Auction House swjXE-5768T

[Mike2994]

Hammer dropped yesterday afternoon and I am the new owner of swjXE 5768 T, never thought I would own one of these (atleast not for a long time). Rifle is matching; with a badly sporterized/refinished stock, cut handguard retainer, and buffed metal. The auction house says it will ship in 1-3 weeks and I will post better photos then.

I want to get everyone's feedback, should I have the finish on the metal fixed? I am torn as a it still retains some original finish but again it was buffed. I have a guy that can phosphate it back perfectly, but then it would be refinished. I will be taking off the stock to one of my matching bnz no final T blocks to put on this until I find a loose stock or bolt M/M to put on this.

 

[mrfarb]

I watched that auction, not too much you can do about the damage done without restoring it. I was actually surprised it sold for that considering - I’m still seeing at least one pop up every couple years, most with issues but some nice and original. Personally I’d go ahead and lightly restore it - it’s not very appealing as is.

 

[swede1894]

If you don't mind me asking, what did this one sell for? I have been out of the loop on swjXE auctions for a while.

​

 

[mrfarb]

$2600 plus about 20% auction fee.

 

[heavy_mech]

...I’m still seeing at least one pop up every couple years, most with issues but some nice and original.

Wow. Are these that rare in the wild?

 

[mrfarb]

Yes, pretty rare (or scarce as they build up in quantity) because they often aren’t identified properly. Even this auction originally didn’t know what it was, someone told them and they changed the auction up. I’m not completely sure how many are made but I suspect nearly every one is somewhere here, brought back with all the bnz45’s. The ranges are 5500t to 6500t, so it would seem randoms could fall anywhere in between.

 

[Mike2994]

Yes, pretty rare (or scarce as they build up in quantity) because they often aren’t identified properly. Even this auction originally didn’t know what it was, someone told them and they changed the auction up. I’m not completely sure how many are made but I suspect nearly every one is somewhere here, brought back with all the bnz45’s. The ranges are 5500t to 6500t, so it would seem randoms could fall anywhere in between.

How many swj's do you have reported at this point? I think my count is 6-7. I know of atleast 2 in OH counting this one, yours, the matching one the sold to a member here, one that came from an auction house on the east coast, one that sold at RIA regional, and I thought I saw photos of another one at some point.

 

[mrfarb]

I have photo evidence of 8 but have heard of at least 1 other I didn’t get photos of. I suspect some others have passed by me since I really have been lax on keeping up with them.

 

[nirvana]

Bubba went out of his way to target these guns. I swear, the sporter rate has to be higher for these than any other maker/date out there.

At this point, I’d probably refinish it, since you’ll be working on the hand guard ring anyhow.

 

[Winchester Cowboy]

A Nice Find. Thanks for posting.

 

[Caesar1]

Nice! I was wondering if someone here got it.

 

[Absolut]

It to me looks as if someone tried to add cold blue over phosphate finish. Maybe try to strip the blueing with vinegar and then you possibly end up with original phosphate finish.

 

[WreckTangle]

Yes, pretty rare (or scarce as they build up in quantity) because they often aren’t identified properly. Even this auction originally didn’t know what it was, someone told them and they changed the auction up. I’m not completely sure how many are made but I suspect nearly every one is somewhere here, brought back with all the bnz45’s. The ranges are 5500t to 6500t, so it would seem randoms could fall anywhere in between.

LOL, hard to get something reasonably priced when you have, sorry have to say it... morons, informing moron auctioneers that they should, you know, like actually take 2 minutes to google the markings on a rifle that someone entrustsed them with selling with the reasonable expectation of receiving a fair price/ROI. For most auctioneers, just the mere thought of having to move their fingers over a keyboard, or depress a camera shutter control 0,5mm just one more time!!!!! is just too much for only 20% PLUS what they take from the seller (RIA quoted me 20% before). I've seen where an auctioneer updated his listing, stating, something like... we were just informed by a bidder that this is one of the rarest trainers and is the only one known to exist. Or something to that effect. Yea, $5k later and that was 20 years ago.... I got the same maker for $700 about 3 months ago and just let yet another one go for $2,500 last week.

Lol, half of them are so lazy they can't even run a spell check. Copy and paste the line below exactly as is into Google, LOL
("auction" AND "mouser") rifle

Moral, do your homework on who you entrust to handle the disposition of your firearms. Better, yet just sell here.

After looking 5 years and scoring a Paatz, my life felt fulfilled for like 3 days... Now if I could just pry Farb's fingers off one of his late war all matching and correct 99.9999999999% corncob beauties with stock chatter so sharp it makes you bleed if you touch it... yea BRB, time to take a Diazepam.

 

[Mike2994]

It to me looks as if someone tried to add cold blue over phosphate finish. Maybe try to strip the blueing with vinegar and then you possibly end up with original phosphate finish.

I didn't think about that possibility, I will have to try that if it looks like cold blue in hand.

