Milsurps Suck!! (military surplus rifles/arms)

[indydrew1]

The Moss Pawn guys (Barry and Eric) talked in there latest "gun gripes" episode about the hatred that many have for military surplus weapons. I've experienced this myself, and don't understand it. There are so many great military surplus weapons on the market, at great prices (Mosin Nagant) yet so many turn there noses up at them. Now this is great for prices, but I feel many gun lovers are missing out on a great shooting experience by doing so. I love my Mosin's and would not trade them for anything.

<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[video=youtube;dWROKh7siS8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWROKh7siS8[/video]

 

[giovani]

Shooting an inaccurate rifle is like playing a game where the rules keep changing.

 

[BogWalker]

The more people that hate them the better the prices I get!

 

[churchmouse]

They will knock you back a step if you are not ready.

 

[indydrew1]

Shooting an inaccurate rifle is like playing a game where the rules keep changing.

Are you saying Mosains are not accurate/can be easily made to be accurate?

 

[red_zr24x4]

Got one, don't care if I ever shoot it again, its probably been close to 10 yrs since I shot it last. They're looong, ugly, not the most accurate, but would make a great oar.
When I think of surplus arms its Garands, M1 carbines, even my M1A. Something that doesn't beat you to death, is accurate, and that we used to kick ass all over the world.

 

[deanald2pt0]

You know the saying, one man's trash is another man's treasure. This is how I pretty much see the surplus market.

I am by no means going to call military surplus junk. I realize they can be an exceptional value for what you get when compared to modern rifles in their class. I'm just not really into old blot actions any more so they don't interest me. The 1903 Springfield being the exception, would love to add one of those to my collection.

 

[churchmouse]

You know the saying, one man's trash is another man's treasure. This is how I pretty much see the surplus market.

I am by no means going to call military surplus junk. I realize they can be an exceptional value for what you get when compared to modern rifles in their class. I'm just not really into old blot actions any more so they don't interest me. The 1903 Springfield being the exception, would love to add one of those to my collection.

I miss my 1903....first "X" took care of that. And my M1A, and others. Man I do miss those guns. Her, not so much.

 

[DragonGunner]

I miss my 1903....first "X" took care of that. And my M1A, and others. Man I do miss those guns. Her, not so much.

Never to late to start over..

 

[roadrunner681]

i dont find mosins or mausers to recoil all that much, mine ain't no f class rifle but my mosin shoots two moa with surplus and thats plenty enough for now.

 

[indydrew1]

i dont find mosins or mausers to recoil all that much, mine ain't no f class rifle but my mosin shoots two moa with surplus and thats plenty enough for now.

I never found the recoil to be an issue either. If you have experience with long guns it's manageable. When you look at the price, for what it can do, and what you can do with the recoil is something I can live with.

 

[Sgt7330]

Mosins are cool, I did sell mine but wish I would have kept it. Once infected with the USGI Garands, Carbines, 1911s and M14 its hard to stop. Ask me how I know.... 6 Garands later

 

[BogWalker]

I always found Mosins to be but so ugly. The ammo is nice and cheap, but it won't be like that forever. I've got one rifle and two cans of ammo; it's doubtful weather I'll even go through all that or not. Lee-Enfields and Mausers are much more satisfying if just a bit more expensive, but no mil-surp ever stays cheap.

Boy do I wish I had a Garand though. Better yet my dream is a nice FAL. Oh if I only had $1200 for a good one.

 

[warthog]

Actually since the ammo is still used in much of the former Eastern Bloc, surplus shot remain pretty cheap. We just need to make sure it is importable which is something to discuss in the political area.

As 25 year Cruffler (C&R holder), I find Milsurps of all kinds to be the finest firearm value going. SKS's, Mosins, Enfields, All the old issue firearms from the US Armed Services, in fact all the old firearms from the world's Armed Services can be had for far less than what they are worth. They come to me covered in Cosmoline and with a little work I can sell them for many ties what they are worth to those who don't like doing the work. Personally I love working on all firearms, from cleaning them after long term storage to fixing them after a break, I love to work on firearms. I love older guns for their simplicity too, they as so elegant in the way they work. John Moses Browning was a real master, the form fit and function his work can be seen in nearly all the firearms used today. It is such a pleasure to handle those he himself designed for me it is almost religious. (I have but one Savior though and one God and JMB isn't it)

I know no one believes me and I don't think I care really but until three years ago I had never sold a firearm from age 12 until age 47 with a few exceptions. The exceptions are those like SKS's and some Mosins and other milsurps I bought by the crate then cleaned them up and kept the cherry to continue restoring and sold the others so that I had the money to buy the parts to make the others as matching as I was able and as beautiful metal and wood wise as possible. Those 3 rifles out of four are the ones I spoke of as the ones I made several times what I paid for them simply by cleaning them up. Over time I wound up with over 2500 firearms, of that some 2000 or so were milsurps and of those that were left all were military style arms like AK's and Valmets and one AR just so I had every rifle the US ever issued to its troops starting with cartridge firearms up, all original and beauties and all the different variants. When I was force to sell due to both financial and more importantly, to save my relationship with my Dad, I wept to watch them leave one by one... I know I will never get any of them back or even get anything like that museum quality collection again (I did donate a few to a museum because they lacked an exemplar for a display).

