Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Boomsticks: Gun lust.

There's an IBM/IBM M-1 Carbine hanging on the wall at work. No import marks, no bayo lug, park'ed during re-arsenalling, but really nice shape; an old DCM gun. A guy put it on consignment yesterday. The price is $889. I don't have an M-1 Carbine. If y'all really liked me, one of you would buy this thing for yourself before I get paid again and find myself doing something stupid.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.

Anonymous said...

There's a guy I've seen at a couple of the NC gun shows that has one for $600, I'd be curious to know what would cause such a price difference.

Tam said...

A lot of things can cause large price differences in M1 carbines.

If you can pick up a no-import-marks WWII configuration (no bayo lug) gun for $600 these days, though, you should. You could probably turn it around on Gunbroker for a profit pretty quickly.

If you had told me five years ago that the day of the $1,000 M-1 carbine was just around the corner, I'd have laughed.

BobG said...

I remember when I was in my late teens, you could pick them up very cheap (less than $100), even by the standards at the time. Hell, my old '03A3 was only $46 at that time. The gun grabbers have run the prices up on everything.

Dr. StrangeGun said...

"The gun grabbers have run the prices up on everything."

If by "gun grabbers" you mean "crufflers who snag everything cheap while it's cheap", like myself, then you may be right :)

Supply/demand. M1 carbine supply ran dry, up goes the price. CMP's almost out of garands, watch the price go even higher. Your springfield jumped when the supply wrang out it's last drops, too.

Anonymous said...

Got an email from CMP a while back. Seems they are going to be selling M1 carbines in the near future. No price announced yet.

Anonymous said...

Being MAP bring-backs, they'll most likely all have bayonet lugs.

Bores may be icky, too.

Kevin said...

Aaaaaaaagh!

The CMP isn't selling their new batch of Carbines until September!

I want an IBM M1 sooooo bad (for personal reasons) but $889 strikes me as just a bit steep. Am I wrong?

Anonymous said...

With any ol' post-war refurb selling @ $600+, it's a seller's market.

I'm predicting the same situation with the CMP carbines as we currently have with the Garands, which is to say that they won't affect market value much if at all. Right now you could get your CMP Garand in the mail and sell it the very next day for eight bills.

Tam

Anonymous said...

Wait for the CMP sale, begins in April. I'm guessing that it'll be a bargain price.

Kevin said...

The sale begins in April, but the IBMs don't start selling until September.

I guess I'll wait.

Dammit.

BryanP said...

I've always said that if I bought one it would be an IBM. It's a good thing you're on the other end of the state from me.

Jeff the Baptist said...

In Northern Delaware, even crappy shot-out M1 carbines are selling for $650-700. Good ones are going even higher. I went with an Auto-Ord reproduction a few years ago just to get a shooter without breaking the bank.

NotClauswitz said...

Around here (Switzerland without the guns USA) that's a cheap price for an IBM M1 Carbine. Heck, some people spend that much on a night-out.
I've seen $1,200+ Rock-Olas.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, times have changed. My first M1 Carbine cost me $60 - - An Inland in near-excellent condition. A year later, I spent $15 on some miscellaneous parts and bought a gun shop employee a six-pack to install them for me. We test fired it for full auto functioning.

Worry not. Not only has the statute of limitations long since run, but this was in November, 1968, during the last amnesty. Next day, I met with a very helpful agent of the Alcohol Tobacco Tax Unit (forerunner of BATFE) and did a very simple form to register it. I've kept that "M one-and-a-half" for over 38 years . . . ;)

JPG

Anonymous said...

I still can't see why you've never added one of these to your collection?

Matt G said...

Gads. My 1943 GM Brake M1 from Israel is a shooter, not a collector, probably, but I got it for much, much less, just 3.5 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Tam, if you'd add some sort of (non-paypal) tip jar to the site, I'm betting a few of us could help you with this problem....

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately... They're still classified as assault weapons in the People's Republic of New Jersey
Jim B

Anonymous said...

I always wanted to get a Rock-Ola for my dad, who was in the jukebox and amusement vending business as a side company to his main business.

Right now, I can make you a screaming deal on a Power series server for that IBM, though...and I'll throw in a copy of AIX 5.3.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Anonymous said...

Have an excellent condition Inland (3-44). Bought it off a guy getting married. Got a lot of ammo, mags, covers, pouches and the like, all for $350, back in the late 80's. Wish I would have had the $450 he wanted for his Czech (forged) AK paratrooper.

Always wanted a Rock-ola and/or IBM. Just 'cause.

At one time, I had fantisized about "collect them all".

Again, butterflies when I turn my pockets out. But I'm still happy.

TheSev