Mitchell to make new mausers??

[Doug Douglass]

go to a library and look at the "BLUE BOOK OF GUN VALUES"

if it shoots it is in there and it is quite accurate

I find it less than acurate on the actual value of collectable military firearms. It is a good reference book if you are buying.

[Art]

At least Mitchell's finally has some truth in advertising on these as opposed to the "humped" rifles they've been selling for years. Frankly I wouldn't consider $700.00 a terrible price for a new in the box Mauser 98k clone built to the actual Nazi specs. It wouldn't be my thing but I'm sure some folks would like one and they will probably be at least as good shooters as the originals.

[pelago]

if anyone looks at a Mauser 98 and looks at the machine work required to build the bolt, receiver pretty straight forward and a barrel is a barrel, but for the numbers he is probably going to run i just do not see how he can make the pieces and parts with a cost to provide a profit margin. Probably, and could be wrong, but this is all going to be farmed out to another country. assembled here maybe. but pieces and parts elsewhere..

that bolt has a lot of machine time to it, and even with the computer aided milling, still has to cost

[Art]

Mitchell's dosen't make firearms in the U.S. These firearms will be made in Serbia which I understand is where the refurbished rifles Mitchell's sells come from anyway. They have the machinery and the (relatively) cheap labor to make these rifles and sell them to Mitchell's at a price low enough for both the Serbian manufacturer and Mitchell's to make a profit.

[Guamsst]

I find it less than acurate on the actual value of collectable military firearms. It is a good reference book if you are buying.

Yep, bluebooks on military guns are never 100% or even close to 100% accurate. The fluctuations in prices from state to state are unbelievable at times. For example, A guy on here was wanting about $700-$800 for a type 14 nambu (going rate where he was). I could get one here for about $450-$500. Where he was at, a Type 38 rifle was about $400 Here, $300 is about max. They are great for general reference though and usually get you in the ballpark. What I love is that if a gun is worth 50% more than another according to the book, that percentage is usually accurate.

[pelago]

as far as gun book values goes,,, what else ya gonna have, it is a reference and what i have used it for is to debunk some of the ridiculous prices i seen at gun shows for rusty pieces of crap that the guy wants 100%NRA fine price, like a ****y bird 1873 pitted all to hell and no bore and busted stock for 2500.00 when it is worth may be 150.00 at most, i carry the blue book with me to gun shows and actually will look at the gun and open the book right in front of the guy and show him, usually pisses em off, but what the hell right is right. but if the price is close and yo want it, why not if you want to pay a bit more for a pristine model 98 say, or a bring back arisaka, and it is more thant the blue book but you want it, well its your money right


have found the blue book to be close on most colt first generation revolvers and have used it to buy them, bought a correctly cartgouched 1873 from indian war era for correct price using blue book to the dealer, and i asked him how long he had the gun, how long it was for sale, and that i would right here and now give cash at this price, and wrote it down on the page of the book and he said "deal!"

[Guamsst]

Experience in the local market is the best price guide. The book might help bring prices down in your area, but in another area it may drive prices up. Some guns in some places, they are right on. Other guns in other places they are way off and a few prices I have seen seem to be based entirely on guesswork. You asked "what else you gonna have" well, the guys who write those books go off auction prices and some of the big gunshows. This in no way represents the normal market in most places.

As to the folks with insane prices. A book usually means nothing to those guys nor does anything else. I've seen plenty of guns priced at 2-3 times what they will actually sell for and I see those guns over and over, show after show.

[Albayo]

I have about 80 or 90 Mausers in my collection and I can't see someone paying $700 for a New built Mauser.
If they were K98s with German codes and dates on the receiver like "bcd" 4 then it would make things interesting.

[Art]

I have about 80 or 90 Mausers in my collection and I can't see someone paying $700 for a New built Mauser.
If they were K98s with German codes and dates on the receiver like "bcd" 4 then it would make things interesting.

The Mausers Mitchell's has been selling, in my opinion, should not only be worth less than the rifles in your collection, they shouldn't be worth more than the new built ones they are going to market They don't seem to have trouble selling the rebuilt refurbished (note I didn't say restored that would give them too much credit) like new but totally non collectable overpriced firearms they sell now. At least the new ones will be marketed as what they are.

I saw a guy at the range a while back with two Mitchell's guns talking about what a great deal he had gotten on these two beautiful, authentic, like new WW II Nazi Kar 98Ks. I didn't have the heart to burst his bubble.

Mitchell's has been running a scam for years, they're just going to be a bit more honest with the new clones they're making which will be marketed as such.