1950-1952 custom 270 po ackley

Question
my grandfather had po ackley make him a 270 cal. for him in 1950-1952.  it has a mauser action, walnut stock with ivory on the bottom of the grip and at the end and is engraved . i was wondering the value of this.  its condition is better then 90%

Answer
Brian,

Parker Ackley was a Salt Lake City area gunsmith that did a lot of quality custom work on Mauser type rifles.  Most are marked with the designation P.O. Ackley on the barrel.  Ackley was a legendary gunsmith who later went on to found a well known gunsmithing school in Colorado.

The problem with trying to value custom rifles is that they may have a variety of different treatments in terms of engraving and stock treatments such as the one on your rifle.  Everyone that looks at the rifle is going to have a different opinion of the embellishments.  It's the old "one man's meat is another man's poison" kind of situation.

In terms of values, this is one of those areas where I honestly can't say.  Certainly I have seen Ackley Mauser action rifles sell in the $500-$750 range depending on what they are.  I have also seen asking prices for Ackley rifles in the $2000-$3000 range.  I do not know if the high-end priced rifles ever sold for those amounts, but know that the ones in the lower range did change hands.

Owning an Ackley is like owning any other piece of history.  If you can find someone who is willing to pay to have a very unique rifle that was built by a very unique individual, they may pay a premium for that.

If you are interested in selling it, I would probably suggest that you seek out a dealer of antique guns in your area and get a valuation from them.  I cannot evaluate the condition without seeing the gun and despite the fact that you say it is in 90% condition, that condition can mean very different things to a lay person vs. a knowledgable gun dealer.

You could also put it up on GunBroker.com with a premium price and see if you get any bites...

Find the right guy and you could get a lot for the rifle.  There are only so many Ackley rifles around and it would not appear that anyone is selling since they really want to hang on to their 'piece of history'.

Sorry...best I can do based on the info provided.

Regards,

Doug