First Surplus Rifle

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jthomas194

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Southwestern Ontario
I’ve got my pal application in the mail, and now I’m waiting for the thing to come back to tell me it’s ok to go out and get my first rifle.

I’m looking at getting something that’s cheap to shoot, and has a bit of recoil to it.
I’m aware that getting a .22 is on the radar for getting reacquainted with the basics, and I fully intend on picking one up, but my fancy has turned to a military surplus rifle, and that’s what I’m hell-bent on getting first, if possible.

After hours of YouTube, and countless time I think I may have decided on an SVT-40, but I am torn between that and the Mosin Nagant.
From what I’m lead to understand, the ammunition is cheap, and plentiful.

I’ve also become interested in certain aspects of the Swedish Mauser and the K31 Swiss. Both Look very accurate and cool, but I’m not sure that as someone who isn’t familiar with reloading, if either of those would be an economical option.

Any ideas?
 
jthomas194 said:
I’ve got my pal application in the mail, and now I’m waiting for the thing to come back to tell me it’s ok to go out and get my first rifle.

I’m looking at getting something that’s cheap to shoot, and has a bit of recoil to it.
I’m aware that getting a .22 is on the radar for getting reacquainted with the basics, and I fully intend on picking one up, but my fancy has turned to a military surplus rifle, and that’s what I’m hell-bent on getting first, if possible.

After hours of YouTube, and countless time I think I may have decided on an SVT-40, but I am torn between that and the Mosin Nagant.
From what I’m lead to understand, the ammunition is cheap, and plentiful.

I’ve also become interested in certain aspects of the Swedish Mauser and the K31 Swiss. Both Look very accurate and cool, but I’m not sure that as someone who isn’t familiar with reloading, if either of those would be an economical option.

Any ideas?
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I have a Mosin and I love it, It's big, heavy, and looks absolutely awesome. It's got some bang to it but the kick is "Meh".... The ammo is fairly cheap... But you will want to read up on them as there's lots of things to look for when buying one, and I do mean LOTS, bore wear, counter bored muzzle, hex chamber or round chamber, high wall or not, M44, sticky bolt syndrome, etc etc... I could go on and on... Oh and the cheap ball, FMJ ammo may not be allowed @ some ranges... But even after all that I still take the Mosin! :)
 
I've seen Mosins on Some of the sponsored sites for very affordable prices. I wonder if ordering from an online retailer like that is taking too much of a chance. From what I've gathered, most of them have a good reputation, and it looks like they come with the standard set of accessories, which is a bonus.
 
jthomas194 said:
I've seen Mosins on Some of the sponsored sites for very affordable prices. I wonder if ordering from an online retailer like that is taking too much of a chance. From what I've gathered, most of them have a good reputation, and it looks like they come with the standard set of accessories, which is a bonus.
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I got my Mosin from SFRC and let me tell ya it's awesome.. The bore is damn near excellent, the bluing is a 7/10 the accuracy is very good, it's likely my happiest online purchase in many many years, and one of my top 5 favorite rifles in my inventory. Give SFRC a call or shoot them an email, you will not be disappointed.
 
Sounds like a glowing review. I should give them a call as soon as I get my PAL in the mail. Hopefully they will still be on sale.

I also see that there are inexpensive Mosins from Westrifle. I wonder if the bent bolt makes any real difference. And if anyone's had good or bad experiences with them.
 
There is tons of reviews and reference for westrifle. You can ho here http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=437599
Or start a new topic. We have been in business since 2004 we import Russian surplus into Canada. The way we are different is that we fly overseas and we go through piles of surplus ourselves.

Sergey.



jthomas194 said:
Sounds like a glowing review. I should give them a call as soon as I get my PAL in the mail. Hopefully they will still be on sale.

I also see that there are inexpensive Mosins from Westrifle. I wonder if the bent bolt makes any real difference. And if anyone's had good or bad experiences with them.
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I've seen a bunch of good reviews on Westrifle, you guys look like a good company.

And I do like the Russian stuff.

Now, do the rifles with the bent bolts come like that stock from the arsenal, or is that something they added during the refurbishing process?

I know that sniper variants have the bent bolt, but are these usually matching serial numbers?
 
All bend bolts in our stock are matching numbers.

jthomas194 said:
I've seen a bunch of good reviews on Westrifle, you guys look like a good company.

And I do like the Russian stuff.

Now, do the rifles with the bent bolts come like that stock from the arsenal, or is that something they added during the refurbishing process?

I know that sniper variants have the bent bolt, but are these usually matching serial numbers?
Click to expand...
 
Westrifle is great.


I wouldn't rule out .22 as a first rifle. Just because the ammo is so darn cheap - way cheaper than russian milsurp ammo. Also, don't forget that the military often uses .22 in training and shooting practice.

Whichever way you go, I highly recommend the SKS as a budget second or third rifle. Its just darn fun to shoot, more so than any milsurp rifle I've fired. It just needs some extra care with cleaning up milsurp ammo fouling. I'm having loads of fun with mine. And it doesn't hurt that the SKS is just so darn cheap to buy.

Bought mine second hand for $100 and scoped it.

sksproject010-0.jpg
 
I'd love to give an SKS a try, I know a few people who have them, and I would just need to get out to the range and try one out.

And I have not ruled out the .22 as a starter. I would want something fun to shoot, reliable, and easy to clean and maintain. Something like a cooey.

I am starting to dig the SKS.. looks fun- reliable and very easy to maintain. I like the Russian stuff. I fired off an SVT 40 recently and liked it a lot.

Waiting for the PAL is my big roadblock.
 
SKS is a great gun, and you cant lose for the price. I love mine, and everyone that shoots it says they want one.

SVT is also fun, don't be scared off by people saying they are hard to clean. They are (in my opinion) still easier to clean than american made semi-autos (I mean ones for hunting, have never owned any US mil surp). There is a good thread about the svt sticky-ed in the "Red Rifles" section. disassembly is described in that thread.

I also have a cooey .22 that was my grandfathers. It is a great rifle. Very accurate and fun to shoot.
 
I am now the proud owner of an SVT-40!
I'm not sure which Arsenal, but it's a 1943, and all the numbers match, on the stock, on the bolt and even on the gas cup. only the mag is mismatched.

I know now that this is potentially the first of many, many more.

Also I will take a photo of the Arsenal mark, to see if I can make any sense of it..
 
Shooting Bastard said:
Congratulations!! Now the fun begins....
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Welcome to the fraternity and what will no doubt turn into a lifelong passion,that's what happened to me.
Maybe I'm a bit counter to the trend here but I would recommend a M96 Swedish Mauser as one of your first rifles.My son just got his PAL in May of this year and has really taken a shine to the 6.5X55.After shooting this caliber a few times I can see why.Relatively mild recoil,very accurate and no semi-automatic mechanism to foul up.This cartridge is also a breeze to handload and with the old fashioned bolt action it will handle all loads from full power rounds down to very light "plinkers" for taking on pop cans or whatever.
One of the very first rifles I purchased was a M91/30 Mosin and I put a lot of ammo through the old gal,but looking back on things now I think one of the Swedes would have been perhaps a better choice for me to start with.Hindsight and all that but just my opinion.
Whatever you choose welcome aboard.
 
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