Are the chrome lined barrels worth anything on the open market?? If I get this, it will be pulled apart for the action. The barrel will find a new home. What are these guns worth?? How much can I recoup from the barrel??

Probably not much. Good barrels for certain, but unless someone wants one with a front sight, or to replace one on another Higgins, I’d be surprised if you got as much as $200. Condition would matter too.

Never can tell though; the right buyer might just be around the corner….

Lotsa folk will shy away from those barrels because they are chrome lined and don't want to ruin their reamer fitting the barrel.

I sold one once not know at the time that it was Chromed. Felt bad when I found out. I threw all my take off barrels away after that.

Shoot it off,all of those chrome high std barrels I've had shoot well. The ramp front sights aren't a problem either, they have a set screw retainer on both of mine. Mb

I usually get $50-$60 for a Mauser take off barrel, so $200 would be pie in the sky. I'm not gonna go thru that much 30-06 in a lifetime to shoot this barrel out. If I get it, it has 256 Newton written all over it!

What should I pay for this rifle/action??

I was just trying to positive.

Being the lazy sort, I’d go with a fast-twist .270, or a 6.5/06/.270. But follow your heart.

How about some pics before you massacre it?

Asking prices on gunbroker.com are ridiculous. Locally, a Higgins in good shape will be priced at $6-700, and there's one just down the road from me with a bent trigger guard for $450.

I've owned several over the years. Most people upgrade the trigger, stock, and safety. Stocks aren't bad, but they're definitely set up for iron sights. The cost of bedding one and adding a recoil pad is pretty close to the cost of a Bell & Carlson designed for use with a scope.

Triggers are an odd two-piece arrangement. Half of it is in the action and the other half is in the bottom metal, so the trigger pull varies according to how tight you crank in the action screws. Most folks replace that with a Timney. Safeties are so-so, definitely better than a military Mauser safety but not as good as a Model 70-style safety or the one that comes with the Timney.

If you just want an action, then I'd look beyond the Higgins. The chrome-lined barrels have attracted enough attention over the last 10-15 years that prices are higher than on other rifles with the same actions. Starting with one of those other rifles might save you a couple of hundred bucks on the cost of the action plus the cost of upgrades.


Okie John

okie john sees the same prices I do. More and more of my rifles are for sale given the current prices. The last JC Higgins rifle I bought came with the Husqvarna action which is still sitting and waiting for me to have it built into something. I'm thinking it'll become a 6.5X55 as soon as three or four or five others go down the road.

Pawn shop had a Higgins 50 in .270 a few months ago for $500, wood was pretty dirty but would have cleaned up. I should have offered them $400 for it.

I paid $350 for a Higgins 50 in .30-06 on gunbroker a couple years ago. It had an old 4x Leupold on it but was in a cheap tupperware stock. Bought a 51 stock off of here for it for $100. Then the sweetest part of it all, picked it up an hour away at the listing shop, got it home, and it already had a Timney in it. So, for $450 and a few gallons of gas, I had a Higgins 51 with a Leupold and a Timney. Think I did alright. Shoots really well.

Great find on the 51 stock...must have been a dummy to let it go for that!

😂😂🤷‍♂️

Ha, that was a pretty nice stock.

The actions are very good FN actions. Replace the trigger with one you like; do what you like for a stock. The 256 Newton would be perfect. Sure, you could make a 6.5/06, but the Newton has panache! GD

Someone wanting a good hunting rifle could do worse than paying $600-$700 for a nice Higgins. I had a couple and never had a problem with the triggers, nor the safeties. Both shot well, certainly good enough for Eastern woods hunting. I consider the chrome-lined barrels a plus.

We’re constantly bombarded with all kinds of stuff on various modern aspects of the shooting sports and I think it clouds our thinking about what is required for practical hunting use. What worked 50 or 100 years ago will still work, especially when paired with the better optics and bullets we have now. I have several light modern rifles, but their main practical advantage is their portability, not their function or even their accuracy.

My dumbest move was letting a JC Higgins 51L in .270 get away some years ago. I’ve been looking for another but haven’t run across one when I had money

Bingo. An FN Supreme I bought 15 years ago for $500 with a scope I sold for $150. Just a simple near 70 year old 30-06.

Years ago when I first started buying JC Higgins, you could pick them up for 225 - 250. I’ve had about 6 or 7 over the years and most have been great shooters. A 270 was a legitimate 1/2” rifle at a 100 yards.

I still have one in the safe. Haven’t done anything with it, use a Model 70 in 30-06 for everything now days. I picked it up for I think 350 with a Leupold 4x scope on it. Can’t remember exact price. Back then with a trigger swap they were, and still are a great hunting rifle. I prefer a different safety also. The one that comes on them is to loud for my tastes.

I had one fixed up a couple years ago. It was a very good start for a full custom FN-98.

It turned out beautifully. 7x57 right?

Yes ..... They are good actions for a project like that.

One would do well just have a bare action in the safe ready for the next project.

Isn't someone importing Mausers from whatever Yugoslavia is called now? EAA was the importer a few years back.

Yes, Zastava in what is now called Serbia: https://zastavaarmsusa.com/product/sporting-rifle-lk-m70/

I agree they probably aren't worth much. That said, I would try shooting it. I've owned a few of the Higgins M98's and they were very accurate with the factory barrels. You might be about to spend a lot of money re-barreling a rifle that doesn't need it.

Here is one I did years ago. A .30-06 Higgins I bought for $350. I had big plans for it and then I shot it. I got honest MOA groups out of it with Remington factory ammo. The bluing was a little freckled but otherwise in good shape. I took the sights off, Cerakoted the metal, added a Timney trigger and dropped it in a McMillan stock. It's accurate and the balance is fantastic. I own a few custom rifles but always seem to grab this one.

Good to “see” you. Been a while.

Yes it has 🙂

HMMM, a composite stock Terry, horror of horrors

🤭

Life has gotten a lot easier since I stopped caring 😉

Lol. So true.

I think the most I ever paid for a J.C. Higgins M50 was $350 The cheapest was free. It was in 30-06 and had a nice custom stock. I took a bad fall and I had the choice of saving my fat ass or the rifle. Saving the rifle meant that I would either be dead or crippled for life. The scope on the rifle was totaled as well. The rifle now sits i a Ramline stock and it's used as a bad weather gun.

Another m50 had been made into a 7x57 custom and I have three more. Just need to figure out what to rebarrel them to. All my customs are based on Mauser actions except for two.
PJ