1938 Femaru 37M .380

[BeoBill]

C&R. Every time you use it out of state, an Annapolis liberal craps flames and an angel gets his wings.

 

[Abulg1972]

Wow, that’s a nice looking pistol and a great price.

How was the show this year? I went last year and didn’t see much of anything special that wasn’t way overpriced. Not to get off track, but here’s my Dulles story. As I mentioned, I went last year to meet a seller in person to pick up a revolver that I purchased on Gunbroker. On his table, he had a few Finnish Mosins, including a P-27. It was a great looking rifle but he wanted more than I wanted to spend. I can’t remember the exact price but I want to say he wanted $500 but I could be off by $25 on either side. I sat there with it in my hands with the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. I did actually walk away but I always regretted doing so. How many times do you see one of the ~6,000 P-27s and what’s $100 here or there? Fast forward to November 2017, I emailed the guy to see if he still had it and he told me that he had consigned it to Echoes of Glory for their December auction. That auction went off yesterday and I ended up winning it for $410 ($485.85 with premium). After shipping, I will probably end up paying what I would’ve paid had I bought it last January.

 

[tallen702]

I also have a Frommer Stop, they go nicely together

I officially envy/hate you for your Hungarian pieces.....

Nice! Two of my "wants" on the list side-by-side.

Frommer for being Magyar and long-recoil operation

 

[mawkie]

Wow, that’s a nice looking pistol and a great price.

How was the show this year? I went last year and didn’t see much of anything special that wasn’t way overpriced. Not to get off track, but here’s my Dulles story. As I mentioned, I went last year to meet a seller in person to pick up a revolver that I purchased on Gunbroker. On his table, he had a few Finnish Mosins, including a P-27. It was a great looking rifle but he wanted more than I wanted to spend. I can’t remember the exact price but I want to say he wanted $500 but I could be off by $25 on either side. I sat there with it in my hands with the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. I did actually walk away but I always regretted doing so. How many times do you see one of the ~6,000 P-27s and what’s $100 here or there? Fast forward to November 2017, I emailed the guy to see if he still had it and he told me that he had consigned it to Echoes of Glory for their December auction. That auction went off yesterday and I ended up winning it for $410 ($485.85 with premium). After shipping, I will probably end up paying what I would’ve paid had I bought it last January.

-Funny how the world turns. I remember missing out on the $400 Enfield No4 MKI T sniper rifles that Springfield Sporters was selling in the early 90s. Then the entire SS inventory of these rifles was sold to Century Arms at the SS auction. By my math Century paid about $56 per rifle for the pallet full.
-Fast forward 10 years, Century dusts them off and sells them for $400. I didn't hesitate getting one with dollars that had depreciated over that decade. In the end Century made a nice buck and I got what I wanted for a price I was OK with.
-Glad you didn't have to wait but a year to get your P27 and were fortunate to acquire it without additional damage to the wallet.

 

[Abulg1972]

-Funny how the world turns. I remember missing out on the $400 Enfield No4 MKI T sniper rifles that Springfield Sporters was selling in the early 90s. Then the entire SS inventory of these rifles was sold to Century Arms at the SS auction. By my math Century paid about $56 per rifle for the pallet full.

-Fast forward 10 years, Century dusts them off and sells them for $400. I didn't hesitate getting one with dollars that had depreciated over that decade. In the end Century made a nice buck and I got what I wanted for a price I was OK with.

-Glad you didn't have to wait but a year to get your P27 and were fortunate to acquire it without additional damage to the wallet.

From what I hear, milsurp prices were really high in the 90s.

 

[mawkie]

From what I hear, milsurp prices were really high in the 90s.

Yes and no. When it came to milsurps imported from Europe and China the prices were good. Esp. when it came to Swedish, British and Finnish stuff. Later on you got the Russian capture stuff along with Russian surplus.
However, US milsurps were very expensive indeed for the time. I remember going on a hunt for a Garand in the early 90s. Found a VA dealer at the Upper Marlboro show who specialized in Garands and most were priced in the $800 range. I wanted a shooter and he recommended an IHC which I paid $650 for. This was a time when Finn M39s sold from $125 (pristine) down to $40!
Then the DCM morphed into the CMP in the mid 90s and a bunch of rifles became available from Europe (Greece and Denmark). That and the CMP relaxing the restrictions on purchase quantities helped push prices down. They've only risen back to early levels recently.

 

[tallen702]

I remember in the late 90's and very early 2000s that my milsurp-collecting buddies were more excited about FALs and Stoner 63s than European and Asian work-horses.

 

[Doctor_M]

You done did good!! Nice pickup!

Happy New Year!

 

[mawkie]

I remember in the late 90's and very early 2000s that my milsurp-collecting buddies were more excited about FALs and Stoner 63s than European and Asian work-horses.

The FAL Files was hopping at that time. I built about 8 or 9 for myself and buddies. Then the affordable kits from all over the planet dried up. Later on the Obama era ATF dictated that barrels couldn't be imported which pushed the cost of a build up even more. All good things...
But I certainly think that for C&R milsurp collectors the 90s were even better than the 50s or 60s when you allowed for inflation. Will always remember getting a VKT M39 in good condition for a whole $40 from a pile of Finn M91s and M91/30s at a MD gunshow. When I say pile I mean literally, like cordwood. I saw the unique front sight of the M39 poking out and went diving for it. That same pile also had a SAKO M39 but the stock was badly broken. Still, for $40, WTF! Looking back I should have bought it too. Think the seller was NE Guns. Those guys sold so much Century imported stuff over the years, back when Century brought in so much nice stuff. Hated to see them go. Not much left out there for import now.
Shame that all the really interesting Russian capture stuff (re: K43s) is supposedly rotting away in poor storage as the Russians just want too much for it and we're the last place on the planet with a market they can sell to. Oh well!

 

[tallen702]

Yeah, I remember picking my Mosin Nagant out of a barrel of 91/30s at $60/ea at a pawn shop in WV. It was nice to be able to pull the bolt, look for matching numbers, etc. and still pay a pittance. I wish I had picked up 10 of them at that price knowing what they go for now. Coulda-shoulda-woulda, but didn't. I really needed to just knuckle down and do the paperwork for a 03FFL when I was younger, but I moved around so much between college and early jobs that I literally couldn't remember all of the addresses I had over the previous decade, so I couldn't be 100% accurate on my application and was afraid it'd wind up putting me under some unwanted scrutiny. Now I kick myself for not just putting down what I could remember and jumping on all the deals that could be had at the time. Shoot, even in to the early 2000s I was coming across wire-wrapped Enfields and the like in places like KY for sub $200. Again, coulda-shoulda-woulda! Live and learn I guess!

 

[reverendbeer]

$160