From Jim:
I did not say that they were. I said the opposite in fact. I said...
I said this because it was common for parts to be mixed in the arsenal rebuilds this gun shows signs of that. I said that earlier.
I also did not say that fellas on a battlefield kept their weapons "pristine" I did say that it was unlikely that the extent of rust that would account for that deep pitting was the results of a few days or weeks of negligence. It's more the result of months of neglect. That it was not likely to occur if carried into battle.
There is an old saying about buying guns. You buy the gun, not the story. In the absence of valid documentary evidence the story, no matter what, does not matter. Look at the gun itself and decide what you'd pay for it. This is not a $1500. gun.
Fellas can add a lot of what if this, and what if that, maybe it was buried in the mud and what if a one armed fella polished it, or it was carried by "Chesty" Puller. None of that matters unless there is evidence of it.
The op was told a story along with the gun, that story has been embellished on here...OK maybe...but not too likely. Mainly because for every legitimate arsenal rebuild there are 100 or so guns that were reparked over rusty and pitted slides by someone who tried to pass it off as something it is not by having a story. Also because the gun does not look like an arsenal rebuild and repark. Not to me anyway for the reasons I outlined.
Despite what some may think, GI guns that are arsenal rebuilt are collected and do command a premium price over just old beaters. But...that is with a documented record or pristine condition. There is no documentation here and the gun is in far from pristine condition for a rebuild. It very much looks like a bring back that was allowed to rust, was crudely polished up and re-parked over that.
This latter explanation is the more common thing and is why I lean towards it in the absence of documentation.
It's value is the value of an old beater. It may prove to be a decent shooter buy it as that. But at $1500. pass on it as it will not carry that value.
tipoc
I did not say that they were. I said the opposite in fact. I said...
I said this because it was common for parts to be mixed in the arsenal rebuilds this gun shows signs of that. I said that earlier.
I also did not say that fellas on a battlefield kept their weapons "pristine" I did say that it was unlikely that the extent of rust that would account for that deep pitting was the results of a few days or weeks of negligence. It's more the result of months of neglect. That it was not likely to occur if carried into battle.
There is an old saying about buying guns. You buy the gun, not the story. In the absence of valid documentary evidence the story, no matter what, does not matter. Look at the gun itself and decide what you'd pay for it. This is not a $1500. gun.
Fellas can add a lot of what if this, and what if that, maybe it was buried in the mud and what if a one armed fella polished it, or it was carried by "Chesty" Puller. None of that matters unless there is evidence of it.
The op was told a story along with the gun, that story has been embellished on here...OK maybe...but not too likely. Mainly because for every legitimate arsenal rebuild there are 100 or so guns that were reparked over rusty and pitted slides by someone who tried to pass it off as something it is not by having a story. Also because the gun does not look like an arsenal rebuild and repark. Not to me anyway for the reasons I outlined.
Despite what some may think, GI guns that are arsenal rebuilt are collected and do command a premium price over just old beaters. But...that is with a documented record or pristine condition. There is no documentation here and the gun is in far from pristine condition for a rebuild. It very much looks like a bring back that was allowed to rust, was crudely polished up and re-parked over that.
This latter explanation is the more common thing and is why I lean towards it in the absence of documentation.
It's value is the value of an old beater. It may prove to be a decent shooter buy it as that. But at $1500. pass on it as it will not carry that value.
tipoc
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