Estate sale finds

[johntheplinker]

Was down south of the river with The Boss a while back and she saw some signs for an estate sale and she decided she wanted to stop in. The usual household estate sale, antiques, dishes, furniture, knickknacks, that sort of stuff. Oh, and a few guns. The Boss got a really nice antique sewing table, and I got something too!
Most of the guns were higher end hunting stuff, shotguns and rifles, with a few collectible types. I didn't have any interest in the hunting guns, but the collectibles really turned my head. I saw a Garand, M1 carbine, M1911, 03 Springfield, a couple bringback Mausers and Lugers with papers, and some other odds and ends.
As usual, the U.S. and German stuff went for big bucks, I mean really big bucks. IIRC the Garand was a 1944 IHC rebuild, and went for $1500. One of the Mausers was a byf mixmaster and went for almost $2k! Somebody wanted it, bad.
Anyway, I managed to win a 1921 M96 Swede with accessories and a 1939 Model 1938 Carcano short rifle with an extra marking. I over paid a little for the Swede, but the Carcano was dirt cheap, so it evened out.
Every serial matches on the Swede, and as usual, it shoots damn good! It also has a beech stock so it's a little different than my others which all have walnut on them. The Carcano is a little rough, some minor splitting in the stock and handguard while the metal has quite a bit of rust freckling.
And now a few pics

See the bonus stamp? Yep, it's Finn!

Auctionfinds Photos by hfruz | Photobucket for more pics.

 

[Cerberus]

2K for a mix master MauserWerks K98? That's crazy. You got the better end of the deal.

 

[Jeepster48439]

Nice guns...

 

[NKBJ]

Wow, many funs and happy bangs to you sir.
Hope you shoot cast 'cause that 6.5 would be a wunnerful wabbit slayer!

 

[sprmario123]

Someone really wanted that Mauser

 

[223 Gunner]

It always amazes me how people will over pay for something, just so someone else can't get it.
Nice rifles!

 

[johntheplinker]

Thanks guys! I never cease to be amazed at what happens at auctions. Like that Mauser, yeah it was a decent rifle and all, but it went for more than one that was matching, wish I could remember what make it was, IIRC it was a 1939 and it went for $1200.

 

[cerebus85]

Maybe they get get caught up in the thrill of the hunt so to speak?

 

[sprmario123]

Maybe they get get caught up in the thrill of the hunt so to speak?

Auction fever

 

[Miller Tyme]

Nice finds John, I have been thinking of snagging me a [SA] Carcano for a while now since most are in great shape with little or no wear from use.

 

[indy1919a4]

You say you over paid for the M96, but the extras that came with it are very very nice, And I love that Stock, it has an exotic look .That really is a premium firearm.. All you need is the Folding Bayonet for that Carcono.. Real nice pair

 

[Thor]

The Carcano, in 7.35 is a generally underrated weapon. I believe it was mythbusters that tried to do everything to blow one up and had to stuff it with C4 to make it fail.

Most of them came to the US from Finland where they were sent to play their part in the Winter War.

Both nice weapons there...

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Nice finds! I went to an "estate sale" on Saturday too. All I saw were knick nacks, old VHS tapes, some cracked coffee mugs and some old furniture.

 

[dsol]

My son picked up a German short sword at a yard sale. I knew the guy holding the sale and he had bought it from an estate sale where he knew the person who was in Europe during WWII and brought it back. It was pretty worn and he let my son have it for $30.00, we brought it home, wiped it off a little and looked it over good. No Nazi markings anywhere... started researching a bit and looking for similar images. Found out it was a British Land Transport Corp sword, model 1856. Only made a few years and issued to wagon drivers. Fairly uncommon, not a lot made and are selling over in England for over $400. Cool find... makes me wonder how it got to Germany then brought back by a GI.

 

[rob63]

Great finds!

$2K for a BYF mixmaster? It makes me truly regret the guns that I have sold recently, I should have consigned them to an auction.

