WWII rifles collection

Nic3500

Nic3500

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In your opinion, what rifles would you include in a WWII main battle rifles collection?

- Mauser: models, country
- Lee Enfield: variants
- Mossin-Garant: variants
- SVT-40 ?
- M1 Garand, M1 carabine
- French Famae
- Japanese rifles ???
- ...

Obviously models that fit in the non-restricted limits...

Nic
 
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Rifles:
-Lee Enfield No4mkI and No1mkIII
-Mosin-Nagant 91/30
-M1 Garand
-M1 Carbine
-Springfield M1903
-Mauser 98K
-Gewehr 43

Pistols:
-M1911
-Inglis Hi-Power
-Enfield No2mkI
-Walther P-38
-Luger p-08 (prohib.:mad:)
-Nagant M1895

I am mostly interested by the European battles of the WWII.
 
Add to that:

Rifles:
Carcano 1891 or 91/38
Arisaka type 38 or type 99
MAS 36
Lungjman Ag-42 (Not actually used in ww2)
Swedish Mauser (Not actually used in ww2)

Pistols:
Beretta 1934
Nambu type 14
Tokarev TT33
 
Not exactly a MBR, but if you're looking for collection only and want to focus on Canada, consider an Inglis Bren dewat.
 
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FAQMAT said:
Rifles:
-Lee Enfield No4mkI and No1mkIII
-Mosin-Nagant 91/30
-M1 Garand
-M1 Carbine
-Springfield M1903
-Mauser 98K
-Gewehr 43

Pistols:
-M1911
-Inglis Hi-Power
-Enfield No2mkI
-Walther P-38
-Luger p-08 (prohib.:mad:)
-Nagant M1895

I am mostly interested by the European battles of the WWII.
Click to expand...

Why would you choose the Mosin 91/30 over the Mosin M44? I am looking at an M44 instead of a 91/30 just out of pure esthetics......
 
Wouldn't it be easier to pick a side, or a country and learn their inventory first. Buying one of everything is a fast way to lose your focus.

Here are some more intellectual examples of collections.
- There are some serious Garand collectors who have one from each manufacturers. That total 5 or 6 US models, and 2 Italian ones.
- The same can be done with No.4 Lee Enfields, except add in the year of manufacture. That means 5 or 6 plants, and every year for each one from 1931 to 1955.
- I met a guy who collected Japanese Arisakas. He had a paper list in his wallet with high and low serial numbers, per model, per arsenal. He must have had 50 seemingly alike rifles, that were all quite distinct.
- There are an absolute rainbow of Mauser variants, and some are exceedingly scarce.
- The founder of Sherwood hockey sticks, at one time had one of every Winchester lever action every made, and almost about every barrel length and contour possible.
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
Wouldn't it be easier to pick a side, or a country and learn their inventory first. Buying one of everything is a fast way to lose your focus.

Here are some more intellectual examples of collections.
- There are some serious Garand collectors who have one from each manufacturers. That total 5 or 6 US models, and 2 Italian ones.
- The same can be done with No.4 Lee Enfields, except add in the year of manufacture. That means 5 or 6 plants, and every year for each one from 1931 to 1955.
- I met a guy who collected Japanese Arisakas. He had a paper list in his wallet with high and low serial numbers, per model, per arsenal. He must have had 50 seemingly alike rifles, that were all quite distinct.
- There are an absolute rainbow of Mauser variants, and some are exceedingly scarce.
- The founder of Sherwood hockey sticks, at one time had one of every Winchester lever action every made, and almost about every barrel length and contour possible.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. A collection of one type seems sometimes harder but it puts a little more self satisfaction in a collection. I for the most part collect Springfields. Sometimes I will pick another milsurp if it's of value to me, but other than that, it's 03's. The nice thing about collections though, is you can do what ever the hell you want & nobody will think any less of you. Just the fact that your preserving a little bit of history should be good enough...
 
basic you would need a rifle from the 3 main axis powers plus their co-belligerent finland, so:

K98k
carcano
arisaka
mosin M39

and from the major allies:
longbranch LE
garand
soviet mosin or SVT

then you could add a british manufacture LE, and a lithgow as well.

for other add-ons:
polish mauser
greek mauser or mannlicher
romanian VZ24 or mannlicher
yugo mauser or mannlicher
pre-war french MAS36
hungarian mannlicher

the sky is really the limit for a collection like this since there were so many countries and rifles involved.
 
