Wow.. there are a lot of answers in those seemingly simple questions.
Lightspeed. You said
I am halfway considering looking at some Mosin Nagants. Are these considered quality rifles? Are there different types of Mosin Nagants? Will they hold up well, and be reliable? It would just be a fun range gun.
I'm going to take your questions in reverse order...
1) Not really a question but you said
It would just be a fun range gun.
I have two rifles based on the Mosin Nagant action. A 91/30 and a Finnish M39.
Both definitely are fun. No doubt about that.
2) Will they hold up well, and be reliable?
They should. Remember, these are surplus rifles so condition will vary.
The action is quite sturdy and reliable. They're dead simple too.
3) Are there different types of Mosin Nagants?
Oh boy.. yes, there are different types of MNs.
Go here:
http://7.62x54r.net/
Tons of info about M-N rifles.
For different model types, start here:
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM.htm
At a gun show, 95% of what you will see are probably either the model 91/30 or the M44. The other 5% will be M38, M39 (Finnish) and others.
If someone tells you that you can get a M-N for around $100, they are talking about the M44 or the 91/30. Everything else is a premium over that.
They all share the same type of action. Stocks, barrels, sites, etc vary from model to model, year to year, country to country.
4) someone above asked
are these the ones that use 7.62 x 54 round? If so, how hard is the ammo to find?
Yes, they use the 7.62 x 54r round. No it's not hard to find. Any gun show has lots of it. Either current commercial loadings or crates full of corrosive surplus ammo. If you buy the surplus, it will be corrosive ammo and you have to understand what that means.
short answer, after shooting clean with water to neutralize the corrosive salts and then clean normally. If you shoot it and put it away dirty for 3 months, you will find rust.
BTW.. definitely use the search function. There are probably 1 billion threads on M-N rifles.
-Andy