I thought the last two Bisley Shows were good but I had no idea what was in store for Sword & Musket at Birmingham.

As with the two last shows it is the quality items that are moving the quickest.  Which is a great sign as, By Sword and Musket, has been concentrating on this sector of the Classic and Collectible Military Rifle market for some time now.

The wise money seems to be sticking with Quality…. keep it up guys, you wont be dissappointed.

A foot note to all of this, is that the shipment from the USA has arrived, all the weapons have passed proof and are ready to be released to the right persons, its just a matter of time required to get them all listed.

I just wanted to wish all my customers Happy shooting, collecting and when it gets here….Christmas.

The interest in classic and collectible military rifles is definately increasing.  Purchases were strong and it looks like the stock which is about to emerge from the proof house may not be enough to stem the tide of interst on the subject.

This only encourages me to carry on sourcing top quality military spec’ rifles from around the world.  It’s quality, not quantity that counts in this field, as so many of each mark were originally produced for the home forces of each of the countries.  Literally millions of some marks were produced and most of them were not too carefully treated.

It takes time to find the good ones and I just have to ask for your patience.  I would stress however that it is easy to surround your self with a huge collection of not very good stuff, and next year it will still be not very good stuff, which in turn will always be difficult to re-sell.  So discretion being the better part of valour, we all have to wait for the good ones to emerge.  So keep your eyes on the prize and I’ll get it for you.

Thanks again, see you all at the Pheonix next May …………….

Its that wonderful time of year again when all the documentation has come together. All the charges have been paid, the exporters have done their thing, the Airline its’ and the importers have made that magical phone call…. ” all the items have cleared and they are ready for colection….”

I can now announce that 33 differing Military Rifles have arived in the hands of Sword & Musket and as soon as they have passed proof they wll be listed and be available for sale to avid collectors and shooters all over the country.

They cover a wide field of interest and added to the already interesting but, rapidly dwindling list in stock, include some of the following;  There are approximately

6 1903 Springfield US Service Rifles in .30-06

7 Swedish Mausers in 6.5mm

3 No4 Enfields in .303

3 K98 Mausers in 7.92mm

3 P17 in .30-06

2 Springfield Krags in .30-40

A French Berthier Carbine

A .44 mag 1894 Marlin

An 1895  Steyr in 8mm

A Schmidt-Rubin 1896/11 in 7.5mm

A 50.-70 Springfield Trapdoor Musket

If any of these are of interest to you please do not hesitate to get on the blower and I will give any details I can at that moment.  Viewing will not be possible for sometime, and I dont think they will make the Trafalgar Meeting at Bisley as they will probably still be in proof.

Nevertheless, Sword and Musket will be at the Trafalgar, October 22 & 23 with a wide selection of current stock as shown on the website now, and it would be great to see you all and TALK GUNS.

If anybody wants to see anything in particular just make a request before the Friday and I will make sure its on board,

AT The  Motorcycle Museum……………

Sword & Musket was outside in our own tent again, and that’s nothing to do with complaints from my fellow traders about my rich vegetarian dietary intake. One likes it outside, in the fresh air, and there was plenty of that around – passing through the tent at around 35 mph. Luckily I had taken with me some extra tent pegs and was able to keep the tent at least on terra-ferma.  A year or so ago when I took my own “Party-Style” tent I remember nocanantly hanging on the the tent for dear life as I tried to look as unconcerned as possible while discussing the varrious ins and out of the .30-06 Springfield and, wondering at what point, 13.1/2 stone of English/German was going into national air space whilst attached to a flimsy white tent.

Altough I went up there not expect much I was pleasantly surprised and altogether, takings are about the same as last year. Quality sells.

Basecamp

And thats the point really, it is what has been lurking at the back of our skulls for a long time. This stuff does not go down in value, its not like buying a new car, and watching the value decrease just for taking it of the dealers hands and tidying up his forecourt. These items are mostly investments. Ok, so you buy from a dealer and he gets his cut, so that might result in you having to produce a little more of the redies than you had originally planned, but, if you have bought well, concentrated on quality and put some research into your area of interst the item in question is going to increase in value.

