So I have a chance to purchase a lightly used HK91 manufactured in 1981. It has all the original German features and ~300 rounds shot through it. It came from the factory with the A3 stock and the carry handle installed. It has the wide forend cut for a bipod but no bipod. It is a good looking gun with a grey/blue enamel finish. One small rub mark where the Styrofoam rubbed against the metal end cap during shipping. Deal includes the original packaging and HK papers.

Is $2600 a good price for this?

Are genuine HK91 going to hold their value or is there a market change on the horizon that could devalue these guns?

Should I have the bolt gap checked before buying?

Save me from myself ARFCOM, tell me this is a horrible deal, I really don't want to spend any more money

Not to be too offensive but you go to a HK forum and want HK collectors to talk you out of buying an original HK roller locked gun?  I think the price is reasonable, but do you want to buy it and leave it in the safe?  Part of the value is the 300 rds of use in over 30 years.  So you'll buy it clean it and put it way?  Search bolt gap and buy yourself a set of feeler gauges.  I spent $5.00 at an automotive for a steel set.  

If you want something to shoot, buy a PTR.  Less than 1/2 the money for a new one.  Even less for a used one.  So do you want something to shoot, or something to sit in the safe? I'd think the answer to that question would help you decide.

Scott

$2600 is a bit on the high side. You can get these a few hundred cheaper if you look.

Do not buy the piece of shit, it will blow your hands off and shoot out your eye. Good enough reason not to buy?

Paid that for mine. With both fixed and adjustable stock, as well as bi-pod and knockoff clawmount scope. No original papers/packaging. Came with 15 mags, padded case and a book on HK rifles. Sold the A3 stock to bring total cost down. I think $2600 is good.

First, I do not own a roller locked anything but I would not hesitate to buy a PTR91 at the going rates.  I simply would not pay $2600 for any similar type MBR.  Just me, personally, but here's why;

I do not see a huge potential for increased investment value and I'm not going to retire off the resale margin of a HK anyhow.  So that keeps $2600 tied up in a rifle that for me would be  a user.  Way I look at it is for such guns I want to use them and use them hard.  For that I see no need to buy the gun you are looking at as it offers no significant performance value over and above the value and features of other guns of the type that are much cheaper.  Others want that "H" "K" stamed on it and would pay for it.  I wouldn't.

I did look at the roller locked guns a while back but I myself bought an ArmaLite AR10 and cannot be more pleased.  It is accurate, 100% reliable, and was, comparatively, cheap.  I'd do it again, too.

The roller locked guns are fascinating and really excellent "users" and I just may buy a PTR at some point, but for now, I just cannot see paying that much dough for a gun I am going quite literally to drag thru the mud.

One glaring problem with your theory: there is almost no investment value in a PTR and it will not hold its value against new-in-box specimens of the same model. HK 91s have not been imported in 15 years. There will be no more imported nor made here by HK. This fixes the supply and hence the value. While they have not appreciated tremendously in those 15 years, they have appreciated. An HK 91 will always hold its value more than anything PTR makes.

Unless you somwhow manage to buy a PTR below normal retail cost, you will lose money the moment you open the box. Not true with an HK 91 provided you don't pay too much for one.

Edit: it's actually been 25 years since we've seen the end of the imported HK91, not 15. I'm getting old...

The price isn't that bad and you'll be happy with it.  I love my own 91, so I couldn't talk you out of one based on my own experience.  The HK91 is a classic and based on one of the great battle rifles (G3) of the 20th century.  Buy it, shoot it, and have fun with it.

I have a funny feeling that EVR doesn't buy his guns to hang out in the safe.

Op, if you like it, buy it. Just not for investment purchases.

A new PTR won't take a huge hit in value. I see new GI's go for $900, used ones still going for $800 or better.

You should buy it, but knock a couple hundred off.

Side by side the HK91 quality is, well, not PTR quality……if you catch my drift.  Buy it!!

Agreed. I just wouldn't want to take a pristine HK91 out into the field.

