New to milsurp, what to buy?

As far as milsurp rifles go for quality, you cannot go wrong with a Swede M38 bent bolt short Rifle or a Swede M96 long rifle. Both exactly the same action and calibre. These are some of the finest Mauser rifles ever made. They Shoot the 6.5x55 mm round. These are capable of 1MOA with iron sights. After that, get yourself a k31. This Swiss made rifle is an outstanding rifle. Capable of 1MOA as well. It has recoil like a 30-06.
 
I know you don't want to buy an SKS but they are really a bargain these days, you can find a unrefurbish collector grade rifle for less than 275$. They will never be cheaper than that...

Lee Enfield are really nice but prices are way too high especially here on CGN ;)
Sometimes people are asking 300+ bucks for a sporter... That's crazy !!!

K31 is one of the great milsurp around... I will never sell mine !

Swedish mauser are very good rifles and very affordable.
Any mauser is a gr8 buy. M48, M24, K98, M96, M38...

Garands are awesome but prices doubled in 2 years :mad:

Finnish Mosin Nagants are really sweet, especially M39.
My Sako M39 shoot an honest 2 inch @ 100y all day long with czech silver tip surplus ammo.

1903's are the cadillac of the mausers family ! Can't go wrong with a 03 !

If I was you ( OP ) i would buy a K31, you can find one for about 300$ and buy the target sights for about 200-250$.

 
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Well I just today picked a P14 too bad it a sporter but it is quite nice and it has the original sights and a good bore so I am excited to try it when I have time.
 
You will like it.

I feed mine with 40 grains of 4064 behind a Hornady 150, seated to the OAL of a Ball round.

Looks weird but it SHOOTS very nicely: honest 1 inch off the bench.
 
smellie said:
You will like it.

I feed mine with 40 grains of 4064 behind a Hornady 150, seated to the OAL of a Ball round.

Looks weird but it SHOOTS very nicely: honest 1 inch off the bench.
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Thanks smellie, I will give that a try as I have 4064 laying around that I do not use much, what is the overall length of a Ball round. I do not have brass or bullets at this time , I think I will grab a box of cheap factory stuff to give it a try and then will have some brass to work with.
 
Stop off at your local Dollar Store and pick up a packet of pony-tail ties: $1 for 500. I just got a pack of black ones for that price (TACTICAL, no less!). You put a pony-tail tie just ahead of the Rim of each cartridge before you chamber it. When the cartridge fires, the tie holds it back against the bolt-face, case-stretch is just about zero and any expansion is at the FRONT. Your brass is now fire-formed to YOUR chamber and it will last a LOT longer.

When you reload your casings, you neck-size them only, weigh your charges carefully and you are halfway to Match-grade ammo.

Just be sure to keep that ammo for THAT rifle.

One of the many VIRTUES of the Lee-Enfield rifle is that oversized Chamber. It was made that way as a reply to both the very poor quality control on some makes of ammunition during the First World War, and to the utterly appalling conditions of the War. If the Chamber was oversized enough, the rifle would WORK with any crap ammo, even if it was slathered in mud. P-14s were held a bit tighter but the chambers still were larger than necessary in a day and age of SAAMI-spec ammo (which is NOT the original Board of Ordnance spec) and no trenches in your back yard.

Using O-rings or pony-tail tis on your ammo (first firing only) and then neck-sizing only is a damned nuisance today BUT it helps your brass to last up to 15 times as long as it would if you just followed "the book" and full-length sized every time. The brass is HALF the cost of your ammo: no point wasting it!

Cartridge overall length on the .303 was 3.05 inches for ALL Marks of ammo.

P-'14 rifle is essentially a very solid Mauser with controlled feed. It should ALWAYS be loaded through the magazine: extractors are scarce. SMLE also should be loaded through the Magazine, just not quite as critical. Just watched a video of a girl pushing the rounds into an SMLE chamber and then closing the bolt; I cringed for the poor extractor!

