Good Milsurp with available ammo?

[ScrapMetalSlug]

I'd look for a Swiss k31, they go for about the same price as a K98 if you can find one. They are some of the most accurate surplus rifles to be had, and mounting a scope without modifying the rifle is easy with a clamp on mount. Surplus ammo isn't dirt cheap but it is available, and it shoots like match grade ammo. K31s are still used for competitive shooting in Switzerland. Commercial ammo is about the same price as any other full power battle rifles 54r, 303, 8mm, etc. A lot of the surplus ammo for rifles like Mosins is heavy ball made for machine guns, where producing mass quantities was much more important than consistency or accuracy. None of the Swiss surplus ammo is corrosive.

I bought my K31 for $179 about 10 years ago and took a deer with it, but I reached the gun buying age near the tail end of the good old days of surplus guns when SKS were still found for $75. Surplus guns were the best thing around when I had limited funds, and a rifle and case of ammo could be bought for less than $150. Most of the surplus guns I bought cheap just for fun went away when I realized they could be sold for double what I paid for them, and much more accurate new rifles could be bought for the same price.

Good luck with whatever you pick and have fun.

 

[csa77]

you can buy surplus 5.45x39 at 22-21 cents a round online... tho you wont find the rifle as a C&R, if your interested in this round id look for a vepr rifle.

if you only want surplus guns
7.62x54r @~40 cents around
7.7x55 swiss(gp11) are amazingly accurate ~50 cents around

 

[Jackal]

You dont save any money over shooting the .308 with milsurp calibers anymore. The days of 6 cent per round Mosin ammo is long gone.

 

[fteter]

Until recently, the old commie bloc milsurp stuff was a good way to go. Mosin Nagant and SKS in particular. But now the prices are through the roof. Mosin Nagant M39s with cracked stocks selling out at $289 a pop. Serbian SKS police turn-ins going for $430. Garands...with the prices of both rifles and ammo through the roof, forget about it. Mausers and Swiss K-series rifle prices are up as well...I suspect because a rising tide lifts all the boats.

If it were me shopping for milsurp today, I'd still probably go after an SKS...save a few dollars and buy Chinese. The rifle prices are still high, but you can buy a decent specimen for under $400 if you look around. So why the SKS? Comparatively lower recurring cost (ammo). You'll be hard pressed to find a cheaper round for a milsurp rifle than the steel jacket 7.62x39 rounds going for 20 to 23 cents per round online...which are plenty good for a fun day at the range. Heck, even 7.62x54r for a Mosin Nagant is up to over 40 cents per round. Yeah, I'd probably eat the higher up-front cost of the SKS and go that route if I absolutely had to go milsurp today.

Personally, I'm done with milsurp long guns for the moment. They've just gotten too pricey for my blood. Did some prowling around in January but, with prices being what they are, I opted for a Savage Axis II XP in .223...bolt action rifle with a great trigger and a nice scope, chambered in an inexpensive round. And, by the way, the whole setup was less expensive than the going price for a Yugo SKS. No fuss, no muss, and wonderfully accurate out of the box. Just sayin'...