What got you into surplus military guns???

[1911crazy]

At first I wanted a gun to take out in the bad weather for hunting.  It seems on every other hunting trip we always run into a moonsoon for a few days. So i purchased a 8mm mauser and a finnish mosin what ever that was.  These were shot once and they sat in the safe for many years growing roots. I never took them out again.

We had an old gun shop who had many C&R surplus military guns.  He had wall to wall racks of every gun from every country.  Mausers and Mosins to the american guns too.  It took me many hours of looking to pick one 8mm mauser. Of course with my luck I found a yugo model 98 and a finnish m39 VKT mosin. I didn't have a clue being new as to what i had. Just the smell of the comoline when you walked in the place got me in the surplus military mood to just buy.....Heck i was jones'n to paw every one of them for hours on end.

Then I read an article in the Backwoods Home Magazine about the cheap russian military rifles that could put meat/game on the table.  A light bulb lit in my mind about what i had tucked away in the safe for many years.  This really raised my interest in these old war horses. Then i found this site and S.S. & Mikey welcomed me and they told me what i had for many years.


So whats your story?

[spikehorn]

A 1945 SMLE Mk4 #1 canadian longbranch for $ 80 with a pristine bore is what got me into milsurps. now all I need for it is one of the T cheek pieces because it is scoped, and I bet it will bring the group sizes from MOA to sub MOA

[shot1]

First mil-surp I ever had was my first high power rifle ever. I worked all summer mowing yards to purchase it. It was a 1903A3 Springfield UNFIRED.  I paid $40.00 for it. It was in 1970 when I was 13 years old.

My real serious collecting started about 15 years ago with the M-96 Swedes in 90% or so condition for the huge price of $80 to $100 each. Some friends at the rifle range and I started shooting friendly 100 yards off the bench matches that mushroomed into different rifle classes until I had all sorts of military rifles. When the retail prices started to go up I got my C&R and now two BIG gun safe's full latter the rest is history.

[red alder ranch]

Russian SKS for $139 and a Russian Makarov for $119. I should have bought a dozen of each!

Still have both, as well as a 8mm Turkish Mauser.

[woodchukhntr]

I started betting milsurps because of cost.  I think that my first was a 7mm Spanish Mauser carbine with a not very good barrel that I bought when I was 18.  I also picked up some ancient UMC ammo that was so old that the cases had dezincified weak spots which would occasionally allow gas to blow thru the cases and into my face!  That combo didn't last long and was replaced with a 1903A3.  I then picked up a real nice Swedish Mauser carbine, a DCM M-1 Winchester carbine, etc.  They are all gone to other homes now, but I still look for milsurps and there are usually 1 or 2 in the gunsafe.  I now have an M-1 Carbine, a Swiss K-31 and a No. 4 Mk. 1 Enfield.

[84Jim]

I started out with an M1 Garand for CMP matches.  Then I wanted a rifle to shoot in antique rifle (i.e. Vintage) matches that my club holds, so I got a M-96 Swede.  Another M1, a 1093A3, 1903, M1 carbine, and 2 K31's followed.  Those guns are the best investments I ever made, not that I'd ever sell any of them.  Wish I would have bought more...

[GRIMJIM]

My first was a mosin nagant 91/30. I like the history behind these battle experienced rifles and I'll look for a correct bayonet and shoot them a bit if I can find ammo.

[Mikey]

What got me into mil-surps?  $14 Carcano carbines, $19 SMLEs, M17s in the $22-29 range, Lugers, Walthers, Mauser C96s, Radoms, Berettas, Rubys, PPs and the like in the $25-45 range; but we're talking mid-60s and the adds on the back of the American Rifleman, and old guns hsops with foot lockers full of 45s or Webleys or P-38s.  Guns shows where 20 y/o 45 ball was $2.00 a box and steel case was $1.50 or less, 200 gn 38 rn for just over $20 a case.  Yep, that's what got me into mil-surps..........

[Dixie Dude]

15$ sporterized 8mm Mauser was my first big game rifle back in '72.  Then later the $75-100 SKS's, then the $100 Mosin's.  Cheap, reliable, easy to field strip and clean, cheap ammo, and rugged.  What's not the like. 

[S.S.]

An FN model 1949 in 7mm mauser and shortly afterwards a 1944 GM M1 carbine.
My father was a Gunnery Sgt. in Korea so I have been around guns all my life.
Side note here, I still have both rifles....

[spikehorn]

I just remebered the M1 carbine from sears when I was about 15 or 16 I was school shopping with my mom and noticed a small gun case had maybe 5 or 6 rifles in it can't remember how much it was but my mom bought it for me I just had to deal with less school clothes that year.

[Redtail1949]

when i was just a kid one of my uncles took out a model 98 mauser he brought back from the war. he was talking to his brother about their war time experiances. he fought in europe and his brother in the pacific. he let me hold it and i was lost in my own world thinking of the battles it had been through. i have the rifle today as he left it to me when he died.

that event started a life long facination with military firearms.

[Captain Emo]

woolworths and the hardware store had milsurp rifles, covered in cosmoline, for a young boy to fondle and dream about.  I was hooked at a young age.

[securitysix]

Our gun club has a military bolt-action benchrest match.  My dad and I both thought that would be a pretty neat thing to participate in.  I now have 2 Russian Mosins and 2 Czech Mausers and he's got Mosins, Mausers and an Enfield, and neither of us has ever shot a match with them.  They are fun guns to shoot on the plinking range, though.

