usnmars

For the money, i would put an original scope and mount on it. Make yourself a PU sniper. If the gun is just a 91-30 without any special markings and not a 91, just go for it. They are fun and quite easy to do, pretty much all you need is a drill press and good tap. It is also quite fun going enemy at the gates style at the range. :mrgreen:

watch out maksim, those mosins tend to multiply on you and breed. One turns into 2 turns into 3, yada yada yada. When you take it out shooting long distance and see how accurate they are and how cheap they are, every time you are in a shop and they have one you tend to look at them. Before applying any finish to the stock once it is stripped, i recommend sitting it on the dash of your car in the sun to leech out any hidden cosmo. just go outside every half hour or so with a rag and wipe up all of the cosmoline that came out. I also recommend doing this to the bore- http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=39312 I do it after every couple of range trips and it is amazing what it will pull out of your bore. especially if it is your first time doing it. I have done a lot of accurizing on these rifles and am willing to share some of my tricks and tips if you want em.

go to http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewforum.php?f=83&sid=8337a184324565737064c6a911cba0ea they have tons of forum threads on refinishing a mosin. I have done mine and love how they came out. and if you check out http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=61170 there is a nice how to on stripping a stock from THE MAN when it comes to stocks. Here are pics of my PE and PU snipers that i refinished using the linked stripping method and finishing with tung oil

I currently dont have a 14, only carried one in the military a couple of years ago. If you are looking for traditional precision you cant beat the price on this -http://www.thecmp.org/m1garand.htm They will definitely reach out and touch someone as far as you can see. If you want magazine fed, for a couple of hundred you can have them converted to the italian bm-59 rifle like this. I dont have one but have seen them at fun shows. I dabble in shooting competition a little and if you want true accuracy nothing beats a bolt gun. For this i recommend a 1903 or a mauser. Oh and by the way these are the rifles that the ar guys called antique junk

Their targets looked like they weren't even aiming. If they were, they were horrible shots. I was shooting consistant 2" groups and their targets looked like a shotgun with buck shot.

here are some of my "babies"

Sorry i just got a little fired up at the range yesterday. I was out with my m1 and 1903 shooting for accuracy, when a group of about 10 ar guys showed up. They proceeded to mock me for shooting "antiques that could blow up in my face at any time." I told them that these two rifles are probabally the most reliable ever built, and I was just out having fun. They then began to school me that i was "poor and couldn't afford a real mans rifle." That is when i went off because i couldn't believe my ears. I was just out having fun, and these guys just ruined my day.

Well you cant go wrong with a garand, great all around rifle right there. The m1a, a 14 would be nice but but a m1a would work well. I have seen more problems with a 16 when the feces has hit the fan. Everything from failure to fires, failure to feeds, and even stuck casings in the chamber. when i was in the field i was always with a marine security detail, and every one of them hated the 16. I am obsessive compulsive admittedly when it comes to cleaning my firearms, and even mine would jam in the sandy environment. For me personally it seems to lack the stopping power and reliability. I have seen "enemy combatants" have to be hit several times with the 223, where the guys with the 14(7.62x51) always had em go down no matter where they hit em.

It is kinda getting annoying looking in the rifle forum, here and on other boards, and seeing ar-this, ar-that. It is almost turning into ar forums. I know i am going to get flak for saying this, but come on. There are other rifles out there too. I carried the 16 in the military(not too long ago, so dont tell me they fixed the problems since vietnam) and really wasn't that impressed, if not disgusted. What is with society's current obsession with these things?

thread resurrection, but if you still need it have one.

welcome from blairstown. Any time you wanna meet up and go shoot let me know

i am available any day of the week for the next three weeks or if anyone wants to go this saturday i am game! i am in blairstown, and it isn't a far drive.

I know when i go to the range with the older stuff i always seem to draw a crowd. This is just a small sampling of my WWII collection. When shooting the older stuff, it seems like a cannon going off compared to little ar-15's. people always gather and i let them try shootin some. Most of the time people are afraid to try.

I know when i was in the military, you would have to drop and do push-ups when you called your rifle a firearm or a gun, it was referred to as your WEAPON, anything else and you would pay dearly.

well i was cleaning out the safe today and decided to take some pics and reflect all that gave their lives on the sixth of June 1944. Here are my D-day milsurps and militaria. Please remember that i am the worlds worst photographer, but please feel free to post some of your pics. To start it off.... we have here a 1903A3 made in 1943, Springfield M1, USN ka-bar, and a Rock island 1911(I know not original, but nicely fills the gap). Here we have my one and only Brit. It is a savage #4mk1 that has the original micrometer sight. now we have 2 vet bring-back k98's (the darker one is a 1939 JP Sauer that was actually captured on June 8th 1944), an unknown helmet, a p38, youth knife, and a SA dagger

well if you are in north jersey, i am willing to show you the ropes on mausers. i am a major collector and have every flavor of surplus ammo you can get. if you want to meet up and go shootin' just let me know.

I use this setup about once every 4 or 5 range trips. When i shoot, i really put some rounds down range. 400 rds out of the rifles and about 250 out of the pistols. I can personally vouch for this setup. I bought a yugo mauser that had what looked like a sewer pipe as a bore and did this. It now glistens like the day it was made, sharp lands and grooves and no pitting. I would now rate this barrel as an excellent+. There is quite the extensive sticky on http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=39312 definately worth a try if you have a really snotty looking bore. But i am just passing on info, use at your own risk. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I am a deepwater oil drilling consultant for shell in the gulf of mexico. I do a three week rotation, 3 weeks in the gulf and three weeks home on vacation. I like it and i only work 6mos out of the year!

Well usnmars lets see USN for my time as a squid, and mars was my nickname in the service. so put 'em together and that is what we get.

Honsetly look around on surplusrifle.com to get a good opinion on mitchells. They are not the most honest of sellers, and are very pricey to boot. I have to say they are pretty if you are looking for a shooter, but if you are looking for a historical firearm i assure you mitchells is not the way to go. If you want, there are Russian Captures on the market that require a little elbow grease and a lot of cleaning but they seem to be excellent shooters and half the price of mitchells. If you are interested in a RC let me know and i will keep my eyes open and give you a low down on how to make 'em look prudy.

Where are you located? i too have a severe case of wwii milsurpitus. I collect mainly bringbacks, but anything that looks like it has an interesting history may be to my liking. Maybe we will have to meet up and let the old warhorses stretch thier legs a little.

I will vouch for aim surplus. They are extremely reliable, fast (before the Obama effect), and great people to do business with.

Well I bit the bullet the other day and went to Sarco to buy one of the Rock Island 1911's and a p38 they are advertising. The p38 was fun and worth the money, but i was all about the 1911. When i first got it all i thought was for the price this thing had to be a major P.O.S. Boy was wrong, I took it out today for the first time and fired 150 rounds of 230 grain ball ammo and i did not have one issue at all. No failure to feeds, eject, jams period! Accuracy was very impressive and all of my shootin' buddies were in love. Fit and finish is excellent, nice and tight and looks like a decent parkerizing job. The only thing i am going to change is the smooth grips it came with, i am planning on putting original GI grips on. If you are looking for a nice fun 1911, from what i could tell i am definitely recommending a Rock Island. :mrgreen:

welcome from blairstown. I too am looking for a range buddy, but rifles are my thing. If you want to meet up let me know. I am available any day of the week!