Cooper 38-17 Squirrel

[17tbs]

+1 on Ken's comment.

[Daryl]

Originally Posted by 20VarTarg

Well he finally put a price on the 17 Squirrel and I may have to walk away from it. He wants $2250 for the bare rifle. No Scope. I do believe that includes the dies and any brass that his father had. I sold my 17 Ackley Hornet to purchase this rifle but I wasn't prepared to add $900 to what I sold the 17AH for. What's everyones thoughts on this??

$2,250.00 seems VERY high to me - too high, but close to $1,000.00 CDN too high for a used rifle & must have the dies with it.

[Rimfire-CA]

I have purchased many cooper rifles and my experience does not agree with the comments made here. If the discussion was about a Remington 700 I would understand, but Cooper rifles are not anywhere near that generic. If you add English Walnut, skeleton grip cap, skeleton butt plate, checkered bolt and engine turned bolt you can add $2,000.00 to $3,000.00 to the cost with no problem. Tossing out what you think the gun is worth without ever seeing it is not realistic in my opinion.

[Daryl]

Estimates on information given. 2 detractors - it is a wildcat and a used one at that. True, the .17 Squirrel is easy on the barrel. Still, it is a wildcat and a used one at that.

[20VarTarg]

Just to update this original post. I passed on the 17 Squirrel. I ended up ordering an MGM Barrel in 17 Squirrel for my Contender. I did however buy the Model 40 22 Hornet from him along with a Cooper Model 36 IR 50/50. I am also going to be getting a Cooper 38 in 22 Squirrel from him when him and I both slow down working. He had a Jackson Squirrel in 17 Mach 2. It was one of the first 50 produced by Cooper with some really really fancy checkering. By the time I called him up to tell him to put my name on it he had sold it to a friend of his fathers. I was really bummed out about that one for sure. But, I just got me a Jackson Squirrel 17 Mach 2 last week with upgraded French Walnut and a bunch of other extras. So all in all my Cooper collection is coming around nicely. Still have a few more I'd like to add.

[Bayou City Boy]

Originally Posted by Rimfire-CA

I have purchased many cooper rifles and my experience does not agree with the comments made here. If the discussion was about a Remington 700 I would understand, but Cooper rifles are not anywhere near that generic. If you add English Walnut, skeleton grip cap, skeleton butt plate, checkered bolt and engine turned bolt you can add $2,000.00 to $3,000.00 to the cost with no problem. Tossing out what you think the gun is worth without ever seeing it is not realistic in my opinion.

Most people here have a pretty fair idea of what a used Cooper is worth based on their own buying experiences that goes back quite a few years to the Dan Cooper days and the early days of the company.

For me, the "newness" and the extra-cool factor of Cooper rifles wore off maybe 10 years ago (after quite a few purchases), and they no longer hold the magic that they did even 15 years ago for me. Today an older used Cooper 38 is just another used rifle in most cases. Some come in more popular calibers and others don't and that effects how quickly they sell but not necessarily the selling price.

The selling price generally reflects how badly an individual wants a specific used rifle. Still, they are all pretty much just used rifles at this point in time regardless of the frills that they came with originally. Some have been butchered for whatever reasons by inexperienced "gunsmithing" and they are perhaps more a liability than an asset to purchase. Caveat emptor applies to many of them at this point in time, and that is a factor to consider for both price and condition.

What someone once paid for custom features on a semi-custom rifle probably isn't going to effect the selling price up or down by an equal amount. Especially in today's market.

JMO - BCB