www.MG42.us

Been there a few weeks now, and relisted. I wondered if anyone else has seen it? Its a DWAT, and the reserve is $20K! I'm thinking is probably worth $10K at most? The highest its been bid up to is $5K Apparently the receiver was cut and welded together at the barrel/barrel extension. Probably not a good one to REWAT. Its part of an estate and I get the impression the seller doesnt know too much about it.

Yeah I have been working on trying to buy this for months. I don't think its going to happen. He is just fishing on GB, so please do me a favor and don't bid unless you really want it for $20K. I am a little disappointed as he has still had failed to tell me its listed and he knows I have been trying to buy it for 6 months. Oh well, some you just can't win with.

This is the same guy that I got the MG08/15 dewat from in November of last year. We are just starting the paper work this month! So be warned! I would not be shocked if none of these actually sell as he is not the owner. He is selling them for a older lady.

I had really hoped to get the 08 and 08/15 in a package deal but he has been unwilling to give me a price. Probably called him 100 times at this point. Just a little disappointing.

What's the auction number? I'm interested in seeing what's offered.

Bob Naess

Bob, I PMed you a link.

Seeing the seller doesn't know how to spell "Maxim" and the gun isnt his, I wasn't going to bid. I've love the optic and sled, but I'll keep looking unless he gets realistic on the pricing.

Interesting, he's got a lot of stuff listed, and the "buy it now" prices are completely insane. This is a pretty good looking MG08 & Sled, but it's hard to tell exactly how messed up it is from the dewat process.

If I hadn't just bought 3 MG08's & sleds in much better shape for under $1000 total, I might be tempted to try to offer him somewhere around it's actual value....

OK, I'll bite. How do you buy 3 sleds and machine guns for under $1,000.00?

It's a joke, son, I say, it's a joke...


I guess I really could have done that in say... 1930 or so!

Of course, there'd be other problems with being in 1930, like I'd be living just at the beginning of a world wide depression, started by a major collapse in the banking sector, with high unemployment, insane inflation in certain parts of the world, and an aloof and unresponsive government....

Sorry bbigbore, I was Joking, but also referring back to this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9888&p=75550#p75550

I can't seem to edit my other post, so I'll just put this here.

I emailed some questions to the seller on gunbroker, I wonder if I'll get a response....

I asked him for pictures of the dewated parts. Lets see if he gets it right. If he has any reasonable sense of value, I'll make him an offer on the sled and optic. Those parts are probably worth about as much as the gun if its as bad as he described.

Looking over the pics, I don't see anything that is dreadful about the 08 that would reduce its value significantly. Pitting on the bottomplate is about the worst of it, missing the steam hose fitting, and a couple small dings on the jacket, and mismatched feedblock and maybe a few other parts. The value of the scope is negligible, and the sled looks about average, but with a good paint job. I don't see any welding along the recoil plates, and see what looks like grease there, but that may be incorrect. There is nothing in the description indicating any serious, unrepairable damage. Weld in the breech is old hat.
Valuing the sled and scope the same as the gun is way out of line, and completely unrealistic, even by value standards in the current economic slump. From the pics, a fair value for the sled and gun might be in the $14k-16k range.
Not sure from where you guys are getting your values, but I doubt, if you had one to sell, that you would sell a comparable MG08 and sled with the sled and gun at the same value...... That comes in at about $8000 in my estimation, even giving the sled a bit of an advantage......

Bob Naess

bmg17a1 wrote: There is nothing in the description indicating any serious, unrepairable damage.
Bob Naess

I think was not listed in the description may be the game changer. He told me the receiver was cut then welded, which sounds like a lot more than some weld in the breech.

I was thinking the scope and sled was worth $5-6K. I've see functional MG08s sell by themselves lately for under $8K, so I'd value a questionable DWAT at about $6K.

Looking at the pictures carefully, I think the booster on the front of the gun is an MG 08/15 booster, missing the bell type shield that screws in place. I dont' know if it is in every pic, as one of the pics shows a booster with the flash hider shield, but it looks odd, like perhaps its' a home-made version.

I don't think it's a bad gun either, and I couldn't see any weld either on the inside. Im curious how the dewating was done, there's a number of things that could have been done to this, all different...

Guys,

Be careful is all I have to say. I have been talking to this guy for months about this gun. When he first sent pictures, he did not think to add one of the bottom plate pitting. I agree Bob, that and the dents. However if the dewat as done like the 08/15 he sold me, I would be that the barrel is welded to the recoil plates, both and then there is at least one or maybe two welds to the receiver plate.

I do have to say that Maxim prices all over have seemed very low. Bob, of course if we were selling it, yes we would ask more. However we also know what we are talking about and you would not be taking a shot in the dark because some very useful pictures were left out. He was suppose to send me a CD with pictures months ago. He said he is going to do it this weekend, so we will see.

Remember this is not this guys gun! He does not know maxims or any MGs for that matter. Be very careful and leave yourself room for getting less than what you think. I am going to take a shot at getting this gun before its all done and there is a good chance I will get first right of refusal once all the other "offers" come in. I think thats what he is doing now and thats what he did on that MG08/15. I am really hoping I can make it happen as it will be my first MG08. That bottom plate does make me really worry as it does not fit the rest of the gun and mount and makes me wonder how that got so pitted... Like I said, I have been working on buying this gun since last November! I have a copy of the MG08 form 5 sitting in my house waiting for us to come to a deal on price so I can do the paperwork. Hopefully this is just the last painful step...

