Mosin-Nagant Rifles finally cool now?

[illinoisburt]

Twenty five years ago the Mosin Nagant in any flavor was an ugly, noisy, hunk of bayonet handle that could shoot a few bullets with the overall perception of a poor $45 boat oar. "Why on Earth would anyone want that?" and "where or why did someone dig up that thing?" were common thoughts and not unusual comments at gun shows and stores.

As the proliferation of rifles began to flow in more earnest and Bubbas were merrily hacking away we saw a little sparkle, somewhere aways off in the distant night.

I joked with people 15 years ago to be mindful of the mighty Mosin, for some day they would earn cool collector status and folks would be beating a path to the door of he who hath them. Elicited laughter and occasional "eh, there's plenty more for $75 where this one came from."

The die had been set, the writing on the wall, all signs were beginning to show. Whispers could be heard speaking of the magic of the hex, and someone told of an old codger building a *gasp* collection! No, it could not be...

The once endless bounty of cheap old junk was beginning to dry up. Prices were rising and the whispers were being overtaken by actual talk about matching numbers and original markings. Somebody might have even talk bad about a Bubba and how might it be restored. The magic fairy had twirled about her cleaning rod and with a poof of cosmoline and Hoppes smoke, a junker might have been reborn!

People could be proud to own a Mosin Nagant! The slavic fire benching dragon of doom wasn't staying hidden at the last table on the range, but brought forth for on lookers to gaze and ponder.

Can it be? Should it be? Has the Mosin Nagant become a cool collector's piece with all the rights and privileges known to such realm?

 

[someguy2800]

I don't know if they have quite reached the level of cool but I think peoples detest for them has cooled off a bit, and they certainly have come around in terms of value.

I had a family get together last fall at my place and had a bunch of people out on my range to shoot some stuff. I brought out a whole sled full of guns to shoot, pretty much everything I thought would be interesting and one of the biggest hits was my Mosin Nagant. All the adults that remembered $75 mosins in every hardware store in the country took a look at it and cycled it and said hmm, its actually an okay rifle. My young nephews though were in absolute amazement over it that I had a real Russian rifle that fought in WW2!! Where did you get it? How do you know its real? What year is it from? and so on. It was pretty funny to me. To them it was just as cool as an M1 garand.

 

[LoonWulf]

Sorta kinda for the last 7-8 years or so lol

Last time ive seen anything not chinese, for less than 150 bucks, was 2010

 

[ColtPythonElite]

No......

 

[primalmu]

I've got a M44 mounted on the wall in my bedroom for decoration. I've always thought it was cool, and it was the first rifle I purchased (shortly before a Yugo SKS) when I turned 18 in 2004.

 

[cdb1]

I have no problem with people loving Mosin’s. They aren’t for me though, I can’t stand them. I’m incredibly hinky about Colt Diamondbacks, Detective Specials and Cobras. I’m sure some people wander how someone could like them as much as I do.

 

[CLP]

Can it be?

No.

Should it be?

No.

Has the Mosin Nagant become a cool collector's piece with all the rights and privileges known to such realm?

No.

 

[LoonWulf]

Well....then....where are the 50 dollar nagants? Ill happily hack up a few more to help collectors value/cred

 

[someguy2800]

I had an old buddy of mine over a few months ago. He is a WW2 reenactor and has 2 garands and a carbine. When I pulled the nagant out of the safe I thought he was going to throw up on the floor. Then we took it out to the range and started banging steel with it. He was grinning ear to ear shooting up all my ammo as we yelled at each other in fake russian accents. I hope everyone hates them and they become $50 again.

 

[MJD]

When I was in graduate school around 2011, I remember seeing them for $79 on AIM’s website. 99 bucks for a M38 in a small Louisiana gun shop and 150 bucks for a M91-30 in a guy shop across the country. A spam can of ammo was what, 80 bucks? Around 15-17 cents a round for centerfire ammo? I thought that was worth exploring back then,but my grad student salary didn’t allow it. They’ve certainly increased in price in recent years, but I don’t see that many people willing to pay for them around the $250 mark with the increased price of ammo around 40-50 cents a round for surplus.

 

[bikerdoc]

I don't like them but if you do God bless.

 

[MJD]

I was certainly willing to pay for a M39 mismarked as a Russian for $230 last year. That sucker shoots sweet and accurate, a marked difference from the one Russian M91-30 I’ve shot. Admittedly, I took advantage of the misidentification, but it does shoot nice and a bit more accurately than reports on the average Russian.

 

[someguy2800]

I got mine last summer for $100. I was randomly searching armslist and saw it. Apparently the guy had not heard that they are now worth more than that. I really like mine as a shooter, they are just plain fun, but I do think people are nuts buying them for $400. I wish I had gotten a couple of them along with the sks's and turkish mausers when they were all $100. I had no idea the fun I was missing.

