I just discovered this forum and thought this might be a good place to ask a question.

I am past shooting anymore for health reasons and age. I have a Sako .243 Forester that was bought new in in a PX in Viet Nam in the early 70's and has never been fired. It has always been kept in a soft case in the back of the closet. I think the time has come for me to part with it. Could you folks advise me as to its value, and how I might go about selling it. I haven't bought or sold a gun in an awful long time, and I have no clue how to go about it.

oldmillrat - You might want to check out some of the online auctions to get an idea of what the rifle might be worth. My older gun traders guide puts a value of around 580.00 on it but I don't know how accurate that might be now. You can check out a new copy to be sure. It is a nice looking rifle! Good luck! CEJ..

oldmillrat - You might want to check out some of the online auctions to get an idea of what the rifle might be worth. My older gun traders guide puts a value of around 580.00 on it but I don't know how accurate that might be now. You can check out a new copy to be sure. It is a nice looking rifle! Good luck! CEJ..

Thanks for the tip! I did go to a few online auctions, and the prices asked for the same gun there seem to be unrealistic. $775, $950, and $1500. Is this just a case of wisful thinking? There were no bids on these guns at those starting prices.

oldmillrat - I guess it's worth what ever price people are willing to pay or what price they want or need for the sale. Sometimes people need to realize that just because something is priced at a certain value they might not get it because to someone else that price would buy a new rifle. I'm sure that a collector of Sako rifles would be more interested in it than Joe Average looking for a new gun. Once you settle on a price that seems fair to you place an ad here in the trading post and see what happens. Good luck to you! CEJ..

Welcome to the board, Oldmillrat -

You mentioned you purchased the Sako in the early 70's. Is the barrel marked with import marks by "Garcia" in any manner? 1972 was the period when Sako began using Garcia to import the firearms. Those so marked will have a decided lower value than those which are "pre-Garcia".

I sold a pre-Garcia .243 Forester that had a customized stock on it for $850 a few years back to a collector. He was happy with the deal and so was I. If yours is a pre-Garcia and in the condition you describe, I wouldn't hesitate to ask $950 to $1,000 for the rifle.

There is a "Trading Post" forum here on the board that can be used free of charge by members to buy/sell/trade items. Just scroll on down the forums listing.

Good luck with your sell.