I ran into some very nice VZ-24 mausers that are aresenal refinished. Very good bores. Actions look great. The shop wants $195 each for them.

Is this kind of high? I plan to use one for a shooter and one for a sporterized/custom project.

Thanks for any help,
Dave

For a shooter that may be fair. The Yugo rebuilds all had new/newish barrels unlike most VZ'son the market.

For a custom, it really depends on how much damage the arsenal did to the receiver during refurb. They tend to get crazy with the grinder and buffer. High price does not necesarrily equate to high quality receiver/bolt when it comes to milsurps.

depends on your tastes... you can have your ffl order you one from century, with the crest milled off, for about 70 bucks, if all you want is the action..

jeffe

For a sporter I would expect to get a done at least partially sporterized for that much. Example,

I have an argentine I paid 150 for, in the white, beautiful condition, bolt stop has cosmetic work done and has a new bolt handle welded on very nicely (bought from gunsmith)

Bought (and ended up having to sell) 1917 winchester for 150 bucks, had cock on open kit, drilled and tapped with base, sporter trigger (dayton-traister) ears ground off etc.

So in short, you can find a better deal out there for something you are going to just take the action from.

Red

I would say this is way to high. If you have a big 5 in your area these guns usually sell for 69-79$ depending if they are on special or not. Also you may consider the 98/22 as well, same as a vz24 just has longer barrel, and usually the barrels are in better shape. Check the bore carefully vz24's usually have sewer pipe barrels. I would give no more than $125 for a vz24 with an excellant bore

I had to go to 3 Big 5 shops in Utah to find a VZ24. It was the last one they had, and the owner told me not to expect anymore. I had to pay $100 for it, but the action is in remarkably good shape. I suspect the good deals from Big 5 may be over.

AIM has arsenal refinished kits with a bayonet, bandoliers etc, for $159. The VZ's that sell for $69-79 are not refinished, but some of them are in good shape. I just bought a couple of hand picks for $89 from SOG that were really nice on the outside with decent barrels. I wanted the actions, and they are probably better than the rebuilds, since the actions haven't been reground.

I bought 3 vz-24's from Big 5 about 2 years ago, but have been watching the ad's weekly and no more mauser's to be had from them in this area. I paid about $69-79 for them, and have one being rebarreled to 35 whelen right now, just waiting on the 'smith.
BTW, choosing the action for the conversion was easy, the barrel was heavily coated with cosmoline on one, and upon cleaning it I discovered the barrel was cracked right behind the front sight.
In total bought 5 '98s from them, but you never know what you will get. Made the mistake of buying on not coated heavy in cosmoline, had lots of rust below the wood. Then bought them heavily coated in cosmoline, one had a cracked barrel that was covered by it.
IMHO, for a shooter it isnt too bad, but to convert it could drive your price up.

Good luck and good shooting,
Eterry

I got to pick and choose a dozen VZ24s at BIG5 over the months when they had sales for $76 out the door with tax.

The refinished ones are more expensive [$160 + shipping + FFL]:
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Czech_VZ24_8mm_Mauser_Package.html

The plain jane VZ24s like I have are cheaper ~$80+ship +FFL:
http://www.burnsbro.com/