Scott Weber – The GunRunner Online Auction, Cody, Wyo.
With a dwindling supply of M1 rifles of all models, the market for this iconic American battle rifle is heating up fast at GunRunner Online Auctions.
“Some of the hottest items this year for Gunrunner Auctions are U.S. M1 Carbine Paratroopers,” says GunRunner owner Scott Weber. “We obtained a splendid specimen –99 percent original finish–from an estate. It sat in a closet for 70 years! This beauty brought $4,000 with paperwork.”
Good M1’s with clean bores and matched wood go for over $1,000. An all-original World War II M1 Garand with a nice 1940's bore and excellent condition can bring over $2,000.
Generally, Weber notes, older collectors are buying up the M1’s. Though lately, he adds, a surprising number of younger buyers have entered the market, especially for lower-grade M1’s.
“I think they want what their grandfathers fought with in the Big One or they are seeing the M1's on the Big Screen and want one to hang over the mantel.”
But collectors, he warns, need to be careful as M1’s are also “one of the most faked of all World War II collectibles,” Weber says. “Reproduction stocks, false stamps, fake rivets and it's impossible to determine one by serial number alone.”
Do you research, lean on expert advice and use an experienced auction house, Weber advises.
This brief is from the July 2015 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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