Looked at the pics again, and I don't see any evidence that a sideplate was welded. If the barrel was welded to the recoil plates and there are a couple beads along the recoil plates, no big deal. Having reactivated dozens of 08s, there's nothing especially bad about that, although unfortunate, and I've seen a whole lot worse. Overall the finish looks quite nice, wood looks good, etc, etc. Of course, a buyer would raise any and every objection about little details to try and lower the price, but I see a quite nice 08 there, and hope Matt can get it a good price. I just don't agree that its condition is so awful, regardless of the DEWATing, and the lowball values suggested.
There have been a number of 08 sales within a year or so where the prices were very low, specifically Steve Davis' sale in which the 08 went for $10k with the sled and the Julia Auctiions sales last fall where and 08 and a T24 went for a total of $21k or there abouts, with guns/mounts if fair condition, with or without the buyer's premium, which I don't recall. I know the buyers, in any case. All very unusual events and not at all indiciative of the real value of these guns, in my view. Auctions are a crap shoot, and sometimes buyer's really make out well, such as at those two Julia auctions. Because the Bruce Stern auction, where prices were absurdly high, scared many potential bidders away, few bidders showed up at the subsequent events. Couple 1914 Hotchkiss guns, $3500 each, T96 and T99s for $3500, etc. Great deals, but certainly not "market"! Bigbore mentions that he's seen MG08s go for $8k without sleds, so he should have bought if he wanted one! I recall one recently with a tripod and not a sled, but don't recal that it was $8k, and maybe I missed it, but prices like that are few and far between. These guns don't show up for sale much anymore.
I do agree that it's a buyer beware situation, as always, but from the pics, I don't see any obnoxious surprises, and still feel the fair value would be in the $15k range.
Matt: glad to see your 08 site going! I have aminor suggestion. It would be useful with the serial numbers if you noted which info was from Dolf's book and which is from other sources, and where.

Bob

bmg17a1 wrote: Matt: glad to see your 08 site going! I have aminor suggestion. It would be useful with the serial numbers if you noted which info was from Dolf's book and which is from other sources, and where.

Bob, Thanks. I have been fooling with it for a few years now. I can not seem to get a format that I like and works with all computers. That along with job changing has kept me busy. As far as the page, its easy to see which ones came from Dolf as they are in the book. Maybe I could highlight the ones that aren't Dolfs. I save a picture of the updated ones. I believe that #39 DWM MG08 is from you.

The reason I suggest noting which are Dolf's and which are new is that not everyone has Dolf's book and it is interesting to see which is new info.
Yes, I have DWM #39, marked 1908 on the fusee, complete and matching except lock and barrel, which is typical.
I believe that the DWM #1 noted is also just a topcover from when I asked Dolf some years ago.

Bob

The value of these things is whatever someone is willing to pay. The fact that the highest bid this gun has seen is $6,000.00 speaks volumes. Belt fed prices in general have come way down in the last few years. OOW, had an MG42 for $28K listed for the last 3 months. 4 yrs ago you couldn't touch one for much less than $40K. They also have pre-may MG34 w/Lafayette for $12.5K. 3 yrs ago I sold 2 pre-may MG34s alone for $14K each.

I've been looking for a sled for a while and have some real good guys looking for me. MG08s aren't popping up too often, but as has been said, they aren't going for what they once were.

The guys like me in our late 30s are the new machine gun market, and that dwat w/sled isnt worth any more than $10-12K tops. I don't know what IMBLITZVT is considering a fair price that he would pay, but those I spend time with agree with me. The days of new machine gun collectors are over. I know several guys who have 10-15 MGs, because they started collecting in the early 80s. The thought of the cost of someone my age, today, buying more than a few MGs is unrealistic for most.

I believe the machine gun market in general maxed out in pricing the last few years. Free market or not, the prices were crazy. What I'm seeing now is a bunch of old guys, who bought in before or close to 86, who are happy to sell what was $20K 5yrs ago, for $12-15K, because they probably only paid $4-6K or less.

I think prices will drop a bit more and lever out for several years to come.

Damn its annoying that posts cant be edited. I just read read mine and the tone came across completely wrong. In short, I believe a generational gap has been reached in the sales/ownership of machine guns. There are some of the older guys who are happy to still double or triple their pre 86 purchase price, and there are those who will have a hard time believing what was valued at $20 a few years ago is only $15K today.

The other side of the gap are the guys my age, who for the most part arent going to pay the big bucks anymore because thats just too much money.

I did not take the tone as bad.

I am only 28 and only own 2 MGs at this time.

As far as price, I think his first buy it now was $25K and the reserve was $20k. I do not really want to say more about the price as I feel I still have a chance at bringing this one home eventually but it will not be as cheap as I was hoping! If I get it there is about 99% chance I will have a fairly nice MG08 sled to sell and a good chance I will have two to sell along with a Junker. It will just depend on how deep I have to dig into my personal collection to pay for things.

Yeah I hate that edit thing too... however I have learned not to take to much into tone on the forums. Text is not good at tone