Starting Soviet Milsurp Collection

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Miscer

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Looking to start collecting some milsurps from the baddies. Namely an M38 or M44, 91/30, 91/30 PU, SVT-40, Nagant revolver, TT-33, and possibly a sniper version of the SVT-40.

I'm mostly looking for good quality shooters with shiny barrels and good rifling. Should I be keeping my eyes peeled for pre and post war rifles? How functionally important are matching parts? Is it just a collector goal, or would a mismatched scope or bold significant affect accuracy?

Does the Canadian market get flooded every once in a while with a large shipment of imports? I recall Nagant revolvers once being a lot more affordable than now, or is the import shut down now?

How much should I budget for a non-repro Mosin sniper with a PU scope? What would be the cost of starting to reload x54r? I can't bring myself to run corrosive ammo if I'm going to buy a more prized quality rifle.

Thanks.
 
Welcome to collecting Russian military firearms! Most Russian firearms that are avaliable to us have all been refurbished at least once in their lifetime, so matching parts would not really deter me from buying a good condition rifle. When the Russians refurbished their guns they stripped all the guns down and put parts in piles paying little to no attention to what belonged to the specific gun. As to pre or post war rifles id say there isn't much difference in the way they will shoot. The main difference will be appearance. For example a 1938 Mosin 9130 will have much better machining then a war time izhvesk 9130. Unfortunately due to the Russian embargo with Canada now, we are not really seeing milsurps from Russia anymore. Nagant revolvers Svt 40, and Mosin carbines rifles seem to be long gone and prices are rising quite quickly on all of them! Pu snipers and standard mosins can still be found at some gunshops, but I suggest you act fast as I'm seeing less and less. Tokarev pistols can still be found but they too are getting harder to find. Good base prices to pay in my opinion for these rifles are, 600 for an svt, 7 to 8 for a nagant revolver, 800 for a pu sniper, 250 for a 9130, 250 for a tt33 and about 450 to 500 for a carbine. Of course these prices will differ depending on overall rifle or handgun condition! As for reloading I'm not all that sure as I don't reload as of yet. If you have any more questions feel free to pm me. Best of luck on the hunt!
 
Most Russian firearms that are available to us have all been refurbished at least once in their lifetime, so matching parts would not really deter me from buying a good condition rifle. When the Russians refurbished their guns they stripped all the guns down and put parts in piles paying little to no attention to what belonged to the specific gun.
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In my experience I have not had too much trouble finding nice condition all matching soviet milsurps. Getting harder to do with time, you may pay a little more, but still achievable. Mismatching parts does deter me from buying irregardless of condition, but that's just me. I know many people like myself who pass on mix master milsurps. There is nothing like an all matching Mosin where even the bayonet is serialized to the rifle in a collection.
 
Robbs said:
In my experience I have not had too much trouble finding nice condition all matching soviet milsurps. Getting harder to do with time, you may pay a little more, but still achievable. Mismatching parts does deter me from buying irregardless of condition, but that's just me. I know many people like myself who pass on mix master milsurps. There is nothing like an all matching Mosin where even the bayonet is serialized to the rifle in a collection.
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An all matching example is really nice! But with the Russian rifles just because it matches doesent mean it was original to the gun. On most 9130s I've seen you'll find both Tula and izhvesk parts mixed and used on the rifle due to the refurb process.
 
Get some
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Don’t worry about shooting corrosive ammo, it’s only downside is you have to clean them that day. It’s easy to clean, boil water in a kettle. Pour boiling water down bore with a funnel, clean with solvent as usual and oil. The boiling hot water heats the metal enough that it will dry itself, corrosive ammo is only damaging to the gun if you are lazy and don’t flush the salt residue.
 
Military Surplus Lover said:
An all matching example is really nice! But with the Russian rifles just because it matches doesent mean it was original to the gun. On most 9130s I've seen you'll find both Tula and izhvesk parts mixed and used on the rifle due to the refurb process.
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All matching and all original are two different things which people get confused over. If the parts were matched to the rifle by a military it is now all matching regardless of where the parts came from originally. Since the rifle went through a refurbishment and then was rematched it is now actually correct for a refurbished rifle.
 
Also depends on if you want to shoot them...
If your going to be having it in the woods or range that's one thing... I have a Polish m44... mint condition... can't see me shooting that one!
 
Miscer said:
Looking to start collecting some milsurps from the baddies. Namely an M38 or M44, 91/30, 91/30 PU, SVT-40, Nagant revolver, TT-33, and possibly a sniper version of the SVT-40.

