(Gun Thread, hup de durp) Dying for a 1891.30 with PU, cheapest scope?

MattD1zzl3

2 Slow 2 Noisy
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Hello all, recently ive had the itch for a new gun, and having traded my crappy old 30 dollar nagant for an electric guitar years ago, suddenly have the desire to be jude law and prowl the ranges in south florida with the legendary facist killer, the Nagant sniper:

nagant_sniper-5.jpg


Now the cost of buying one online fully assembled is roughly $500, which is wicked-cheap for any sniper rifle (a good one will often run into the thousands).

Of course i thought it would be cheaper to build one myself, so i looked into the parts on their own:

Gun: 60-90 dollars
Scope: 160-200 dollars
Mount: 0 (incl with scope?)-100 dollars
Turned bolt: 60-100 dollars
Mounting by professional gunsmith: 50 to 100 dollars

So this gun will come out costing anywhere between 370 dollars (very unlikely) and 540 dollars. Which almost makes me think it might be eisier to just order the gun pre-assembled for wait for a lucky gun show find (but im in manic impluse buy mode).

Dear finalgear, do you have any tips for doing this as cheaply as possible? (im ok with reproduction parts) do you know where i can get a PU scope and mount for around 200 dollars? Even the mighty ebay is failing me, and im weary of buying from the ukraine. Thank you car gun nerds. :)
 
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I really wouldn't put that much money into a $90 nagant.Groupings are probably gonna be terrible and a scope isn't gonna fix it but you might be able to get lucky and get one of the few accuracte guns out of the bunch. Only mosin you should put a scope on are the handpick sniper spec mosins that already have the recievers tapped and the bolt turned down. They should only be about $200-300 dollars I think.
 
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aimsurplus.com is also another great site for finding guns and ammo, and they occasionally have those sniper mosins. My brother bought about 400 rounds of 7.62x54r surplus for like $80 from there, and my friend also just picked up a really mint K31 for only $230. Are you going to buy the gun locally or order it online?
 
Aimsurplus was the site i would get the pre-made sniper mosin with the sight already attached, but i assume they are all hobbled together crap rifles. Im sure i couldnt do a really super accurate rifle that much justice so its kinda pointless to spend tons of money. Plus any more expensive and its just not in the cards. A poor gun is better than no gun at all.

Many sites have some deal to the effect of "10 dollars extra and we hand-pick one for you out of the group". Do you think that would help me out? Or do they just find the one with the least amount of cosmoline goo on it for that? Maybe i can call up the website people (many have posted numbers) and request one. But the pre-drilled "Ex snipers" are all way way out of my price range. (how can you tell what is an ex-sniper and what isnt? Many gunbroker guns say "ex sniper" and have a straight bolt and no visible holes) (500 dollars for a gun i'll only pay if the scope is installed and sighted for me, haha)

Man sized target hits at 300 yards is all i expect at first, im no supa snipa nailing 3 inch groupings at 700 yards :) When i get good with my crap rifle i'll sell it and get a nice remington .308. This is "cheap high-muzzle-velocity training with a historical twist, on a budget" :)
 
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Ahh, that clears up a bit, if all you want is to hit a man target at 300 yards then most 91/30s should be able to do that, the biggest problem with mosins is that some of them have really fouled bores, because lack of cleaning or shooting the wrong type of ammo. It would probably be better to buy locally, that way you can check out the gun yourself and check the bore. Unless you go with an expensive one mosins are just really random in quality, I've shot a carbine that had trouble hitting anything, and spat the bullets out sideways (literally, we were shooting at the side of a computer case, it would hit sideways and strip the casing) but I've also heard if you can pick the right one with a really good bore it can be quite a tack driver.
 
Maybe i would be better off saving for a more expensive version. but 400 dollars was my target price. Ill try my luck at gun shows, but down here milsurp is hard to attain. Its all about quazi-assault rifles and pistols :)

edit: And boom goes the dynamite, found a pre-made one supposedly in "good to excellent condition" at www.southernohiogun.com. On sale for the summer, something like 360 dollars with the "hand pick" option checked. (which on a sniper i hope will be the differance between a worn, warped barrel and a half-decent one).

Who cares how nice it is, its less than 400 dollars :D If it shoots marshmallow bullets sideways its still a cool looking gun to have in the closet :)
 
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Whats wrong with the normal gun thread? It's still on the first page lol

I would suggest a K31, but I am partial. They are more accurate and way better built.
 
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If you are going to a Mosin rifle with any amount of accuracy, a pre-built sniper or even an ex-sniper will be your best bet. Although an "ex" will not come with a scope, they were initially snipers... meaning they passed initial arsenal accuracy tests to qualify them as such. A built-up sniper probably will not group as well. I'd recommend looking more into the history of the gun before buying, there are several different years to look for, as there were several revisions and tweaks made along the whole half-century production run (some years of production are less desirable than others) Make sure to get a rifle with matching serials on each piece.

http://7.62x54r.net/ is a great resource.

There really isn't any danger in getting anything like a "warped barrel" as most all the Mosin rifles you will get are totally unissued and still covered in the preservative cosmoline they were stored in. I wouldn't ever buy a used one though, due to the corrosive nature of the ammunition, you HAVE to clean it well after each use.

Of course there are so many weapons of the same era that were much better on paper, but most people will want good money for them. Also 7.62x54R can still be had by the 300 round tin for about 80 dollars, or a 20 round box for 4 or 5. Nothing is cheaper as far as ammo is concerned, that's for sure.
 
Matt, watch this video

[video=youtube;WZ-Lcvyrifw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ-Lcvyrifw[/video]
 
K31s are incredibly solid and well built, you can tell by just holding one. They're extremely accurate but they are really hard to mount any sort of optics too and they don't quite have the look or the history of the mosin, which I think is what matt is going for.
 
K31 looks awesome and ill be sure to pick one up down the road (Straight pull bolt! COOL!) But my desire for a Mosin sniper is completely childish and superficial. Basically i'll stare at the hammer and sickle markings on the scope and masterbate (with "Enemy at the gates" in the background), not really care about groupings :)
 
The swiss cross is fairly cool too ;)
 
Basically i'll stare at the hammer and sickle markings on the scope and masterbate (with "Enemy at the gates" in the background), not really care about groupings :)

thats fucking funny right there
 
If you just want to plink(ie not hunting, just want to shoot at targets) buy a Ruger 10/22 and start adding to it and really learn what it takes to make a gun accurate. Or you could get an MG42 look for it to scare the shit out of everyone around.
 
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