Then again, he could just want a good cross section to see which gun he likes and have one representative from the major powers.

You may find that you prefer one style of gun to others. I did what you are doing, and have drifted away from enfields, but focusses on mosins. It's fun to have a good cross section of guns, but gets to be a pain to feed them all!

Non restricted:

*Mauser - K98 - common, fairly common ammo
*mosin M39 (finnish, and played a big role) - easy to feed, not so cheap
*Arisaka - when you find them, often cheap, but hard to feed
*carcano - cheap, but hard to feed


*Enfield - No4 for commonwealth, No1 lithgow for Australia if you wanted - common, cheap ammo
*Mosin Nagant - 91/30. More common than the M44 in a lot of respects, saw more action. The M38 was also a common wartime carbine. Common to less common in order of listing, ammo is available.
*SVT 40 - fairly common, ammo available.
*Garand - expensive gun, common ammo.
 
This would depend on how much you want to spend, and how far into it you'd want to get. My short list would be :

Lee Enfield No4 Mk1
Mauser Kar98k
M1 Garand
Arisaka type 99
Mosin Nagant M91/30
Carcano 91/28, 91/38 or 91/41

These cover the primary combatants during the Second World War. You could include a Lee Enfield No1 MkIII* for ANZAC troops, however you could argue you've got the Lee Enfield family covered already. To add to this list for something a bit more complete :

Swiss K-31
Gew 43
SVT-40
MAS 46
Lee Enfield No1 MkIII*
Mosin Nagant M44
Mosin Nagant M38
Steyr-Mannlicher M1895
Springfield M1903
M1 Carbine
Arisaka type 38
Chiang Kai-Shek rifle (Or a Gew 98)
Finnish M39
Swedish M40 (Swedish Mauser)

2 can be argued away since they saw very little, if any, combat use. However I would consider them part of WWII history. The K-31 may have been a minor reason for Germany not invading, however that's mostly the Swiss nationalism and propaganda talking. Either way, it's WWII history. The Swedish Mauser I don't know quite enough about, however there were Swedish volunteers during the Winter and Continuation War. They were most likely issued M24's and M39's, however I wouldn't be surprised if a few were used in actual combat. I'm not sure of any other rifles I might be missing.
 
Here is the simple answer;
Call your banker, and ask for access to as much money as they can afford to give you.
Then, buy every pre 1945 milsurp you can find, regardless of country of origin. Don't be picky on make or model, just be selective on condition...BUY THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!
You will not be sorry. It will be a hell of a ride to find everything, but enjoy it. In the end you will have one awesome collection.
Cheers
 
I have a better choice for the arisaka. Get a paratrooper model. IT folds into three pieces. they are a wonderful rifle but will run you a few grand.
 
Ah, I did not know they were the canadian distributor, I thought they only had the one model. I'm reffering to the FG 42 copy:

BD42I $8000- $9000 *NON* Restricted

fg42_zugeklappt_mit_zf.gif


FG42.jpg
 
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john@ said:
Ah, I did not know they were the canadian distributor, I thought they only had the one model. I'm reffering to the FG 42 copy:

BD 42 (H) $4,555.00 Restricted
The Haenel produced assault rifle.

fg42_zugeklappt_mit_zf.gif


FG42.jpg
Click to expand...

Now that is a must-have for any ww2 collection, beautiful! Don't those things cost an arm and a leg though lol.
 
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