Southams Spring Auction was last Thursday, 1250 lots of shotguns, rifles, ammunition, reloading gear etc.
Annoying thing with Southams is they don't show you the current bid so you have to wait until the day and watch it live to bid online. It started at 10am and finished just before 7pm!
My overall impression is that items like ammunition, cases, gear bits and bobs goes for nearly retail as there must be more people bidding on it as you only need to have the item on your FACif its ammunition for example. The rifles and shotguns on the other hand were positively cheap so I presume its mainly RFDs buying these as otherwise Joe Public would need the relevant calibre/action type on their ticket.
I collect shotgun cartridges, nothing fancy but I like full boxes in good condition. Sample lots I was interested in went for between £40 and £90. Oh and dont forget to add your 21% buyers commission. And then add 6% online commission. So you had to add roughly a third on top of your bid which put most stuff at retail price. And a 500 mile round trip to collect any items I may have won. Just not worth it at all.
Some of the rifles on the other hand seemed down right cheap - a nice Miroku .22 lever action for £60. Last one I looked at was £375. Ruger 10/22 £80. A really nice Winchester Model 70 in 30.06 with a scope for £130!!!!
So some bargains around but at the end of the day, you have to live near them to make it worthwile.
Annoying thing with Southams is they don't show you the current bid so you have to wait until the day and watch it live to bid online. It started at 10am and finished just before 7pm!
My overall impression is that items like ammunition, cases, gear bits and bobs goes for nearly retail as there must be more people bidding on it as you only need to have the item on your FACif its ammunition for example. The rifles and shotguns on the other hand were positively cheap so I presume its mainly RFDs buying these as otherwise Joe Public would need the relevant calibre/action type on their ticket.
I collect shotgun cartridges, nothing fancy but I like full boxes in good condition. Sample lots I was interested in went for between £40 and £90. Oh and dont forget to add your 21% buyers commission. And then add 6% online commission. So you had to add roughly a third on top of your bid which put most stuff at retail price. And a 500 mile round trip to collect any items I may have won. Just not worth it at all.
Some of the rifles on the other hand seemed down right cheap - a nice Miroku .22 lever action for £60. Last one I looked at was £375. Ruger 10/22 £80. A really nice Winchester Model 70 in 30.06 with a scope for £130!!!!
So some bargains around but at the end of the day, you have to live near them to make it worthwile.
