Estate Sale coming up - Questions?

[engineer40]

I've never been to an Estate Sale before but my wife just forwarded me a listing that is happening soon.

This guy had a ridiculous amount of gun paraphernalia. Pictures upon pictures...

I wouldn't be surprised if he had over 300 complete rifles that will now be sold.

I bet I saw at least 100 wood blanks for custom stocks.

He had 6 single stage RCBS presses. An entire wall of shelving of tubs of gun powder. Boxes and boxes and boxes of primers and loaded ammo.

I saw at least 2 Wilson case trimmers and will try to get one. And I saw 4 Redding powder measures that I will also try to get one of.

There are barrel vises, stock wood working tools, and pretty much everything else that Midway or Brownells sells.



But what I'm most interested in is the plethora of rifle actions he had; I bet 75+. Some have barrels and some do not. I'm assuming that the actions without stocks or barrels will not be as attractive to the general public so I'm hoping to get a few good deals on some.

I'm most familiar with Remington actions as I have a 721 and a 700. And I also understand that the Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters are desirable. But I'm not opposed to picking up a Browning, Ruger, Mauser, Weatherby, Savage, etc...

In your opinions; are there any actions I should specifically keep my eye out for?

Are there any that I should stay away from?

Thanks!

 

[MudRunner2005]

I wish I could stumble upon a sale like that... 75+ actions!!! I would be set for life..........Well, maybe.

If you don't have any debt, get an offer on the whole setup, and take out a loan and cut them a check for the whole thing! That's what I would do. Sort through what you want, and what you don't, and sell the stuff you don't for enough markup, to make up for what you keep. Therefore, you're not out any money, and you just gained a lot of free stuff.

 

[engineer40]

I wish I could stumble upon a sale like that... 75+ actions!!! I would be set for life..........Well, maybe.

If you don't have any debt, get an offer on the whole setup, and take out a loan and cut them a check for the whole thing! That's what I would do. Sort through what you want, and what you don't, and sell the stuff you don't for enough markup, to make up for what you keep. Therefore, you're not out any money, and you just gained a lot of free stuff.

That is a very fine idea indeed!

The timing on this whole thing is sort of weird. For the first time in a very long time, I'm feeling kind of broke. Just 3 days ago I wrote the biggest check in my life to pay off a rental house. Which 3 days ago I was very excited about the $1,150/month cash flow.... Now I'm wishing I was still a bit more liquid.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Glad I could help...

If you do end up winning it for cheap, feel free to toss a couple blued/jeweled 700 LA standard bolt-face actions my way at the "brother-in-law discount" price when you get ready to sell what you don't want/need.

 

[engineer40]

What would you guys expect to pay for a Remington 700 action on the used market?

 

[pods8]

Seems like they seem to go $400-500 range for the nicer ones.

 

[engineer40]

Well.... I had my Dad come over to my house extra early and we showed up over an hour early before the Estate sale opened to grab our ticket number which decided when we got to enter.

I knew we wouldn't be first in the door... but I had no idea. We were in the 60's. The people running the estate sale said many people slept in line and waited like a dang Harry Potter movie premier.

I can't complain. I picked up a LE Wilson case trimmer for $20 and a Sinclair neck turner also for $20 (the higher end model with the analog gauge on it also). 7 pounds of rifle powder for well below half of what it goes for retail, 600 30 caliber bullets and 500 223 caliber bullets for very cheap. I also got 3 very nice solid rod cleaning rods for a few bucks each.

But the people that went through first really cleaned up. For example the guy who checked out with the cashier before me spent over $5,000.

I'm bummed I didn't get a chance to look over all of the rifles and receivers that I was excited about. But I can't complain about the cheap stuff I did get either. All in all, it was worth going.