@@VintageWarfare I look at it this way, im a younger collector and talking to most of these guys is that they can’t take there stuff to the grave they would much rather sell it to somebody who wants to take care of it. The thing happens is that people will straight up buy their fishing price so it becomes a norm to them and then they stop budging on prices. Always try to cut a deal, always try to haggle, make the item worth something.
Personally had okayish luck with RTI with buying about 10 different guns from them. Never anything as heinous as a missing bolt though. Usually complete and functioning even if rusty or missing a sling loop etc.
Literally every time I see a Garand for sale for like $1500 I always remember that old saying... "That's too much. I'll just wait until your estate sale and I'll buy it from your daughter for $250"
If you see them that much, you tell the seller you can get them from the CMP for 700. Fuck them, they probably bought theirs from the CMP and are trying to flip them.
i bought a "broken" chilean mauser with no firing pin for $200 last week, everything else was in perfect condition. how the fuck do you lose a firing pin? it costed $50 to buy a new pin on the internet and its a great shooter so far.
@@stinkbug1 That's still too much IMO. They're cool and all, but for that price you could get a much better, more reliable, higher capacity firearm like an AR or AK. The only reason I want a SKS is because of the garbage Illinois PICA act. Not sure why people are willing to spend so much money on those older guns when modern guns do the same thing, but better and cheaper.
@@OGbqze have fun not getting one. i have five from all different countries that i got cheap and would still pick one up at todays prices. they are only going to go up in price. this is a channel called VINTAGE WARFARE lol. im not sure why you're here if your main concern is modern guns being cheaper and better.
My great grandfather brought home a Arisaka 99 from Japan after his brief stay there as a merchant marine in 1946. Sadly his package he shipped it in was tampered with and someone in the mailing service or someone with access to his crate stole it, but the bayonet made it home. The bayonet sits in my room now. I'm grateful he allowed me to have it. Man is almost 98 but his brain (while dementia is setting in) is still sharp when it comes to distant memories. I hadn't seen him in years (sadly due to covid restrictions and other issues in CA) and when I came to visit him his face lit up and he immediately recognized me. My dream is to get an Arisaka 99 one day.
Yeah RTI way overstates the condition of their firearms as of earlier this year. Contacted customer service totally ignored. Will never buy from them again
I heard that when the best "grade" is sold out they bump their remaining stock up so C grade goes to B, and B grade goes to A, not sure how true it is though. I did however buy a few small things from them like an original Colt M16 cleaning kit and they straight up didn't put it with the rest of the order. When I emailed them about it I got zero response. Fuck RTI, don't give them a dime.
@michaelcampion3207 at that point I would start to make an issue out of it, bring em to small claims court imagine lmao😂😂😂 This company needs to be scared straight
Don't forget about Spanish star pistols. Many people forget about Spanish firearms because their civil war before WW2 rendered them pretty absent but there were a lot of countries trying to test weapons there.
There straight up seems to be a bell curve corresponding to people's opinions on Star pistols, especially the B and BM. On the low end, it's a lot of people with the "its a 1911 copy so I like it" mentality, then the average person just thinks "oh, cheap Spanish trash" or "hehe, BM means bowel movement', and the people in the know realize that Astras and Stars have a lot of historical provenance and are perfectly capable handguns even today. Hell of a thing.
Huntsville, AL. is awful for the milsurp market. Way too many engineers with spare income and an interest in firearms. Several hundred above market value gets sold instantly.
For M95 guys, 8x56R is generally readily available at Sportsman's Guide; I haven't seen them out of stock in a while. Also, there's a decent amount of surplus ammo for it out there.
My grandfather brought an M2 Carbine and a couple cans of ammo back from Korea, eventually he remarried to some hag that made him get rid of it and some other really cool shit after the gun control act of 1968 passed, I have the two ammo cans chock-full of .30 carbine and no rifle to shoot them lol
J&G Sales is something of a hidden gem for really good random surplus deals, especially for C&R eligible stuff and if you're in the western half of the country.
Some of their prices are questionable but they absolutely pull some good deals from time to time. I got to pick through the "Gunsmith special" bin of CZ50s late last year and found one that was ugly but otherwise perfectly functional other than the mag catch that was seized up. Couple taps with a mallet and I had a CZ50 for $130
@@davidunikaev8335 I’ve found they’re like bizarro world RTI where they tend to underrate the condition of their surplus. Got a pristine Yugo Mauser with the original armory tag and an intact crest from them a year ago that was listed as NRA Good with a defaced crest.
