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Collectors, why do you do it?

3K views 46 replies 32 participants last post by  Spartanzero 
#1 ·
Please forgive me for asking this:

Why do you "collect" AKs?
I really don't understand the mindset.

Being an old blacksmith/fabricator/welder I have an assortment of hammers, shop tools, equipment, etc, so I understand buying tools I need to do a job. But why, you?

Just like them? Just because you want to? I get that. Good onya. (shrugs)
 
#3 ·
OK, fair enough. I can appreciate & enjoy that, because I enjoy "shopping" as well. It IS FUN.

Seriously, I think that's enough reason to do anything.

But what I don't understand is the (exact correctness) or whatever, of... (say for example, Chinese Pre-bans). That are NIB/NOS/Never fired.... Eagerly sought after! Overpaid!

And then discarded for sale.

What makes it VALUABLE to you
 
#6 · (Edited)
I collect simply because I enjoy it, there are many facets of collecting other than just having something to look at. For me, that is the least favorable part of it. I have some safe queens but to be honest they are sort of my reference rifles telling me how something left the factory. It’s kind of like having a new car and not being able to drive it. Cool I guess but not much good otherwise. However, my real thill is the hunt closely followed by the subsequent detective work.

Nothing is better, nothing, than getting a BFPU rifle and carefully dissecting every color of sand, grit, blood, replaced parts, incorrect parts, and the myriad of flaws it has and resurrecting the path it took before coming into my hands. It’s logic and the clues on the rifle that will give us the probable battle zones it was in, why, when, and how the components were damaged, lost, worn out, replaced, or whatever.

Me and Vlado have spent hours discussing the refurb and subsequent patina of a single rifle, trying to figure out if came from Congo or Sierra Leone. The rust, refurb process, parts and arms sales to these countries match the year of the rifle and the incorrect replacement parts also suggest they were replaced later when a different country started supplying arms a decade or so later. It’s like a game of CLUE but with real bodies attached. Morbid, maybe, but history is a cruel mistress.

These rifles have a story, and that story is begging to be told.
 
#9 ·
Please forgive me for asking this:

Why do you "collect" AKs?
I really don't understand the mindset.

Being an old blacksmith/fabricator/welder I have an assortment of hammers, shop tools, equipment, etc, so I understand buying tools I need to do a job. But why, you?

Just like them? Just because you want to? I get that. Good onya. (shrugs)
I don't collect AK's but accidentally ended up with three collectable AKs.
Romanian WASR-3 (5.56x45)
Molot VEPR(.308)
Molot VEPR(6.5 Grendel)


My goal was to find the perfect balance. the purchases were on that specific order. First one, I chose because of the NATO round, but found it inadequate for longer ranges. the second one, also a NATO round, solved the first problem but now I have the over penetration at short ranges. The last one was non-NATO but was the compromise(balance) of the first two.
 
#10 ·
The history of something, the history connected to something, is a big factor in my interest. But not with AKs. To me, it is just another hammer in the toolbox. Something to be used. I really like how an AK is basically the same as every other AK, yet no two are really alike. Different country, different caliber, different configuration, etc.

I am always impressed by the depth of knowledge and detailed information coming out of members.
 
#12 ·
Best answer here.

Collecting solves an unfilled emotional need in some people. I don't collect much of anything but I have a soft spot for FAL rifles I wish I could banish. When I look around and start adding up the capitol I have locked up in the things I feel like a fool, yet I find it very hard to relinquish a single one. It's a mental disorder. Fortunately it doesn't hurt much other than the bank account.
 
#14 ·
Me, I buy & sell, my "collection" is all the things no-one would buy. :)
 
#15 ·
Always being a WW2 enthusiast and the weapons used in that conflict I was drawn to the ak the first time I saw it. I appreciated the simplicity, ruggedness and the history or rather it's impact on history. Thought it was one of the koolest looking things when I first saw it as a kid, then I saw an underfolder and quickly realized the connection to the MP38/40s. Once I had a fixed stock and an underfolder the itch started. Now it's the look of the different styles countries put into them and the desire to have said feature, side folder stock , crutch folder stock, spiker, double spiker, yugo pattern...............But I don't appreciate tactikool only traditional military manufactured and used though I am not a rivet counter.
I said it before the ak is for me just sexy kool somple practical engineering.
 
#16 ·
Started in the time of inexpensive kits but no ready made tooling.
Barrels were original but rivet work and barrel removal and install and any component swap was done by making your own tools.

After the Romy G builds., it was just natural to do Hungarian, East German, Yugoslavian various models, Polish and RPK, milled 47 builds etc. Some franken builds like AK54r, Khyber Pass, shorty M76 etc.

