Not really recent because I haven't bought much recently, but I'll share a story from a few years back. I found a Weihrauch in a classified add that interested me but it was overpriced. There were a lot of close up pictures accompanying the add but were of poor quality. The gun had a lot of dust on it, the metal was dry and the blue looked to be worn thin in places. There were some reddish brown spots that might have been rust. The seller was not the owner and knew nothing about the gun. I don't beat up a seller to get a price down but the gun looked neglected and I pointed out all the things it might need and made a low ball offer which the owner accepted.I had buyer's remorse while awaiting its arrival and decided I would try to interest a friend in it and flip it to him for what I paid for it. When it finally came and I opened the box my only response was "Oh My G**! This thing is gorgeous!". A quick wipe down with oil and I was grinning even bigger than before.The blue is deep and shiny, there is no rust/pitting/patina anywhere and in any decent light the stock is beautiful. I opened the barrel and saw nice, clean grease, not hard or dry......same in the tube when I removed the stock.This gun had been well cared for and shot excellently. I felt guilty and almost sent the seller more $$$. Almost!Even my own picture doesn't do it justice. Needless to say I broke the bad news to my friend that I wasn't going to sell it.
45flint,Yes, the other side has striping too. The angle of light and the camera has everything to do with accentuating translucent striping in wood. From one angle the stripes are nicely pronounced, from another angle they may be very muted or nearly disappear.In this recent photo you see I added an adjustable butt pad. I drill the pad's base to match the original factory drilled screw holes in the stock and put the factory pad away for safe keeping/reinstallation later. These guns just fit me better with more drop in the heel and toe.
I won a grimy 347 relatively cheap on eBay in the last year or two. It was advertised as "BROKEN," but I don't know what they thought was wrong with it. It shoots well and cleaned up great, plus the production year has sentimental value.
I had buyer's remorse while awaiting its arrival and decided I would try to interest a friend in it and flip it to him for what I paid for it. When it finally came and I opened the box my only response was "Oh My G**! This thing is gorgeous!". A quick wipe down with oil and I was grinning even bigger than before.The blue is deep and shiny, there is no rust/pitting/patina anywhere and in any decent light the stock is beautiful. I opened the barrel and saw nice, clean grease, not hard or dry......same in the tube when I removed the stock.This gun had been well cared for and shot excellently. I felt guilty and almost sent the seller more $$$. Almost!Even my own picture doesn't do it justice. Needless to say I broke the bad news to my friend that I wasn't going to sell it.
I just picked up a BSF S 54 Match underlever from the 1960's at the Findlay show - an eccentric beast that I've always wanted! The surprise is that is was once owned by my pal and uber-collector Larry Hannusch (in fact, I remember the flash of envy watching him with it at Roanoke one year!)...AND, it's the very gun that Tom Gaylord used for a 5-part review in his Pyramyd blog - serial no. 4707! Pretty cool to have an expert's encyclopedic analysis of your toy at your fingertips, LOL. https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2019/04/bsf-s54-match-rifle-part-5/On top of that, Tom had chased down an original diopter sight to go with the complete open rear sight (not mounted in the pic), and a rare ring element for the front sight to go with the original beaded post. I've never even seen one of the rings before...
Quote from: DanD on April 30, 2022, 11:52:55 AM... the production year has sentimental value.Ya' can't leave us hangin, why is the production year sentimental? I don't want to regret asking that. I hope it's a happy story.Cheers!Rich
... the production year has sentimental value.