I just saw your video and I can’t attest that RTI still sends terrible rifles than what was posted. I sent for a B grade enfield and received a rust bucket. I spent days cleaning it plus had parts to replace. I ended up with a pitted rifle. A D grade I call it. Never again.
I wish mosins were still less than $100... I was too young to buy a gun back when that was a thing, now i go into a gun store and the mosins are pushing the same price as some of the cheaper ARs.
I bought a yugo m24/52c in 8mm for around 530 bucks around 3 years ago. In pristine condition and soaked in cosmoline. The ammunition is plentiful online and one local gun store occasionally has PPU 8 mm. I purely bought it because I wanted a bolt action rifle with iron sights. But I also appreciated the history. All parts matching as well.
My girlfriend is from Adana Turkiye. I suddenly find myself buying Canik and Sarsilmaz stuff lol. Last time we were in Istanbul though, I couldn't convince her to drive the 2 hours out to the Sarsilmaz factory and see the sweet museum they have there 😅
The VZ 24 is probably my favorite mauser of all time. Sure, its not as recognized as the Kar98k or even the M48s, but as a sub 400 dollar mauser, its pretty easy to find one without a shot out bore, the finish is not as messed up as other mauser variants, and more importantly the bolts on all of the ones I've owned are ridiculously smooth, even with shitty surplus ammo.
Atlantic actually has the P1 available at a lower price now so if you want to pick one up there you go. They also have a few TT-33s P64s and M70 pistols on a very slight sale right now
I got an Zastava M57 at a gunrange a few months ago for about 400 with everything included. Rarely shoot since the ammo aint cheap but I like it. Plus all my guests geek out when they see it.
I'm gonna go to a gunshow this weekend and I know there's a dealer that will be there with a few type 99s that all have the chrysanthemum. I saw them at the last gun show and I hope he still has them, Imma try to cop one.
I in this the year of our lord 2024 am paying 650 (the 50 is uncle Sam’s extortion tax) for an m38 mosin from my local pawn shop. In time I hope to be able to brag about that price to the future generations
If you're ever looking for Lee-Enfield variants, South Africa has a lot of them and quite a few variants to for only a couple of thousand Rand. Too bad private export is more trouble than it's worth.
I got my Mosin for $60. At the time they were "listing" for $150. I went to Cabela's, and they had them on sale for $100. I had 40 Cabela's bucks so that's how I got it for $60. It was a complete kit as well. All the accessories including cleaning kit, bayonet and pouches. It is a 1942 production with full markings. It is nice gun and fun to shoot. I know, I got lucky.
Maybe I’ve lost it, but recently k31s seem to have jumped a good bit in cost. (Rough ones going for 750). I love mine but finding the ammo is IMPOSSIBLE anymore. Love the rifle. Can barely shoot it though. Sucks. So I got a Brazilian 1908 to patch up my heart. 7mm Mauser is wayyyyyy easier to get.
RTI has gotten better with listing individual guns with decent descriptions and photos. I've bought a few guns from them over the past year because of these individual listings, and when I received them, they were what was presented on the site. Now they still have more than a few lottery style listings, which some of my friends have purchased, and they were rough, but shootable.
@@VintageWarfare yeah they’re 100% taking them with some boomers old iPhone. The finish on the Luger I bought from them definitely looked a lot better on the site. But hey, it functioned and wasn’t a smoothbore, so that’s a win from what I’ve heard.
There is a boomer out there with 10 milsurp rifles he bought for 200 each and every year , he goes to the gun show with price tags of $ 900.00 each and a big piece of highlighted lettering saying “ i know what i got ! , no lowballs “ , only to not sell the rifles and restart the process the same year
Krags are one of those rifles where if you find a sporterized one it is super cheap but one in original configuration is probably going to break the bank, ammo is about 2-3 dollars a round but they are fun guns to shoot and the sporterized ones can be as cheap as 200$ depending on where you get them.
There's a original configuration Krag at my local gun shop for 1,200 right now, in decent condition with the bayonet, I check the price tag every time I go in there every couple months
Yeah I would only call those wall hangers if you are absolutely going to do no reloading. .303 isn't that hard to find in my experience though I have a Lee Enfield but I mostly shoot reloads out of it.
