Questions on USGI NM barrels from the 60's

take off NM USGI barrels in that condition are worth about $225-$300. i just sold a SAK NM barrel, NEW in the tube, had to reduce to $350 before it sold.

USGI standard Chrome Lined barrels sell much faster and for near the same $$>

Yes both makers are scarcer today because most made during that time went on guns during manufacture and later on as replacements.

Take off NM barrels are not always that easy to sell. Usually there is a reason the barrels have been changed.

Bill Ricca said:

Yes both makers are scarcer today because most made during that time went on guns during manufacture and later on as replacements.

Take off NM barrels are not always that easy to sell. Usually there is a reason the barrels have been changed.

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Bill that statement does not make sense to me, there are lots of reasons we have spare parts.

1) Destruction of recievers
2) Reimportation laws banning whole rifles but not parts.
3) The fact that M14s can't be sold to the public.

Scott Duff assumes that there are as few as 200,000 M14s in USG hands which means there were tons of perfect like new M1s given away or demilled. There is only one way to get that stuff back, parts.

Elmer down in Devine made "great" rifles out of NM parts, why were they taken off?

It seems that M14 parts are the rule not the exception, no?

What Bill was saying is that usually when a NM barrel is removed from a rifle it is because it's shot out & has begun to lose it's accuracy. With both of yours guaging MW at 1 or under they would still be accurate I'd think. You need to know the TE too though.

You are right that there are USGI NM take-off barrels out there that were removed for other reasons, but you have to be careful.

That makes sense. The TE is tight too. I inserted my Stone Axe engineering M1 gauge in there to check them relative to each other and they were all very tight. The TRW with the lowest MW also had the lowest relative TE.

In my Garand travels it has always been said that MW is the thing that effects accuracy the most.

The dealer I got them from is an awesome guy and if they aren't shooters he'll make it right! This guy is the best dealer in the world, in my eyes.

The price was very reasonable too.

So did SA and TRW make extra NM barrels or ONLY the NM guns? If that is the case there are only a few thousand of each ever made, no?

My statement was in reference to barrels removed by match shooters, not demilled rifles. With all the selling and secondary selling it is usually impossible to tell the history of a take off NM barrel.

Usually a barrel that is not good enough for competition shooting will still be ok for the average guy building a rack grade rifle. But then it will not bring the NM price.

Also keep in mind when Elmer Balance was building rifles, NM barrels were around in new condition in large quantities. Today almost all NM barrels I see are take offs from competition shooters. New in tube will bring premium dollars.

By their very nature NM barrels are never made in large quantities compared to other spare parts. There just were that many NM rifles made. The NM barrel contracts from the late 1960's - early 1970's by SAK are an indication that by that time more barrels were needed as there wasn't enough NM barrels in the system to support the few rifles in service.

Yeah like i said above, i had a NEW IN TUBE SAK NM, with end caps, barrel wick etc. Still only bought $350. It was for sale here and other forums for near a month. In the same time period i sold 3 USGI standard chrome lined barrels, TRW, HR, and Win. They sold from $275 to $300.

Mr. Lamey's experience confirms what many have found. If an NM barrel is not New in Tube, it will just be another barrel. That is a reflection of the market place, not my wishes.

I think on the inter-net good items have a hard time selling. I have better success at gun shows. In the last two years I have sold two NM barrels, new in wrap for $400 and $425.00. Could never get that on the internet because somebody will remember a past price that was lower. That memory, although it will not produce another barrel, will put the potential buyer in a mindset that the price is too high.

Bill, i should have sent you my new in tube barrel to sell! In honesty one reason i like to sell here is that i have formed a pretty good working relationship with several folks, and would rather sell to them at a good price etc.

Another reason the USGI NM barrels dont sell for as much is the fact that you can get a Gene Barnett barrel cheaper from Brownells or Champions Choice. Yeah, they dont have the collector "buzz" but from a shooters view they are the way to go (price vs. accuracy etc.)

You are correct about the quality of new made NM barrels and price vs US GI. The barrels made today are excellent quality. There are however a few shooters that want a "Screw on" barrel. They don't want to have to cut headspace and go thru the potential hassle of screwing up by cutting too much.

They usually purchase the GI. Twist on and it is done.

A little update, I was counting the first line on my gauge as 1 and after seeing all the posts about MW of 0 I thought, how can people tell?

Well stupid me the first line is 0 not 1 so the MW on both is actually 0.

I'm one happy camper!