- Feb 4, 2013
- 28,175
With only 15,000 built is the M1895 Lee Navy hard to find?
One on GB at $2900
I will probably NOT add one to my collection.
With only 15,000 built is the M1895 Lee Navy hard to find?
If you're collecting Army rifles, you can save money and skip the Lee and the Johnson. You need them if you're collecting USMC rifles.
I was thinking that.
The army bought a LOT of Hotchkiss rifles, as well as Chaffee-Reese and Remington-Lees, though.
http://www.forgottenweapons.com/rifles/winchester-hotchkiss/
http://milpas.cc/rifles/ZFiles/Bolt...Model 1882, Chaffee-Reese Magazine Rifle.html
http://www.forgottenweapons.com/rifles/remington-lee-1899/
And of course, the Cavalry was entirely armed with Spencers for years before the Trapdoors crowded them out.
Guess I'll just pull up my big boy pants and buy them all
Thanks to the Howard County Gun Show today, I'm an Eddystone closer to my goal. Only two left!
View attachment 170509
Thanks to the Howard County Gun Show today, I'm an Eddystone closer to my goal. Only two left!
Who did you buy it from?
And if you don't mind my asking, for how much? PM would be OK if you don't mind sharing, but do not want to post public.
You tell me your price, and I will tell you mine.
I already have one on the way to an MD FFL.
Just wondering if I paid too much.
Who did you buy it from?
And if you don't mind my asking, for how much? PM would be OK if you don't mind sharing, but do not want to post public.
You tell me your price, and I will tell you mine.
Those are the guys I got my Swedish Mauser from. I was fondling the Eddystone just before I saw the Swedish Mauser and thought it would be a good deal if they came down on it. Nice snag! I know they wanted those to move.
I don't mind sharing the details. The longer I work on this rifle, the more I think I got an excellent deal. For starters, I bought it from the dudes (sorry don't know the name) who had all of those milsurps spread out on their table against the East wall of the hall, just north of the halfway doors. They had it marked $575.00 (said it came from an estate sale and they hadn't cleaned it up at all) but when I looked down the barrel and let out a "yikes" they eventually brought the price down to $425.00. The rifling was really strong but the barrel was dark and full of gunk. I definitely was rolling the dice on this rifle but was banking on it being cleanable. The guys who sold it to me were really fair and honest dealing so I thought, what the heck.
Long story short, I have been cleaning the rifle ever since . But...great news! The bore actually shined-up quite nicely; I definitely made a large pile of dirty patches though. After a lot of elbow grease, it is true that there are some shallow pits in the grooves of the rifling but I can barely see them. Shockingly, the bore is actually shiny now. The best part, besides it being a super clean original example, is that the muzzle gauges <1. All the major parts are Eddystone and in great shape. Still haven't shot it yet. I've seen guns in worse condition go for $500-$900 so I think I did alright. I'll try to post some clean-up pics later tonight.
That Swedish Mauser was nice; you got a great rifle there. Have you shot it yet?