have had one (1) problem with a rifle chambered in either 243 or 308, a broken extractor.

Other than the three (3) Winchester/Olin 100s, the other semi-auto rifle that I occasionally hunt with is a mid-1960's vintage Ruger 44 International. It has also been a very reliable rifle for me, but I know that some folks don't have as much success as I have had with them.

What Redneck is speaking of is what I was saying in my earlier post. I realize that some might have other experiences. The 1st used 100 I bought back in the early 80's was a 308. It only cycled flawlessly about every 3 shots. My 243 and 1st 284 worked great every time.

I recently found a used 284 for a good price and bought it. It would fire, but every other operation of the cycle was a no go...lol. I googled the 100 to see what all I might be looking at, and was amazed at all I found on the subject. If anyone doesn't think that they have a problem, just google the rifle. There is a company out there that bought the rest of Winchester's inventory of parts (or so I have read..on the internet so it has to be true!). Parts are high and I think you can send the rifle to them, but as stated above...it is expensive. I bought parts for mine and had a local guy but haven't picked it up yet so don't know if it is working or not. But if you do send it to the place that bought the parts, also as stated above, they DO NOT guarantee it to work. So...you can be out several hundred's of dollars and still not having a working gun.

My three (3) Winchester/Olin 100s work fine and GPC still has the only parts that I've ever had to replace.

The company that bought the Winchester parts is Nu-Line Guns in Rhineland, MO.

www.nulineguns.com

I respectfully disagree. As you are not a gun manufacturer and a single experience bears little weight against the decision by two venders to chrome their chambers, I would bet on Browning and Benellis recognition of the problem. Your single data point experience means little against overwhelming evidence that carbon steel chambers on semi auto's are problematic. Myself I have seen dozens of Remington's with a fired shell stuck in the chamber. My black gun barrels are all chromed or stainless. Zero problems in 35 plus years of shooting them.

I happen to like Winchester/Olin 100s in 243 and 308, but not so much if they are chambered in 284. I have owned at least a dozen Winchester/Olin 100s over the past forty (40) years and still have three (3) that I manage to hunt with every couple of years. I doubt that I'll ever buy another semi-automatic hunting rifle, as the four (4) that I currently have meet my needs.

In this case, there is lots of anecdotal evidence that doesn't sync with my experience, but that's OK with me.

Yes, Sir. I got 2 of the 3 parts I needed from them, but I think it was a cap that I had to get from another vendor. One of the parts was specific to the caliber and I think that was the one that nuline didn't have. So there is at least one more place out there that does have some parts for those who need them.

It's our individual experience. living and hunting in the southeast my experience is seeing dozens of semi auto remington guns with rusted chambers.

A gunsmith I used to frequent had a bunch of them in his shop one year and told me when asked he would never take another one in. Rusted chambers are the most common problem. I just choose to use chromed or stainless guns.

Some, yes.. But when (not if) the action bars breaks off the trigger group - you're basically DONE. There's one guy that makes the replacement gas piston assembly but I've not had the opportunity to require his part. No idea what it costs, but if you need one - you pay it..

Oh, and GPC's 'replacement' extractors are worthless. BTDT. Pay the price, get an original, and boogie on..

That's the outfit I was referring to above in my earlier post..

And if anyone doesn't know how to PROPERLY remove & replace the action from the stock is asking for serious issues.. Not to mention ya better FULLY disassemble that rifle, clean same, and pay attention when re-assembly or you'll be making another trip to some 'smith who'll even THINK of taking 'em in..

FWIW.

Interesting that the OP asked about the Winchester 100 and several posters have responded with their favorable personal experiences covering many M100 examples.

Had the OP asked the same question but about a Remington 742, there would have been a parade of posters warning him to avoid it at all costs.

AFAIK, the extractor that I purchased from GPC and installed in that particular rifle has worked as intended for the past eleven (11) years. I bought extras for my rifles, but have never had to use any of them.

I've had nothing but positive experiences with the Winchester/Olin 100s in 243 and 308 that I've owned, so that is the only anecdotal feedback that I can offer to the OP.

It seems to me that rusted chambers are more likely to be the result of poor operator maintenance, rather than from a design flaw.

$25.00

Red, thanks for that. I had a couple back in the day...and was pondering one again.

Have had enough rifle drama...:)

I have a Win. 100 in .308 It was my fathers rifle, he gave it to me. This weapon has never had any extra work done to it. It has always worked great, pull the trigger it goes bang.

Just picked up a Winchester 100 in .308 for a buddy. I paid $270 out the door and will put a low power variable on it. Should do just fine for a Southeast AK deer and black bear rifle.

I have a couple of Winchester 100's. One in 308 and one in 284. I can get 1.25 to 1.75 inch groups on a regular basis with both, which suits me fine. I haven't had any problems with them at all and the only thing I have had to do is swap out the firing pins to the new model.

The 284 is a little hard to feed but I have found that brass can be made for it from 6.5X284 without much trouble. I call it my 7mmX6.5X284 wildcat.

I'm not much into gun buying at this stage in my life, but if I came across a Winchester 100 in 243 in good shape, it would likely follow me home. Depending on condition/caliber/pre 64 or not, in these parts $450 to $600 would get you a nice one.