Advice on surplus rifles

[GunSlinger]

What a group of enablers you guys are

I was bitten by the mil surplus bug many years ago when my dad showed me his bring back Arisaka type 99, and I've been infected ever since.

 

[Hop]

My 1st Mil-surp was a Spanish Mauser in 308. It started a very fun hobby. I lived on surplusrifle.com! Collecting and Shooting the Enfield No. 1 Mk III - HISTORY

I get to travel all over for work which made stopping into every mom & pop gun store to build my collection easy.

 

[Miller Tyme]

I would stay stay away from the mosin nag ant at anything but rock bottom price. Lots of people love them but I do not find them as a quality surplus item. I am sure I will get flamed about saying that from the garbage rod fan boys.

Yeah, garbage he says,

 

[Mgderf]

Yeah, garbage he says,

If you're going to dole these out a handful at a time, we're going to be here a while...

 

[johny5]

I would stay stay away from the mosin nag ant at anything but rock bottom price. Lots of people love them but I do not find them as a quality surplus item. I am sure I will get flamed about saying that from the garbage rod fan boys.

I own one Mosin - not sure if this qualifies me as a "fan boy", but I'm going to make myself comfortable as I wait for someone to point me in the direction of any other technology, invented in 1891, which is able to compete with current technology better than the Mosin Nagant. Ready when you are....

 

[Miller Tyme]

If you're going to dole these out a handful at a time, we're going to be here a while...

Ok, here's a few more of those "garbage" rifles.

 

[johntheplinker]

Joo, vältä niitä suomalaisia kiväärejä. Osta yksi ja seuraava asia, jonka tiedät, että olet juomassa Koskenkorva ja syö ruisleipää, kun istuu saunassa ja rukoilee lunta ja kylmää. Suomalainen ei ole helppo oppimaan!


For the non-finnish readers:

 

[DoggyDaddy]

If you want a little light reading on Mosin Nagants, try here,
7.62x54r.net

Then go watch "Enemy At The Gates".

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Joo, vältä niitä suomalaisia kiväärejä. Osta yksi ja seuraava asia, jonka tiedät, että olet juomassa Koskenkorva ja syö ruisleipää, kun istuu saunassa ja rukoilee lunta ja kylmää. Suomalainen ei ole helppo oppimaan!


For the non-finnish readers:

Thanks to freetranslation.com (okay, probably not exact, but close enough) :

Yes, avoid the finnish rifles). Buy 1 and the next thing, you know that you drink Koskenkorva and eat rye bread, when in the sauna and prays snow and cold. Finnish is not an easy to learn!

 

[sofrosune]

Kriss USA just started an import business for Swiss surplus firearms. Prices aren't amazing, but not the worst I've seen, either....
https://edelweissarms.com/

 

[johntheplinker]

Thanks to freetranslation.com (okay, probably not exact, but close enough) :

Yes, avoid the finnish rifles). Buy 1 and the next thing, you know that you drink Koskenkorva and eat rye bread, when in the sauna and prays snow and cold. Finnish is not an easy to learn!

Not bad, close enough to get the gist of it!

 

[Gingerbeardman]

So it appears I need to start prowling all my local gun shops for poor, lonely forgotten rifles and then quietly sneak them in the garage under cover of night! Sounds like before I know it I'll have traded off everything I currently have for some real classics! Plastic Lego guns are starting to lose their 'fun' appeal...

 

[Hop]

About these Nagants... I have one, an 1891/30. It was probably the 2nd or 3rd Mil-Surp I purchased. It is far from being my favorite. Maybe I'd like a Finnish better.

Some of my favs are;
M1 Garand (meh accuracy but very fun to shoot)
1903A3 (very nice bolt, very accurate)
Swiss K31 (accurate! fun & unique straight pull bolt)
Kar 98K (Mitchel's Mauser - yeah I know, shut up. One of my most accurate)
Enfield No 4 Mk 1 & No. 1 Mk III (super smooth bolts, pretty good accuracy)
m/96 Swedish (oldest - 1898 iirc, impressive manufacturing quality for it's age, medium accuracy)

If you want to come see any (none for sale sorry) let me know.

 

[Ark]

Go to the CMP website, print out the form, and buy whatever they have for whatever price they're asking right freakin' now.

Yugo Mausers are still relatively affordable. Mosins are still obtainable. Anything American milsurp long since passed the $1k mark. Enfields are going up but you can still find some of them for under $500. The Swiss straight pulls basically doubled in price in the last six months. Oh, and buy a Yugo or Chinese SKS immediately. Several of them if you can. SKS is going nuts.

 

[Warrior1354]

For my personal experience I'm really good at k98k rifles and German Imperial rifles. Not to mention I'm pretty good at German World War II semi auto rifles as well as U.S military rifles. But when it comes to collecting Surplus firearms in all comes down to what you want to collect and what you can afford. Most important part is to study if you're wanting to get into something expensive. For my k98k experience my first rifle was a Russian capture type that I used as a shooter and to get a basic general idea what I was getting into. Once I started getting better I sold that rifle and saved my funds to get a real bolt mismatch type. And then after that I bought my first all matching vet bring back model. And then once my experience and knowledge got even better I started getting some rarer makers for my collection.

 

[77broncoman]

Well, Son and I've been collecting for 40+ years and have a sizable collection of Military arms, mostly rifles with a few handguns mixed in. The Swiss K31 is one that I would recommend to any starting collector. These were issued to individuals and maintained by them and are almost always in great shape. I have never seen one without a perfect bore and good looking stock. It is a great shooting rifle using the 7.5 X 55 cartridge. The Swiss surplus rounds are actually Match rounds. They are becoming more expensive lately. I have an adequate supply, so although commercial ammo is readily available I haven't shot any so can't speak to accuracy of these rounds.

+ 1 on Swiss K-31s. I just picked up my 2nd one (from an INGO member). Not only are K31s super accurate (not hard to find one with 1 MOA capability), their bores are in very good condition since Swiss 7.5 x 55 military ammo was non-corrosive. Their triggers are far better than most other mil-surps out there....2 stage pull and break around 4 lbs. Also, relatively easy to find K31s with all matching serial numbers too.

 

[Fordtough25]

This thread has good timing, I just snagged an m24/47 Mauser after a long absence. Of course now I want a K98 and a m1903, love shooting my Garand as well. I'm just happy 8mm is available again it was all but gone for several years. Mosins are really great rifles and quite accurate, I should have kept the rifles and crates of ammo I had years ago.

 

[Hop]

Here's a real old picture of some Mil-Surps.

 

[Gingerbeardman]

I have been looking around and it seems k31s are in relative abundance at this time. However, prices vary. Cabela's has long and short versions for around $650, but another store had them at $900. The gun library is usually overpriced on some things. All things being equal, for an average quality k31, what is a proper price?

 

[jinks]

I have been looking around and it seems k31s are in relative abundance at this time. However, prices vary. Cabela's has long and short versions for around $650, but another store had them at $900. The gun library is usually overpriced on some things. All things being equal, for an average quality k31, what is a proper price?

These sold for $375 to $2795.

https://www.simpsonltd.com/search?q=k31