Milsurp After Hours

8 May 2006

5.30pm

Re: Impact of ring/bulge on value

Does anyone have a general sense of the impact on gun value of a barrel ring/bulge? I generally have a pretty good sense of gun values, but I have never been offered one with a bulge. So I don’t quite know what to make of this. It is a late 19th century Lee carbine in extrremely nice condition apart from a noticeable bulge about six inches down from the muzzle.

What do we think? Does the reduce the value by, say, 25 percent, 50 percent, what? Anyone have any ideas on this?

No pics available at this moment. The barrel is far from burst or anything like that, but the bulge is certainly visible to the naked eye.

Thanks in advance.

Coggansfield

is that such a defect radically alters the value. I would consider it un-shootable, and would probably walk away, or only pay a "parts gun" price.

MM

I would say the effect on value would be governed by how obvious it is. If the first thing you notice when you pick up the rifle is the bulge then I'd say you have a major issue that will affect price significantly. If you've got to search to find it then it may not be such a detraction.

For me personally a significant drop in price would be needed to overcome significant damage when it came to purchasing.

How much ? Depends on all the usual factors - price/availability/rarity/personal desire and the crunch one in this case - spares availability (how easy is a new barrel going to be to find).

It's a wall hanger unless you can find another barrel. As it is, it's only worth the sum of its parts. Firing it is completely unsafe. The bulge is a weak spot in the barrel and it can burst if you fire it with any ammo.

Must disagree.

Have fired many firearms with bulged barrels and never a jot of trouble.

Even fired Vickers guns with multiple bulges.

Why would a bulged barrel be unsafe?

Eoin.