[crgm101]

I appreciate it chain fire completely agree with you

[Werminator]

I believe I paid 99 for each of my Mosins. A 1942 and a 1943. They are war era rifles so the overall finish is a bit more utilitarian than some of the non battle time built. There is significant tooling marks on my rifles but they still do their job very well. I will soon be showing off what I did with one of them... inspired by Jeff Cooper... if you don't know... Google it...

[therewolf]

I was lucky, inasmuch as I backed into a great

first Mosin purchase. From this, I was able to

set the standards for future acquisitions.


I avoided the lower tier of non-matching, poorly

re-arsenaled units entirely. Then I was fortunate

enough to find a 1925 Izzy hex with matching serial#s.


My experience was all direct purchases from a LGS, after

a close inspection of the rifle. YMMV, and I can only hope others

will be as lucky (and persistent) as I was.

[Chainfire]

Originally Posted by therewolf

I was lucky, inasmuch as I backed into a great

first Mosin purchase. From this, I was able to

set the standards for future acquisitions.


I avoided the lower tier of non-matching, poorly

re-arsenaled units entirely. Then I was fortunate

enough to find a 1925 Izzy hex with matching serial#s.


My experience was all direct purchases from a LGS, after

a close inspection of the rifle. YMMV, and I can only hope others

will be as lucky (and persistent) as I was.

I have a boat load of the worthless Ruskie guns. 3/4 of which were bought from online auctions, with only photos and descriptions to go on. All of the auction guns met or exceeded my expectations. Last year. I also bought 6 "toss of the dice" T-53's, for well under $100.00 each. Five of these would now sell for $150.00 +. The sixth was totally shot-out, so I parted it out on ebay for more than I paid for the rifle and still ended up with a stock and bolt.

My point is, there are deals out there if you look and take time to learn what you are looking at. Know what the going rate is before you shell out too much money to someone waiting to fleece you. Believe it or not, there are some dishonest people in the gun business.

There are some great web sites dedicated to Mosins. Some of them are friendly and some of them are not so much..... All of them have invaluable information for someone interested in the guns. The friendly ones have some very qualified folks that love to answer questions to interested newcomers. The not so friendly ones, it is easier just to look and read.

While I don't consider it polite to advertise another group's forums here, it is not difficult to find these sources.

[therewolf]

IMHO, your opinion of the "worthless Russkie guns" would change

considerably, if you have a talent for reloading.

You'd be amazed at the difference decent ammo makes

with these rifles, as long as the bore is still in good shape.

[Capybara]

I just picked up my first 91/30 at Big 5, on sale for $99.00 It is actually in pretty good shape, all of the accessories included. Wow, a nice, interesting piece of history (mine is a 1941 Izhevsk, so it possibly killed some Nazis) for under $100.00, how can you beat that?

Will post images when it comes home.

[crgm101]

Congrats can't wait to see pics

[Capybara]

I am every bit excited about this Mosin as I was about my CMP Garand I received last month. Is there something wrong with me? ;-)