[seruzawa]

Good find.

Bolt action rifles haven't changed much in 100 years. Almost everything is some form of Mauser action. No reason that a 41 Nagant wouldn't be as good a shooter as the latest offerings. As long as the action is strong, the barrel grooved properly and full floating it's as good as anything with the fiber/composite/parkerized/fancydan whatever. None of the fancy doodahs make a rifle shoot any better.

 

[seruzawa]

And automatics haven't changed much in 50. The two most popular automatic rifles were designed in 1947 and 1957. Amazing how small arms development has stalled. It's definitely a mature technology. The only major innovations have been in material (polymers), optics and accessorization (Picatinney rail). Otherwise it's as stagnant as aviation.

No new auto action is any better than the Garand rotating bolt or the AK-47 action. People will tell you the AR-15 action is as good or better, but that's all horsepucky. The AR15/M16/M4 action is a hunk of junk. The M4 had by far the worst jamming rate of the rifles the Army considered and the weakness of the 5.56mm is legendary. But the right pols get money for their districts so voila the US Army chooses the worst combat rifle of the 20th Century. Don't get me started on that Beretta POS... the only pistol that failed catastrophically several times under test.... but voila the right contracts and payola and the Army picks it.

 

[seruzawa]

For a couple hundred bucks you can get an RCBS press, dies, a scale some powder and primers and save a bundle on rifle calibre ammo and larger pistol calibers too. You can load .30-06 for 1/3 price and that includes using premium bullets like Nozler Partitions. 45ACP, .44mag, .357mag same same. A pound of powder will reload 1000 .38spec.... the preferred cartridge for practicing with a .357.

I've been reloading for years and I do easily twice the shooting I would do if I bought ammo commercially. Plus it gives something to do on those long winter days rather than vegging out.

 

[seruzawa]

Do you fab your own razor wire too?

Why would I do that? It's cheaper to buy it. Broken glass and glue are pretty cheap too.

 

[seruzawa]

(BTW - the rifles are going UP-UP-UP in price, and no longer come with alla them gewgaws schizuki got with his'n - get yers now, a'fore they're.... well.... with something like 56-gajillion Mosin rifles made [an' that's just th' RUSSKIE RIFLES], not likely they'll be GONE anytime soon - but the price, she IS a-Risin'....)

Thank the World's Greatest Gun Salesman.

 

[seruzawa]

Here's some Mosin trivia:

Remington and Westinghouse produced several million Mosins for the Czarist government. Delivery was interrupted by the Russian Revolution, and the companies were facing ruin. The US government stepped in and bought hundreds of thousands of the rifles, distributing some to National Guard units, some to anti-Communist forces in Russia and keeping others for Army training. Their most interesting disposal was in arming an American expeditionary force that fought the Bolsheviks in Russia from 1918-1920.

Let that be a lesson. When dealing with foreign govts, ESPECIALLY RUSSIA, always demand cash on the barrelhead.

 

[seruzawa]

Well, there are enough around that you can do what you want and you won't be hurting history. But my Mosin philosophy is to keep it simple, as Ivan did. As Mosin fans say:

"Is rifle. Is shoot."

All the fancy stockage and doodads won't make the thing hit the bullseye any better. The best thing to spend your money on is ammunition. Case in point: My friend Jay. Could barely hit the broad side of a barn door. Gets tired of missing the deer and goes out and spends a fortune on a Weatherby 300. Now he spends $50 for a box of 20 rounds and still can't hit the broad side of a barn door. He also snarls whenever I tell him he should have kept the Winnie 300 and spent the price of the Weatherby on ammo and range fees.