How Much Would You Pay For a True Unicorn?

[geezer]

Well tell us about it.......

2004 Dan Wesson Patriot Global Hunter. Rumor has it only 6 were made, and a personal friend of Bob Serva has the other 5. It is a 6” railed 10mm with a feed ramp barrel, no other Dan Wesson had the ramped barrel at the time. Also has an external extractor. I’ve never shot it, or disassembled it, but can’t speak of the previous owner. In the right market, it could be worth 5 to 7 times what I paid. The wife knows what I paid, she went with me to get it, and we have a friend wanting it pretty bad, so I hope it won’t be a hinderance on her should I die still owning it.

 

[EugenFJR]

Nope, but if I were to say what gun , I would like its a SAW that I carried in Korea.

I think you mean a BAR. The M249, didn't enter US Army service until 1984. Everyone hates the 249, it's hard to clean, a pain in the ass to carry, and as soon as the newest private get to the unit, he gets the M249 and, gets to be the SAW gunner.

The BAR was no pleasure cruise to carry either, I think they were about 20 pounds loaded. That's only 4 pounds less than a M60.

 

[basstracker89]

2004 Dan Wesson Patriot Global Hunter. Rumor has it only 6 were made, and a personal friend of Bob Serva has the other 5. It is a 6” railed 10mm with a feed ramp barrel, no other Dan Wesson had the ramped barrel at the time. Also has an external extractor. I’ve never shot it, or disassembled it, but can’t speak of the previous owner. In the right market, it could be worth 5 to 7 times what I paid. The wife knows what I paid, she went with me to get it, and we have a friend wanting it pretty bad, so I hope it won’t be a hinderance on her should I die still owning it.View attachment 8307564View attachment 8307566View attachment 8307568View attachment 8307570View attachment 8307593

Cool story. I tried to zoom in on that first pick. Didn't see the DW till these pics

 

[basstracker89]

Well 5 figures? Got to think on this, guess I can not afford one!

Just glad I bought what I did when I did because now would be crazy to even think about it

 

[Gordylew]

Wow - this was originally posted in 2018.

Boys are currently juniors in college and luckily the money I put away in their 529 plans are taking care of the majority of their expenses.

I did secure the unicorn Automag III thanks to an ODT swap meet. So much fun to shoot.

Should probably look for a Blackhawk in .30 carbine. That would probably be cool.

30 cal BH Loudest d@mn gun in my arsenal.

 

[artd]

Almost 7 years since I started this thread and won the Springfield Model of 1924 International Match rifle. As indicated, this rifle was 1 of 12 made by Springfield Armory for USA Rifle Team in 1924. Additionally, it was 1 of the 8 shipped to France for the 1924 Olympics. The rifle was built for the 50 Meter Smallbore, Off-hand event. Four US shooters competed in the event, so there were 4 primary rifles and 4 backup rifles. Unfortunately, beyond identifying the 8 rifles that shipped with the team, no documentation has surfaced as to which 4 rifles were used in the actual Olympic event.

What is know is a 17 year old, Marcus Dinwiddie won the Silver Medal with a 396/400. The Gold when to Pierre Coquelin De Lisle of France with a 398/400 on the last day of the event.

As an interesting follow-up to this story, I stumbled across and acquired another of the 8 rifles that went to France for the Olympics. Here's that story:

A couple months ago this customized M1922 rifle was listed on Gun Broker. What initially caught my attention was that it had been made into a interesting Bullpup by a very skilled gunsmith. The quality workmanship could be seen in both the custom made walnut stock and fabricated trigger mechanism needed to place the trigger forward of the receiver. The only negatives were the present of rust on the front sight base and muzzle and the crudely installed shims on the scope bases.

Here are a few of the original listing photos.

Right View

Left View

Interesting Bullpup Trigger Mechanism

Although the custom work was interesting, the rifle was not something, in-of-itself, I would have bought. However, the next step of the evaluation process was to check out the receiver ring and serial number.