 

[Mike2994]

LOL, hard to get something reasonably priced when you have morons informing moron auctioneers that they should, you know, like actually take 2 minutes to google the markings on a rifle that someone entrusts you with selling with the expectation of receiving a fair price/ROI. For most auctioneers, just the mere thought of having to move their fingers over a keyboard, or depress a camera shutter control 0,5mm just one more time!!!!! is just too much for only 20% PLUS what they take from the seller. I've seen where an auctioneer updated his listing, stating, we were just informed by a bidder that this is one of the rarest trainers and is the only one known to exist. Or something to that effect. Yea, 5k later 20 years ago....

Lol, half of them are so lazy they can't even run a spell check. Copy and paste the line below exactly as is into Google, LOL
("auction" AND "mouser") rifle

Once I saw that someone let the auctioneer know what this was I knew I was going to have to pay for it (Plus I think another forum member was duking it out with me til around 2400 anyways).

I don't know why a bidder would let the auctioneer know something is rare... Some people don't know when to shut up.

 

[WreckTangle]

Once I saw that someone let the auctioneer know what this was I knew I was going to have to pay for it (Plus I think another forum member was duking it out with me til around 2400 anyways).

I don't know why a bidder would let the auctioneer know something is rare... Some people don't know when to shut up.

If the auctioneer doesn't know. makes no effort to know or run a Google inquiry... You have a better chance of getting something scarce/rare for cheaper than you could get a sporterized BYF43. But, it takes a lot of time and effort.

But often the reward is so satisfying it makes it worth it. Plus, when collecting Mausers is more addicting than crack and you are surrounded by hundreds of other crackheads who can't control themselves either ... it's hard to stop. I think the chase is half the fun--at least for us younger guys who never had the chance to buy Mausers by the shipping container.

Concerning the rifle initially discussed, I believe it was worth every penny you spent and then some. A) you've been searching for how long? B) How many are out there? C) The ones that are known to exist, Farb mentioned 8.... the only reason he knows that is through his super duper top secret connections in the Mauser collecting community... What are the chances an advanced collector would let one of these loose? Or, let loose on the PUBLIC market? Pretty slim and if they did it would be a lot more than you paid. This one will hold you over until you find a more "correct" example.

 

[heavy_mech]

...Farb mentioned 8.... the only reason he knows that is through his super duper top secret connections in the Mauser collecting community... What are the chances an advanced collector would let one of these loose? Or, let loose on the PUBLIC market? Pretty slim and if they did it would be a lot more than you paid. This one will hold you over until you find a more "correct" example.

Yeah, not to seem macabre, sometimes it only happens after they pass. Not always then even if they have interested heirs.

 

[Mike2994]

If the auctioneer doesn't know. makes no effort to know or run a Google inquiry... You have a better chance of getting something scarce/rare for cheaper than you could get a sporterized BYF43. But, it takes a lot of time and effort.

But often the reward is so satisfying it makes it worth it. Plus, when collecting Mausers is more addicting than crack and you are surrounded by hundreds of other crackheads who can't control themselves either ... it's hard to stop. I think the chase is half the fun--at least for us younger guys who never had the chance to buy Mausers by the shipping container.

Concerning the rifle initially discussed, I believe it was worth every penny you spent and then some. A) you've been searching for how long? B) How many are out there? C) The ones that are known to exist, Farb mentioned 8.... the only reason he knows that is through his super duper top secret connections in the Mauser collecting community... What are the chances an advanced collector would let one of these loose? Or, let loose on the PUBLIC market? Pretty slim and if they did it would be a lot more than you paid. This one will hold you over until you find a more "correct" example.

The chase is definitely always the rewarding part. Having them on the rack is very big added bonus!

It’s hard to put a value on guns like this. With 8 known to exist it’s whatever 2 people are willing to take it to. It was a glaring hole in my late war collection and I was willing to take it higher to fill that.

Would the owner of an untouched matching closet find accept a number double, triple, or quadruple the what I paid for theirs? I would seriously doubt it as there’s little chance to find a replacement (and all of us need our crack fix). On top of that if an advanced collector passes and the family decides to sell at this point there’s a good chance that it will go to a major auction house (RIA, Morphys, etc) at that point it is out of most price ranges as there’s no telling how high it would go. Quite a few of the advanced collectors that I know have instructions for their family to contact “XYZ auction”.

 

[Mike2994]

Finally had a chance to pick up the rifle & get photos of it. The stock as suspected was the original and obviously beyond saving, but I will keep it.

As stated above the rifle looks to have been buffed a bit along with some cold blue being added to it potentially. I will work with some vinegar this evening and tomorrow to try to see if I can get anything off of it.

We have a good welder at the shop that will transplant a donor handguard retainer onto the rear sight base.

I am still torn on if I will have a friend re-phosphate it or not, I will see what happens after I work on it a bit.

As for the stock, once it is finished I will take the stock off of one of my 'T' blocks with no final until I can find a bolt M/M 'T' block or a donor stock for this rifle.

Photos:

 

[Mike2994]