Outdoor Canada’s gun guy appraises more of your vintage firearms

COLLECTORS CORNER

An interesting exercise is trying to predict which current production firearms will be considered collectibles in 50 to 100 years from now. The nice part about making such guesses is that if I’m wrong, I won’t be around to take the blame! With that, a rifle I believe has collector potential is the Tikka T3x Arctic model (above). It is virtually identical to the Colt C19 rifle now issued to Canadian Rangers, military reserves in isolated, coastal and primarily arctic areas (the C19’s more reddish stock is stamped with the Ranger logo).

I doubt production of this model will be large, simply due to the very high price, currently in the range of $2,500 to $2,800. I did a quick search online and found very few for sale in Canada. Partly accounting for the high price is the sophisticated rear sight—probably the best iron sight in production—which has genuine quarter-minute of angle adjustment clicks. Since most sport shooters don’t use iron sights, however, it is not a big selling feature. Extra magazines are also expensive

That said, I think the T3x will one day have collector appeal. It has a superb two-stage trigger, and the overall quality of materials and workmanship is very high. If you buy one, be sure to save the box, papers and any accessories, such as sight-adjustment screwdrivers. You likely won’t make money on it, but there’s a good chance your grandchildren will.