Need help with value of a rifle

Sounds to me like a damn nice rifle. You need to get the barrel stamped for sure. Then list it on guns america and any clubs you belong to, even ur local paper @ the price you think is refelctive of what you have. With pictures and if you word the add to point out the cost and stock work done and fitted by Serengeti then you might be surprised. I used to almost give guns away until I wisened up. There is always someone who wants what you have, you just need to get it out there under his nose. You likely wont get all of your investment but if you show someone he is getting a good deal it will work. Christ hates a coward so dont be shy. I have sold lots of guns for more than my bottom line in the last 10 years. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Bert the Turtle

James is 100 percent on with his answer. It is worth what the market will bear. Put it on your favorite firearms auction site, put your reserve in for what you are willing to accept, write your best description extolling its virtues and see what you can get. That is what it is worth. Most people who want a custom rifle want it customized for themselves, not someone else. You might get lucky and find someone who wants it exactly as you did, in which case, he'll buy it from you used for less than you have in it (otherwise he'd just buy new). To anyone else, he'll figure out what about it is the way he wants, then he'll offer you less than you have in just those parts and knock some more off for the trouble of changing the other parts.

Look at it this way, if I buy a $100K house in a working class neighborhood full of identical $100K houses and add $300K worth of marble tubs, LaCornue appliances, granite counters, teak floors throughout, detailed plaster crown moldings, tile my garage, and put in a limestone wine cellar, how much will I get for the house? Nobody in the 100K price range even knows what LaCornue is. The teak floors are the same to him as any other hardwood floor, the marble tubs are a tub, he's got to spend money to epoxy over the garage tiles. He has always wanted a man-cave, and the wine cellar looks like it would work. He was planning on spending $1200 at Home Depot on paneling and 2x4s to build one in the basement of whatever house he buys. His wife likes the granite counters because she saw them on the cooking channel. So he offers $102K.

Uh Bert, James, et al I think everyone gets that. What Mike was asking for were opinions on a baseline value for a used custom rifle having certain characterstics which he provided in his first posting. I suspect the basics of the marketing imperative that he will get what someone is willing to pay for it is fairly obvious to him. His question had to do with where to start that asking price.

I suggested somewhere between 2200 and 3200 based upon the quality of the components that went into it (if his description is accurate - around $7K of investment). James offered a multi-colored acoustic equivilent assessment, based on his friend's rifle, that suggests a $300 value.

I am quite sure the market would support a $300 price - I suspect, with a little work, he can get north of two grand. If I didn't already have two .375s, I would snap it up myself.

I think the gun is easily worth $3000....and I would not sell it for anything less, if I where in Mikes's shoes. But I would have the barrel stamped, along with the gunsmith's name. Throw some bullets in on the deal!

I can have my gunsmith stamp the barrel. A couple boxes of ammo will be part of the deal.

Here are some pictures.

Jerome: thank you for posting the photos for me.

Originally Posted by mikeh416Rigby

Here are some pictures.

Thanks to all of you for your comments and suggestions.

You cant have to many .375's and that is a nice one. I would keep it.

I'm dropping it off at my gunsmith tomorrow to have it properly stamped.

Sell into weakness...the market is way south....been buying guns I could have only dreamed of owning 5 years ago.......My suggestion at the very least is to have it properly appraised by a "friendly" and make sure it is properly insured.......I have not sold a gun in 3 years but have acquired at least 20 of them.......bought a CZ Safari custom with all the bells and whistles in 500 Jeffery....also with some ammo for less than 2 grand a week ago.....this is NOT the time to be selling.......unless you have a Winchester model 70 around 1950 in 220 swift......hope all goes well....Love my pre 64 super express in 375......will leave it to someone...otherwise never will it be sold.....agree about trading it or selling that stock separately....the pieces are ALWAYS worth more than the sum of it's parts...ask any corporate raider

I called about a dozen and a half gun shops and finally found one that was interested in seeing it. I paid him a visit this afternoon, and walked out of his shop with $2750.00 cash in hand. Not as much as I was hoping for, but...a bird in the hand, etc., etc. I included 3 boxes of handloads for it, done up with the old 270 grain Barnses coated X bullets. It seems this guy has a customer who was looking for a 375 Weatherby, but the shop owner convinced him to go with an Ackley Improved...similar ballistics as the Weatherby, but with the added advantage of being able to use 375 H&H ammunition in a pinch. Thanks for your help. By the way...Cabela's only offered $700.00 for it.

Well done. That is a superb rifle.

Congrates! It's a tough economy! Cabelas has really pissed me off lately...they are super greedy.