LGS Old military rifles- Ishapore and Nagants

[Seraphim]

LGS a has a crate of Mosin Nagants with cruciform bayonets, mag and 50 rounds for $249.

Also found an Ishapore .308 for $374 - dtd 1965. Stock a little rough

Both tempting. Need to learn a it more about them.

 

[Arik]

Mosins are probably 1942 - 45 dated. Bayonets are all the same on those unless you get into the pre 1900 rifles. The price is too much. Again, I'm guessing on the dates cause this is what has been coming in lately. Avg Mosin go for $175 +/- $ 10. A tin of 440 rounds of surplus ammo costs $100. Those ammo pouches are neat as part of a set but you can find them at any gun show for $5. All those Mosins have been cosmetically refurbished from ww2 but most bores will not be new. They will be covered in 50 years of cosmoline but once cleaned they will still show some signs of use

 

[jack the toad]

In my limited experience with both rifles mentioned, sounds a little high but things are higher since the last Mosin and SMLE I bought.
I have one hex mosin (IIRC, 1930's date) left, still wrapped in cosmoline. It came with bayo, pouch, oiler, etc. and prolly couple hundred rds of corrosive ammo. Guessing maybe $100 in it.
Currently I'm all out of Enfields.

 

[Seraphim]

Thank you both for your responses. I thought the $249 sounded reasonable.

A friend of mine owned this shop until he passed about a year ago. Don't not know the new owner. I suspect he probably bought the Mosins at the $175 price and is trying to make a little profit. I might go look them over a little more closely. Might be cheaper to shoot than the .303 as a plinker.

 

[moosedog]

The average price several years ago (2013) was around $180. They did not get any cheaper, and there is not an infinite amount of them out there. $250 is about right.

 

[jimbo728]

The Ishapore rifles in .308 were rough looking but great shooters. Both of mine shot high but thats fixable. One of them shot MOA with military ball.
Jim

 

[Arik]

Thank you both for your responses. I thought the $249 sounded reasonable.

A friend of mine owned this shop until he passed about a year ago. Don't not know the new owner. I suspect he probably bought the Mosins at the $175 price and is trying to make a little profit. I might go look them over a little more closely. Might be cheaper to shoot than the .303 as a plinker.

Then I guess you'd have to judge by your area cause I can walk into any gun store and find them for around $180. $250 for a 40s Mosin is $75 to much regardless of what people are paying. These were the most produced mosins. They are not infinite but darn close. 37 million built just in the Soviet Union.

The average price several years ago (2013) was around $180. They did not get any cheaper, and there is not an infinite amount of them out there. $250 is about right.

 

[k22fan]

Surplus guns are most affordable when quantities of something new are first imported. Let a decade pass and their prices can be dramatically higher. With that warning that what I paid is just for historical interest, the going retail price on the best condition Ishapore SMLE .308s in 1999 was $99. I bought one from a private party for $75. One of the biggest distributors was shortening them to carbine length then selling them wholesale for $125. $374 does not sound like a bargain from my perspective.

[...] I can walk into any gun store and find them [40s Mosin] for around $180. [...] 37 million built just in the Soviet Union.

37 million! I've read the total number of SMLEs was 5 to 6 million world wide and the sun set on Mosin-Nagants.

When I was in Cabela's a couple weeks ago they had Mosin-Nagants for $180 and you could select one with 1930s receiver date. They were supposed to be "on sale" from a price very few if any customers ever paid.

 

[gregintenn]

More than I'd pay, but they aren't making any more of them, and prices are steadily climbing.

If you want either, I'd say go for it.

Perhaps they'd be willing to negotiate a bit on price. It never hurts to ask.

 

[Arik]

Surplus guns are most affordable when quantities of something new are first imported. Let a decade pass and their prices can be dramatically higher. With that warning that what I paid is just for historical interest, the going retail price on the best condition Ishapore SMLE .308s in 1999 was $99. I bought one from a private party for $75. One of the biggest distributors was shortening them to carbine length then selling them wholesale for $125. $374 does not sound like a bargain from my perspective.



37 million! I've read the total number of SMLEs was 5 to 6 million world wide and the sun set on Mosin-Nagants.

