Rare 1of200 Springfield UZI Pistol Imports - Any clue on value?

[Matthew R Haskins]

I am new here, I just signed up. I was wondering if anyone knows the value of a Rare Springfield Armory Pre-Ban Uzi Pistol? 1 of less than 200 imported by Springfield in the early 90s (I believe), they are so uncommon I cant figure out an accurate value. It is used in full working order, no damage with a good original finish still. (9mm)

Thanks

 

[boom boom]

I am new here, I just signed up. I was wondering if anyone knows the value of a Rare Springfield Armory Pre-Ban Uzi Pistol? 1 of less than 200 imported by Springfield in the early 90s (I believe), they are so uncommon I cant figure out an accurate value. It is used in full working order, no damage with a good original finish still. (9mm)

Thanks

First thing, welcome to the THR.
To try to answer your question, IMHO orphan items such as this are difficult to price as not enough of them are sold on a regular basis to establish price. There is one apparent dealer in pre-ban stuff which I am sure that you have already found via google. A major bump up in price would be if it was a pre 1986 FOPA registered NFA item (selective fire). One thing that would tend to undercut prices for shooters is that new IMI Uzi type pistols are around and some collectors (not all as some are completists) don't care about anything that is not in military trim or direct military contract manufacture. I'm guessing that this pistol was created by Springfield Armory out of military surplus parts. For a premium price, a collector will also want the box, any literature, etc. The problem is that scarcity in and of itself does not increase a price, there has to be a demand for the item. Gunbroker has a lot of auctions where weird scarce firearms are sold that do not bring very much because of lack of demand from collectors or shooters.

As a true collectible, Uzi fans will probably have a better idea, doing a brief internet search indicated that you might have posted on that board as well--they might provide you an answer. But my suspicion dealing with other military surplus oddball items, is that it might bring a small premium over current production IMI pistols, have a limited upside price increases in the future as a collectible, and that as a collectible, you would probably need the full retail box, pamphlets, provenance connecting to someone famous, etc. to bring out the best price.

That is assuming that it does not have NFA status (select fire capability) where a whole host of other criteria come into play. If you have one to sell, then an auction with a reserve price set at a slight premium to current production IMI Uzi pistol might be one way to get the highest value (minus commissions of course). If you are buying one, then unless the pistol is new in the box and apparently unfired (except for testing at the factory) with all of the goodies, then base your bid off of a currently available IMI Uzi pistol. I would also suggest that you obtain some guarantees that it is not defective. Some conversions of semi-autos are known to be problematic in function or demonstrate shoddy workmanship--that sort of thing tends to destroy value unless you have a very rare military item. Have no idea if this pistol is one of those but caveat emptor.

There is a joker in the deck that depending on what state you live in, pre-ban firearms may have a different legal status than post-ban which might raise the price a bit. In a lot of cases, this is one of the few areas where pre-ban status might increase value. Determining that status for this item might be better posted in the legal forum.

 

[Matthew R Haskins]

Thank you for your reply, this UZI is a Semi-Auto but I do know that it was assembled in Israel and imported by Springfield (Most were imported by action arms). I really appreciate your detailed response, and yes I posted in the Uzi forum site also. I am starting to think while it is rare it might end up being more trouble then it is worth. (I do not own the gun I was considering trading for it) and I live in AZ.

 

[boom boom]

Thank you for your reply, this UZI is a Semi-Auto but I do know that it was assembled in Israel and imported by Springfield (Most were imported by action arms). I really appreciate your detailed response, and yes I posted in the Uzi forum site also. I am starting to think while it is rare it might end up being more trouble then it is worth. (I do not own the gun I was considering trading for it) and I live in AZ.

This is just my opinion after collecting milsurps for several years but not the smg variants. I do spend time on auction sites and read quite a bit on these in collector mags and websites though.

Not sure if you are wanting a collectible or a shooter, but for a shooter, you can find AR pistols, AK pistols, and 9mm variants of the AR pistols that use Glock magazines for example. IWI (privatized IMI) has imported Uzi pistols as well https://iwi.us/product-category/firearms/uzi-pro/

JG Sales in Prescott (also online) has some foreign military surplus sub machine guns converted to semi auto pistol form as well. Aim Surplus has some and I think Atlantic Firearms does too. Ohio Guns might also but their prices are dealer restricted. Sarco (a military surplus dealer) among others, did have Uzi pistol kits that have to be assembled but believe that you would have to find a lower receiver for it which the Uzitalk people could help locate if you wanted.

Here is that dealer that might give you some idea of what pre-ban IMI Uzi pistols are going for if you didn't find it already. https://www.kellyenterprises.net/firearms/imi-preban-uzi-pistols-and-carbines.html

As far as collectibles go, all of these sub machine gun pistols are altered from their original select fire capability and are minus the stock. If you really want an asset that increases, you might want to consider an NFA item which has hassles, special permissions from the government, expensive price, etc. but due to the registry for these being closed to new items since 1986, the prices have been skyrocketing. The NFA forum on THR is where you would find information about this. The second would be entering the kit world where people and small mfg make semi-autos out of full auto kits. There are some interesting kits out there but building one and staying legal within the NFA is a specialty in the firearm world. Shotgun News used to run regular publications on taking these kits and making them into a legal semi-auto firearm (try their gunsmithing project compilation book if interested). These won't appreciate as much as the full auto types under the NFA. Sten guns and Uzi's, seem to be the cheapest entry in this world.

The pistol builds came about because most of the select fire smgs had short barrels--thus making them Short Barrel Rifles under the NFA which requires permit, fee, etc. even if converted to semi-auto. By eliminating the stock and making it impossible to mount one, the short original barrels became long pistol barrels and the rest of the conversion made it into a semi-auto pistol (this might also make it easier under U.S. import laws as I think that importation of rifle barrels and receivers from milsurps is now tightly restricted). These are mainly novelty stuff and there are a few mfgs that deal with area of the market with knockoff Mac 10's, Uzi Pistols (IWI), Radom (PPS 43 pistols), etc.

Most of what I know about this stuff comes from reading the Shotgun News for years where many of the sellers of these parts kits place ads and Shotgun News used to have a series on home gunsmithing these into workable semi-auto firearms (to help support their advertisers I think). The ins and outs of staying legally compliant on assembling this stuff gets really complex and I would recommend due diligence before proceeding as the ATF has changed its interpretations regarding specific models from time to time. It is a reason that I avoid this area of milsurp collecting altogether. Have no desire to submit to legal jeopardy by assembling parts kits incorrectly and am unwilling to pay the freight right now for manufactured conversions that avoid such issues.

One potential collecting niche on the cheap is to collect .22 LR replica versions of these smg's that can never be converted to machine guns. The prices on these are reasonable and I suspect that these things might increase in price if and when they are no longer manufactured. CDNN Sporting Goods has some of these like MP5 and the STG 44 clones, Chiappa is a player with M1 Carbines, Mitchell Arms makes a .22 variant of a Soviet WWII smg etc. Airsoft smg collectibles also exist but I have no experience nor knowledge in this area.