I had one years ago but got rid of it because of the weight.  Nice gun, accurate and dependable, just tiresome to transport and walk in the woods with.  When I got my first AR I thought I'd died and gone to lightweight rifle heaven.

ha good luck.

I had some guy named madcap on here respond with something witty when I posted a thread asking the same thing about a mp5 clonei  wanted to buy.

Well I just got the mp5 out of ATF bondage and then I started looking at hk93 style, which led me to discover there is a shorter barreled version (think hk53?). So based on the remembered advise of that member, I purchased one like that as well. then a week after I discovered a lonely mp5 laying in the EE. So I took it home as well.

so ya if you heed the go for advice yee be fooked

That is true.

That is why I'd look hard at the utility value of the HK.  Certainly it is there, but so would be the PTR at a much cheaper price.

Plus, at the price it is going for, I just don't see a big increase on value heading your way if you buy the HK.  Even if it was a couple hundred bucks in a few years, to tie up that much would not be worth it for me.

Also, OP. I still think an AR10 is a better option in .308, tho...

I still want a roller locked .308 myself.  

Bought mine around 1978 or 79.  Sold it after the first Bush ban for about five times what I paid for it.  

Good:  Accurate, reliable.  Always caught attention at the range.

Bad:  Heavy, funky ergonomics, spit brass about as far as bullets and at roughly the same velocity.  Trigger was meh.  Back then mags etc were very hard to find and expensive.  Not so much anymore.

I don't miss it.  Have zero desire to ever own another.

Your assessment is simple and to the point and is exactly what keeps me from getting one.  Except the weight.  My AR10 is heavy, too and I knew that would come with the territory if I got a fullsized 7.62 MBR.

The brass ejection issue plagued the thing in service.  According the "FULL CIRCLE" a brass deflector was introduced by several countries due to severe injuries cause by ejected brass.  

Since this thread is titled as it is I'm hanging in there doing my best to dissuade the OP but not because I hate the rifle.  As I said, I want one.  It's just that it has a few sort of deal-breaker issues for me. What I really am interested ijn is if the OP gets one and then reports back.what he thinks.

For me the B-model {best steel mags} AR10 and some version of roller-locked rifle were the "last men standing" in my selection of a 7.62 rifle.  I've spent a lot of time in Africa and the FNFAL in the Congo and in R1 RSA configuration were always interesting guns to me since the first one I saw in 1980 muzzle in the dirt leaned-on by a Zaireois airstrip guard, but really I see the G3-type as a far better rifle. And the AR10 as better yet.

I like mine but don't shoot it anymore.

It is accurate with everything I put through it, but destroys brass if you can find it.

I think $2600 is high.

I would agree but would add this....

1.It is not reliable it is extremely reliable.It is the AK47 of the Free World.Throw it in the mud,pick it up and it will still go bang.

2.Mags are dirt cheap and easy to find.


$2600 is high unless it comes with the original box,test target,sling,manual.

Depends. Do you want a shooter or a collectable?

For a shooter pick up a PTR. Collectable, the HK is a no-brainer.

AJ

I think there where 44000 HK91's imported into USA(correct me if I am wrong) so there are a few around, the rarity still exists so value is there and as we move forward to all the new 7.62 coming out it makes this rifle collectible for a lot of guys. If money is not a issue  then get it, its the Real Deal Lucile battle rifle and are a lot of fun at the range. I got in sub 2k a few years back and would  not sell mine but that's  just me.  

I also have a PTR if I want to go banging around  in the night but mostly just shoot a tricked up RFB for everyday shooting so as others have noted its all about your comfort level and shooting habits.


Plus you have been a member on here for 14 years and NEVER bought anything so dig into those deep pockets and pull the trigger.....

lots of current semi auto rifles in 5.56 & .308 etc., being sold in the $2k+ price range  (Scar's, AR15's, ACR's , AUG's etc..)
seems to me an HK 91 , a pre-ban collectible, would certainly hold & continue to go up in value, even if you shot it

cool rifles with lot's of character and history behind them which makes them neat to own  

I say if your sure you really want one get it