What’s your vintage gun worth? These OC readers find out

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Collector’s corner

The Winchester 100 is a gas-operated semi-automatic hunting rifle made from 1961 to 1973, with a total production run of more than 262,000. The rifle pictured here was made in 1963, the last year in which stocks featured hand-cut checkering. Considering the mediocre quality of the checkering (at least on this rifle), it was no great loss when Winchester switched to a stamped basket-weave stock design.

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Most model 100s were chambered in .308 Win. Rifles in .243 Win. will bring a modest premium, while those in .284 Win. can bring in an extra $300 to $400. That is somewhat ironic, considering the .308 and .243 rifles were reasonably reliable, but those in .284 were less so, which ultimately hurt sales.

In 90 per cent or better of their original condition, Model 100s in .308 currently have asking prices in the range of $750 to $850. Although the rifle here is an early model and mechanically excellent, a piece of the stock is broken off at the tang and there are some dings on the metal surfaces, putting the value more in the range of $350. The scope is a late-1950s vintage Kollmorgen Bear Cub 2 3/4x, a well-respected scope for its era and likely worth $100 or so.