Finnish Mosin-Nagant M-39
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
The cheap no-gunsmithing scope mount on the M-N was useless, so I shot without a scope. Using discount brand soft point ammo and open sights, the three shot groups were still all well under 1 MOA. Seems to be a very accurate rifle.
They come up quite regularly at selected gun shows. You have to act fast and just purchase at asking price or someone will just pay for it outright while you try to dicker, even if the rifle is a beater. This spring I picked up a couple of them along with about a half dozen M91 Finn captures. I got them in Chilliwack/Penticton/Cloverdale and two in Kamloops.
One thing, I owned all of them for less than two hours after purchasing. I put them on my table with what I thought were outrageous and maybe even gouging prices and they were snapped up. I know they are popular but that surprised me. At Cloverdale I bought the second M39 about an hour and a half after the show opened and had it slung over my shoulder while I browsed the rest of the show. Just before leaving the show a few hours later, a very young and impetuous fellow offered me twice what I paid for it. OK.
Similar thing happened in Kamloops. I found two Finn M91 refurbs on a table after hearing an "expert" claiming that there was a fellow in "C" area selling "Russian rifles" for $275 that were not in great shape when the guy on the table beside him was selling them for $189. It took a few minutes for the little light to come on before I went over to have a look. Sure enough, there were two of them with original barrels both M91s with pre 1918 stamps and about 85% condition inside and out. The only drawback was that the bolts weren't matched to the rifles, which were otherwise all matching. Both rifles were finger jointed on what appeared to be Birch stocks that were refinished with a Pine Tar coating. Again, with both of them slung over my shoulders I had them for less than an hour. I picked them both up after some haggling because no one seemed interested in them other than to slag the price. Again two fellows around 35ish came up to me and asked if they could look at the rifles. Sure, why not, they were polite and one even used a jewelers loop to look them over. They seemed to know their stuff on these rifles which is more than I know but again, they offered almost twice what I paid for them a short time before so I sold them rather than carry them around for another couple of hours then back to the truck about 6 blocks away. I hope those young fellows were happy with those rifles.
I did learn, because I always wondered how well walking around a show how well a person with one or two rifles and not enough time to take out a table would do. I don't mind people doing that as some vendors do because quite often I pick up those walk ins quite reasonably because the sellers are in a rush to get some money and leave. Seems to be a decent way to sell a firearm.
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The only one I'm considering now is the all steel S+K model made specifically for the M-39 that includes S+K rings, not a Weaver-type. The Weaver-type I had was supposedly a one-size-fits-all for Mosin-Nagants, which I now understand to be impossible, given that S+K makes different mounts for different M_N models and there are different dimensions for the various M-N sights. It wasn't wide enough at the front (screws wouldn't even reach the mount from outside the sight) and was too wide to fit at the rear. It had two horizontal tapped holes at the front and three vertical screws with horizontal lock screws. A good idea I suppose but poorly executed. The screws were some truly oddball small metric size (exactly the same screws are on a very uncommon CZ factory scope mount that I have) but were too short and couldn't reach the mount. And I did notice something when I modified the rear to make it fit into the scope base...the aluminum was very soft...much softer than any aluminum I have worked with before. Anyway, it was real cheap and is a throw away. But I thought I'd test it and test it I did...now I will move on to a quality mount. As Brownell's likes to quote the late 19th c. English Pre-Raphaelite art critic John Ruskin, " “It’s unwise to pay too much . . . but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money . .. that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”
All dressed up for range work with no-gunsmithing scope mounts and LER 4X scopes.
It will be a friendly competition between the new M-39 and a minty Swede 96 (Mauser Oberndorf 1900) that has a perfect #1 bore and shoots 3/4 inch groups @ 100 yds.
Number 1 is not perfect, no mark would be perfect, and that was the last time a Swedish armourer checked it. 40-50 years ago? A lot could have happened since then, but the proof in in the group
I actually meant that it has a perfect bore that is also marked #1 on the disc. I didn't mean to imply that all #1 marked rifles have perfect bores. After all, there are also unmarked discs and anyone can switch a stock disc.
However, that being said, I have personally owned (shot, hunted with and gunsmithed) at least 25 real nice Swedish Mausers in the last four decades, and examined many, many more. And this Oberndorf '96 of mine is the best condition Swedish Mauser I have ever seen, both in terms of its external condition (quality and condition of matching number walnut stock, quality and condition of the all-matching metal parts, 100% blue, etc.) and its internal condition: the bore is as perfect as they get, just like a new barrel (and I have owned and examined several of those as well). There are also no marks on it indicating any repair or arsenal refitting. It is also the best shooting Swede I have ever owned.
However, that being said, I have personally owned (shot, hunted with and gunsmithed) at least 25 real nice Swedish Mausers in the last four decades, and examined many, many more. And this Oberndorf '96 of mine is the best condition Swedish Mauser I have ever seen, both in terms of its external condition (quality and condition of matching number walnut stock, quality and condition of the all-matching metal parts, 100% blue, etc.) and its internal condition: the bore is as perfect as they get, just like a new barrel (and I have owned and examined several of those as well). There are also no marks on it indicating any repair or arsenal refitting. It is also the best shooting Swede I have ever owned.
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More than that of any other military surplus rifle, the jump in Mosin-Nagant values continues to surprise me. Every time I see a fairly nice one at a gunshow or for sale on gunnutz I am shocked again at how much the sellers are asking (and apparently getting) for them. They have really sky-rocketed in value lately and it doesn't look like they have peaked yet.
Eaglelord17
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- Location
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I think it has a fair bit to do with most people who are starting on milsurps starting with Mosin Nagants, then hearing about the 'best' Mosin which according to the majority of the internet is the M39 (I am personally in the M28/30 camp). Most of the buyers are uneducated, and as such don't know what the price should be (I have seen this trend with many milsurps, like Lee Enfields, and M1 Garands). It isn't even all Mosin Nagants, just specific models. M44 because they are a carbine with a bayonet. M39s because they are the 'best'. Well other things like the SCW M91/30 which has been listed for a while, and at a more than fair price has been sitting for a while because it is a M91/30.
