Let's Talk Milsurp Guns

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
5,176
Location
Dickson, TN.
Why? Reliable, and, in some cases, powerful guns that can be had for relatively little money. Another thing is their nostalgic value as conversation pieces. Many of these guns have very long histories.

Pistols as well as rifles... The days of the $100 rifle may be gone, but there are still some quality pieces to be had out there for not much $.

Some I've been reading about and watching reviews on lately:

- Mosin-Nagant 91-30
- Swiss K11, K31
- Mauser 98

- Tokarev
- Makarov
- CZ-82

& Etc...

So, what do some of you have? Likes/dislikes?

What would you like to have?

I have a Ruger Mini-30, but I don't have a full-power rifle that I consider to be a longer-range gun (the Mini is good probably out to 100, 150 yards (I don't even have a scope), but I'd like to have something that shoots a full-power rifle round that I knkw is going to be accurate (enough) out to 200-300 yards.

And I like cheap ammo.... I'm getting 9mm for 20 cents a round and 7.62x39mm for 30 cents a round...I like to shoot my guns, so I'm not going to pay for .308. That's one reason I'm drawn to the Mosin - I know there's lots of surplus 7.62x54R ammo out there. .303 British, 7.5mm Swiss, 6.5mm italian, 8mm Mauser, not so sure about. I know you can reload, but I haven't started that yet (it's in the plan hopefully in the next year or so).

Check out YouTube - there are lots of videos on Milsurp guns.
 
I would like a cz. Unrecognized by the brand snobs, better than any semi I have seen. Could not find a 74b at the time so ended up with a S.A. XD9.
 
cz imported into kansas city,ks . we got the royals, thunder hockey, shocker basketball, and nuway sandwiches. the other 49 dont know about americas best kept secret...KANSAS.
 
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
I have a Ruger Mini-30, but I don't have a full-power rifle that I consider to be a longer-range gun (the Mini is good probably out to 100, 150 yards (I don't even have a scope), but I'd like to have something that shoots a full-power rifle round that I knkw is going to be accurate (enough) out to 200-300 yards.


Your average mil-surp rifle will shoot 4MOA. That's a 12 inch group at 300 yards. Your average AR-15 can shoot 2MOA, which is a 6 inch group at 300 yards. Basically, the AR is good for anything under 600 yards. For longer than that, you want to step up to one of the many .300 caliber guns.

As far as mil-surp guns go, a real German 8MM Mauser is a heck of a gun. So is the Swiss K31. So is the British Enfield. So is the US Model 1903 Springfield. The Russian gun, while fun to shoot, is not in the same league. It's a second rate weapon for peasants.

If this is for possible SHTF scenarios, your mini 30 will work good for everything under 250 yards. You can pick up a scoped deer rifle in .270, .308, or .30-06 for anything past 250 yards for not too much money.
 
I have a M91/30 and the thing shoots itself. Dead accurate, butt plate however will make you wish for a different stock, which I ended up with later. I embarrassed a bunch of guys with scopes at 2x distance and my iron sights. Love that gun.
 
I owned an M1 Garand for a long time. I gave it to a friend's son with the request that when he's done with it that he passes it on to someone that would also use it and take care of it.

Accurate. Reliable. Easy to maintain. 30-06 ammo was available everywhere. And at the time of purchase, really cheap.
 
Originally Posted By: Dyusik
I have a M91/30 and the thing shoots itself. Dead accurate, butt plate however will make you wish for a different stock, which I ended up with later. I embarrassed a bunch of guys with scopes at 2x distance and my iron sights. Love that gun.


I have a couple, ammo is plentiful.
 
The Mosin Nagant is not second rate, but it was among the first of the "modern" smokeless powder guns along with the 1886 Lebel, 1891 Mauser, Carcano, etc.

The Finns proved they can be made into some darned nice guns. However, some of them out there are beat up and reworked several times. Others were made in the panic days of the USSR in 41 and 42 and not very good.

