I agree, and for what it would cost to add a nice poly stock and scope to a Mosin, you are in the same range as a Savage Axis or a Ruger American. And, these will have new barrels. If you want to sporterize a Mosin, no one is going to stop you, but there are other options for around the same price range.Sporterizing seems like a good idea when the guns are plentiful. Right now, Mosins are everywhere. Even with that, the price has almost doubled what they were a couple years ago. (Aimsurplus had them for $69.99) You'd probably regret it later when the guns are more scarce. Back in the day, people used the guns for hunting, weren't that interested in collecting, and milsurps were plentiful and cheap, as well as not as desirable.
Now, when I see a sporterized 1903 Springfield or Enfield, it's sad to see, because those rifles are much harder to find now, especially for a decent price.
Of course it is your rifle, and you should do with it what makes it work best for you, but will you be happy with the decision in 10 years when they're hard to find?
ETA: You can get a hunting rifle pretty doggone cheap if that's what you're looking for, too. A Savage Axis can be had in a common hunting caliber for around 3 bills.
Haha! I knew this would get some people fired up! I love it. Honestly though, thank you for all of your input, those are all great points. I agree that anything with a chance of having been war issue is out of the question. I am more looking at putting something like a late model mosin in a Bluegrass stock and putting on a scope mount. I try to do this with anything I want to modify: All modifications should be easily reversed and never destroy/ get rid of the original parts. I have done this with a marlin model 60 and a Remington 870. Any more thoughts?
That is an excellent idea, I agree, and one I had never considered before. The point of my question was what the problem would be with temporarily changing one over with an eventual goal of putting it back to its original state. And specifically referring to a non WWII model Mosin. My comment about the history of that rifle was directed toward sloughfoot. But people do this constantly with AK-47s and nobody bats an eye. Why?