BINGO! I knew exactly what it was before I even had to look it up. SN 1984 was 1 of the 12 twelve IM rifles built for the USA Rifle Team to compete in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Here is a thread I recently wrote discussing these remarkable rifles. 100 Years ago - The Tale Of An American Olympic Athlete and His Rifle

The serial number is also found in the Springfield Research Service (SRS) listings.

• 1984 1922 03/26/24 ACCURACY TEST
• 1984 03/29/24 MODIFIED RIFLE TEST
• 1984 HB 12/09/35 INSPECTED AT SA
• 1984 HB 30 03/25/36 DCM RIFLE SALES 1922-42

Here is what it would have looked like in 1924 as a Model of 1924 International Match Rifle.

Well, quicker then it took me to type this sentence, I clicked the "Buy It Now" button and three days later took possession of the rifle from Fed Exp.

Now you ask, what was your plan? Good question!

I had determined that, at a minimum, the receiver was in original condition and likely the bolt was also correct. The barrel looked to be the original heavy barrel design, but I suspected it had been cut down when transformed to a Bullpup. Also, the present of three scope blocks and rust on the muzzle had me thinking I would simply savage the receiver and bolt, and return them back to a standard Model of 1922 configuration using a NOS barrel I have on hand.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only was the bolt correct and original, the barrel was also uncut and still 30" long.

Barreled Action with restored trigger, trigger guard and rear sight.

Original M1922MI Bolt....

... properly serialized to the receiver.

Knowing that I had the original barreled action, I decided that that any restoration going forward had to include the original 30" heavy barrel. Ideally this would mean restoring it back to international match configuration, but I knew it would be almost impossible to find all the necessary parts since only twelve of these rifle had been made. What to do? The answer, how about restoring it to an even rarer M1922 configuration, the Outdoor Match rifle.

Following the successful performance of the M1924 International Match rifle at the 1924 Olympics, Springfield Armory toyed with offering a heavy barrel version of the M1922 rifle. However, only two were eventually made (one currently in the NRA Museum) because shooters did not see a big improvement over the current standard weight barrel and the price point was likely more then most would pay back then.

Excerpt from Brophy's Book about the Outdoor Match Rifle

Compared to an international match restoration, transforming SN 1984 into an Outdoor Match rifle was relatively easy. The barreled action constituted the bulk of the hard-to-find parts necessary for the restoration. The other required parts included; a M1922 sporting stock with the barrel channel enlarged for the heavy barrel, an aluminum butt plate, a Winchester 67A front globe sight and a resigned front barrel band to accommodate the larger barrel diameter.

I had most of the parts, including the M1922 stock and surprisingly found the Winchester 67A front sight and an aluminum butt plate online. The only part proving to be elusive is the front barrel band, so it would need to be fabricated.

Two days later, I grabbed the spare M1922 stock and went to work enlarging the barrel channel. The next morning I assembled what I had on hand and was proud to present, SN 1984, restored as a Springfield Model of 1922 Outdoor Match rifle.

Update - 1/18/25

I fabricated a barrel band, just as Springfield Armory did, using a pair of Enfield M1917 bands. A local jeweler laser welded the two pieces together for me. It turned out nice.

Art

 

[paxton62]

I think you mean a BAR. The M249, didn't enter US Army service until 1984. Everyone hates the 249, it's hard to clean, a pain in the ass to carry, and as soon as the newest private get to the unit, he gets the M249 and, gets to be the SAW gunner.

The BAR was no pleasure cruise to carry either, I think they were about 20 pounds loaded. That's only 4 pounds less than a M60.

View attachment 8307607

I have to disagree with you about the SAW. I was a 60 gunner first and loved when we moved to the saw. Less weight, higher rate of fire. The bipods did suck. The effective range was still 1k and the 60 could go a little further. But still, much easier to low crawl with!

 

[paxton62]

I saw this the other day......Why cant I win the lottery????? Nice version 1 K date rig with matching mags.......https://simpsonltd.com/mauser-p-08-s-42-k-date-c65267/

 

[Deleted member 97214]

5 figures for a 22...? You got more money than sense lol.