I once had a guy buy a gun that he didn't even want because he was just trying to get back at me for bidding on the bayonets that he bought. He took it personally that I bid against him on every single bayonet that he purchased, but the truth was that I was just trying to win one and if he would have been willing to let me have just one then I would have quit bidding against him on the others. He tried to bid me up on a gun that I wanted, but he accidentally bid more than I was willing to pay so he won it. The auctioneer noticed the look on his face when I dropped out of the bidding and commented on it. I went home empty handed, and he went home steaming mad with a gun he didn't want. It was a strange day.

 

[BluePig]

IIRC the Garand was a 1944 IHC rebuild, and went for $1500.

IHC did not start making Garands till the early 1950s.
They did not do any rebuilds either, they produced Garands from newly manufactured receivers.
$1500 for a real IHC Garand is not too bad these days.

Your Swede looks like a keeper.
Had to blow up the disk in the stock to read it, but I think the bore measured 6.51mm, right about in the middle of service life.
The grade of the bore is a 2: Some rust or corrosion along the borders of the lands and grooves or somewhere within the grooves.
Good find.

 

[elemonator]

Love the Finn,Good catch!!!!

 

[tat2clod]

Congratulations on your finds some people over pay while other pay what they want to own it enjoy em

 

[johntheplinker]

Thanks guys! Heck, it was The Boss who saw the sign and wanted to stop, I was busy thinking about supper!

Nice finds John, I have been thinking of snagging me a [SA] Carcano for a while now since most are in great shape with little or no wear from use.

This one has got some wear. My guess since the Finns didn't care much for the Carcano some of that is from plain old neglect. Now I need to find a [SA] M96!

You say you over paid for the M96, but the extras that came with it are very very nice, And I love that Stock, it has an exotic look .That really is a premium firearm.. All you need is the Folding Bayonet for that Carcono.. Real nice pair

Yep, the stock is what really hooked me! For beech it is very attractive. Don't need the bayonet, I've got what the Finns preferred- a puukko!

The Carcano, in 7.35 is a generally underrated weapon. I believe it was mythbusters that tried to do everything to blow one up and had to stuff it with C4 to make it fail.

Most of them came to the US from Finland where they were sent to play their part in the Winter War.

Both nice weapons there...

IIRC Mussolini sent over 94,000 of the M38s and a boat load of ammo to Finland as aid, as a anti-communist measure. The Carcano is not a bad rifle, it gets a bad rap because it has a oddball bore diameter and most commercial ammo uses the wrong size bullet. Big reason the Finns didin't like them was because of the fixed sights and 300 meter zero. They couldn't adjust for local conditions.

IHC did not start making Garands till the early 1950s.
They did not do any rebuilds either, they produced Garands from newly manufactured receivers.
$1500 for a real IHC Garand is not too bad these days.

Your Swede looks like a keeper.
Had to blow up the disk in the stock to read it, but I think the bore measured 6.51mm, right about in the middle of service life.
The grade of the bore is a 2: Some rust or corrosion along the borders of the lands and grooves or somewhere within the grooves.
Good find.

I'll take your word for it, I'm not a Garand expert by any stretch of the imagination. I just glanced at it and that is what was on the tag.
The Swedes were some picky bastards when it comes to bore condition, I saw one once wth a 3 marking, and it still looked good to my eye!

 

[Thor]

IIRC Mussolini sent over 94,000 of the M38s and a boat load of ammo to Finland as aid, as a anti-communist measure. The Carcano is not a bad rifle, it gets a bad rap because it has a oddball bore diameter and most commercial ammo uses the wrong size bullet. Big reason the Finns didin't like them was because of the fixed sights and 300 meter zero. They couldn't adjust for local conditions.

The Italians were getting ready to get into the serious shooting war and they were in the midst of changing from the 6.5mm to the 7.35mm. They wanted the change for added lethality but were caught mid stream and didn't want to have to deal with dual logistics tails. Also, both weapons would chamber either round...which caused accuracy problems with when the 7.35 shot the 6.5...but more serious ones when the inverse was tried.

The Finns liked to use Russian based weapons because they could resupply in the field off of dead Russians. When they cycled the Carcano's through Sako they addressed the sight issue by putting in a taller front sight to a 200 yd zero. The Itialian IIRC had it at 400 which caused most folks to miss high. The Italians recommending shooting at the belly which at 200 yds would hit the head. The problem being that shooting as someone in cover was basically guess work. Mine has had the Sako mod.