Sure Shot Mc Gee
New member
See if some local gun shop is willing to sell your rifle on consignment. You set the selling price{high & low} Not the gun shops owner.
Last edited:
In my case it's extra hard because its a .223 left hand bolt. Since you can get a new popular caliber in bolt for $300 its getting even harder. I'll give it a shot on arfcom again in the fall.
The demand for the para-military rifles lessened the demand for bolt action hunting rifles. Many hunters now use an AR or an AK/SKS. The crappy state of the economy has the hock shops full of bolt actions.
Have you tried Gunbrokers?
Most people who want a 223 tend to buy AR's over bolt actions.
I think the fact that it's an X-bolt is a factor, as well.
Few people are familiar with them, and the unusual appearance and bolt release make people hesitant.
That being said...
It took me over a year to sell a "LNIB" Marlin XS7 in .223 Rem, with an extra youth stock and spare parts. I had it priced very well -- notably less than I had paid for just the rifle, and I had already gotten a very good deal on it.
...But few people want a bolt-action .223 Rem. (Especially a model that was discontinued and no longer has factory support for repairs.)
Lots of interest. The only serious party was half way across the country, and only wanted it for the .223 bolt head (pricey and very difficult to obtain now).
I agree that it is very challenging to sell a used bolt gun and make a dollar. Their values have plummeted even though many sellers still believe they can get top dollar for them. My LGS has dozens of used wood stocked bolt guns that have been sitting there for years. They can't sell them because they bought them at too high of a price before the big AR boom and now they just sit there. Walk in with a Wby Mark V with a pretty walnut stock and you will hear a resounding NO! before you get to the counter. They have dozens of them, all selling for $1K of higher. If it is really nice, and you have the box and paperwork, they may give you $300 for it...maybe.
I really like nice walnut stocks. To me firearms are like pretty women. Nice to look at but still functional. But the days of displaying all of that walnut "skin" in a nice gun cabinet are over. Now we cram our guns into a bank vault where they get dinged up with the same regard my wife gives her brooms in the broom closet. You might as well have the ugliest guns you can find. No sense it dumping a fine walnut stocked rifle into a steel box. And let's face it, AR's are uglier than a naked Hillary. Damn, my eyes started watering at that thought. That's just plain ugly.
Yup, call me old fashioned but I guess I'll always have a hankering for pretty women and furniture grade bolt guns. As long as they are both functional.