newbie

[golightly]

Nice place, just wish I knew what you guys were talking about.  Forums are wonderful sources of knowledge, but unfortunately one must have a certain foundation of information to get what is going on.

Can anyone direct me to service rifles 101.  I stumbled onto this forum from the single shot forum, and now when I go to bed I think about Yugo 98's and I am considering naming my dog Mauser.  (I still don't have a clue what most of you are talking about.)

Are there any books or websites that would serve as a better starting place?

Are there any respected dealers in the Dallas area?

Today's my wife's birthday.  Should I get her a rifle with my name on it (Just so she remembers the moment I gave it to her)?

Thanks, Alan

[savageT]

Nice place, just wish I knew what you guys were talking about.  Forums are wonderful sources of knowledge, but unfortunately one must have a certain foundation of information to get what is going on.

Can anyone direct me to service rifles 101.  I stumbled onto this forum from the single shot forum, and now when I go to bed I think about Yugo 98's and I am considering naming my dog Mauser.  (I still don't have a clue what most of you are talking about.)

Are there any books or websites that would serve as a better starting place?

Are there any respected dealers in the Dallas area?





Today's my wife's birthday.  Should I get her a rifle with my name on it (Just so she remembers the moment I gave it to her)?

Thanks, Alan

Alan,

It wasn't that long ago I was tempted into milsurps by these guys here at GrayBeard.  I always had a burning desire to own my own 1903A3 or 1917 Enfield 30-06 WWI era rifle.  Well, now you probably know that they're just out-of-sight, and that goes for the M1-Garand and M1 Carbines too!  So the Swedish 6.5x55mm Mausers are the next step, followed closely by the German, eastern european Mausers in 8mm, on and on till we come down to the current Russian, Finnish Mosin Nagants in bolt-action guns. Then there are the straight-pull actions and semi-auto feeds! It's alot to digest in a big hurry, but these guys will help out if you have questions.  In the mean time I'll give you a place to go to to read up on the net.  Don't be afraid to do your own searching using "Google, or Dog Patch Search Engines.  Just type in the subject and let the engine give you a list/lists of possible hits.  You will be amazed what is available, and free too!  Let us know what you are interested in and we'll go from there.  By the way, a good place to start is to a local gunshop or pawn shop where these milsurps tend to acqumulate.  If you see something interesting, you go home, go to "Google" and start searching information!  Here's some sites:
http://pub109.ezboard.com/bparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums
http://www.surplusrifle.com/index.asp
http://home.earthlink.net/~damnathius/swede/
http://www.samcoglobal.com/index.html
http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/arms.htm
http://www.fulton-armory.com/Collector.htm
http://www.aimsurplus.com/
http://allans-armory.com/yugo.html

[1911crazy]

You won't have any problem learning about these guns and after its all said and done your going to say is that all there is?? There isn't many military surplus guns each country has its own designs and its funny to see some of these older WWI guns now for sure.  Its all history now and fun for sure if you need any help feel free to ask its not confusing at all plus its fun to search out answers too. Thats what is great about this forum so many different knowledgable people too willing to help out.
                                                                          BigBill

If your going to start collecting you maybe want to think about a C&R FFL license it cuts out the middleman and you get dealers prices on surplus military guns. Plus you get weekly/monthly specials, prices on closeout/clearances guns and ammo too. The only mistake people make its not a license to buy and sell its only to "collect" and you keep an up to date record book on what you buy and if you get a visit from our big brothers(ATF) they check your book to what guns you have. It must be correct and up to date!!! You can order over the internet from dealers/wholesalers/ guns for sale websites and the guns get delivered to your door. For a $30 dollar fee for 3 years for a C&R FFL License or you pay the local dealer a $25 fee everytime you buy? If you plan on buy a few or many surplus guns it could save you a lot of $$$ in the long run. Just something to think about. Also checkout "Big L.E.E.'s Military Rifle Page" lots of info there and other sites to learn from too it should keep you busy for some time a good site to start out from too.  And dealers list is there too where to shop at and find this stuff.

