Milsurp rifles with the most bang for your buck

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Deerassassin

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Just wanting everybodys opinions on the best value milsurps out there. I want to expand my collection but don't know what to get next. I currently have an svt40, tt33, and sks. I feel like i should get a mosin because everybody else is but want something a bit different. How are prices on carcanos, steyrs, or mas 36? i want something in a calibre that is not impossible to find but still tough so I will quit being lazy and start reloading :p

Thanks
 
+1 on the K31. Look at how much machining you are buying for less than $300!

Surplus GP11 and new Privi Partizan ammo is available and Trade Ex has Privi brass for reloading. It takes regular .30 calibre bullets. In addition, there is a good clamp-on scope mount available.
 
Agree on K31 - good prices right now - especially from The Shooting Center in Calgary right now - $250 for the rifle and $300 for case of ammo - best prices around bar none.

Other than that it comes down to where you live, who sells what around you and how much you want to spend. You can find neat stuff at gun shows, but you can also find junk. Online sales are ok but I hate not being able to pick up what I am buying and look it over first.

For myself, I am very interested in the VZ 24 - goes for $350 on Tradeex and $400 elsewhere - keeping an eye out as a year ago they were $250 so hoping someone brings in a bunch. Either way they are supposedly one of the best Mausers and go for 2-300 less than the Russian captured german ones.

Don't let the fact everyone has a Mosin deter you - they are not always going to be this cheap - get a nice Hex to keep fully restored and get a round receiver shooter to bubba and play with.
 
Better yet, keep them BOTH factory!

LOTS of 91/30s have been butchered already: bobbed barrels, stupid plastic stocks and all the rest.

Problem is that that is all a waste of money: you can make one SHOOT with the factory stock, just as well and FAR cheaper.

Just takes a bit of time and patience and a small amount in materials to reverse the effects of 65 years of storage. And it's FUN and you LEARN a lot, too!

It all PAYS OFF when you start hitting things with an iron-sight Milsurp that your buddies have trouble hitting with their scoped Remchesterikkavages.
 
Don't even own one yet, but I'm leaning toward the K31... Awesome little rifle (by reputation, anyway), barely more expensive than a Mosin, and people outside of gun circles have never heard of it.
 
Here's my list:

Mosin 91/30, Yes they are cheap but that doesn't mean that they aren't fine rifles!!

K31 is on my list, my brother has one and it's an honest 1 MOA rifle any day of the week.

Swede m96. Can buy them for $200-$300 and ammo is very available. If you want a rifle that is laser accurate grab a m96 FSR target rifle from trade ex.

Turkish Mauser, they are very accurate and are built like tanks. I've seen them for as little as $150 but usually they can be had for $250. 8x57 is available at most gun shops.

If collecting Milsurps is your main interest I'd say you should start handloading. Once you start rolling your own ammo it opens up a world of guns for you.
 
Tinman204 has said a mouthful, especially as regards the handloading.

I started handloading back when I had a $27.50 Mauser 98k and 300 rounds of fired .30M2 brass with WW2 dates. A startup handloading outfit cost the same as about 8 or 9 boxes of commercial 8x57 ammo. I changed calibres to suit my .303 for the price of 2 boxes of ammo. Those values have not changed over the years.

At this time, my collection embraces the last half of the 19th Century and almost all of the 20th. I find that I NEED more than 30 different cartridges, of which only a fifth are still being made. I can turn them all out, match grade, at half the cost, or less, of a box of the cheapest commercial stuff. Some of them, the $10-a-shot stuff, I can load myself for a bit of work and the cost of a single round of surplus 7.62x39. And for shockingly-cheap practise ammo with little recoil and moderate performance and which produces almost zero bore wear, there is always the Harris Load: 11 cents a shot for ANY military fullbore cartridge.

With handguns the disparity is almost as great. I shoot a couple of .455s: buck or more a shot...... except than mine cost me just over a nickel.

Handloading opens up the ENTIRE world of surplus firearms..... and it does it for half-price, once you get the equipment.
 
