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Current price of M3 with British magazine release mod?


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An elderly friend is considering selling his M3 but it has been so long since I have kept up with GG prices I am at somewhat of a disadvanage advising him on the value.  The gun is C&R, transfered out of the Birmingham, AL PD many years ago.  Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

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Pm sent with information also.....

RichardS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

US Army, RET

Edited by Blanksguy
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I'd love to see what GotUzi said as he is a pretty smart guy. I'll take a swag at that as I own a gorgeous M3. The one pictured could of course use some TLC, but the metal looks good and all the parts are there... so, 

Retail: $34,500 as is. Were it cleaned up (meaning repainted and de-rusted) I'd say $36 or more.

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4 hours ago, Rekraps said:

I'd love to see what GotUzi said as he is a pretty smart guy. I'll take a swag at that as I own a gorgeous M3. The one pictured could of course use some TLC, but the metal looks good and all the parts are there... so, 

Retail: $34,500 as is. Were it cleaned up (meaning repainted and de-rusted) I'd say $36 or more.

Thanks!  

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One thing I missed when I first posted the photos was what appears to be a weld removal on the left side where the barrel collar screws on.  I contacted the owner and he told me that the original barrel had been lead filled but he still had the barrel.  The weld removal had been done while the gun belonged to the previous owner who was a retired Birmingham policeman.

I will be visiting him next month and will gather more information and better photos for those interested.

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19 hours ago, Got Uzi said:

You are in the ballpark as to what I said the price is. 

As I thought. Regarding the weld, as long as it was done right, I don't think it matters. I mean... look at those guns. they are all welds! Ha.

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20 hours ago, Got Uzi said:

You should have seen my DEWAT gun when I got it….makes this one look like a cake walk!! 

I'm always amazed at just how bad so many of those gun look. I got lucky and the one I bought from Prasser was completely redone by  Andrewski. Most of the British Lend Lease guns look horrible. The black paint just didn't stick.

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A couple hours, a file, dremel, and a can of black Krylon and it's new if that's what you like, but I'd leave it for the next guy who may or may not decide to re-paint it.  I had a US gun refinished and I regret it to this day even though it's long gone.

I'm more curious as to what you consider "elderly".   Like how much older than you?  Like 100 LOL

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3 hours ago, johnsonlmg41 said:

I'm more curious as to what you consider "elderly".   Like how much older than you?  Like 100 LOL

He recently turned 80 which is substantially older than me.  :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Spent some time this weekend with the owner while I was attending the AGCA show in Birmingham.  The M3 looks better in person, the story on the weld is that the previous owner was in the process of having the M3 turned into a dewat when my friend offered to buy it so the work was stopped before any real damage was done.  The barrel shown is a GI replacement, the original barrel with the British marks will come with the gun but it has been metal filled which the current owner believes is lead.  If it is lead probably an easy fix.

If any of you are interested, please send me a PM and we can begin working on the details.

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  • 11 months later...

Don't refinish or alter it in any way. You'd be destroying it's history.  Leave the British magazine release modification and black paint as is. I can't understand why some collectors want to alter an original WW2 firearm for esthetics.  Yes, from the factory it wasn't painted or had a crude mag release modification but,  it did for the War and that's why you should leave it's history as is. Todd in Oregon 

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2 hours ago, taeelec said:

Don't refinish or alter it in any way. You'd be destroying it's history.  Leave the British magazine release modification and black paint as is. I can't understand why some collectors want to alter an original WW2 firearm for esthetics.  Yes, from the factory it wasn't painted or had a crude mag release modification but,  it did for the War and that's why you should leave it's history as is. Todd in Oregon 

Hey Todd, you and I will have to disagree on this topic.  Without provenance to add value (this was Patton’s personal gun etc) SMG’s like this one always do better when reconditioned. Now, that being said, if the metal is good, I’d leave PPSH, MP38u40, Beretta,  Thompson alone if they were not arsenal refinished.   Any STEN, M3 etc only do better when conditioned. 

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