History And Value Of A Wh "c" Drum?

[Vladymere]

A friend of mine is planning to sell his 1927 deluxe semi-auto Auto-Ordnance repro. He has with it an Auto-Ordnance "C" drum magazine.

 

What is the history of these magazines? Made in the early 90s? what is the value of one in NRA excellent condition?

 

Photos of the drum may be seen at http://groups.msn.com/Vladymere4/ldrum.msn...snw?albumlist=2 if it will help you evaluate it.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Vlad

[Bob B]

There are two articles in TCA News you should read about the original versus WH reproduction C drums.

 

The first is a general overview at http://www.nfatoys.com/tsmg/tcn/1997/mar/mar97p3.htm

(The values indicated here may be somewhat out of date.)

 

The second article (in two parts) is an excellent and analytical account by Gordon Herigstad of his personal experience with the WH C-drum:

 

Part I

http://www.nfatoys.com/tsmg/tcn/2002/jan/jan02p2.htm

 

Part II

http://www.nfatoys.com/tsmg/tcn/2002/feb/feb02p2.htm

 

The value of a WH repro drum in otherwise good condition will depend entirely on whether or not it has been professionally rebuilt by someone who specializes in making these drums work properly. Last I heard, the charges for this were somewhere in the $300+ range.

 

[full auto 45]

The last WH "C" drum I saw for sale was asking $1200. It sold in a few days, but I don't know if it was for the full amount. Merle charges somewhere around $300-$400 to rebuild the WH C's. So your going to invest about $1500-$1600 for a WH "C" drum. I have one also that is NIB. Never fired. I need to send it off to Merle but don't have the funds right now. So if he is going to sale his set up. Realistically, your looking at about $2000 to $2100 for gun and drum. That is if the WH 1927 runs good. God luck.

[Vladymere]

Fellows,

 

Thank you both for your replies.

 

It is dissapointing information for my friend but allows him to request an apporpriate value at sale.

 

Vlad

[catnipman]

I heard that Merle had some rebuilt WH C drums for sale for $1,800.00, which means a knowledgeable person wouldn't pay more than $1,400.00 for an unfixed WH C drum. I suspect a knowledgeable person wouldn't pay more than $1,200.00 anyway, since there are many reports of them for sale at that price.

 

Of course, if the secret C drum manufacturing plan that PK has mentioned comes to fruition, the bottom may fall out of the WH C drum market all together.

[Merry Ploughboy]

Catnipman,

 

If Kahr decides to make C drums, the price of used drums will only drop if the net price of the new drums is less than the going rate (i.e., approx. $1,200).

 

The way Kahr is working things, if they go into the C drum manufacturing, they'll try to get at least $1000 for them (note well how they immediately cranked up the L drum price). Plus there is no assurance that Kahr can do any better than their predecessors at actually producing C drums. Based on their 1927A1 firearms, it would appear Kahr may even do a worse job, if that's possible.

 

Merle may end up with more C drum business and the initial buyers should be ready to factor in at least another $300-$400 to the price until the product is proven.

 

MP

[LIONHART]

Karh isn't going produce "C" Drums, another individual is planning too, probably with a new spring design. These Drums will not only exceed in quality over the WH Drums, but will be priced lower too. From my understanding, FWIW.