Mil Surp ammo is out there, but is no longer cheap and easy to get like it was. I will say that if you can get your hands on a good Mauser 98(German k98, Czech 98/22 or VZ24, Persian mauser) then you really have a nice gun. Even the intermediate Yugo mausers are good, just not as nice. However, commercial ammo is garbage as there are two different bores for 8mm Mauser. .318 and .323. The commercial makers usually load a .321 bullet(and under load it) so that it can be shot in either rifle....but in .323 guns the performance is abysmal.

If you want a nice bolt gun, go the Mauser and then I would say a nice SMLE Enfield. The Springield 1903 is essentially a modified Mauser and I always dug the Pattern 1917 rifle more. But a nice Russian SKS would be a good semi auto mil surp to look for. Easy to find ammo, cheap and non corrosive, and it will likely continue to climb in value just like the mausers.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
30-06 ammo was available everywhere. And at the time of purchase, really cheap.


Tell me about it. I bought all of this from the CMP, (3, 480 round cases), for just $381.00 Fed Ex direct to my front door. Now the stuff, (Greek HXP), is selling for over $1.00 a round on line. If you can even find it. I couldn't buy the brass for that today.

 
I had a H&K G3 assembled under licence by Royal Enfield. I had bought 3 of them in the late '80s, flipped two of them and then finally traded my last one for a new Taurus .357 stainless. I was told they came from Lebanon...

It was a real nice rifle, but it's now considered a prohibited weapon in Canada
frown.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Dyusik
I would like a cz. Unrecognized by the brand snobs, better than any semi I have seen. Could not find a 74b at the time so ended up with a S.A. XD9.


CZs are great quality pistols. I've owned three of them. Ultimately, they didn't work for me and I sold them all. But they shot great.
 
I just bought a Mosin a month or two ago. Got it for $150. It's a run-of-the mill, 1943 Izhevsk one. As I got it, it was doing 3-4 MOA, as expected. I did some light "accurizing" to it but haven't gotten to shoot it since. If the interwebs are to be believed, it should me more like 1-2 MOA now.

And I got 440 rounds of ammo for $100 shipped.

IMO mil-surp guns are just so much more interesting than your run-of-the mill Remington 700s and whatnot. Shooting a rifle that was issued during WW2 and might have actually been used in combat against the Germans is pretty cool. But I'm sort of a history nut.
 
I second the Mosin. I have a 1942 Izhevsk. It hits where you aim all the way to 300 yards. I've been blessed with a Mosin that does not have a sticky bolt. 7.62x54R is a powerful cartridge. I've taken down many deer with Brown Bear 203gr soft point. Plus since it was issued in 42 there's a good chance it shot at some Germans.
 
If you can find one in good shape, get a Czech VZ24 or BRNO 98/22. My 98/22 is the smoothest Mauser 98 that I have shot since it was made in peacetime when no corners were cut and everything got a high quality finish.

If you have the money, and want a Mosin, nothing beats a nice Finn Mosin. They really took the platform to a much higher level.
 
I have a M91/30(1939); M44(1946);and 2 K31's(1940 walnut and 1948 beech). The good days are over since I didn't pay more than $80 each less than 10 years ago.

The Swiss guns are amazingly accurate, much more than the Mosins. Ammo is still out there and it's easy to reload. Graf's may still have 7.5x55 brass out there and you can use .308 bullets.

M44 sure is fun to shoot. Kicks like a mule and with surplus ammo makes a heck of a fireball at dusk. AIM surplus was a huge seller and they still have ammo and guns.
 
So what are the chances this discussion is going into a little file somewhere at "Homeland Security"? They're paranoid about anything military surplus.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
So what are the chances this discussion is going into a little file somewhere at "Homeland Security"? They're paranoid about anything military surplus.


No, they're part of the government. And the government is paranoid about citizens owning guns of any type..... Period. That is why we are at what seems to be, constant war with the liberal part of our government who wants them removed from ownership by the masses. My apologies to the Mods. I'm not trying to be political here, just stating a well known fact.
 
Who cares if they're putting you on a list. They can't round everyone up at once. Most people will have plenty of warning to change their ways and turn over their guns.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top