M1 30 Carbine Mil surplus

[Swang]

I have been half heartily looking for one of these. Where is the best place for these or mil surplus, auction sites can be pretty unrealistic on the pricing at times. Also are these just hard to find?

[Chucktshoes]

The truth is that they’ve pretty much all been collected at this point. Expect to pay out the ass at this point. Those unrealistic prices aren’t unrealistic anymore. That’s simply the price now.

[FUJIMO]

32 minutes ago, Swang said:

I have been half heartily looking for one of these. Where is the best place for these or mil surplus, auction sites can be pretty unrealistic on the pricing at times. Also are these just hard to find?

Are you specifically wanting one for collecting purposes ? Because most good deals on milsurps are gone

[FUJIMO]

1 minute ago, Chucktshoes said:

The truth is that they’ve pretty much all been collected at this point. Expect to pay out the ass at this point. Those unrealistic prices aren’t unrealistic anymore. That’s simply the price now.

What said

[Grayfox54]

These days a decent M1 Carbine starts at $1000 and just goes up from there. 

As for where to find, well good luck with that. They just don't exist as plain Mil-Surps anymore. Nobody stocks them. You're gonna have to either watch the auction sites or just get lucky. 

I have two of them and love those little rifles. 

[MikeW]

16 minutes ago, FUJIMO said:

What said

Ditto 

[gregintenn]

Time travel back to the early 90’s. Gun shows were full of them stacked high on tables. Take your pick…$150.

[Swang]

6 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

Time travel back to the early 90’s. Gun shows were full of them stacked high on tables. Take your pick…$150.

Story of my life...

Thanks everyone for the input. Was looking for collectible, but not anymore.

There was just something about the M1 that I liked.

Guess I will have to skip it and research my next one, an AK

Never owned one and don't k ow much about them, but was looking at a zastava

[10-Ring]

12 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

Time travel back to the early 90’s. Gun shows were full of them stacked high on tables. Take your pick…$150.

Must have been a heck of a time.  I've heard stories about $100 SKSs, $70 Mosins with a span can of ammo, and $25 German Mausers.  I was slightly too young to take advantage. 

[FUJIMO]

6 minutes ago, Swang said:

Story of my life...

Thanks everyone for the input. Was looking for collectible, but not anymore.

There was just something about the M1 that I liked.

Guess I will have to skip it and research my next one, an AK

Never owned one and don't k ow much about them, but was looking at a zastava

Expect the same sticker shock with a good ak. 

[FUJIMO]

5 minutes ago, 10-Ring said:

Must have been a heck of a time.  I've heard stories about $100 SKSs, $70 Mosins with a span can of ammo, and $25 German Mausers.  I was slightly too young to take advantage. 

You could walk out of Kmart with an sks for $89. I know where one is sitting right now that has sat in the same spot since it was brought home from Kmart in 1992. 

Edited February 15, 2022 by FUJIMO

[gregintenn]

8 minutes ago, 10-Ring said:

Must have been a heck of a time.  I've heard stories about $100 SKSs, $70 Mosins with a span can of ammo, and $25 German Mausers.  I was slightly too young to take advantage. 

SKSs were $49-59. I still have a 1000 rounds or a Norinco ammo for them. It came in an ammo can for $100 out the door. I’ve a couple of SKSs. Wish I had bought more.

[Swang]

Always liked the galil, late to that as well. Been into ARs and pistols. Not sure I like the galil ace as much. SKS does not appeal to me.

[No_0ne]

1 hour ago, 10-Ring said:

Must have been a heck of a time.  I've heard stories about $100 SKSs, $70 Mosins with a span can of ammo, and $25 German Mausers.  I was slightly too young to take advantage. 

Then you really don't want to know about the days of mail order arms shipped directly to your house, often for $10-20 per rifle ...

 

[jeff43]

1 hour ago, FUJIMO said:

Expect the same sticker shock with a good ak. 

