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OldGuns.net Newsletter
Antique and Collectable Firearms and Militaria Headquarters
www.OldGuns.net
and
www.FineOldGuns.com
Number - 16- June, 2010
Celebrating Fourteen Years Of Service To Our Collector Friends!
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contents:
Check out our Special Sale Catalog!
We are giving our newsletter subscribers an advance look at a special sale before we announce it to the public.
We have a number of items left from the estate of an advanced collector. The heirs want to finish settling the estate soon and have directed major price reductions on the remaining items. Now is a great opportunity to grab some real bargains!
The family would be delighted if these lower prices help some younger collectors add items to their collections.
NOTE- Some of these are still on the regular catalog pages at the old prices, so you need to check THIS page for the special sale prices! http://oldguns.net/cat_sale.htm
In addition to the Special Sale Catalog, we are busy adding a lot of items to all our other catalog pages, including some choice consignment pieces, and goodies gathered up from shows and collections all across the country. Check ALL our catalog pages to see what we found--- hopefully just what you are looking for!
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Your spouse says "But, you don't have room for more guns…"
We can help sell you more guns to create this problem, or provide a storage solution!
If you want to do it the official G.I. way, check out 10 different types of floor mounted racks for 20th Century U.S. military weapons. Bill Ricca (a good guy and excellent source for information and parts) has these covered at http://www.billricca.com/sm_arms_racks.htm Check out the rest of his site while you are there.
If you want to go practical instead of tactical, there are a bunch of designs that you can make from the detailed plans and photos provided at http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinRacks.htm
If you are lazy (or klutzy) they even sell most of the designs as pre-cut components you can assemble at home. Pick one that will work for you, from table top racks for use at a gun show, or wall or floor mounted units for a couple or couple dozen guns, or even floor mounted units on casters to hold 24 guns in a 24” x 28” space.
This is just one area of a really great site and the title “7.62x54r.net-A Mosin Nagant Reference“ does not begin to cover the wealth of information found there. Mosin Nagants are a popular collecting specialty because there are many variations, they are cheap, fun to shoot, and have lots of history. When you need an answer to anything related to Mosin Nagants go over to http://7.62x54r.net/ and you will find it there. And probably spend a few fun hours learning more about those neat rifles. [Did you know that the U.S. Navy issued Mosin Nagants at the end of WW1 to fight Russian Communists? That DCM sold some to NRA members?]
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Guns and Afghanistan
We continue to get a steady stream of inquiries related to these. While the bottom line seems to be that few are worthwhile investments as collector items, all are nice if someone wants them as souvenirs. Most guns from that region (at least those which Americans are allowed to bring home) are recently made copies of whatever seems to be selling well. There are still a few (but not many) genuine antiques made prior to 1898, but most are in pretty ratty condition. Bill Edwards, the noted author of Civil War Guns, wrote an interesting story “The Gunsmiths of Darra” for the August 1962 issue of Guns magazine. We have posted a copy at http://armscollectors.com/darra/darra.htm for your entertainment and enlightenment. I suspect the grandsons of the gunsmiths pictured there are busy today making Tower pistols and Enfield muskets for the GI market.
We assembled some tips to help tell old guns from the newly made “antiques” being peddled to our troops at http://www.armscollectors.com/darra/afghanold.htm
Think carefully before investing over there. (And, if you are over there, we thank you for your service to our country!)
And, for superb insights on Afghanistan and the surrounding areas, we highly recommend the very articulate and well founded thoughts of one of our customers, a retired CIA operative with unequaled experience in the region. http://ciahart.blogspot.com/ Read and digest it carefully, he knows his stuff! He has served long and well, and we thank him for his service as well, even though he cannot tell us about most of it.
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On-line Firearms "Owners Manuals" and Illustrated Parts Lists
For a number of years Stephen Ricciardelli up in Montana has been scanning owners manuals into .pdf files and posting them on line, along with illustrated parts lists and loads of other good reference material. While he does not have every make and model ever made, he has hundreds of them! If you need a manual to figure out how to take your gun apart, or the operating instructions to use it safely, or a parts diagram, check out http://stevespages.com/page7.htm to see if he has it. If you find what you need please click and donate a few bucks to help him continue this valuable service. That’s a lot of work and he must use a ton of bandwidth, so don’t be a freeloader. If you have a manual on a gun not listed, contact Steve and send it to him so he can add it (he will return it) and you will be helping a lot of people.
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A really, really neat collector's item- a WW2 Navy Destroyer Escort!
Yeah, it is fun to have a collection of a few dozen (or more) guns or bayonets. We know a couple of guys with the time, talent and wealth to support an addiction to tank collecting, and even someone who owns several old military aircraft.
However, one of the neatest collection items we have seen in years is one of the last surviving Destroyer Escorts from the hundreds built during WW2. So while we have fun cleaning the bores, or oiling a stock, or finding an accessory for one of our guns, here is what it is like to try to keep a Destroyer Escort shipshape, and restore it to its original configuration. Check out USS Slater (DE-766) newsletter http://www.ussslater.org/signals/vol-13/ss-v13-05.html
If you live in the Northeast and have some time and talent to devote to this worthy project, you will be loved for years! If you cannot help them restore this ship, at least take the family for a visit there this summer, in Albany, NY. Maybe as part of a visit to Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts (85 miles east of Albany), or the Remington Museum in Ilion, NY, 85 miles west of Albany. You might find other sights that will appeal to the whole family, and then they will pretend to tolerate all the gun stuff. (Remington hours vary, so check first.).
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Garand Collectors Association
The Garand Collectors Association (GCA) has a new website at http://www.thegca.org. Please check it out. If you are interested in M1 rifles, and not yet a member of the GCA and, you should join. You can download a membership application from the new website and join. The GCA Journal is published quarterly and provides the great articles, photographs, and most up to date information for Garand collectors. GCA membership also meets one of the requirements for purchasing guns or ammunition from the CMP program.
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Caring For Your Collection
If you want to know the best way to preserve guns in a collection, check out how the National Park Service does it. They have priceless artifacts, professional staffs and the skills of the whole museum industry to learn from. Their methods work for them, and may or may not be a good match for your needs.
Read this five page article from the Garand Collectors Journal: http://www.thegca.org/images/Preserving.pdf
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