The pre-64 Model 70 Featherweight market|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

Last week while browsing active Gunbroker auctions to see what was hot and what was not in the pre-64 Winchester market, without any intent to bid or buy, I came across a 1960 Model 70 Featherweight 30/06 in very nice condition, unmessed with, all original finishes with minimal wear from use, the sole anomaly a Pachmayr Whiteline in lieu of the cheap factory  plastic buttplate. A Redfield Jr. base was included. 

The auction would close in an hour. There were a number of bids because it was a penny start auction, but the high bid was only $971 USD. 

My own opinion of the market was a nice Featherweight, even in ’06, would hammer for $1200 USD + or – $150. Worn Standard style ’06 rifles were dipping well below a grand but the market liked Featherweights better. 

So what’s with $971. The more I looked, the more I liked the rifle so about 20 minutes before closing I put in a $1200 bid, assuming that would flush out an autobid and if it ran the price up past $1200 he could have it and welcome.

But I became high bidder at $981. What??

As the clock crept toward 15 minutes out,  I thought some.clueless player was going to start bidding within the 15 minute window and we’d be extending the closing time… but nobody did anything and the hammer fell on my $981 bid. 

I’ve been looking for the scorpion under the violet ever since. What did I miss? 

FedEx put the gun in my hands this morning and it is better than described. I’m plumb tickled with it and loved the price …….

But the very same large Florida dealer auctioned a 1961 Featherweight 06 back in May, condition a little rougher than mine and with the later narrow machine checkering. It had a recoil pad too – a black Pachmayr Old English.  Bidders were all over it and it closed for $1200 on the nose.  

I guess a $200 + discount is not an unreasonable fluctuation and the causes are unknowable. 

In comparing the bidding histories of the two auctions, ignoring the bids placed from the penny start up to a serious eight hundred bucks, i did notice one difference. The last several bidders for my gun had feedback numbers of more than a hundred. Whereas in the May auction, the bidders who chased the price from under a thousand up to the $1200 closing bid had feedback numbers in single and double digits. 

I’m not sure what conclusions to draw from that, if any. 

But the lesson i do take is you can’t assume the bid you can afford to make won’t be enough to win.

I’ve written before about my bartending friend who always asked pretty girls to go home with him, at closing time. He was living proof that good fortune smiles on persistence.