Hi all
Considering a change and was looking for a bit of help valuing my Imbel FAL
It's in good nick and shoots pretty straight. Black furniture with both weaver (good and solid) and standard dust/top cover. Three or four twenty rnd mags and a ten rnd'er.
Any help appreciated!
Cheers
I'd first check if the mags are actual FN mags or at least European made. That should give you an idea. But those things generally go for £10-15 in sales. the Rifle itself is a crap shoot. Is the weaver dust cover one made by DSarms? Rifle itself, you see people asking stupid money, sometimes more than £2000. with all the stuff, maybe £1700-£1900?
Thing that will make a difference on price is which model the Fal is, they did Congo Para and Standard these had barrel lengths of 12.5" 17" & 20" Standard 20" barrels are the better shooters less recoil as well.
One Standard with 4 mags Harris legs weaver cover and Hawke scope sold for £1700....... A Para rifle with 1 mag sale price £2200 did not sell. Another one been for sale for months not sold asking price £2000. Put a price on yours see if you get any interest..
The price really depends on the barrel length, the short ones 13.5" are limited on distance, those with a 17" or 20" are far more desirable. I sold a 13.5" for £1600 with 4 mags, picatinny top mount and EB x20 super sniper just before the market was flooded with L1A1. At that point they were selling for over £2k and was a good deal.
In my opinion these are now worth around £1200 for the rifle alone in a 13.5", possibly £1400 for the 17" & 20". You can get a little more for the accessories as well.
While you may think this is low, rule of thumb is 70% of the new price and you can get a "newly built" L1A1 for £1900.
There is a reason that the ones on GT haven't sold because they are over priced.
Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician ............ "Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Cooper"
Here is one that was for sale here a while back, if it helps.
Description:
SLR 7.62 x 51 Straight Pull Rifle
Category:
.Rifles
Make:
Enfield
Model:
SLR
Certificate Required:
Yes
Orientation:
Either
Calibre:
7.62x51 nato
Mechanism:
Straight pull
Status:
Live Firing
Price:
£1350.00
Gun Condition:
Excellent
Accessories:
Full working version of this military weapon converted to straight pull
Don't confuse L1A1's with FALs. If ever the S5 component issue raises it's head the FAL's should be OK, as they were new rifles built on new receivers. They were never S5 rifles and for that important point alone, they are worth more than the L1A1's IMO.
Proving how little one went for does not determine it's fair market value. If you offer it for £300 it will sell, that doesn't mean it's the new market price. Personally I think you should put it back to it's original state before selling it or you're limiting your market. Anyone who's chasing a FAL wants one that looks original IMO.
I would say it's worth £2,000 - £2,200 in it's original form because they're rare, there are only a hand full of them in the country. Less than £2K is too cheap IMO. Suffolk Rifles are/were selling a FAL for £2,500 recently.
I would say that the market for these is limited, so just because one hasn't sold at £2K doesn't mean it was too expensive, it could just mean there wasn't anyone in the market place who wanted one, who was looking to buy. The idea that everything will sell at the right price is a bit of a skewed way of looking at things, because if something's grossly under-priced you're probably tempting someone to buy it who wasn't looking for one in the first place...
Just my 2 tuppence.
EDIT: The Para-FAL I was told had extraction problems, which I believe is the real reason it didn't sell at £2.2K. I don't think people realise the FALs are chambered in .308 not 7.62x51. Milsurp will cause extraction issues, but .308 is perfect in my experience.