RTI has yet to provide me a gun in worse condition than as described and has sent me one rifle in better condition than described. I have also heard with some credibility that they have great customer service to rectify issues, unlike other similar companies . I would recommend that anyone that wants to buy from them, watch unboxing videos on the exact firearm you are looking for to gauge the condition.
Got almost all the first two categories😊 Mom & pop shops are great! I have luxury to pop in them all over the state during work travel. The carcano was the only one out of those I ordered and was able to get bulk ammo at the same time. Gun broker and other bid sites are fun but I'm usually not made when I lose 😂
Finally had to do the math on reloading versus being taken advantage of by gunbroker and gunshows for milsurp ammo. It didn't make since several years ago, but now, totally worth it.
Got a spanish 8mm mauser for $300. Its out there, just may not be super easy to find. Not gonna gatekeep. If you live in SC near Carowinds, the Cabellas there usually has milsurp rifles. They vary in price but I've seen 7.7 and 6.5 arisakas there for around $400.
It's a roll of the dice with RTI, I bought two from them (an Italian Vetterli 1870/70/15 and a GRADE MLE 1874 FUSIL GRAS CAVALRY CARBINE - both b grades) been happy with both of them. And yes, both are def. shootable.
Really happy with my P38, it shoots surprisingly well and is fairly reliable . Put maybe 500 rounds through it and had one failure to extract. Magazines are pricy but they are out there. I was on the fence initially between that and a tokarev pistol, I’m really glad I went with the Walther. My hill to die on was that the walther shooting 9mm meant I could shoot it as much as I want. 7.62x25 is not nearly as affordable
Chinese Tokarev for $350 from RGUNS. They're in great shape and don't have the frames molested like other Tokarev imports. CMP Garands and M1917s are also still a deal if you don't mind the paperwork.
I just bought a pristine type 56 carbine for $440 from my lgs. I also picked up an all matching Berrtta 1934 for $250 from a family friend. I’ve probably used up all of my surplus luck this year.
my grandpa always tells me abouthow he used to walk into milsurp stores back in the day, and seeing a barrel stuffed full of mosin nagants for $50-$100 a pop
I'll be honest. I'm happy to get back into the spanish american War era. I've been finding krags and trapdoors for affordable price tags. Luckily, a friend of mine keeps me stocked up on 30-40 krag ammo, with his reloading skills. But seriously, guys, check out the trapdoor rifles. The last really nice one I bought with an original sling I paid $650 for. And Steinel Ammunition Co loads 45-70 ammo safe for these rifles and carbines.
I would argue that the M.95 falls into both "expensive to shoot" and the "nice wall hanger" categories depending on whether you get it in the original 8x50r caliber or the more common rechambered ones that shoot 8x56r. 8x50r is basically unobtanium, but 8x56r is still being made new by PPU and available online at about $1.60/round. Expensive to shoot for sure, but with M.95s already being fairly affordable, the premium for the ammo is certainly doable.
I don't know when you recorded this video but there is quite a lot of PPU .303 out there at the moment. Even Remington UMC makes some batches every now and again too. I bought some cheaper Indian surplus .303 but I don't think I will buy anymore of that stuff. I ran into some misfires and ejection issues.
Recorded this probably a week ago, PPU really is doing the good stuff for us but outside of them it’s really dried up. I’ve found 6.5 carcano from PPU in stock more than I found 303 brit
I see PPU .303 at most places that sell ammo other than Walmart, so I think calling Lee Enfields wall hangers because of ammo availability is a stretch. This is also assuming you will not do any reloading because the projectiles are really easy to find online. I would definitely stay away from surplus ammo though most of it is loaded with cordite stick powder which can degrade over time and cause an overpressure.
@@redtra236 Austin is a hypocrite. He calls Enfields wall hangers but loves type 99s, which are way more expensive to shoot than .303s. Some calibers are kind of wallhangers unless you reload like 8mm Lebel, 8x50R, or .455 Martini Henry. I have a gun shop near me that had some PPU .303 and M2 Ball 30-06. It's been a long time since I've seen that stuff in stores.
@@dancortes3062 8mm Lebel is easy to find online but not cheap, but yeah if you want to shoot it much you really need to reload. I have a .50-70 M1868 Springfield and .32-20 Remington 25 so reloading is basically required for me... I even have to cast the bullets for the .50-70 and make the brass out of 32 gauge shotgun brass shells.
