This is a tough, almost impossible question, because people like milsurps for different reasons. For some it’s value/bang for the buck. Others like weird, quirky, or intricate mechanisms, or old-school complicated milled steel craftsmanship. Then there’s the accuracy/vintage match crowd, and there’s the history buff, or the guy who has studied one period very extensively and so might choose something from that time or place. Of course patriotism plays a role too, as does carrying what dad or grandpa carried. And then there’s the guy who wants to show off his cool, rare, and drool-worthy old relic. Most of us have some of all these ideas playing into our choice of guns, but to differing extent.
And then, of course, if you’ve got a massive collection or a lot of friends, you’ve probably shot more variety of guns, so maybe your tastes are more obscure -or not.
I only own 9 surplus rifles at the moment so I feel like I’m not the most qualified to answer. That said, here are my choices:
The Mosin-Nagant is a great gun. Some or most have marginal or crude fit and finish apparently (I’ve not seen one of these but the Internet says it so it must be true? My 3 are nice.) A good rifle that shoots well and is not ugly, especially the hex receiver earlier type, though the Russians never spent extra money on perfect polishing or stunning fire-blueing. I think it’s interesting that the Mosin was one of the earlier modern bolt action smokeless repeating rifle designs, and yet didn’t really require multiple internal redesigns to address serious shortcomings. Sure, it was shortened to carbine length over the years, but an 1894 antique will shoot just as well as a 1930s gun, unlike some other countries who had to more extensively update their rifles, and at the end of the day, the Mosin did, and does, anything that could be asked of a bolt action battle rifle. Bonus that today they’re relatively affordable to shoot, and relatively common and not too expensive to find a nice one.
The Krag Jorgensen is a neat old warhorse too. Fun to shoot with that side-opening magazine, and smooth bolt. The cartridge is capable, and in a full-length military rifle the recoil is fairly mild. The craftsmanship of these rifles is fantastic. The Springfield (which I haven’t shot) was probably a marginally better combat rifle due to flatter trajectory and stripper clip loading, but I think in practical terms the Krag doesn’t give up a whole lot, and I’m glad to have one.
Mauser -there’s a lot of Mausers. They’ve all got an elegance to them, and they’re very well thought-of from an engineering perspective, and have been battle-proven. The nice thing about Mausers is that they were used by many many armies, so you can choose what you like. Cock on opening? Cock on close? 6.5mm? 7mm? 7.65mm? 8mm? .30-06? There’s an elegant Argentine long rifle which oozes class, and there’s the K98k (and similar Yugo and Czech guns) which are short, brutally efficient killing machines. They’re pretty much the quintessential bolt action rifle, which means that they might be the best, but they lack some of the character of other guns. (But whether this is a real or imagined thing is up for debate. Chances are if you’ve fired a bolt action it is at least Mauser-esque, if not a direct copy.) However, in practical terms it’s a lot easier to feed and find parts for a Mauser than some more obscure rifle, so they get points for peace-of-mind.