Swede M96 and M38 are both good guns, fairly cheap, and ammo is available same with reloading components.

K31 also a good gun with ammo available Privi, and GP 11 one minor inconvenience is that GP 11 is Berdan primed but it is bloody accurate.

Mosin's are inexpensive with inexpensive surplus ammo.

Steyrs the ammo is out there but only from Privi and the odd smattering of surplus ammo but you can get bullets and brass from privi as well.

I'd get into reloading sooner rather then later if you want to shoot milsurps as smellie says the cost of ammo does down to under a dollar once you get everything up and running.

Welcome to Milsurpitis enjoy!
 
Well best value to quality wise you can't go wrong with K31s (or any Swiss straight pull for that matter), Swedish Mausers, or since you don't have one yet a Mosin Nagant (any variant but if you want cost wise I recommend a Hex receiver or ex-dragoon 91/30, remember that the round receivers can still be nice though).

I personally have two Steyrs, I love shooting both. They have some neat history and are truly underappreciated. They seem to be the gun most people have seen but very few have actually shot (I took my M95 long rifle to the range about a month ago and I was offering if anyone wanted to take a couple shots, most took me up on it and everyone seemed to enjoy it). Steyr M95 long rifles are worth around 250-300$ at the moment, the Carbines (or Stutzen) are worth about 200-250 or so. I would recommend the long rifles for the simple reason they handle the recoil better.

The prices on Carcanos differ on the model. 1891s seem to be about 300-400$, M41s seem to be about 300 etc. I have never used one but they seem to be fairly nice. The big thing to remember about the Steyrs and Carcanos is you need to get the Mannlicher Clips to get the gun working otherwise you basically can't fire it due to a weak extractor (I waited until I found and bought some surplus on the clips at a gun store before I bought a M95).

A small part I thought I would note is after collecting for a couple years now I have decided to only work on getting Swedish Mausers and Swiss straight pulls until I have one of every model. The reason being is they are much higher quality then most milsurps, they tend to be in better condition and they are cheaper (you can get two Swiss straight pulls for one Lee Enfield etc.). Hope this helps.
 
The Extractors on the Austro-Hungarian Mannlichers and on the Italian Carcano series are not "weak".

They are just DESIGNED for a controlled-feed action, exactly the same as a Swede Mauser or a 98.

Loading ANY of them by tossing a round into the chamber and slamming the bolt shut, can give you a wrecked extractor.

They should ALL be loaded THROUGH THE MAGAZINE ONLY.
 
Looks like i should start with a k31 then. Eventually ill get many more but ill start with that. As badly as i want an enfield or ross the price points me to others. Some day though. Where around winnipeg could i find a k31? or thunder bay? Thats one I know I would like to pick out in person to get a nicer stock
 
They may have a few K31s left at Leila CT. They also have ammo there to

One thing I'll note on the K31's at Liela CT, last time my brother was there he checked the bores on several of them and he said it looks like they are getting pretty picked through. So if you go there check the bore on whatever rifle you're considering buying.

Or call Anthony at trade ex (CGN sponsor) and get him to pick you out a nice K31 priced @ $275. Or for $25 more grab a Swedish m96 FSR rifle complete with diopters.
 
If it is stricktly economy and bang for your buck,
1/ the SKS. A very good one can be had for under $200 and ammo is the next cheapest thing to a 22.
2/ Mosin 91/30. Again, a very good one can be had for under $200 and ammo is cheaper than any other coparable round.
Both are very good
 
I vote for Mosin 91/30 too.Find one with good bore and after good cleaning and some training you can have fun for a long time.

If you ever get into reloading get 50 Lapua cases and you can seriously piss off guys with big scopes on their guns :)

Mosins can really do wonders when clean,cared for and fed good ammo.


Than again Swedes and K31s can do it too,maybe even better but I don't have any of them yet :)
 
The K31, for the quality and swiss workmanship, is perhaps the most under valued milsurp around. Grab yourself a couple and a GP11 battle pack if you can. Its like point and shoot...really.
 
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