P.Muerrle said
The seller of that M71 is not the one who had the paper boxes made up and faked the gun. It was a guy from the East Coast who recently passed away. He is the guy who put up NIB M61, 62, 63, 71, 42, and12s. I wouldn’t touch a NIB of any of these models with a ten foot pole. He flooded the market with them and phony manufacturing orders too. Oh I almost forgot, M70s also.

Pauline,

Seen this seller selling a NIB model 64 Deer Rifle (Deluxe). Can that model be added to your list as well?

Sickening.

Matt

That’s a shame. I just bought 2 near NIB 1950s Winchesters. I bought them from the son of the original purchaser. There must be a lot of other authentic ones out there. They are really a joy to own.

JWM94 said
Comments on this boxed 61, please:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=333040170

My comments are likely more critical than some others but I am personally very picky about "NIB" rifles. My theory is that boxed guns and boxes should be as close to "as new" condition as possible when you pay the premium for a NIB gun. To me (maybe not others) a 95% rifle in a heavily worn box with missing or non-original tags and papers is not desirable unless it’s priced right. Most of them are priced as though everything is "as new."

This M61 is a good example. It may be original–I don’t see any red flags at first glance. But it surely is not "as new." The box has several tears and shows a lot of wear. The spacer is heavily oil stained. The wood shows a bunch of dings (the seller says picture 18 does not show a scratch but there it is big as life). There’s a ding on the receiver.

I know that M61 octagon barrel 22 short rifles are valuable but if I paid $5000 or more for this one I’d want to feel that the rifle alone was worth that much and there was no added premium for the box. I really don’t want to pay any premium for a 90-95% rifle that was used and put back into it’s worn and torn box.

vicvanb Thank you for the comments.

James