TargetTalk

Hi Y'all,
As some of you know from the Buy Sell Trade page, last week was the liquidation auction for Mandall shooting supplies. Lots of nice goodies were up for grabs. Loads of Hammerlis, a Toz, etc... But by the time I figured out the auction process it was too late to bid. (they needed a bank letter of guarantee, etc...)
So..... does anyone know where all that stuff went? Did any dealer(s?) pick up on this stuff? It would be nice to know if it is being offered for resale by a more conventional retail process.
Thanks!
Jimmy

we bid on everything, got nothing, so I assume that things went close to their retail prices.

I was there. And things didn't go as I had planned. i ended up with a used Toz, not my first choice. I'm still kicking myself for not being a little more agressive in bidding on some other items i really wanted. (but my bank account was not horribly mutilated.... Scott, you still got that certain item we'd been trading emails about?)

The off-site bids were about 60% of what the stuff ended up going for. Target stuff sold well below Mandall's sticker price (there is a reason some stuff had been in inventory for years and years) and well below true street price, some common stuff, like mini-14s went almost for the walmart price. Maybe a little more when the 15% commission is added in.

A few target guns ended up among the local shooting community, most of the others I'm not sure who got them....

Auction house had a staff of 5 or more handling post-auction financials (including one lady who was really cute) but they aren't licensed on the FFL, so to be safe, they were not permitted to touch firearms or paperwork!!!!! Mandalls kept ONLY two overworked guys for gun transfers, NICS checks, 4473's, FFL's etc etc etc etc.... its taking FOREVER..... I STILL haven't been able to pick up that damn Toz.... and our State championship is saturday....

oh well


Poole
http://arizona.rifleshooting.com/

I was there too. I agree with Bill only more so. There weren't many deals there to be had. I think most everything went for street / retail value. I don't know whether it was auction euphoria or whether people just forgot they had to add 23% more to their bids (8% tax and 15% buyers premium).

I went specifically for a Hammerli 280. I was even willing to stretch a little on a lot of two, keep one, and then sell the other. The lot of two 208S's were way way out of my reach. And while I would have given my right nut for either of the two .22LR / .32 S&W Hammerli cased sets, I certainly didn't have the cash for what they ultimately went for out the door. Heck, I was even considering buying a 280 conversion kit to salt away for later and even these didn't go cheap. But, keep your eyes and ears open if you are willing to pay for a Hammerli, I know that some of them were picked up specifically for resell. And I know a lot of this inventory will be present at the Phoenix Gun Show on Dec 3-5.

Myself, I picked up a Berrata 87, the Unique .32 S&W I posted about before, and a Mitchell Arms High Standard (forgive me its for my daughter). Those I got what I considered to be good deals on. But I also got the steal of the auction. I bought a boxed lot of stuff because I knew inside was a set of Knobloch shooting glasses - 160 frames 1 each for both rifle and pistol, and all the doo dads (iris, filters, shades etc). Based on the box pictures it's probably an original set from the 60s. Now that was a smokin deal! Honestly I don't know whether to use them or sell/trade them at the moment. I'm a bit overwhelmed by them.

The auction itself was barely organized chaos. The bidding process went real well. And it was fun to just sit and watch the bidding on all the Class III stuff. There was bulk bid on almost all of them, but when the sum total of all the individual floor bidders got up over a $100K the bulk bid was beaten. But payment and distribution was a nightmare. It was definitely not cash and carry (and I even have a CCW). I heard a lot of complaints about having to return for pickup. Oh, and while all the basic revolvers, semi-auto pistols, rifles and shot guns were all locked up - all those Hammerli's were just in their boxes piled on a counter. It would have been so easy to have left with a free one. But I didn't. Stupid morals anyway.

John

Anyone see where the old AirMatch 500 Free Pistol went?

I did a mail bid on about 25 guns and was lucky enough to be high bidder on four. I "won" two Unique 69Us, one Britarms, and the Air Match 500 (already had one, probably the only person on the planet with two now). I got them for about 50-75% of what I feel that they are worth. Now it is just a matter of completing the transaction and getting them shipped to my FFL, which should happen by next week. (PS, I really would have liked to get some of the Hammerlis, should have bid higher!)