Sorry, guess the subject is a special one for me but I do love milsurps and if anyone ever needs help fixing or restoring one, shoot me a PM. I don't have my FFL (for being a gunsmith) nor do I have my C&R any longer (I let it expire this Feb) but I am happy to come to you or you can come to me so I can either show you or I can fix or help fix what ails you.

 

[femurphy77]

I've been thinking of thinning the herd lately. My milsurps will be the LAST to go, if ever.

 

[warthog]

Mosins, Ugly?

Here is an M38 I am going to buy soon so I can't claim to have done the work on it. So yes, I am paying extra for the work that has been done.

Here is a rifle from 1943 that is still absolutely beautiful, at least to me. The 2 Garands I kept were a shooters, one I rebarreled to .308 since back then it was easier to find... now not so much. I'll drag them out so you can see them anyway but they're no beauties. I like how my last two SKS's look though. The top one is a Chinese Commando SKS. They were marketed as a saddle gun for the Western US called the Cowboy Companion. When I originally bought it (these were not C&R's then nor now) it had the bayonet installed on it. Later I receive a letter from the bATFE telling me to removed it and send them a picture of the rifle (back then it was an actual picture taken with my 35mm camera ) or they would come and confiscate it. Seems they decided a cowboy had no need for such an evil thing as a bayonet when fighting snakes etc. So I still have it since they also told me I was allowed to keep it, along with the nifty box and manual calling it a Cowboy Companion (and the BATFE Letter) for posterity. The way the Cowboy Companion looks though now is the way it came except for the bayo so they ventilated metal cover on the gas tube is stock. The bottom one is one of those I kept from two crates this time though I never was able to get a good wood match on the gas tube cover. Now though I have grown to like it as is so I think it gives it character (props to Churchmouse for helping me see this too).

 

[esrice]

Different strokes and all that. Some people collect Italian supercars and some enjoy restoring Model T Fords. But they're both "car guys".

I'm not a fan of the milsurp stuff but I had a great time shooting a bunch of them a couple years ago with some INGOers.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ge-trip-***now-loaded-pictures-videos***.html

 

[45 LongColt]

Beautiful rifles. I have an SKS and a Mosin. The SKS is more accurate but it could have been me.

 

[indydrew1]

Here is an M38 I am going to buy soon so I can't claim to have done the work on it. So yes, I am paying extra for the work that has been done.

Here is a rifle from 1943 that is still absolutely beautiful, at least to me. The 2 Garands I kept were a shooters, one I rebarreled to .308 since back then it was easier to find... now not so much. I'll drag them out so you can see them anyway but they're no beauties. I like how my last two SKS's look though. The top one is a Chinese Commando SKS. They were marketed as a saddle gun for the Western US called the Cowboy Companion. When I originally bought it (these were not C&R's then nor now) it had the bayonet installed on it. Later I receive a letter from the bATFE telling me to removed it and send them a picture of the rifle (back then it was an actual picture taken with my 35mm camera ) or they would come and confiscate it. Seems they decided a cowboy had no need for such an evil thing as a bayonet when fighting snakes etc. So I still have it since they also told me I was allowed to keep it, along with the nifty box and manual calling it a Cowboy Companion (and the BATFE Letter) for posterity. The way the Cowboy Companion looks though now is the way it came except for the bayo so they ventilated metal cover on the gas tube is stock. The bottom one is one of those I kept from two crates this time though I never was able to get a good wood match on the gas tube cover. Now though I have grown to like it as is so I think it gives it character (props to Churchmouse for helping me see this too).

I quoted you just so we can see these beautiful weapons of destruction. See all guns don't have to be black plastic with a collapsable stock.....

Nice weapons sir, and nice work whoever did it.

 

[warthog]

Thank you for the props. The SKS's are me. I did have to sprue up the wood and such, I stripped the wood, completely removed all the metal part and then applied a nice few coats of BLO until the shined. I popped out the dents and such with steam, you just use a regular iron and some water and you can get most of the handling bump/dents to pop out like they were never there. I love wood and metal on my guns so I can easily post a bunch of that type of rifle an handgun. I don't have thousands of them anymore but I still have a couple hundred. Mind you, I don't shun Black or whatever other color Plastic when it's appropriate. I just don't go out of my way to plasticize a rifle that, in my opinion at least, is supposed to have wood on it. Maybe I will haul them out and get pix of them and start a new thread. Don't want to derail this one from its original purpose.