I have in my possesion a Model 70 chambered in 243 that I have the chance to purchase from a friend for $400. I looked up the serial # and this rifle was made in 1969. It belonged to his grandfather in law and has sat in a soft sided case for many years. It doesn't appear to have been shot very much if any as he also gave me two boxes of old ammo that were with it and only one round of it had been fired, the bore is shiney, no wear marks on the action, etc. About the only thing wrong with the rifle is the fact it was stored in that soft case and now has a bit of surface rust on the barrel and bolt and a few scratches on the stock.

My question/dillema is this. How much do you think this rifle is worth? My buddy told me that if it it's worth $500 he would rather I buy it for $400 since he knows I'll take care of it, enjoy it and hunt with it on the same property his grandfather in law did. If its worth more than $500-600 I think I would sell it and give him the money. What do you guys think? I know the pre '64 rifles are valued but don't know much about "newer" ones.

Just a FYI my friend is a member here and will see this thread too.

So not a pre-64 rifle in decent shape but as you say it has rust and some handling marks. Without seeing it or anything I would say it probably does land somewhere between $400 and $500. Certain calibers do well in some areas so you could land anywhere in that range around here. Lots of people in my part of the south start their sons out with a 243 before they step up to a .30 caliber usually a 30-06.

Unfortunately that premium of being built before the change in 1964 is pretty solid in that, the gun could be a 1966 model and it's collector value isnt helped that it is close. It could be a '76 model for that matter.

You are describing a $300 - $350 rifle in my neck of the woods.

If you want to do him a favor at $400, it is your call.

Tag.

Given that it's a post-64 model, the rifle's age won't bring it any extra value. Around these parts, .243 isn't a hugely desirable caliber, but at least it's not some oddball that would tank the value.

Condition will be paramount. Do you have pictures? Does the surface rust wipe off? How bad is it?

Without seeing pictures or having a better idea of condition, $400.00 seems a good price. It better be in pretty nice shape to fetch $500.00.

The rust isn't all that bad. I have other blued rifles from that time period that are in about the same shape and they work and shoot just fine. After I got ahold of them the rust never got any worse. I forsee this rifle lasting another forty years or so if maintaned properly. I was mainly concerned with it being an issue with a prospective buyer not myself.

Going off the few respones on it's value here I think I'll just buy it since I like it. I don't have any normal deer hunting rifles anyway. The past four years I have used either a recce type AR in 223 or 6.8 and a heavy precision bolt gun in 308. The Model 70 would be a better choice for me to deer hunt with and I don't feel underguned with the 243 and it actually has a pretty good trigger. We just didn't want to screw each other over on the price vs value.

Thanks guys. Maybe I'll kill a deer with it this year and post a pic.

Well if you like it that much I'd offer the poor guy a $1000.

Well fortunately he knows I just dropped $500 to get my buck shoulder mounted, have school and a shoot house course to pay for and need another safe so I think he knows money is tight on my end. I'll bring him some steaks though.

I think he meant me LOL. And no thanks, sounds like it has a good new home/

I didn't.

Post a pic.

Keep it.   They don't make common man hunting guns like they did 30+ years ago anymore.  That thing was built with pride.  A warm wood stock and blued steel  in the woods feels awesome when hunting.

The worst of it.


Im ready to put a scope on this thing but that wont happen for a while.