What MAKE is your P-'14?

W = Winchester

RI = Remington, Ilion plant

RE = Remington Eddystone (Pennsylvania) plant

Hope this helps.
 
smellie said:
Stop off at your local Dollar Store and pick up a packet of pony-tail ties: $1 for 500. I just got a pack of black ones for that price (TACTICAL, no less!). You put a pony-tail tie just ahead of the Rim of each cartridge before you chamber it. When the cartridge fires, the tie holds it back against the bolt-face, case-stretch is just about zero and any expansion is at the FRONT. Your brass is now fire-formed to YOUR chamber and it will last a LOT longer.

When you reload your casings, you neck-size them only, weigh your charges carefully and you are halfway to Match-grade ammo.

Just be sure to keep that ammo for THAT rifle.

One of the many VIRTUES of the Lee-Enfield rifle is that oversized Chamber. It was made that way as a reply to both the very poor quality control on some makes of ammunition during the First World War, and to the utterly appalling conditions of the War. If the Chamber was oversized enough, the rifle would WORK with any crap ammo, even if it was slathered in mud. P-14s were held a bit tighter but the chambers still were larger than necessary in a day and age of SAAMI-spec ammo (which is NOT the original Board of Ordnance spec) and no trenches in your back yard.

Using O-rings or pony-tail tis on your ammo (first firing only) and then neck-sizing only is a damned nuisance today BUT it helps your brass to last up to 15 times as long as it would if you just followed "the book" and full-length sized every time. The brass is HALF the cost of your ammo: no point wasting it!

Cartridge overall length on the .303 was 3.05 inches for ALL Marks of ammo.

P-'14 rifle is essentially a very solid Mauser with controlled feed. It should ALWAYS be loaded through the magazine: extractors are scarce. SMLE also should be loaded through the Magazine, just not quite as critical. Just watched a video of a girl pushing the rounds into an SMLE chamber and then closing the bolt; I cringed for the poor extractor!

What MAKE is your P-'14?

W = Winchester

RI = Remington, Ilion plant

RE = Remington Eddystone (Pennsylvania) plant

Hope this helps.
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This helps a lot ,I have read before about the o rings , it may have been a post some where else that you did, I understand how and why it works and will give it a try. It is a Eddystone the serial # tells me 1918 I picked up some dies today as well as a box of selleir bellot FMJ ammo just to try it out and get some brass
 
Shouldn't be 1918, friend.

The contracts already were bing terminated and the plant production being wound downward when the US came into the War in April of 1917.

Then a period of retooling and then production of the 1917 rifle started up in late summer of that year.

At the time of the Armistice, Eddystone was building 4000 rifles a day, plus spare parts enough to run WW2 and leave a bunch left over, PLUS what parts were used up on the Remington Model 30 rifles, the Costa Rican M-1934s and even a few (I am told) on the first Ruger 77s. But those all were for rimless cartridges, not for the rimmed .303.

A .303" P-'14 should be no later than April of 1917. But even that was enough time for the rifle to see some action.
 
smellie said:
Shouldn't be 1918, friend.

The contracts already were bing terminated and the plant production being wound downward when the US came into the War in April of 1917.

Then a period of retooling and then production of the 1917 rifle started up in late summer of that year.

At the time of the Armistice, Eddystone was building 4000 rifles a day, plus spare parts enough to run WW2 and leave a bunch left over, PLUS what parts were used up on the Remington Model 30 rifles, the Costa Rican M-1934s and even a few (I am told) on the first Ruger 77s. But those all were for rimless cartridges, not for the rimmed .303.

A .303" P-'14 should be no later than April of 1917. But even that was enough time for the rifle to see some action.
Click to expand...

I ran the serial # over on milsurps.com and thats what it said,however I agree with you as I read somewhere they stopped production 1917, anyways I fear I have hijacked the OP original thread
 
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