First Surplus Rifle

Kinda general question... Welcome BTW. Can't go wrong with anything surplus.. My general choice would be a Husky in 270W.. Cheers.
BTW what do you want to do with it?
 
M38 Swede. Still reasonable priced. Most are extremely accurate if bores are good. Ammo should be relatively available. Shooting most military rifles has become very expensive. Consider handloading although components are expensive as well. I look back on the "good old days" with fondness!
 
It very much depends what you want to do with it.

Plinking at targets?
The SKS is still cheap to shoot , but for how long.

  • Enfields are plentiful, but prices are getting crazy, same for ammo.
  • Swiss K31, are great rifles still affordable, but the ammo became pricey.
  • Mosin Nagant, they go for around $700-800 for an ordinary Russian one nowadays, and the Finish rifles are over the top, not worth in my opinion.
  • Mausers, especially Swedish Mausers are still very affordable, can't say the same for ammo.
  • Enfield P14 and M17 are great rifles, some say the best rifles of WWI, the M17 is chambered in 30-06, and the sights are excellent.
There are many more, but I would avoid Garands, most of them are put together with parts and are way too expensive.
Mauser K98k are overpriced as well, the more swastikas, the higher the price.

I very much like the early Mausers 1908, 1909, Brazilian, Argentine, Peruvian and Persians. These rifles demonstrate the highest quality for a Military rifle.
 
For a first firearm and a surplus rifle my recommendations would be a .22 trainer of some sort. You can actually afford to shoot it and will learn much more using it then getting a full power rifle to start.

Second choice would be something like a Mosin Nagant or a 7.62 Nato Mauser/Enfield. Again ammo cost/availability being the driving factor.

The SKS is a terrible choice at the moment. Very good chance you would buy it, get the ammo and accessories, and have it banned the next day.

Other things that are fun are Swiss rifles (exceptional value, there is more models than the K31 and they are cheaper). The Swedish Mausers are also very high quality to cost.

Ultimately it depends on what your interested in collecting and what you want to do with it. If it is shooting often it will be expensive to feed most milsurps at this point in time.
 
Cheapest to shoot still in todays market would be. SKS or Mosin.

I love Mausers. But find the sights the smallest to see. Though I'd pick a M96 vs a M98..

But beware if you don't reload. Ammo for milsurps can be costly.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
For a first firearm and a surplus rifle my recommendations would be a .22 trainer of some sort. You can actually afford to shoot it and will learn much more using it then getting a full power rifle to start.

Second choice would be something like a Mosin Nagant or a 7.62 Nato Mauser/Enfield. Again ammo cost/availability being the driving factor.

The SKS is a terrible choice at the moment. Very good chance you would buy it, get the ammo and accessories, and have it banned the next day.

Other things that are fun are Swiss rifles (exceptional value, there is more models than the K31 and they are cheaper). The Swedish Mausers are also very high quality to cost.

Ultimately it depends on what your interested in collecting and what you want to do with it. If it is shooting often it will be expensive to feed most milsurps at this point in time.
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I never started with a 22LR.

Alot of milsurps are safe.... for now. But be targeted if they contuine to spew weapon of war bs.

Ive seen it where anti went on about AR15s and being weapon of war. Yet gloating about owning a Inglis HP.
 
OkayShooter said:
I never started with a 22LR.

Alot of milsurps are safe.... for now. But be targeted if they contuine to spew weapon of war bs.

Ive seen it where anti went on about AR15s and being weapon of war. Yet gloating about owning a Inglis HP.
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I personally started with a SKS and a crate of ammo for 300$. Those days are gone unfortunately though.

I am just considering the cost to shoot and what would give the most mileage out of that. Most full powered rifles aren’t going to be cheap or available to shoot factory ammo. It also can be hard to learn with a full powered cartridge as the starting point (potential to develop lots of bad habits like flinching).

My first .22 was bought a few years into shooting. My only regret with it was not buying it sooner.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
I personally started with a SKS and a crate of ammo for 300$. Those days are gone unfortunately though.

I am just considering the cost to shoot and what would give the most mileage out of that. Most full powered rifles aren’t going to be cheap or available to shoot factory ammo. It also can be hard to learn with a full powered cartridge as the starting point (potential to develop lots of bad habits like flinching).

My first .22 was bought a few years into shooting. My only regret with it was not buying it sooner.
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I was 17 with a 308. Paid with what I made in reserve basic. Shot on unit rifle team for a bit. Dad was my mentor and again we never owned a 22. The lack of shooting 22LR never taught me any bad habbits. Then again we had excellent mentors. My CSM was a 5 time Queens medal champion.

22 can be terrible. As it cheap no recoil, you can learn just as bad habbits. Many often shoot way too fast. As I see on alot of club shoots.Then with the quality of ammo you can be chasing fliers. Thinking it was something you did. When it is the nature of rimfire.

I only moved to pistol calibers, and rimfire due to degenerative disks in my neck.
 
I started shooting last October, was going to start with a 22LR, but purchased a 1963 Chinese SKS first, have since purchased another 1950 Russian SKS and Tikka bolt 22 LR and a Derya TM 22 semi auto.
Haven’t shot the Russian SKS but probably have over 1000 rounds through the Chinese SKS and probably another 1000 combined through the 22LR’s, all are fun to shoot. The Tikka bolt does slow you down so you can concentrate on your shot more than the semi auto, you want to rip rounds off faster with the semi as that is fun as well.
I purchased lots of surplus ammo for the SKS, better safe than sorry and glad I did, prices are climbing.
Whatever you buy, learn about the weapon, know how to disassemble it and how to clean it properly.
 
OkayShooter said:
Cheapest to shoot still in todays market would be. SKS or Mosin.

I love Mausers. But find the sights the smallest to see. Though I'd pick a M96 vs a M98..

But beware if you don't reload. Ammo for milsurps can be costly.
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About how much does it cost to get reloading equipment? Thanks for the reply.
 
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