[deerhunter]

Another thing you might want to do is go the the Civilian Marksmenship Program(CMP) website and look up affiliated clubs in your area.  Contact one and go shoot a Garand Match.  These matches are open to the public, and many have loaner rifles that they will let you shoot the match with.  In these matches you can only use a U.S. Military rifle, 1903 Springfield, M1 Garand, or an M1 Carbine.  Once you shoot it, you get a certificate, and that plus membership in an affiliated club and some other requirements listed at the website, and you can buy an M1 Garand or 1903 Springfield from them.  Plus you will meet a lot of other shooters who know a lot about Milsurp firearms.

http://www.odcmp.com/

Right now there are a lot of nice clean M48A Yugo mausers around.  And Yugo SkS rifles.  I picked up a nice 1896 Swede about 15 years ago when they flooded the market.  Try to find a nice one now.  The point I am trying to make is, take advantage when things are available.  They wont be forever.  

Get the M48A and or a Yugo Sks now while they are cheap.  When the supply runs out, it gets more expensive to get one in nice condition.

I always tell my wife what an investment these things are.  "Honey, this thing was made 50 years ago and never used, its a collecters item, once they run out, they will be worth more than gold."

Once you have a bunch in the gun safe, they all look the same, and you can just tell her, you had the gunshop clean and preserve it because its worth so much.  That will work everytime you come home with a new one.  It helps if you tell her that the gunshop really wanted to try and buy it back badly, but there is no way you are going to lose this valuable investment.

If you play your cards right, you can make it sound like these are such an unbelievable one time deal, but you think you might have to let it pass.  You can sometimes get your wife to tell you not to lose out on such an investment and she will tell you to go buy one.  

NEVER tell your wife your buying it for her.  You are better off telling her all about the latest terrorist alerts and rumors, and tell her that you could really use it to protect her.  

Hope this helps.  


http://www.odcmp.com/

[golightly]

Thanks for the info.

I expect the domestic advice to come in the most handy.

Talk to you soon, I have some research to do.

[1911crazy]

golightly I'm not sure what you want to collect or how you want to get started if I was you i would do some research first the hit local pawn shops and small gun shops and "browse" just look and get an idea. A good place to start is an 8MM mauser M48 / K98 or 7.62x54 Mosin M91/30 / M44 / M39 choices can be confusing at first. I started with a 8MM mauser first and a M39 finnish Mosin second and i still have them today. And i have to say I haven't shot either one much. In a way the new guys just starting out there is more affordable ammo (availablility) and cheaper prices on some guns(50%) and some got more expensive(50%) overall I think collectors are in a better position now than years ago more stuff is available. More stuff is banned(5%) but we are still ok.                                                      BigBill

When looking at these guns bring a bore lite or a penlite will do check the bores for rifling and pitts from using corrosive ammo and not cleaning it good. Some guns have heavy very distinctive rifling(8mm mausers/mosins) and others have very fine rifling (swede mausers).
My only other advise is shooting military surplus ammo there is non corrosive and corrosive ammo. Its actually "salt in the primer" some guys make us imagine/think that dump trucks loads af salt will come out when you clean it after using corrosive ammo. "NOT" I treat every military and imported ammo as if it is "corrosive" even if it says non corrosive. I clean the gun each time it is shot the same day and the same way. Everyone will tell you a different way to clean it. Some flush the barrel with some special mixed cleaner or hot water/soap. I just use G.I. Rifle bore Cleaner(colesmans surplus "frugal" cheap/good) and run wet patches thru it until they come out clean with no residue. then i run dry patches to dry the bore then a light coat of gun oil(GI weapons oil colesmans surplus). I have never had a bad barrel or had a barrel go bad i just clean every gun the same.  I just don't trust the box saying non corrosive when it maybe. So gun cleaning is very important sorry for taking you thru this if you already know it but its good to refresh it or get different ideas too.  I have some guns 30years and they still look like the day i got them(bores)inside and outside too. It becomes a very expensive investment after a few years and you hate to see some get ruined when it could of been avoided.