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Forums10
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,801 Likes: 446
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,801 Likes: 446 |
Any 20x Unertl will sell. I think Ebay would be best but Gunbroker will work or one could sell it on the ASSRA forum
_________ BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 732 Likes: 24
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 732 Likes: 24 |
It's the 1" Unertl vs. the more common 3/4" tube. Still a desirable scope, and depending on where it's sold it might be worth almost as much as the rifle.
I personally disagree on the talk that this is simply a action and barrel. Yes, it's not a factory original gun, and there are things that detract from it if each is looked at individually. But when you look at the custom stocks, bent lever, rebarrel, engraving, (including initials) it's a nice old sporter done up in the style found in the 50's and 60's. And done up better than many, yet not as nice as some. I personally would be surprised if it didn't go around $1500 without the scope, just because it's a neat 1885. I don't find the initials to be that big a detriment myself, and I think any attempts to alter the initials would be a bigger deficit than leaving them alone.
Last edited by Vall; 01/03/21 08:06 PM.
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 14,151 Likes: 208
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 14,151 Likes: 208 |
It's refreshing to hear from someone who shares my opinion on removing initials from a fine gun. Lots of recent Unertl prices in Morphy's December sale. Search "unertl".
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,801 Likes: 446
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,801 Likes: 446 |
Initials discretely engraved on a silver stock inlay is one thing, but carving up the entire side of an action, may be another. It may be an issue with the photograph, but the engraving does not look that good to me in the first place.
It would be interesting to see what it brings at auction.
_________ BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,521 Likes: 20
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,521 Likes: 20 |
I'd still like to know the cartridge for which the rifle is chambered. It's likely to be more valuable if it's factory or a commonly used wildcat (.219 Donaldson Wasp, for example) than if it's a complete one-off. I have and shoot a custom (J.W. Van Patten) high wall chambered for .219 Zipper Improved, topped with a 12x Lyman Targetspot. It's a fine varmint rifle, although not nearly as elaborate as the one under discussion here.
It would also be interesting to see if the maker's name, or at least the stock maker's name, appears anywhere. Sometimes, the marking is nothing more than a rubber stamping concealed under a butt plate or inside a forearm channel. The name of the engraver, if it's marked anywhere, would also be interesting.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 676 Likes: 13
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 676 Likes: 13 |
The biggest detriment to me would be the poorly executed lever, but that can be fixed. I too could live with the initials if need be.
Count me as one who would like to know the chambering. Those .22 wildcats from another era have always fascinated me. (I'm currently shooting R2 Lovell's in two rifles, a custom High Wall and a 1903 Springfield. And a .22 Maximum Lovell in a single shot Krag, built by Hervey Lovell himself. God please, let my stash of brass hold up!)
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 7,467 Likes: 216
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 7,467 Likes: 216 |
It may get a few more bids if there was a picture of a chamber casting and some measurements. I would talk to my aunt and see if I could play with it for a while if it turned out to be chambered in something new to me. Maybe, give her a resonable starting bid down payment with any balance when it goes to auction later?
If the execution of the lever would be a potential stumbling point in the market, then probably the stock fit and engraving execution would also hold the rifle back, maybe not purely the style. It looks like a local smith was given a little reign, and not a top tier conversion. It'll work out.
If aunt didn't care what she gets for it, I think a thousand or maybe twelve hundred is a thought through starting point for an auction, likely without the scope. Then, the only thing to hope for is if two or more bidders see something interesting. I think it's a shooter, and doesn't look like it has inherent collector value?
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 732 Likes: 24
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 732 Likes: 24 |
The biggest detriment to me would be the poorly executed lever, but that can be fixed. I too could live with the initials if need be.
The lever is poorly done, but also an easy fix for me. It doesn't bother me since it's something easily changed, or reworked. Of course I've seen (and own) guns with much nicer engraving. But this engraving isn't crude, or poorly done. Just not on the level of a Guild engraver's work. It doesn't bother me at all. If I wasn't so set in my ways with Ballard and Remington single shot rifles, I'd be trying to buy this 1885.
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,853 Likes: 152
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,853 Likes: 152 |
I think there's an engravers signiture/initials on the edge of the pattern on the right side of the frame.
Looks like 'jb' or JD perhaps.
The pattern that forms a point going forward and to the rear of the frame. On the point facing rearward, the upper edge,,,it's formed by 4 major scrolls. All the scrolls wind clockwise. On the outside edge of the 2nd scroll from the point are what I think are the 2 initials.
The pic is tilted sideways of course so take that into consideration when looking at it.
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