My nephew's reaction to it did change my perspective a bit, the next generation that never saw them filling up gun shops for $79 will not see them as junk throwaway guns. To them they won't see any difference between a mosin and a M98, or an 03, or an Enfield, albeit more common being they made 46 million of them.

 

[someguy2800]

I was just browsing armslist again and there is a refinished 91-30 and a refinished M44 listed locally as a package for $750

 

[marksman13]

Nope. Still not cool...

 

[Danoobie]

There seemed to be a lot of interest a few years back.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

If I had bought a few dozen for $100 a couple years ago I'd think they were cool, but I did not.

 

[bersaguy]

Well, Matt over at Demolition Ranch seems to have a fondness for them, I'm not sure if if I'd call it respect for the mosin, but certainly a fondness

 

[Axis II]

I don't care for them unless they are in an aftermarket stock with a normal scope on them!

I have seen one be recrowned, barrel cleaned really well and surplus ammo put 1 shots into a 2-3'' shoot n c at 100yards with iron sights.

 

[SamT1]

They are fun like any gun and you can accurize them to MOA.
They really went up as the budget rifles got popular. It makes me wonder if there isn’t some back room deal going on to slow their supply. Or maybe guys would rather pick a common caliber in one of the cheapo.

I can’t imagine anyone paying 300 for them. Locally they collect a lot of dust on the shelf. Makes me wonder if they are still old stock that’s been sitting around for 10 years. Working capital is hard to get these days also so I can see gun shops Inching the mosin inventory price up on financials to borrow against. In return doing the same on the shelf (may as well, they were probably making $5 on em) if Half your inventory was a $65 rifle, you’d look a lot stoughter on paper if you could turn that into a $175 rifle. Especially if you had a few pallets of them. The shop down the road notices yours are higher so they raise theirs. Then throw in the sandy hook hysteria that justified price bumps and boom, $300 mosin.
Lots of strikes against them from a marketing standpoint:
1. Iron sights are out of style
2. Woodstock’s are out of style
3. Bayonets aren’t on the tacticool list
4. Not American history.
5. Basic AR15 for $400

I understand liking them when they were cheap. I have some too.

 

[Skylerbone]

They aren’t anything special but the market has driven prices at a frenzied pace. Fun? Sure. Collectible? At some point. Respected? Still no.

I can recall friends ordering cases of SKSs for under $100 per rifle and thinking they were crazy for wanting foreign surplus junk but I admit I’m kicking myself now. Same with the Nagant. I strolled by them for years paying no mind.

 

[entropy]

When I was buying them from $70 each, there were Lots of Buzzsaw Bubbas hacking them up and making mine more valuable. I belong to the Russian Mosin Nagant Forum, http://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/, a preservastionist forum, and we'd have 10 guys a day join without reading the forum rules (No discussion of permanent alterations allowed) and then ask "How do I drill and tap this thing for a scope?" At least when I joined, I asked "What's the best way to scope a Mosin?" I got a non-altering answer, which I never utilized, because after shooting them, I found a scope wasn't necessary. We'd have trolls join then post pics of their Duracoated camo Mosins with the ATI scope mount kit. They'd be taken down. All the while we'd warn these guys; "Hey, someday, in the not too far future, these $75-100 rifles you're Bubbafying would have been worth some money. Ours still will be. We've seen it before. M1903's were cheap at one time, as were Mausers. Look at the prices now" (This was ten years ago) "Yes, a lot of Mosins were made. Many were imported here. But that supply is finite, and even the lowly 1942 Ishevsk 91/30 will be worth $200-300 someday."
Lo and behold, that day has come. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."-Santyana There will be no more cheap milsurps, as post WWII designs were all selective fire, and even the build kits of those have gone up, and no original barrels.

 

[wojownik]

When you say "Mosin Nagant" that covers a lot of territory. The 91/30 is still just a workhorse, knock-around rifle for most folks. But, there is a collector community, particularly around

- Finnish mosins - yes, both collectable and respected. Can be very accurate. And can be very (very) collectable.
- M1891 mosins - yes, collectable. Especially the Remington and Westinghouse US manufacturered variants, and the Sestoyetsk.
- M91/30 ex dragoon. I love finding these when the seller has no idea what they are selling, and think its just another 91/30

But for the lowly M91/30, the workhorse, its still less a collectable and more a "functional" shooter, especially with the arsenal reworking, refinishing and giant importer's stamps of the past decade. Once upon a Mosin, the importer stamps were a tiny little line discretely placed on the receiver or below the barrel.

 

[SamT1]

I’d still be bubbaing them today if I could get them for $69. I wish I had another m44 to work on. For $300 I’ll just step out and get a model 700 to play with. The one above needs powder coated and a bolt welded on. Maybe a better stock too. I sold the wood furniture and tool kit for dang near what the rifle cost when I bought it!

 

[Varminterror]

To each their own, but I’d rather catch the clap.