Is C&R collecting effectively dead?

[Lwstarks]

I don’t think it is dead, just on a hiatus. When markets open, countries change trading status, etc. There will be guns coming out of warehouses.

 

[40mike-mike]

No, don’t think it dead. Like few others have said Gvmnt AWB restrictions & bans from countries have impacted available cheap imports.
I too remember the 3 SKS bundle for $225 out the door times. My dad used to remind me of pre ‘68 catalog ordering of right to your door. So times change, as do politics & the NEWS provided to people. The 2A bashers have made serious Ingres into our mainstream culture. Some cities have made tight rules for Mom n Pop C&R dealers that a lot of them surrendered their licenses.
Once someone buys an older milsurp, then there is a 2nd & of course a 3rd. The only limits are money in the hobby fund & how each individual manages their collection. Forever the big Q will be do I keep this one too, or sell it for seed money...
And BTW, the Arab Spring affected all available milsurp rifles & ammo for the free countries. Sad to say the oil money was plentiful & a lot was bid to turn ships bearing goods towards the Middle East conflicts.

 

[Harrier]

Back in the 60's and 70's there were a lot of imports but collectors were picky and looked down on a lot of the stuff from other than top tier countries. Only certain people collected Turk Mausers etc and then they cherry picked the good stuff. I remember a shop in Buckeye Lake Ohio in the early 90's that had row upon row of Mausers for $79 and barrels full of the crap for some ridiculous price like $39. Few wanted the Egyptian or French or Czec stuff back then.
Now just try and find it in any condition for less then 300-400. I bought my first Russian SKS back in 98 for $200 - sold it a couple years ago for $750
I don't think there are as many young people getting into the hobby, their all being taught anti-views in kollege.

 

[knockonit]

yeah, i'd say its rare if a youngster gets into C&R collecting, it happens but not as often as maybe it could, me thinkgs the games have them in tune to the new shiney, nothing like a lacking bell and whistle unit to outperform one that has way too many parts and adjustments to make it work.

i'm still collecting, the stuff i missed out on, have built a lot from kits, takes time, but still a hoot to build
Rj

 

[792mauser]

At the last show in Phoenix I found a Egyptian special bore E.G. Greener shotgun for 100. The bore is in great shape. The metal was in need of a cleaning but the wood was generally ok.

 

[CGSteve]

I'm 35 and keeping it alive. I have many semi autos (FALs, AKs, etc.) but I also have a love affair with the old military guns. Locally though, it is kind of dead. I feel Arizona is a more modern black rifle type of place. Gun shows here in both Phoenix and Tucson are evidence of this. Tons of junk AR parts and rifles, very hard to find decent misurps. The few Mausers and Enfields that you do see are usually in pretty bad shape. Sometimes there will be tables with Garands and 1903s which is good.

When I lived in PA, the gun shows there had many people with G43s, snipers versions of Arisakas, Garands, Johnsons, Winchester 1897 trench guns. Of course those are cost prohibitive, but it was nice to see these uncommon and examples around and appreciated.

 

[needsmostuff]

I would have said yes but,,,, I just bought another Mauser yesterday. I did not need or want another Mauser . I do not shoot the Mausers I already have. I justified the purchase by saying I would sell one of my existing Mausers. But now I think I'll keep them all.
Hmmmmmm, sounds like C&R collecting to me.

 

[knockonit]

the old milsurp guys are dieing off, used to find anything you wanted in regards to parts, and misc. now its rare to come across a parts guy or even full units made back in the day,

some occassionaly can be found, but its tough, one has to dig thru the horsefeathers to go forward.

i sure miss a buncha the old vendors with tables of parts at the shows.
ugh
Rj

 

[Bradshaw]

I wish that the Dept of State would hurry up and authorize the return/re-import of all those pre-86 30 Caliber M-1 and M-2 Carbines that we gave on loan the K-People back in the day.

I'd buy a few once CMP gets them.

Anyone have an update?

B

 

[brandyspaw]

As a prior poster mentioned, I also think the surplus market has been affected by the lack of cheap surplus ammo. While there used to be a bunch of cheap ammo in 8mm, 303 Brit, 7.62x54r, etc its now mostly only the more expensive newly manufactured ammo thats available.

Lack of cheap ammo had caused me to sell off most of my mil-surps but then I'm more of a shooter than any kind of a collector/accumulator. And the current prices on mil-surp rifles have risen dramatically to the point that I'd likely not pay the going prices to buy them again. The whole reason I got into the mil-surps back then was all the interesting yet cheap guns and ammo available. With that all gone its had to have changed up the C&R market.

 

[etprescottaz01]

Not dead just not the same market we had 20 years ago and will never experience again. The last happy time is over, no more crates of $100.00 rifles to dig thru, today a person has to know what they want, find it and probably pay a lot more than it's really worth.

 

[littleleft]

i was ccr for many years. let it laps. Once or twice a year there is something from gunbroker or other that i was interested in. But, in last few years have not seen much. Don't know if ccr still has discounts with retailers.

 

[samnev]

Black Hills Shooters Supply and Brownell's are the 2 vendors I used most that honored a C&R License.

 

[SniperHF]

I think it's pretty dead. I let my C&R lapse years ago.

The ammo cost/availability issue is a bigger problem for me than the initial firearm costs though. I used to like buying different types of ammo and seeing the differences as much as anything else.

Last week I ran through some of my old Bulgarian Tokarev ammo. Quality it was not (watch out for split necks!) but it was the cheapest center fire caliber around when I bought it.

Also need to break out my m39 one of these days.

 

[shooter444]

ooops!

 

[deserttrans]

I am going to buy if it is something on the bucket list.... Quality stuff will hold its value.

 

[danonly55]

As with others my spending is way down but I keep my eyes and ears open for goodies now and then.

 

[Solar_Empire]

Depends how you look at it. 80 dollar a pop rifles sold by the crate with mass quantities of surplus ammo are done. Either through depletion of stock or by legislation. There are a lot of surplus firearms out there, and don't forget that C&R dictates that a firearm 50 years of age and older (post 1898, anything before that is an antique) are C&R eligible. It isn't just tied to military surplus firearms. A license is 30 bucks for 3 years, 10 bucks a year, and the dealer I transfer through is 15 a pop. As a C&R guy, two purchases over the course of three years breaks me even and is easily accomplished.

 

[trickyrick]

it is not the low budget hobby it used to be...i had to sell most of mine to pay mortgage back in 08...can't replace them now unless triple or more what i paid for the first ones

 

[paulgt2164]

It is far from dead. While prices have increased - it was bound to happen eventually as there is a finite number of original condition firearms out there.

However, I have noticed quite often that the younger enthusiasts these days are quite interested in the ww1 / ww2 era firearms. I get more questions from 10-20 year olds about my surplus rifles these days then people my own age. Seems Video games like Battlefield 1 and C.O.D. WW2 have really grabbed the interest of the young'ins. Cody Firearms Museum has also noticed this uptick in interest. It is pretty cool to see some kid come up and ask me about my Enfield, Steyr, etc - in which I happy to offer them to run a few rounds through them.