I posted back in the fall about an opportunity I had to purchase a 1903 Springfield from a childhood friend. We had planned on making the deal in November - but he and his wife were on a cruise - and then the holidays put things on hold. We are now planning on getting together in Feb. I will be posting this on several sites to see in order to get a quick response and to see if there is consensus. Any help would be much appreciated. Below is my basic question...
Hi All - I could use some help on valuing an upcoming purchase. I'm not a "collector" but I've posted on these forums from time to time about my WWII "Man Cave" gun display. They are mixmatched shooters nothing fancy - but I like them. Anyway - I have an opportunity to purchase a 1903 Springfield. The rifle actually belonged to me back in the 1980's when I sold it to a friend while in college. This friend and i had lost contact until a few months ago - when I got a call from him. He was back in the area and wanted to have lunch. During the course of our conversation - he says to me - "I still have that old Springfield you sold me". I hadn't even remembered until he mentioned it. I asked if he was interested in selling it - and he said that he thought I had sold it to him for $400. Now - I'm positive that I didn't sell him the rifle for that much -because it wasn't worth that much back in the 80's when I sold it. However - I didn't want to tell him he was incorrect - so I thought about it - and asked if he'd be willing to sell it back to me for $400 (because I know that are at least that valuable in most cases today if the serial number isn't a low number). He kindly said that although he likes the rifle very much - that he has no use for it - and it's just been sitting in a closest in his parents house. He will sell it to me for $400. (As I said in my intro) We had planned to get together in November - but he and his wife were on a cruise - and then the holidays put everything on hold. We are now planning to get back togther in Feb. In the meantime - I asked if he could send me a couple of pictures of the serial number because I have since read that low serial numbers are dangerous to shoot (something I didn't know back in the 80's). I was hoping it was a higher number - but was surprised to see when he sent me a few (pretty poor) pictures in a text that the gun is only a 66### serial number. My question is - is the rifle still a good value at $400. It has teh original stock. He says that he hasn't altered it in any way. It also has the bayo pictured. I'm thinking even with the low number that it would still make a nice man cave addition and is worth the $400. Can any of you verify from the pictures? Thanks very much for any help - and I apologize for the weird punctuation. I'm on my old laptop- and it won't type commas for some reason. Also I could ask him for more pictures - but I'm trying to be patient and just wait until we get together. I'm happy to know for now that the basic rifle is generally worth the $400. Anything more would be a plus - but not a big concern. I just don't want to throw away $400 on a piece that isn't worth $100. Thanks again.
Hi All - I could use some help on valuing an upcoming purchase. I'm not a "collector" but I've posted on these forums from time to time about my WWII "Man Cave" gun display. They are mixmatched shooters nothing fancy - but I like them. Anyway - I have an opportunity to purchase a 1903 Springfield. The rifle actually belonged to me back in the 1980's when I sold it to a friend while in college. This friend and i had lost contact until a few months ago - when I got a call from him. He was back in the area and wanted to have lunch. During the course of our conversation - he says to me - "I still have that old Springfield you sold me". I hadn't even remembered until he mentioned it. I asked if he was interested in selling it - and he said that he thought I had sold it to him for $400. Now - I'm positive that I didn't sell him the rifle for that much -because it wasn't worth that much back in the 80's when I sold it. However - I didn't want to tell him he was incorrect - so I thought about it - and asked if he'd be willing to sell it back to me for $400 (because I know that are at least that valuable in most cases today if the serial number isn't a low number). He kindly said that although he likes the rifle very much - that he has no use for it - and it's just been sitting in a closest in his parents house. He will sell it to me for $400. (As I said in my intro) We had planned to get together in November - but he and his wife were on a cruise - and then the holidays put everything on hold. We are now planning to get back togther in Feb. In the meantime - I asked if he could send me a couple of pictures of the serial number because I have since read that low serial numbers are dangerous to shoot (something I didn't know back in the 80's). I was hoping it was a higher number - but was surprised to see when he sent me a few (pretty poor) pictures in a text that the gun is only a 66### serial number. My question is - is the rifle still a good value at $400. It has teh original stock. He says that he hasn't altered it in any way. It also has the bayo pictured. I'm thinking even with the low number that it would still make a nice man cave addition and is worth the $400. Can any of you verify from the pictures? Thanks very much for any help - and I apologize for the weird punctuation. I'm on my old laptop- and it won't type commas for some reason. Also I could ask him for more pictures - but I'm trying to be patient and just wait until we get together. I'm happy to know for now that the basic rifle is generally worth the $400. Anything more would be a plus - but not a big concern. I just don't want to throw away $400 on a piece that isn't worth $100. Thanks again.
