I came to the C&R game late, but I have made up for it in the past two years ;-)
Rifles - These are the ones I enjoy the most
M38/M44 - Both are a ton of fun to shoot, ammo is still cheap, they are fairly accurate (for plinking, not target shooting) out to a couple of hundred yards. I have only one 91/30, a laminante 1943 Izhevsk. I like how it looks, but for shooting, I enjoy the carbines a lot more. YMMV.
SKS - I have six of them so you could say that I like them. Great rifles, super fun to plink with, not the most accurate gun but for plinking at under 200 yards, they are a blast. Cheap ammo, fun to shoot, cool to look at, what's not to like? The Russians are the most desirable, $450.00 and up. The Chinese are the most common, going rate is $300.00 for a beater and there are few Chinese C&R SKS that are in beautiful shape but the beater aspect of the common Chinese SKS has it's own charm. The are beautifully built, but most the time the wood is thrashed. Then you have the Yugos, which are also nice, although they have non-chrome lined bores and a gas system that is unique to the Yugo that can, on occasion, be finicky. Then you have the rarer ones like Albanians, East Germans, North Koreans, any of these are worth a lot more than your standard SKS. I wouldn't buy these rare models unless you are a hardcore collector. I would not buy an East German or a Vietnamese Capture as a shooter, they are far too valuable to shoot.
Swiss K31 - Unlike the Mosins, these rifles are VERY accurate, almost all of them. At most every C&R target match I have been to, the top gun is a K31. The GP11 ammo is very accurate too but drying up quickly. Not a problem if you reload, buy or find a few hundred boxer brass cases and you are GTG for a long time.
Mausers - There are Mausers of every flavor and quality. I kind of divide them up between shooters ($250.00 to $400.00) and collectors ($500.00 and up to multiple thousands of dollars). My new Yugo M48 I bought for $250.00 is my best shooter and is a new gun, they were never issued. Cabelas has racks of M24/47s for $269.00 and VZ24s sometimes for around the same. Personally, I would not buy a beautiful K98 with Waffenampts all over it as a shooter, they are more in the $800.00 and up category, although I know plenty of people who do buy and shoot them. Ammo is a concern with Mausers, there is basically no more cheap 8mm surplus (other than crappy Iranian) and the other Mauser calibers are even rarer. A Swedish Mauser is probably the best built of all of them, but it is 6.5mm round is pretty hard to find but once again, not a problem if you reload. The Swedish Mausers are also scary accurate and a real pleasure to shoot. There are all of the International and South American contract models, cool little carbines with Mannlicher stocks, many of which are amongst the most beautiful milsurps ever issued. Perisan Mausers, Brazilians, Chileans, they are all beautiful works of art in my eyes. But not necessarily the best choices for shooters. You can shoot them of course, but if they are pristine, it lowers the value to shoot them a lot.
Steyr M95, Carcanos, etc. - Lots of C&R collectors like these and they can be fun, they are cheap and have a good history. But once again ammo, if you can even find any, is REALLY expensive, like $2.00 per round and up. Hate to sound like a broken record, but not a problem if you reload.
American Iron - M1 Garands are still the best deal in C&R, but a Service Grade from the CMP for $675.00, great rifle, I LOVE my Garand. But you have to be patient and wait 3-6 months to get it and they are drying up, CMP will run out of rifles fairly soon and then the price on Garands will go up quite a bit. Even more so with the M1 Carbine and Springfield 1903, 03-A3s, Eddystones, etc. Any of these rifles, you are approaching $1,000.00 and can easily drop $2k to $3k for a nice one. They are still out there but are getting harder to find bargains on.
Enfields - Availability of Enfields has been pretty good lately, I just scored a No4 MKI (1943) for $300.00 and a 1947 No5 MKI carbine for $350.00. Great rifles, fun as heck to shoot, amazing history, well built, accurate. But .303 ammo is expensive, at least .75 per round so I just bought 200 rounds of Prvi and once I shoot it, I will be reloading for about half that price. So prices are not out of sight for a nice Enfield.
Pistols
Walther P38 - These are getting scarce but are still out there for $579.00 to $1,200.00, depending on armory and condition. The P38 is a standard, everyone should have one. If you are cheap like me, I got a P38 slide on a P1 (alloy) frame, not as cool as a P38 but basically the same gun and I got it for $329.00 at J&G a few years ago. Very accurate, looks cool as heck, a pleasure to shoot and in 9mm, not an exotic or hard to afford cartridge.
CZ82 - I bought an all steel, ruggedly constructed, accurate CZ82 from J&G a couple of years ago for $179.00. Now they are about $300.00, when you can find them. 9x18 Makarov cartridge, not hard to find but not cheap anymore, no more surplus floating around out there. I really enjoy shooting mine, they are nice guns.
Radom P64 - Beautifully built ComBloc copy of the Walther PPK. 9x18 Makarov, magazines only hold 6 rounds but a really nicely built, fun little pistol. DA trigger for round one is awful but can be improved with some spring changes. Could be a nice little CCW pistol, which is why I just bought one from SOG, I pick it up tomorrow.
CZ50 - Same thing, a nicely built, kind of unusual little pocket pistol but chambered in the less effective .32 ACP (7.65mm) round. Still, I like the look and history. Spare magazines are almost impossible to find and when you do find one on GB, it will be $50.00, that is the going rate. I ordered a new replacement magazine from Triple K but they just sent me notice that my magazine is back ordered 90-120 days. On sale at SOG for $219.00 currently, a fun little plinker with an interesting look.
1895 Nagant Pistol - The only gas lock revolver I have ever seen, these used to be dirt cheap. Now they are climbing in price. I bought a basically new condition re-arsenaled 1944 Izhevsk with the holster, lanyard, cleaning rod last year in Arizona for $150.00, now, if you can find them, I am seeing even so so ones going for $200.00 +. These shoot the weird 7.62x38 round, hard to find and expensive when you do. I have not even shot mine, I have the ammo, but it looks like a brand new gun so I don't want to dirty it up, although I will eventually shoot it. If you buy one, they are PITA to reload and unload but they are cool looking and an interesting piece of history.
1911 - C&R 1911s are rare to find in shops and when you do, they are typically way over $1,000.00. I don't own one, but I am always on the lookout for a bargain. But I have a newer 1911-A1 Loaded Springfield so I don't feel a huge need to spend this kind of money just to have a C&R 1911. YMMV. WWII vintage 1911s are cool as hell, I want one, but I don't want to pay $2,500.00 to get one.
Hope this helps to give you some ideas.
