They made on average about a thousand to 1500 a year since the early 90s, 92 or 93 IIRC, up until they were discontinued last year. They are not all that common mostly because of the price, but they are certainly not rare either. To shoot or not to shoot, that is the question. Are you a collector or a shooter? If you are a collector, keep it unfired because it will always bring more in the future if it is unfired. How much more? Cannot say, but the fewer NIB pistols out there the more a NIB will bring. But if you are more of a shooter than collector, then shoot it and loose 30% off the purchase price right off the bat or save a bunch of bucks and find one that has already been shot and buy it. Figure you will lose about 30% of the price paid from NIB the moment you shoot it but if you are not a serious collector, why buy a piece that is absolutely NIB and pay the premium for a NIB only to diminish its value by shooting it? I had two, one a shooter, one a safe queen. I never did like the pistol, either one of them, and when it was time to part with an HK to fund another project, the safe queen Mark 23 was the obvious choice since my son does like the shooter very much. I hated to part with a collection piece but I needed something else more. I had had it for three years and sold it for more than I paid butI could never have gotten even close to that price if I had sold the shooter pistol. So, IMO I would examine my long term desires for the purchase before buying. Investment for possible future sale or serious collecting, buy the NIB and pay the premium. If not, pass and buy a much cheaper shooter. Or if you don't like to buy used, buy it and shoot it, which will only increase the value of the dwindling supply of other actual NIB Mark 23 out there. Their owners will thank you.

Didn't catch the part about you having already bought it. Tough decision if you like the pistol. Personally, if not for my son liking the Mark 23 so much I would have sold the shooter because I could not care less if I ever shoot the Mark 23 again. The Tactical does for me everything Mark 23 does and then some. I know the HK gods might smite me, but when HK dropped the Mark 23 the first thought I had was "It's about time." Overpriced, oversized, overweight, trigger pull on both of mine was terrible (5.75 pounds SA, 12+ DA), not one bit more accurate than the Tacticals, Experts, Elites, or Match... Frankly, the Mark 23 mystique is lost on me. I got the first one, the safe queen, for collecting only. I got the shooter because the price was excellent and while it was NIB, it carried a used price because it had been finger frigged on the dealer's shelf for over two years and they wanted to unload the albatross. The chamber hood was so worn from the slide being racked so much over the two years that it looked like it had been shot several thousand times, but I knew for fact that it had just been sitting there forever. I tried, I mean I really tried to like the pistol but I never did warm up to it, but my son likes it so I kept it for him and sold the safe queen.
I think if I were in your shoes and had other pistols to shoot that I really liked shooting, and the Mark 23 did not hold any special appeal as a shooter, I'd sit on it. You cannot un-ring the bell so to speak, so unless I had a burning desire to shoot one I'd keep it as a collection piece since you do understand being a past collector yourself. A lot of people don't get how one can buy a firearm and then not shoot it, yet think nothing about buying an expensive or vintage sports car and only driving it once in a blue moon if that much, trailering it from show to show.

My mk23 is my favorite pistol and my mk24 is my second. It is the most accurate semi I've ever shot bar none.

I got one of the new builds last year. Shoot it every now and then.
I love the way it feels and shoot...but I don't see myself as a collector...I'm a shooter
They are even more fun suppressed

Out of curiosity, what'd you give for that first year Mark 23?

My bad...just a typo on my part as I simply meant to type the year mentioned in the first post of the thread. Geez....

The history of this gun began with the 1st phase in August, 1991 when H&K and Colt signed contracts to develop the "SOCOM" pistol. The 2nd phase began in January, 1994 when Colt was eliminated and H&K signed a contract to make modifications requested by the military.

Production for the SOCOM/Mark 23 began in March, 1996. First to be produced were the SOCOM's (or Mk23Mod0, whichever rocks your boat) with serial numbers 23-0101 thru 23-2086. Production for the Mark 23 (ie, the civilian version) then began with serial number 23-2087. The pistols with "USSOCOM" on the slide are considered government property and not legal for private ownership. But a VERY small number (3 or 4 or 5...something on that order) did legally fall into private hands, although I don't remember the exact circumstances.

That's the timeline in a nutshell.

FWIW, I have read that the changeover from the slide marking of "Mark 23" to "MARK 23" happened somewhere around serial number 23-2700. I won't guarantee the accuracy of that....but it came from a long-time member over on HKPRO who likes to keep track of that sort of info.

Thanks, I edited my post to correct the error. I don't know how I came up with the 21- prefix....and I didn't drink any beer yesterday, so I can't use that as an excuse.