Mil surp rifles...

[Hatterasguy]

I picked up an Argentinan Navy FN49 this weekend, and a 1942 vintage Mosin to add to the collection.


I love these old rifles, if only they can talk! The M1 would talk about the horrors of the Pacific, the hot steamy jungles, and brutal fighting with the Japanese. The Mosin was built in 1942 so it could have seen some horrendous action on the Eastern front, maybe it was used at Stalingrad, maybe in the Crimea, or at Kursk. Maybe the solider carrying it died for the motherland or survived and carried it to Berlin.


One thing I learned right away, you cannot carry an FN49 without a sling, they just don't balance. I bought it at a gun show and had to walk over to the next both to get a sling so I could carry it the rest of the show! LOL.

[strelnik]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I picked up an Argentinan Navy FN49 this weekend, and a 1942 vintage Mosin to add to the collection.


I love these old rifles, if only they can talk! The M1 would talk about the horrors of the Pacific, the hot steamy jungles, and brutal fighting with the Japanese. The Mosin was built in 1942 so it could have seen some horrendous action on the Eastern front, maybe it was used at Stalingrad, maybe in the Crimea, or at Kursk. Maybe the solider carrying it died for the motherland or survived and carried it to Berlin.


One thing I learned right away, you cannot carry an FN49 without a sling, they just don't balance. I bought it at a gun show and had to walk over to the next both to get a sling so I could carry it the rest of the show! LOL.

What are the FN 49s going for these days? These are .308, aka 7,62 x 51 mm, right?

[Hatterasguy]

Depends on the model, that one should go for $850-$1k on Gunbroker.

When the Argentinan Navy adopted the FN Fal they wanted to get a bit more life out of their FN49's so they re barreled them in 7.62x51 NATO. A bit under 2k of these made it to this country. Most are 8mm Mauser, 7x57, or 30-06.

I was specificaly hunting for one in a commen caliber that I can walk into any gunstore and buy so I wanted a 30-06 or .308. I passed on three other nice ones before I found this one.

I paid $950 with the Mosin.

[Jim B.]

Cool!!! I am sure any weapon on the Eastern front had a story.....

The Eastern Front doesn't have many books written about it.

At least not in english.

Best one I ever read was Jurgen Thorwald's "Defeat in the East" (in German: "Flight in the Winter") that chronicled Germany's agony in East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Berlin from January-May 1945 and the last days in Bohemia and Moravia and Prague. Konev and Rossokovsky were simply unstoppable.

I did not know the fighting in Czecho went to May 9, 1945, which was AFTER the war was over.

Could never understand why AH did NOT release Army Group Courland till it was too late.

Festung Breslau (now Wroclaw) in Poland, held out till April 6, 1945 or so.

Amazing story told from German civilian and military POV's.

I recommend it highly. Try Amazon.

[4x4_Welder]

I (actually my wife) have multiple Mosin-Nagant rifles here. All are the original 7.62x54, we've got several thousand rounds of that
I can also safely say we did not pay anywhere near that for any of them. If you're paying those kinds of prices, you really should check out gunbroker.com. We have gotten several outrageous deals on there, like my 1911 for under $200.

Have you decoded the armory stamp on yours yet?

[pj67coll]

Nice little collection there. I have several Mosin Nagants 91/30,s an M44 and an M59. Currently theres a bunch of M91/30's on sale at Cabelas for 99 bucks each. I was looking at them recently. I'm sorely tempted to add to my collection. I have a 1927 and 28 Ishevsk and a 1942 Tula (I think). One of the rifles I was looking at the other day is dated 1942 and is the roughest looking piece of iron I've ever seen. Even the round bob on the end of the bolt is not smoothed. Looks like a piece of scrap metal. Obviously they were unconcerned with anything but getting weapons to the front. However, in contrast to many of the others on the rack it appears to have an excellent barrel with sharp rifling right up to the muzzle crown. So it was either never used or was rebarreled at some stage. I'm sorely tempted to go and pick it up as I might have a real piece of history there that actually shoots well into the bargain.

- Peter.

[pj67coll]

Nice looking K31 as well. Have you found out the owners name yet?

- Peter.

[dannym]

Pretty cool.
I was looking at one of these on Saturday at the gun shop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_Judge

Sorry, That's the only website I can open here at work.
What do you think? I thought it was pretty cool!

Danny

[amosfella]

Nice looking swiss straight pull there. Was looking at buying one, but decided to save my money for a Siminov SKS. Long gun registry looks like it is going to be killed here in Canada. Waiting for that to happen as well....

[OldPokey]

I wouldn't mind finding an M1 carbine. I'll even take one with a bayonet lug.

[LUVMBDiesels]

Next one I get is a Mosin 1891/30 with the hex receiver.

It will go nicely with the 1895 Spanish Mauser and the two 1892 Berthier carbines I have...

[Hatterasguy]

Originally Posted by 4x4_Welder

I (actually my wife) have multiple Mosin-Nagant rifles here. All are the original 7.62x54, we've got several thousand rounds of that
I can also safely say we did not pay anywhere near that for any of them. If you're paying those kinds of prices, you really should check out gunbroker.com. We have gotten several outrageous deals on there, like my 1911 for under $200.

Have you decoded the armory stamp on yours yet?

I paid $50 at most for that Mosin, the FN49 is worth $900ish, might get a grand for it if I cleaned it up and put it on gunbroker with a good add.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

Next one I get is a Mosin 1891/30 with the hex receiver.

I have two

- Peter.

[Hatterasguy]

Originally Posted by pj67coll

Nice looking K31 as well. Have you found out the owners name yet?

- Peter.

Yes, the K31 has the troop tag under the rear butt plate. I may write him a letter at some point.

My next milsurp will probably be an SVT40. But right now I want to finish up the series I have going.

I have a K31 and a SigSCM, I need a K11 and AMT. Than I will have one of each series of rifle used by the Swiss army in the 20th century. After that I'll pick up the sniper versions, the ZFK55 for example.

I'll also work on rounding out my semi auto FN family. Since I have the 49 the next logical addition would be the Fal, followed by an FN SCAR. I will wait on the SCAR until I can get the heavy in 7.62 so they will all be the same caliber.

Now since I have the Mosin I want to start the Russian line, 91/30, SVT40, SKS, AK74, maybe a PPSH 41.

Lastly I need some German stuff, the problem is that its expensive, and hard to get.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

Lastly I need some German stuff, the problem is that its expensive, and hard to get.

Not really. J&G are currently selling Russian Capture K98's for about 300 bucks. I have four. They are pretty decent. At least the ones I have are.

- Peter.