Quite the Collection!

Nice photos of collector's attempt to obtain one rifle from each participating nation of WWII - http://imgur.com/a/zGV7i#0

Redcat said:

Nice photos of collector's attempt to obtain one rifle from each participating nation of WWII - http://imgur.com/a/zGV7i#0

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"I have less than 1k invested ..."

Holy CRAP!

less than $1,000 invested?

budman93 said:

less than $1,000 invested?

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Maybe he meant $10,000
If not, I need to hire him to do all of my C&R purchasing and I'll pay him 100% commision

even 10,000 would be an incredible price for all the guns in that pic. Some of them may be cheap but there's definitely a lot in that lineup that cost some money. There is no way he got all those for a grand unless he was buying them years and years ago.

budman93 said:

even 10,000 would be an incredible price for all the guns in that pic. Some of them may be cheap but there's definitely a lot in that lineup that cost some money. There is no way he got all those for a grand unless he was buying them years and years ago.

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Well he did say that he bought them over a three period, maybe it was 1950-1952

rseymorejr said:

Well he did say that he bought them over a three period, maybe it was 1950-1952

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either that or he is full of crap. There are 48 rifles in that pic so he would have had to average under $21 per rifle. I dont see how that is possible. I wish i could find deals that good.

Sweet collection. a mauser is deff on my list so is an enfield mk 4

"I just do lots and lots of reading, searching, hand-shaking, etc..."

It's likely that he traded non-firearm things/services for those rifles. His cash lay out may be $1K, but he forked out more than that.

Now that's a nice collection, but my wife going to say the safe full no more, and I always say Yes Dear there room for 1 more
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For the reddit users he posted it to gunnit a day or two ago and explained that it was 1000 invested outside of selling pieces and trading up. The example given was getting two M1 carbines and selling one for the price he paid for two. Still very impressive. I like the historical photos of the rifles in use its a very nice touch.

yummy stuff!

I have actually spoken to him a couple of times, he is really lucky and some people have even donated firearms to him. The life...

dre271 said:

I have actually spoken to him a couple of times, he is really lucky and some people have even donated firearms to him. The life...

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It just can't get any better than that!

Hi guys! Just so you know, this is all post Golden Age of Collecting. I shot my first firearm only 4 years ago. I'm only 29 but I'd probably surrender a few years off my life to collect even in the 70's.

A big part of my collection is catching every little transaction I can. I have a mass of scripts running 24/7 that sift and cache every possible firearm sale (that meets x criteria) online. There was a LOT of up front work and research there. Now I just poke through the results every few hours and jump on whatever appears. I hit every gun show I can, I hang out at the LGS, I farm the many pawn shops in my area at least once a week. Occasional flea market. Plus, once you know your local collectors and share knowledge freely you start to be offered some amazing deals. Additionally, I use my light box and camera to help others sell or catalog and often get offered some priority trades that way.

I have less than $1k gone in the wind for the collection but I've spent an easy $10k. It's that I earned back $9k through various trades and sales that makes it seem so cheap. If I hadn't had two resells with over $1,500 profit I'd be over $4k in the hole. Two rifles were gifts, three have been earned through work-for-gun. The carbine was one of two bought in a lot, I sold the other (a Winchester) and it covered both. The ultra rares like the Polish and Ethiopian were all under $250 each (pawns and Craigslist). Three of the French rifles were picked up in a trade for one very rare gun I had found for $200. The Kar98K was a $100 sporterized zf-41 (no mount or scope sadly) that I nursed back to health with parts off another $100 sporter. When you figure that I occasionally make $200 or so profit when releasing another rifle it starts to balance out.

If I were paid minimum wage for the total man hours in this thing I could buy this collection twice over at auction prices. It's a hobby though, so I don't count up the time. I'm lucky that my girlfriend loves it too (she collects military trainers and now a few US shotguns she's unearthed). I've also burned a lot of gas, but we have family all over SC and NC, so we use shows as an excuse to visit, so that's just two birds.

Anyway, I'm just enjoying myself and making a game out of budgeting and buying when I'm up and laying in wait when I'm low. Just happy to be out there meeting people like you guys and learning more about the old guns. I even try to do little write ups on the weirder stuff I see.

Sweet collection and nice photos. That would make a nice coffee table book.

Fantastic collection and photography, Othais. Welcome aboard!

Welcome to the forum in a big way.

Thanks guys. I really have had the best luck with collectors. Plenty of remote deals based on trust alone and ALL of them came through. Just by being contributing members here I'm sure you're all honest and all right!

Very impressive collection!!!