Was at a small local gunshop and a fellow came in with an estate sale of rusty old guns, they had been in a house with a leaky roof. Lots of great treasures, he wanted to try to have a gunsmith clean them up due to rust issues. One of the handguns was an original Suhl mfg. M1879 Reichs revolver (old German army handgun). I immediately recognized it, got to hold it and check it out. The gunshop owner thought it was a Russian 1895 Nagant, they are totally different. He found the "Suhl" markings and I told him it was in the Eastern part of Germany, amazing how a proprieter of a gunshop that had multiple broom handle mausers and lugers would not know things like that, or think it was Russian!
Was seriously planning to approach the person bringing it in when he went back to his car for more guns, and offer cash for it without the gunshop owner seeing me, they can get mad when people upfront their potential profits. Read an article in a gun magazine on the M1879 a few months ago and they said that these guns are not worth much, there was a brown patina overall on the revolver, and light spots through out, heavy pitting near barrel end, and the bore looked rough. The owner was told by the gunshop gunsmith that the gun was only good as a wall hanger, but with custom handloading I know different. Was thinking of offering $70.00 for the gun, would that have been too much, or too little? It was all the cash I had in my wallet.
After reading up on it, the ridiculous loading aspect and ammo situation, as well as rough condition, did I make a good choice to leave without buying it? How much is a decent one going for these days? I have seen nice ones at the big gun shows in Minnesota, but never considered buying one before.
