Which one would you buy? Anyone have both and want to tell their story?

Both.
As two totally different rifles as you can find. Personally, the AR is more versatile and since the surplus ammo dried up for the Mosin the .223 / 5.56 is easier to find ammo.

If it's a money issue, I'd get the AR. They are never going to be any cheaper than they are now. The Mosin's aren't going anywhere and you can always get one later.

If your dead set on a Mosin grab one of the Finn 39's from Classic Arms in North Carolina because those probably won't get any cheaper either and there isn't a better Mosin out there than the Finnish version.

__________________
Straight shootin'
SWCA#2439

These are so different... there's no comparison.

Last time I looked at a Mosin, they were a little over $100. I see that they have about doubled in price now... I wouldn't buy one at that price.

No money problem. Just want a good, accurate, reliable rifle without breaking the bank. I have been looking at many.

What's the intended purpose? Lot's of differences in those two pieces.

What do you want to do with it?
Plink or target shoot?
Home defense?
Hunt?

The Mosin is a heavy, hard kicking battle rifle designed in the late 1800's. The safety is cumbersome. Very limited in ability to change out sights. It's a novelty really.

The AR is very versatile. Modular. Lighter. Low recoil. Easy for you to set up however you want it. The .223 / 5.56 is great for everything I listed above other than it is a little light for hunting medium and larger game. Otherwise great target, fun plinking, varmint hunting, home defense rifle.

Of those two the AR would be the most versatile.

__________________
Straight shootin'
SWCA#2439

Thanks for the great thoughts Dusty. You brought up some great points.
What do you want to do with it?
Plink or target shoot?
Home defense?
Hunt?
The answer is yes. I guess I will buy the modern rifle.

My M&P Sport has no bayonet. My Mosin does. If you wanted a lesser level of force you could always club an intruder with the Mosin after puncturing him/her with the bayonet. That wood is heavy. Options.

For a rifle that swings like a club with a pig sticker attached, I would go with the SKS.

What do you want to hunt with it? As stated above it is a little light for medium and larger game. This includes whitetail deer. While I have heard of people using .223\5.56 for deer, many consider it to be too light for humane kills. It is also not legal for deer in some states. The AR platform can be had in calibers more suited to hunting deer but then it becomes a big pricey to plink with the larger calibers. They also may not be great for home defense because the would be a very high likelihood over over penetration and a danger to those in the next room or next residence.

Both are great for what they are and i own both.

Lots of cheap surplus ammo in Canada for them to but the 5.56 is much more expensive averaging .66 cents a shot.

I reload for less than half that

I will have both as soon as I pick up my MP 15.
Remember the Movie Red Dawn, Not a bad idea to have rifles in both calibers....
The enemy will be your supply....Just saying.

__________________
US Army 71-73 USMC 75-78

As far as ammo in the US, cheapest 5.56 is around 25 cents a round.
The cheapest 7.62x54R is 55 cents a round.

As far as having a round in an "enemy" caliber, the 7.62x54R isn't really going to be as easy to find on the battlefield anymore. Eastern block countries still use it in the crew served PK machine gun but it isn't near as common at the AK rounds 7.62x39 or 5.45x39.

__________________
Straight shootin'
SWCA#2439

No contest i'd get the Sport II. As other have said the Mosin is a hard kicking not especially accurate heavy rifle. even surplus 7.62X54R ammo is over 30 cents a round now. You'll enjoy the Sport II much more than a Mosin.

I have both, along with numerous other rifles. Other than both being rifles, and both being useful for a variety of purposes, they are apples and oranges. Kind of like, "What should I buy, a Camry or a John Deere tractor?" Both will get you from A to B, both can pull a trailer; so, what is your intent? Average family guy looking for a nice sedan that can occasionally pull a lightweight camper, or Farmer Brown, who needs to plow and haul big bales of hay?

__________________
Pisgah

But them both, and throw an SKS in for good measure.

I'd go for the S&W Sport II because it's more modular and you can make it the way you like it.

I never got the allure of the Mosin........so get the Sport II.

__________________
Still carrying my S&W 642

Are you familiar with the Remington 742 family of semi-auto rifles? I own the latest of this dis-continued series called the Model 4.
They were produced in several calibers, and mine is 280 Remington.
I have many of the very large magazines that fit it.
It is equivalent to any 30-06 caliber rifle out there.
It sits ready for battle if it ever comes to it.
One hell of a deer rifle also.
Until the current president of ours leave office and a Republican Administration eliminates all of these liberal laws recently passed,the "caution light" will stay on.
Hopefully this Republic can return to a properly run USA, and things can be honestly viewed as a prosperous USA again.

If you like golf, go with the Mosin every time. It's really helped me out with my 400 yard drives.

Mosin Nagant Golf Ball Launcher for Mosin Nagant Rifle - # MOI-GBL By CII

If you have even the slightest appreciation for decent equipment get the AR. I bought a Mosin on a whim because of the price. What I found (my opinion only) is that it is probably the worst piece of **** that will actually fire a bullet. Just plain junk.

