Must Have surplus rifles - Page 2

simonkenton · February 24, 2011, 01:49 PM

You need a M39, the Finnish Mosin Nagant.

Also, you must have the elegant, accurate Swedish Mauser.

k31 · February 24, 2011, 02:44 PM

the french lebel and swiss k31 are a dieing bread even more so than the Mauser and nagants. i would lean to the hardest to find even if that means scraping up a few more pennies cause if you thinks they are Pricey now wait 10 years

kilimanjaro · February 24, 2011, 03:29 PM

You can really get into the surplus collecting, if you want. Just for Lee-Enfield, there is the British, Canadian, and Australian makes. The Indian Army had the Ishapore armory. Then there was the US-made L/E under Lend-Lease. That's just one WWII nation.

You can build a pretty neat collection from just the US, UK and Empire, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan, but consider adding a good bolt-action from the smaller powers, such as Holland, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Czech, Poland, there's a bunch of them. Finland has some good battle history. Then there were the Neutrals, important to the war efforts on both sides, such as Switzerland, Sweden, and Turkey. Post-war rifles can be interesting, too. Lots of German K98s went to Israel in 1948, and Norway converted them to 30-06 for their Army after the war. The FN49 is the rifle that didn't get built during the war, but certainly would have helped the Allies, although I believe the war effort would have been aided better by dropping the Lee-Enfield in favor of the US MI rifle and carbine for the UK forces in 1942.

You can make your collection as big or as small as you like, it's all good fun and I've never met anyone who doesn't show some interest when they see a good surplus rifle, even folks who don't 'like guns' have a benign attitude towards them.

The Russian rifles are so cheap right now, you can get a dozen of them in a year and not feel it....

Don't forget to shoot them, now and then.

sliverflinger · February 26, 2011, 12:26 AM

Some of you mentioned the history connected with these old arms. I got to thinking that if you got the right MN you could have a rifle that had seen a lot of the world. Get one that was made in the US, sold to Russia, given to Spain, captured by Germany,sold to the Finn's , who then used it to kill Russians.

Tikirocker · February 26, 2011, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Just for Lee-Enfield, there is the British, Canadian, and Australian makes. The Indian Army had the Ishapore armory. Then there was the US-made L/E under Lend-Lease. That's just one WWII nation.

And Pakistan ...

Tiki.

February 24, 2011, 02:44 PM	#27
k31 Senior Member Join Date: October 26, 2010 Location: utah for the time being Posts: 213	the french lebel and swiss k31 are a dieing bread even more so than the Mauser and nagants. i would lean to the hardest to find even if that means scraping up a few more pennies cause if you thinks they are Pricey now wait 10 years __________________ "the best shooting firearm is the firearm you shoot best" Tony Marr

February 26, 2011, 12:26 AM	#29
sliverflinger Member Join Date: January 20, 2008 Posts: 18	Must have Some of you mentioned the history connected with these old arms. I got to thinking that if you got the right MN you could have a rifle that had seen a lot of the world. Get one that was made in the US, sold to Russia, given to Spain, captured by Germany,sold to the Finn's , who then used it to kill Russians.

February 24, 2011, 01:49 PM	#26
simonkenton Senior Member Join Date: April 25, 2008 Posts: 891	You need a M39, the Finnish Mosin Nagant. Also, you must have the elegant, accurate Swedish Mauser.

February 24, 2011, 03:29 PM	#28
kilimanjaro Senior Member Join Date: November 23, 2009 Posts: 3,963	You can really get into the surplus collecting, if you want. Just for Lee-Enfield, there is the British, Canadian, and Australian makes. The Indian Army had the Ishapore armory. Then there was the US-made L/E under Lend-Lease. That's just one WWII nation. You can build a pretty neat collection from just the US, UK and Empire, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan, but consider adding a good bolt-action from the smaller powers, such as Holland, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Czech, Poland, there's a bunch of them. Finland has some good battle history. Then there were the Neutrals, important to the war efforts on both sides, such as Switzerland, Sweden, and Turkey. Post-war rifles can be interesting, too. Lots of German K98s went to Israel in 1948, and Norway converted them to 30-06 for their Army after the war. The FN49 is the rifle that didn't get built during the war, but certainly would have helped the Allies, although I believe the war effort would have been aided better by dropping the Lee-Enfield in favor of the US MI rifle and carbine for the UK forces in 1942. You can make your collection as big or as small as you like, it's all good fun and I've never met anyone who doesn't show some interest when they see a good surplus rifle, even folks who don't 'like guns' have a benign attitude towards them. The Russian rifles are so cheap right now, you can get a dozen of them in a year and not feel it.... Don't forget to shoot them, now and then.