Opinion please gents.

[harry mac]

I have a factory one off BSA air rifle. It is a RB2 Airsporter with a full length barrel in a Stutzen stock, which was supplied by BSA via Wighill Park Guns in response to a request made by me in 1996. The gun is boxed and has supporting paper work and letter from BSA attesting to it's originality. I will shortly be putting this up for sale and am thinking of asking £500. Please, no offers to buy from this thread, I'm just after either a confirmation that this is an acceptable price or for someone to come on and say get a grip, £500? You must be kidding! The rifle is still boxed, but I have managed to loose the foresight hood somehow.

[DM80]

Hi Harry,

i think £500 is to much even when times were good i would say if mint boxed in these current eco times etc £400 tops if you really wanted to get rid you may even have to take less maybe as low as £300 i've tried to sell a lot of my classic stuff in the last year or so and things are slow just no buyers unless the gun is very rare and desirable and better still cheap nice gun you have if you can afford to keep it then do as it will probably be worth a fair bit more in the future.

cheers

Dave.

[harry mac]

Hi Harry,

i think £500 is to much even when times were good i would say if mint boxed in these current eco times etc £400 tops if you really wanted to get rid you may even have to take less maybe as low as £300 i've tried to sell a lot of my classic stuff in the last year or so and things are slow just no buyers unless the gun is very rare and desirable and better still cheap nice gun you have if you can afford to keep it then do as it will probably be worth a fair bit more in the future.

cheers

Dave.

Seeing as there's only one of them, I was hoping it would qualify as "rare and desireable".
Thanks for offering the advice. As it stands, the rifle doesn't get much, if any use, and any money the rifle might represent would be better utilised upgrading either the glass or moderator on my .243, with a bit left over for pop and crisps

[harry mac]

You don't say what condition it's in. Is it boxed AND mint or does it have some usage marks?

There's a Centenary for £320 below with a few dinks and in a strange way that may be more desirable as every collector knows immediately what it is.

Yours may be more difficult to sell as it has to be described and explained. Can you put some photos up so we can see what it looks like? I'm guessing it's similar to the Centenary?

Cat

The rifle is in very good condition. It has acquired more marks going in and out of the gun cupboard than from actual use. It does have a couple of very small marks on the stock, but none that compromise the finish.
The rifle was originally bought to use instead of my Centenial, in order to save that rifle's finish and value. As it worked out I started shooting centrefire rifles at about that time and none of my air rifles saw much use after that.
Photos will be posted when my shifts coincide with my youngster not being in bed, so I can get up into the loft to get the gun out.
As for the Centenary, there's a thousand of them, but there's only one "Stutzensporter". It still looks like I may have to re-think my asking price though.

[Muskett]

Top premium price goes to mint, not a mark on them, with box or at least any papers that came with it. After that then the price drops considerably; field use then through the floor.

There are standard factory offering which would include for example the Centenary. These form the bread and butter for collectors who add, sell and swop as often as they wish. Prices are pretty stable. A rare example can command a huge price (4x value is about the it) but these are few and normally pre war.

Then there are custom shop versions from the factory custom shop or external companies such as Venum, Mastersport. The price of these custom rifles really depends on what has been done. Added value is in the wood work, level of tune, engraving, gold and anything else special. I think your rifle falls into this category. So we need to see pictures. I think, with no more information, you need to think Centenary value or nice RB2 prices to be realistic. The other question you need to ask yourself is how difficult would it be to make your rifle up from spare parts?

Lastly collectors are a tight bunch and very price sensitive. A tenner too much and it won't shift. Get it right and it could be snapped up. However, be patient as often a higher value item takes a while to go anyway.

Sorry if I'm teaching your mother to suck eggs.

[harry mac]

The other question you need to ask yourself is how difficult would it be to make your rifle up from spare parts?

Cheers Muskett. To make the rifle up from parts would be a simple matter of getting an RB2 Airsporter and putting it in a Stutzen stock. The difficulty would be in replicating the BSA headed letter confirming that they were willing to construct said rifle, and the BSA dispatch note relating to it.

[BigDuncs]

The difficulty would be in replicating the BSA headed letter confirming that they were willing to construct said rifle, and the BSA dispatch note relating to it.

But it depends on how much this increases the desirability. I wouldn' t have thought by very much.

I have a 177 Stutzen but would think that £300 tops is what you could be looking at. But I do not speak as a serious collector - just someone who likes the Stutzen - and I would pay more for a 'proper' Stutzen than yours. Sorry.

[grezoor]

as it's a one off special does it have a one off special serial no? that would make it more desirable for collectors perhaps

[Airsporter1st]

Seeing as there's only one of them, I was hoping it would qualify as "rare and desireable".
Thanks for offering the advice. As it stands, the rifle doesn't get much, if any use, and any money the rifle might represent would be better utilised upgrading either the glass or moderator on my .243, with a bit left over for pop and crisps

For what its worth, I tend to agree with Dave.

It's clearly rare, but you would need to test the desirability in the market place.

To me, the one thing it has going for it is the rotating breach block which is arguably a better arrangement than the Centennial's loading tap.

If I was buying it it would be as a shooter rather than a collector's item. Hopefully others will view it differently.

[harry mac]

as it's a one off special does it have a one off special serial no? that would make it more desirable for collectors perhaps

Unfortunately not, the serial number is part of the standard run for an RB2 in 22.

[harry mac]

Unfortunately not, the serial number is part of the standard run for an RB2 in 22.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ensporter1.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ensporter2.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...BSApapers2.jpg

Hopefully, here are links to a few pics of the rifle in question.
Having looked at it a bit more closely, it might be a bit harder to replicate this rifle than I first thought. Instead of being an RB2 action in a Stutzen stock, I think it's a Stutzen action and stock with a full length barrel.
BSA thoughfully supplied the rifle with instruction sheets for both the RB2 and the Stutzen. On the exploded diagrams the Stutzen is shown with the Maxi-grip rail and the safety catch back block, where as the standard RB2 has dovetail scope rails and the standard, non sfety catch back block. My rifle has the features of the Stutzen, but with a full length barrel. I'll have a look at the instruction sheets tomorrow to see if the serial number prefix is that of a Stutzen or an RB2.

[ken69]

Looks very much like a Centenary with the added benefit of the rotary breech and the safety catch. Very nice indeed. Wish I could afford it.
And by the way I have just seen a boxed .22 Centenary advertised in the collectables section of a well known gun shop for £775

[ikarma70]

is it a ''one off'''? .....also didnt stutzen stocks go up to the muzzle?

[harry mac]

is it a ''one off'''? .....also didnt stutzen stocks go up to the muzzle?

Yes it's definately a one off. Stutzen stocks only go up to the muzzle on a stutzen length barrel This one has a full length barrel.