When I was in Cabela's a couple weeks ago they had Mosin-Nagants for $180 and you could select one with 1930s receiver date. They were supposed to be "on sale" from a price very few if any customers ever paid.

37 million Mosins made in the Soviet Union. Add to that Chinese, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, ......

 

[sheepdawg]

If you frequent some of the "Commie" milsurp forums like I do you know that Mosins are starting to dry up a little. Online vendors like Classic and AIM Surplus had Mosins when they had very little else a year ago, now both sites say they are out of stock.

The price is a little high but if you want one now is the time to get it.

I bought a matching numbers, including bayo, 36 hex refurb for $159 at the one room LGS down the road last summer just to have one in the safe. It's a good shooter, very nice bore with a hint of frost. It gets rather nervous sitting in the safe with 12 Mausers though.

 

[Otreb]

The chopped Ishapores aren't worth that, they can be problematic if you actually shoot them as the pinned together furniture will come apart with the nosepiece heading past the muzzle.
I have one, basically ditched all the furniture past the rear sight and gave it a No5 look. They are good shooters, though.

 

[jack the toad]

Last year's big Tulsa gun show had the Mosins for $129 single or even less if you bought the entire crate. IIRC, empty crates were $40. Kinda reminiscent of the good old days.
I quit looking at them when they went to $99.

 

[GypsmJim]

The most I ever paid for a Mosin was $39. They came with a leather pouch and a bayo, and that was a delivered price. Some also had slings and frogs. They all had VG stocks that were original and dark but servicable bores. The 440 spam cans were $29 and the guns were tack drivers with that ammo. That was between about 1998 and 2002. Some had late 1800's dated receivers and all came right from old Russian stockpiles. They were the bargains of the day.

The current stuff has crudely arsenal refinished stocks and the varnish looks like it was put on with a paintbrush. Nevertheless, there are several places that have them in stock and the going rate is $159. Get yourself a C&R FFL for $30 and have one delivered to your house and save 70 bucks. The licence is good for 3 years so if you use it a few times it'll be even more worth it.

I see them at local gun shows for $199. So, my locals are only marking them up $40. They were $99 at the shows just a few years ago.

However, if it were me I would try to find an unmolested one at a gun show that showed some character rather than the current refinished ones.

Nevertheless, they are a hoot to shoot.

I bought my Ishapore .308 in 2004 for $150. It's also a 1965, but its nearly mint and shoots like a dream. Its all matching and does not have a dark bore.

It seems I always pay too much for everything but I'm glad my affection with milsurps came at the right time.

 

[LVSteve]

The Mosin price seems high form a run of the mill WWII refurb.

Ishapores can be a lottery. If the wood is good where the action bears (known as the draws) then they can be good shooters. Just be aware that the chambers are sometimes generous in length (nearer 7.62 NATO standard than .308) and almost always generous in girth. If you reload check the cases carefully.

Generous chambers are an Enfield feature, and greatly contribute to their reliability in the field.

 

[Seraphim]

Thanks everyone, for all the opinions. I'm in no rush, so I have time to look around at some of the gun shows. If I go .308, I'll want something modern. The Mosins just seem like they'd be fun.

 

[k22fan]

More Reminiscing

To save us from street gangs or what ever importation of these old bolt actions was outlawed in 1968. That was corrected under Ronald Regan by the “gun owner’s protection act” of 1985. Surplus hit the local market in 1986. Older advance collectors saw the value of their collections drop like a stone falling into grand canyon. They were the ones promoting the idea that surplus guns with the post 1985 import stamps are worth a lot less than their guns. I haven’t heard that tune for quite a while. One of them bought a freshly imported nice Mosin Nagant for $89 whole sale then sold his old one to me for $20. It was a late 19th century rifle with no rust but also no finish.

20 rounds of the only available ammo, Norma, would have cost more than the rifle. Three friends who scrounged through their stuff were each able to give me one empty. I reloaded those three repeatedly at the range. For an action to rebuild into a sporter you can do a lot better with a Mauser, but the one place where a Mosin Nagant has an issue Mauser beat is sights. Most memorably, with good light, my Mosin Nagant would group 10 bullets from Lee’s 185 grain “.303 SMLE” mold into 2” at 100 yards.