Originally Posted By: emg
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
They're fun guns and minute of man accuracy, but it's hard for me to say they are worth the prices they command nowadays.
Yeah, many sellers were asking $500+ (Canadian) at the last gun show I went to. You can buy into the low end of modern hunting rifles for less.
They used to be popular because they were cheap, now, as you say, they're popular because of their history. I got to shoot a WWII Mosin sniper rifle a while ago, and while I was looking through the scope at the target I was wondering who'd carried it in the war, and whether they'd actually had to shoot any Nazis with it.
I have to say, I was surprised by how little recoil there was, because I'd heard a number of people complain about how hard Mosins kicked. The .308 Tikka I've fired kicks a lot more, but probably weighs a pound or two less.
emg, I wish I had known then what I know now, about the MN. As I stated before, at one given time I had (14) MN's in my safe. My ex wife told me if I kept buying them that I would need another safe, and she would have something to say about that!
I can't tell you how many I actually bought/sold/traded when they were cheap, because I really don't know. I lost interest in them after I was divorced (1993), until about 3-4 years ago, when I bought the one I currently own. I only paid $100 for the rifle, all the accessories, and the nice wooden box the previous owner (a sheriffs Captain) made for it. I was looking on GUNBROKER.COM and the cheapest one I saw, not being bid on, was $200. Man, if I had all the ones I owned and let go back then, right now, I could make some serious $$$$'s!