Not that I deal in many deacts, but I found myself having to adjust my back up knowledge today when I found out that the humble Bren gun has doubled in price in the past four years. At one point they swamped the market but now that is not the case, rareity pushes value.  Now put the same scinario against one of the many military bolt actions from the last war and multiply by a much higher factor and you start to get the picture.

This was all bourne out by the high level of interest in the rifles on the stand over the weekend. The Springfields that I stock may have been the top end of the Military Rifle collector/shooters budget for a long time, but even they now are getting caught up with by some of the other marques.

Although fun, cheap, slightly battered bolt actions will always eventually sell, there is always going to be a place for the quality pieces at the top end of the scale. I’m not a financial advisor but Classic quality goods always hold their value, and the fewer of them around the steeper the scale of monatary increase.

If you couple that comfortable feeling of rock steady investment, with the fun had trying to master the art of shooting one of these venerable weapons, (and you find out it isn’t as easy as the filmakers would have us beleive) then it makes for a pretty interesting past time.

Looks like I had better stop waffling and find some more goodies to bring into the country………

See you at Birmingham on June 12th

A brief idea of what will soon be available (not spoken for so far)  follows;

One Remington 1903 A3 Bolt action US service rifle in its original caliber of 30-06.

One Springfield 1903 Bolt action Service rifle in 30-06.

One Springfield 1903 MkI Bolt action service rifle in 30-06.

One Remington 1903-A4 Sniper Rifle with M82 Scope in 30-06.

Carl Gustaf 1896 full length Sweedish bolt action Service Rifle in 6.5 x 55.

One Enfield No5 Mk1 Jungle Carbine in 303.

One Mosin-Nagant bolt action Sevice Rifle in 7.62 Russian.

One Springfield 1888 Trapdoor Rifle with rod bayonet in 45-70.

One Winchester 1873 Lever action Rifle in .32WCF

One Winchester 1886 Lever action rifle in 40-82. (obsolete caliber)

One Winchester 1894 Lever action rifle in 32-40. (obsolete caliber)

One Marlin 1893 Lever action Rifle in 32-40 (obsolete caliber)

One Winchester 1886 Lever action rifle in 38-56 (obsolete caliber)

They still have to be proofed but will then be available. Full descriptions and prices along with photos will appear once they have arrived. If anyone is interested in any of these, don’t be shy!  They don’t usually hang around for long.

Serial numbers available on request.

Also some fine Antiques on their way;

A good Pair of French Percussion Officers Pistols. Marked “Manufrf Rle de Chatellerault/Couturier”. approx .69 cal.

A Cased Pair of Percussion English Holster Pistols by Collins. .50 cal percussion. With accessories – extremely fine.

An excellent Pair of cased Engraved Edinburgh marked Manstopper Percussion Pistols by Harkom. .58 cal. These are more like Show-stoppers than Man-stoppers.

Smith & Wesson Model number 2 revolver in .32 cal. Condition, Fine to excellent.

In the article he puts the Classic Sniper Rifle through its paces and comes up with some interesting conclusions, least of all, its still up to the job. It is a good four page read with plenty of illustrations using two of our stock guns which are put through their paces.

Thanks Pete good article.

Usually situated outside in our own tent we will be displaying  the top Classic Collectible Rifles from our current Stock.

Mainly trading in High Quality Military Rifles from the two World Wars and before. All highly shootable and in good collectors condition with originality as one of our main points followed closely behind by excellent bores with plenty of life left in them.

The Bisley Pheonix is always an excellent, well attended and interesting show.  

We hope to see you there.  We will be set up from Friday morning right through to Sunday afternoon where you can examine all the items you want and hopefully go home with all the goodies you want.