Are M488’s that cheap? I’ve been looking for one for a bit, and have yet to find one in the $400 range. This of course isn’t counting RTI because they’re a scam 90% of the time I’ll keep looking, but finding one sub $500 is somewhat common? Unsportorized/unmolested of course
Holy cra- I know for a fact that old swedish mausers, like Gevär m96 and Gevär m38, are being turned in at gunstores for like... $50-200. I know they are basically piled up in barrels until the storeowner gets sick of them and packs them into boxes and ships them to the US. Just checked gunbroker, and they are asking like $750 and up for those guns. Thats insane.
Buy in bulk, cries in hazmat fees. the m95 steyrs you can find ammo pretty easily online (some new ppu stuff, some surplus). its also really easy to reload. for bodeo's, lots of reloading information out there, mostly using other brass with .44 russian being the most common used.
I just ordered a Steyr M.95 from RTI, i got a good one, I think it is a lick of the draw, if you order above a B grade, you can usually work out the kinks
Picked up a pretty nice m1917 Enfield from a local store for 400 bucks a couple weeks ago, only real blemish is someone drilled it for a scope but the rear sight ears and everything else is intact and functional
Modern pricing is why I mainly buy from estate sales, got a war trophy carcano carbine in perfect condition with its original ammunition that was issued with it for $250, unfortunately ammunition is ridiculously expensive and I won't shoot the wwii ammunition either
I got a Cavalry Carcano (M91) 6.5 for about 200 from Classic Firearms in great condition about a year ago. I know it’s not cost effective to shoot but I wanted to keep it and collect it.
Ive got a sporterized carcano (no clue what variant) my dad got for free from a buddy back in the 80s, its pretty cool. The bolt, reciever, and barrel havent been modified, i dont think, but the stock has been shaved down at the front and the front metal stock ring that holds the barrel to it is missing. Just recently shot it for the first time in probably 40 years.
303 hasn’t ever been that hard to find for me. Seller and Bellot and a couple other ammo manufacturers still make them and I’m finding it in my local gun stores, including big 5. Now it’s about as pricey if not maybe 5 cents a bullet more pricey than 308 but I wouldn’t consider any gun to be a wall hanger (I.e. don’t bother trying to find the ammo it’s prohibitively expensive) just because it’s chambered in 303 British.
First Milsurp was a SMLE MKIII* and i bought it back in 2016. 303 was all kinds available back then but its all but gone now. Really sad cause they're shooting guns.
I have a Turkish Ankara 1948 Mauser that a friend gave me. It needs to be unmolested (unsportorized), but it looks nice for now and fires 8mm JS. Plus, it's kind of cool to own an almost 80 year old gun.
Picked up a yugo m48 for $500 from my friends dad, shoots well in pretty good condition looking for kit for it primarily a bayonet and ammo pouches and clips
"Low ball offer people" and "economy is gay" are both very based. Legitimately can get some really cool stuff by lowballing people, 'cos most people would prefer cash in hand over some gun they're never gonna use.
I would also add Turkish Mausers to the affordable "shootable" category. Not only are they found around the $300-$400 ballpark often, but some of them are often frankenstein guns with German parts. I think thats cool anyways. Hell even the ones with dates around 1946 are just kar98s that Turkey collected when Germany lost WW2.
Note- Makarovs are horrible for left handed shooters. My ex gf had one, and I could not shoot it. They mold the grip so that it only fits right hand. They may not all be this way, but the ones I’ve seen are. So keep that in mind.
yeah the only "affordable" milsurp in my area are mausers, which go for like 350-450. Mosins are going for like 400+ which I consider overpriced and everything else is like $500+ which sucks.
I got a yugo M57 tok in 2020 for two hundred beans and a carcano cav carbine for two twenty in 2022. Still haven't gotten ammo for either. Both from classic. I think the tok might have gone up a little but the carcano is still going for about the same lol
RTI had decent quality from what I've ordered. You get what you pay for and should expect some dinks or problems if you pay for guns that have been through hell, and traveled thousands of miles. Got a calvary carcano from the 1930s and a 1895 Mannlicher from 1900. Mannlicher is an intact pretty wall piece. Carcano is in better shape, actually able to shoot. Though I'll say, customer service can be inconsistent, but not total devils (according to myself and friends that had order problems in the past).
I genuinely would love to see a arisaka for less than 400 In not sportarised state. In a store near me there asking 580 for a type 99 with no mag spring no sights and a cut up stock