Yeah , used to buy MAK90’ for $275 up to $400.Still got one I bought NIB FOR $400 OTD, and I still got a like new MAK milled receiver I gave $400 for. I thought that was high at the time. One of the first Mosin M44’s I still have I gave $30 for . Got 440 round spam cans of 7.62x54R $44 each. 

[Grayfox54]

The  days of cheap Mil-surps is gone. Never to return. 

My late friend had about a dozen SKSs and I think it was 6 Mosins. He didn't pay more than $100 for any of them. When we sold them in 2017 prices started at $250 and went up depending on what it was. One Yugo SKS  brand new, still in cosmoline went for $450.  And I had them marked low for a quick sale.  BTW: sold them all in one weekend at a gun show. 

[jeff43]

5 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

The  days of cheap Mil-surps is gone. Never to return. 

My late friend had about a dozen SKSs and I think it was 6 Mosins. He didn't pay more than $100 for any of them. When we sold them in 2017 prices started at $250 and went up depending on what it was. One Yugo SKS  brand new, still in cosmoline went for $450.  And I had them marked low for a quick sale.  BTW: sold them all in one weekend at a gun show. 

I bought a Yugo SKS from Aim surplus years ago with C&R’s, looked mint and came with a log book for $109

[No_0ne]

40 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

The  days of cheap Mil-surps is gone. Never to return.

Correct.  Of course it makes sense it had to end at some point.  WWII ended over 75 years ago, a lot of the cheap milsurps dated from that era.  The great rearming with select fire and automatic weapons was well on the way by the late 50's, leading many countries to either divest their older, bolt action and semiautomatic weapons or mothball them for a worst-case scenario.  Most of these stored weapons got released during the last great flood of imports in the 90's and early 2000's after the fall of the old Comm-bloc governments.  There's been a slow trickle of available milsurps since then, but stockpiles of these have either dried up completely or are no longer available to the US market for a variety of reasons, only a few of which are our own doing.  It's nice sometimes to reminisce about the "good old days" of cheap milsurp weapons and ammo, but it was a perfect storm of events that allowed that in the first place, and that sequence that will never be repeated ...

[Ronald_55]

When I was in college I stood next to a barrel of Enfields for $79.99 each. I should have bought the entire barrel. Woulda Shoulda Coulda....

[No_0ne]

As to the OP's post, Royal Tiger Imports still has some of their last batch of M1 carbines left in stock.  They got these in with the fairly large cache of weapons imported from Ethiopia last year, along with a bunch of other obsolete arms.  While I haven't kept up with any comments regarding these, folks who bought some of the other types of rifles they've been advertising have stated that the condition varies greatly, and their reactions have been anywhere from pleasantly surprised to PO'ed that their rifle was essentially a parts gun.  Luck of the draw with this batch it seems ...

[gunrunner32]

Recently through the shop I moonlight at we got in a National Postal Meter in relatively good condition as a transfer. It had a non adjustable rear sight and some evidence it had a bayonet lug on it. The receipt was for around $2200 after shipping and tax. I don’t recall where it came from but that’s about $1800 more than I gave for my Inland a decade ago. 

[Darrell]

11 hours ago, 10-Ring said:

I've heard stories about $100 SKSs, $70 Mosins with a span can of ammo, and $25 German Mausers.

And in 30 years you may be pining for the cheap prices we're enjoying today. Ha!

[Darrell]

I bought my M1 Carbine in the late 70's, and still shoot it often. It's actually a pretty good pig-getter. I don't remember what I paid for it, but I was poor back then, and I doubt it was more than $100.  And it came with both the standard and folding stock. I should probably look for a bayonet for it.

[FUJIMO]

3 minutes ago, Darrell said:

I bought my M1 Carbine in the late 70's, and still shoot it often. It's actually a pretty good pig-getter. I don't remember what I paid for it, but I was poor back then, and I doubt it was more than $100.  And it came with both the standard and folding stock. I should probably look for a bayonet for it.

What folding stock is it ?

[gregintenn]

If you want one, bite the bullet and plunk down the cash for a nice one. They aren’t getting any cheaper, and you won’t ever regret buying quality.