[RB1235]

My grandfather had a bring back that I now have. It's a 7.7 jap type 99. As a child I loved that rifle. My favorite movies were the war movies of the 50's and 60's. As a kid all I could understand was they were shooting all those bullets but hitting very little. Then a sniper would pick off a guy with a single shot. Seemed like a good idea for deer hunting to me.

Grandpa's 7.7 kicked to hard. I used his traps that he didn't run anymore and saved up enough for an enfield at 12. A Brit neighbor a few miles down the road sold me his smle sniper rifle. The recoil was much better and was perfect for deer. Over the years I have stayed loyal to the old sniper rifles picking them up now and then. I still hunt with them regularly.

[woodchukhntr]

RB1235,

Was it a real Enfield sniper rifle?  I'd like to get one but can't afford it.

[spikehorn]

I've seen a couple Mk4 #1 T in good condition going for $3200

[RB1235]

Man!!!!!!! I gave $30 for it years ago.

[gstewart44]

I got my Enfield No4MkI with two magazines, sling and bayonet for $80 in 1988......at that time you could get all the surplus (good and bad) 303 ammo you wanted for pennies per round.  It shoots about 3" at 100 yds and has done a number on several hogs over the years.    Never regretted the purchase. 

[STUMPJMPR]

I inherited an Enfield No 4 MK I when I was about 18.  It had been sporterized back in the 50's probably.  The cocking piece was broke.  The stock was in horrible condition.  The sights had been filed into notches instead of peeps.  That awful flat black paint the Brits used was mostly worn off.  So I took it upon myself to breed new life into this old war horse.  I refinished the stock and cold blued the metal parts.  The rifle came out looking very nice after all of the hours I put into it.  From then on I was hooked.  I then was bitten buy the Mosin and Mauser bug. 

[woodchukhntr]

My #4 Mk1 cost me $130 last year, the K31 was $150 (at Gander Mountain, no less!), and a Finn M39 was $130 about 3 years ago.  There are still some good deals out there, but they are few and far between.  You almost have to be in the shop when they come in!  Maybe an Enfield sniper rifle will come in the door when I am in a gunshop some day!

[spikehorn]

Man!!!!!!! I gave $30 for it years ago.

Man rub it in you have no idea the level of jealousy in me right (wink) thats really incredible, good shooting.

[pslshooter]

My 1st mil-surp was a 1927 Mosin-Magant dragoon rifle. I won it on a bet from a friend of mine. Stupid bet, Broke my left arm, but all in all it was worth it. Great shooter good bore when I got it. He got it back a few years later, but the bug bit me and I have owned several over the years and still have 3 In the gun cabinet.

[1marty]

when I got married 45 years ago I had a mauser 98K with all the markings, 1903 A3 springfield, m1 carbine, enfield No4 Mk1 and a Nambu type 14 my Dad brought home from the war. We needed rent money and had to fix the car so I sold them all. Today I replaced them all except for the Nambu. But my pride is a Swedish Mauser 1909. The gun shoots 1 inch groups out to 100 yards with iron sights.

[cybin]

In 1964 I bought a 1903 Springfield for $24.00--several years latter like a idiot I sold it to my sister-in-laws brother. It had a williams peep sight on it--and a fajen reinhardt stock--with full psistol grip,and cheek piece.  It shot like a dream--oh it was a Rock Island  model.

Just recently I sold a Spanish  surplus .308 to my nephew who wanted it badly for a deer rifle. I didn't care if I sold it or not, but to a family memeber well----

Currently have a Mosin  rifle that I call my ugly rifle---it shoots great, and have been looking at those Nagant revolvers at the gun shows, and I guess everyone has a SKS in the gun safe--or almost everyone.

For the money, even if you reload--it is hard to beat surplus rifles and surplus ammo, especially if you enjoy shooting.

cybin

[Frank46]

I'd say $$$. Why you ask?. Well after paying the bills, getting food and a few other essentials there was precious left. They were always cheaper, good selection and ammo was cheap. Paid 180 for a chopped up krag that rifle has long paid me back with all the fun I've had with her. Besdies most of the dealers that I did business would accept a down payment and let you take the rifle home. Not many do that today. That plus I love getting an old rifle and disassembling and cleaning it. Frank

[P.A. Myers]

There is a chain of sporting goods stores here called Big5. Until recently they put different surplus rifes on sale, I called the 'antique of the week'. I was waiting for a Schmidt-Rubin but settled for a Steyr-Manliecher 95/34. Good bore, stiff action, and the stock was oilier than a railroad tie. Ammo is available [8x54r] if you dig a little. 232grain with a nazi 1938 head stamp. A nice european gun for $69.

[swissfan]

I picked up a Shotgun News and there was an article on the K31.  I had no idea what it was, but a few weeks later Big5 had them for $99, so I bought one along with a Mosin 91/30.  I have since acquired a total of 7 K31's, a chopped 96/11 and a cz 52.  I still have the 91/30, but the swiss are my favorite.  I am wanting to get a 1911 or 96/11 long rifle or a K11 carbine, or all 3.  I pieced together one of the K31s and use it as my hunting rifle, although I have not taken anything with it yet.

[fl.hillbilly]

My old Swedish Mauser was the first gun i bought with my own money . a lot of people laughed at my "lil ole gun"
until i showed  them how good  it shot .   after that they left me alone ya know i only paid about $80.00 for it and it came with a bayonet I passed it down to my nephew who still uses it .

[red alder ranch]

beware the man with a bayonet...!