Mosins were cool when they were $59, and spam cans of ammo were $50. With prices where they are now, I wouldn't be interested in them at all. They go bang when you pull the trigger, and that's about all the positives I can think of. For any legitimate use, I think I'd prefer my muzzleloader.

Mosins and SKS rifles are for novelty and fun or to give to your neighbor if they had the poor judgment to prepare for when bad things happen (riots, natural disasters). Assuming you like them well enough to give them anything. They work and ammo is cheap but are not my first choice in a rifle for SD or hunting.

The SKS is a far better battle rifle than a Mosin. The SKS is a fast firing, fast loading, semi-auto that won't knock you backwards and make you deaf every time you pull the trigger. Putting those 2 rifles in the same category is like putting a flint lock together with an M1. They are multiple generations apart in design with the SKS being a forerunner of the modern battle rifle and the Mosin being closer to rifles used to fight the Boer War or the plains Indians. Putting them together is just not quite right.

The SKS is light years ahead of the Mosin in sophistication. I hate to put it this way but I won't soon forget that the SKS was a huge part of why the US lost the war in Vietnam. Many VC had them. The AK didn't become dominant until later in the war. And the SKS was used effectively in Korea also according to some sources. Yes the Mosin was used effectively in places like Finland but there's a reason battle rifles aren't bolt action shoulder busters now. And the SKS is not in that category. Essentially an SKS is a semi-auto version of the AK. In fact IMO they are better rifles in semi-auto form. The Chinese considered them to be a much more precise rifle than the AK design. They are very much a viable SHTF weapon. They aren't all that dissimilar to the AR we have available to us. The AR was designed as a full auto weapon but we have the semi-auto version only (unless you have a pocket full of money and no compunction about filling out paperwork). The SKS fires a more powerful round and can fire them very quickly but still it's an intermediate level cartridge and not a higher powered round like the 7.62 X 54, the 30.06, and the .303 which were popular in WWII along with German and Japanese variants on the same level of power (like the 7.92×57mm Mauser and the 7.7×58mm Arisaka). And with practice loading with stripper clips is very effective.

I wouldn't put the SKS in the same category as an AR obviously but they are far closer together than the Mosin and the SKS are. The SKS took the best ideas of the US battle rifle from WWII and combined it with the idea of lighter ammo more geared to close combat similar to what the US produced in WWII in the M1 Carbine.

Comparing an SKS to a Mosin is just wrong. They are light years apart. One is highly effective. The other is a dinosaur in comparison. There are so many advances between the Mosin and the SKS they are clearly rifles from different centuries.

The mosin with the right ammo is a great deer rifle. But so is the SKS.

The SKS might be a good deer rifle if they made decent ammo for hunting for it. There are some hunting rounds around but the cartridge is designed to have a fast bullet with penetration. That's not a good way to hunt. Expansion is the name of the game with a hunting round and even with the best 7.62 x 39 soft point rounds expansion just isn't there like it is with heavier bullets we see with something like a 30.06. Even a .243 has been hunting bullets by far than anything made for a 7.62 x 39. If I wanted to hunt deer I'd use a Mosin. But for HD in a SHTF situation I'd go with the SKS in a heartbeat.

But for example the 30-30 has about the same power as a 7.62 x 39 but the bullets are blunt in comparison. Range is more limited but lots of deer have been killed with that round. A 7.62 x 39 round generally goes right through a deer. Heck I've seen them go through 14" diameter trees and not even appear to slow down. If you want to penetrate light armor or maybe a car door go with a 7.62 x 39. To kill a deer I'd much rather use a 30-30.

I have 3 mosins and 1 AR.
I'd get an AR.
I hunt with mine, and if the deer loads federal and Winchester make for .223 aren't enough for you, you can put a .300 blk upper on (pull two pins and swap)and hunt deer with that.
More options with an AR. In fact I'm building another one.

__________________
M&P .40, M&P 9c & Shield 45

I don't think anyone would argue that point.

I have a Swedish Mauser & I've shot a Ruger Mini-14 fairly extensively. Similar differences in the intent of the rifle.

If you have access to a long, outdoor, range with say 100 yds, 200 yds, and 300 yds targets, an old battle rifle like a Mosin would be really interesting to shoot. It's a slow, one-shot at a time, process to see if you can get dialed in on a target. It's not really practical for home defense unless you live out in rural parts. I'd be an idiot to try and defend my apartment with a Mauser. With the Mosin, you are also holding a relic of World War 2. It's an actual piece of history. To me, that's a different type of appeal than an AR-15.

With the AR-15, you are shooting something that is more immediately practical. You can get frangible bullets for home defense. You have something that is fine for shorter ranges--especially with a carbine. The ammo is cheaper and if you have your own place to shoot, I think it would be a blast for rapidly shooting cans and various spinning targets. While it's tied to history through Vietnam and endless time in the sandbox, the AR-15 is comforting when you think of potential home invasions, etc.

If it weren't for crazy people who kick in doors to get your stuff and nut jobs who want to detonate themselves for religion, I would probably keep looking at the old historical firearms. But, in this day and age, an AR-15 is next on our list.

__________________
Vanquish Fear and Panic!