I'm mostly looking for good quality shooters with shiny barrels and good rifling. Should I be keeping my eyes peeled for pre and post war rifles? How functionally important are matching parts? Is it just a collector goal, or would a mismatched scope or bold significant affect accuracy?

Does the Canadian market get flooded every once in a while with a large shipment of imports? I recall Nagant revolvers once being a lot more affordable than now, or is the import shut down now?

How much should I budget for a non-repro Mosin sniper with a PU scope? What would be the cost of starting to reload x54r? I can't bring myself to run corrosive ammo if I'm going to buy a more prized quality rifle.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
What? No SKS? :)
 
Military Surplus Lover said:
Welcome to collecting Russian military firearms! Most Russian firearms that are avaliable to us have all been refurbished at least once in their lifetime, so matching parts would not really deter me from buying a good condition rifle. When the Russians refurbished their guns they stripped all the guns down and put parts in piles paying little to no attention to what belonged to the specific gun. As to pre or post war rifles id say there isn't much difference in the way they will shoot. The main difference will be appearance. For example a 1938 Mosin 9130 will have much better machining then a war time izhvesk 9130. Unfortunately due to the Russian embargo with Canada now, we are not really seeing milsurps from Russia anymore. Nagant revolvers Svt 40, and Mosin carbines rifles seem to be long gone and prices are rising quite quickly on all of them! Pu snipers and standard mosins can still be found at some gunshops, but I suggest you act fast as I'm seeing less and less. Tokarev pistols can still be found but they too are getting harder to find. Good base prices to pay in my opinion for these rifles are, 600 for an svt, 7 to 8 for a nagant revolver, 800 for a pu sniper, 250 for a 9130, 250 for a tt33 and about 450 to 500 for a carbine. Of course these prices will differ depending on overall rifle or handgun condition! As for reloading I'm not all that sure as I don't reload as of yet. If you have any more questions feel free to pm me. Best of luck on the hunt!
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What a shame about that embargo. Is ammo also off the table? Is any being important from any surrounding nations?

Thanks for all the helpful advice. My gun safe will be bursting at the welds, but the sound of it.

Robbs said:
In my experience I have not had too much trouble finding nice condition all matching soviet milsurps. Getting harder to do with time, you may pay a little more, but still achievable. Mismatching parts does deter me from buying irregardless of condition, but that's just me. I know many people like myself who pass on mix master milsurps. There is nothing like an all matching Mosin where even the bayonet is serialized to the rifle in a collection.
Click to expand...

Does the shooting quality get affected by mismatching parts? Would putting a bent bolt into a regular Mosin be a bad idea?

Butcherbill said:
Don’t worry about shooting corrosive ammo, it’s only downside is you have to clean them that day. It’s easy to clean, boil water in a kettle. Pour boiling water down bore with a funnel, clean with solvent as usual and oil. The boiling hot water heats the metal enough that it will dry itself, corrosive ammo is only damaging to the gun if you are lazy and don’t flush the salt residue.
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I'd rather hand load to get the most out of a rifle, but I'll probably get a few crates of surplus too.

rockport guy said:
Also depends on if you want to shoot them...
If your going to be having it in the woods or range that's one thing... I have a Polish m44... mint condition... can't see me shooting that one!
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Really? If I got a post-war carbine, that would be one of the main rifles I'd take to the bush or the range. I am much more interested in shooting rifles than just keeping safe queens.

bobdbldr said:
What? No SKS? :)
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Too vietcongey for me, sadly. Just doesn't have the same battle caliber and historic appeal. Pretty ugly gun compared to an SVT-40 or an AK.
 
One of the places I go to still has nc barnaul 54R @ 16.99/box. a crate might be cheaper.



If you fire corrosive ammo, then 2-3 nc right after, does that help in getting rid of the salts in the rifle??
 
No you still have to clean the gun afterwards
There will always be some residue left from the corrosive ammo
Not worth risking the gun rusting up on you so clean it when your done shooting for the day
 
Miscer said:
What a shame about that embargo. Is ammo also off the table? Is any being important from any surrounding nations?

Thanks for all the helpful advice. My gun safe will be bursting at the welds, but the sound of it.



Does the shooting quality get affected by mismatching parts? Would putting a bent bolt into a regular Mosin be a bad idea?

Ammo is getting very hard to get as well. As far as surplus goes all that's left is crappy Chinese surplus 7.62x54. I've had numerous clicks with that ammo! I'm glad I stocked up on the mfs ammo when it was still avaliable. Could be many years before we see any more ammo from Russia unfortunately. I don't think mismatch parts on a refurb will really effect the shooting! The bolt on a Mosin for say may be a little stiffer and not as smooth but it should shoot just as well.
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