This gun is worth... $??
I paid $100. I see just one other example on Gunbroker, asking $305 with no bids. It's a model 12012 (Santa Fe Field Mauser), mine's a 12014 (Santa Fe Deluxe Mauser Mk1); so not even the same .30-06 model.
I do know I refused to go to $150 when I low-balled from his $250 asking price (which makes you wonder what the pawn shop paid since they accepted my $100 offer!).
I might be willing to do things to THIS rifle that I would never consider doing to a more expensive gun out of fear of ruining it and LOSING value.
I tend to think that it has more value to ME by dumping the NcSTAR scope and putting a Lyman sight and wooden stock on it; but it's the hot-rodder's dilemma. The value of the whole is less than the value of its parts.
Gaining the experience of installing the sight is something I want to try.
Fitting a stock is something I've never done.
I've never been Bubba before.
Is spending $120 plus installation for the Lyman sight worth the fun of it? Is getting a $115 Boyd's stock plus the fitting effort worth the fun of it?
Will spending another $250 plus my time and or a gunsmith's fees make this gun a $350+ rifle?
Probably not. But I don't buy a $7.50 craft beer expecting it to retain value in an hour either... (it's still yellow and foamy and I even heated it up for you; who will start the bidding?).
As long as I don't break it, it will always have value as my representative example of a .30-06 (by God) rifle.
Something else to factor in might be the value of the education you would get from doing your own custom work. Mostly from finding your limits. Building my scout rifle from a bubba'd No 4 Lee-Enfield was definitely such an educational experience. And you're right about the parts value. I've got more in the scope for that rifle than I paid for the rifle itself. But doing the build was a lot of fun.
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