Kinda created a collection over time.
Never purchased a large amount of built imports., as part of the enjoyment was/is "the build"
 
#22 ·
For me, before I had scuba diving as a hobby, and ended up doing it as a job as a Kirby-Morgan ssi diver, then I had a catastrofic heart failure, had mayor surgery and came out 90% healthy, I was lucky.
So all of a sudden I halted all diving related sports, and was looking for a hobby, wich is not so physical demanding, but still gives me a thrill, but not the hussle.
Mainstream hobbys never interested me, so I tried shooting, and was hooked right away.
Very soon you experience that the weapons of the club range are not that pleasant or accurate, and thats the point I start collecting
For me the fun is shooting with different calibers, and now have a collection accordinly
Currently I am completing these with scopes, bipods, red dots and so on, meanwhile trying to improve my skills with this.
But it seems every time I turn a corner, there’s a good deal there, to good, to cheap or to attracting to let it pass...
I guess I am addicted now ? 😇
 
#24 · (Edited)
Don't missunderstand. I have "a bunch of AKs". But I'm not a "collector". To me, a collector is... all about details, being "correct"(?) and spending big money on certain types of AK. It's wierd to me that someone would collect a bunch of very expensive NOS/NIB pre-ban Chinese guns, never touch them, shoot them, and then sell them. What makes it valuable, but then sell them like cattle in the fall.

I acquired a bunch of different hammers because I used them for all the different jobs, working steel, copper or wood. I never bought a new one, always paid a few bucks for each at a flea market/swap meet... I used them.

I don't understand collectors who spend thousands of dollars for example, to have some of the Chinese pre-ban versions, new-in-the-box, still in plastic... etc... and never shoot it, fondle it, rack the action... And then just up & sell the lot.

If we knew how much these things would go up in value since 1989 or 2004, we ALL would've bought a pallet of em. I think AK prices are just freaking crazy the last few years. And especially since the factory made AK is, imo, a cheap gun cheaply made, why do collectors drool and spend? Investment? OK, I get that. But the prices of genuine pre-bans makes "buy low, sell high" iffy. Are collectors merely selling to each other nowadays?
 
#42 ·
Don't missunderstand. I have "a bunch of AKs". But I'm not a "collector". To me, a collector is... all about details, being "correct"(?) and spending big money on certain types of AK. It's wierd to me that someone would collect a bunch of very expensive NOS/NIB pre-ban Chinese guns, never touch them, shoot them, and then sell them. What makes it valuable, but then sell them like cattle in the fall.

I acquired a bunch of different hammers because I used them for all the different jobs, working steel, copper or wood. I never bought a new one, always paid a few bucks for each at a flea market/swap meet... I used them.

I don't understand collectors who spend thousands of dollars for example, to have some of the Chinese pre-ban versions, new-in-the-box, still in plastic... etc... and never shoot it, fondle it, rack the action... And then just up & sell the lot.

If we knew how much these things would go up in value since 1989 or 2004, we ALL would've bought a pallet of em. I think AK prices are just freaking crazy the last few years. And especially since the factory made AK is, imo, a cheap gun cheaply made, why do collectors drool and spend? Investment? OK, I get that. But the prices of genuine pre-bans makes "buy low, sell high" iffy. Are collectors merely selling to each other nowadays?
Why try to understand? We love what we love like you love what you love. It's just a thing. As simple as that.

No offense or aggressive tone in my response. Just a to each his own attitude keeps me sane.
 
#25 ·
I've had exactly one Chinese pre-ban. It was a stamped full stock with a mismatched bayonet. I never fired it, kept it wrapped up in the safe and wondered why-in-the-world did I buy this? when I'll never even shoot it. I've had 12 other Chinese guns that I did shoot. When I first started down this path, I perceived the Chinese AK as a very good rifle (thanks, Indykid) and they are. But the genuine pre-ban was like, drool over it & think "my life would be complete" if I had that. I ended up trading it for two other guns. That blows me away. Something I once perceived as extremely valuable, then a while later said, meh, you can have it & traded it off... I saw it merely as a very high priced, very limited use item.
 
#26 ·
There’s certain guns in my small collection I don’t shoot that much, but if I have them, I’m definitely going to take them out to shoot from time to time. Granted a good chunk of my guns are home built (100% of my AK’s at that) and of no special value to anyone else, but nonetheless, if it’s sitting relatively unused, it’s generally cause I just prefer shooting others more, or waiting to replenish ammo for that particular gun, not due to any non-use collecting.
 
#31 ·
“I would never buy a gun that i would not shoot.”, “….. but I have bought so many that I don’t have time to shoot them all!”
Doesn’t make me a hoarder, just a collector with more money than time or brains.

By the way, I need a Russian TT-33 to complete my Tokerov collection. Can any of you fine people help?

Seriously, I NEED a Russian TT-33.
 
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