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Might be an idea to give some indication of what you're willing to pay - save on a lot of false hopes and disappointment either side.

Prices have really increased in the past few years and people are hanging on to them. Not just because they're a lot of fun (which they bloody well are) but because of seller's remorse at letting go of one, then deciding to get another, and seeing the prices they command now.

I have two. A Romanian one I won as a prize in some caption competition in a gun mag circa 1998 which I then turned into an M38 spec rifle and did some work on it. I didn't feel bad about it because when it arrived as a prize the stock was really REALLY tatty. I didn't feel at all bad in putting a non-bayonet relived stock on it and taking off the folding bayonet lug off the barrel.

A Polish 1951 armoury that was built and then put directly into storage. Never fired a round until I laid my mitts on it.
The Polish models are the very best of the bunch. Better than the Russian made stuff even. The metal and wood quality is excellent bar none.

I shoot my Romanian M38-alike frequently and have put a few thousand rounds through it and the bore is still excellent.
The Polish rifle is so good I can't quite bring myself to put good use on it - I've maybe put 80 rounds through it tops. It's a straight shooter.
But every time I consider freeing up a slot I look at how great it is, the prices they go for and ... I shelve the idea. In a few more years they'll likely as not have gone up another £100. They just don't seem to be as frequent on the for sale boards any more.

Dark Skies wrote:Might be an idea to give some indication of what you're willing to pay - save on a lot of false hopes and disappointment either side.

Prices have really increased in the past few years and people are hanging on to them. Not just because they're a lot of fun (which they bloody well are) but because of seller's remorse at letting go of one, then deciding to get another, and seeing the prices they command now.

I have two. A Romanian one I won as a prize in some caption competition in a gun mag circa 1998 which I then turned into an M38 spec rifle and did some work on it. I didn't feel bad about it because when it arrived as a prize the stock was really REALLY tatty. I didn't feel at all bad in putting a non-bayonet relived stock on it and taking off the folding bayonet lug off the barrel.

A Polish 1951 armoury that was built and then put directly into storage. Never fired a round until I laid my mitts on it.
The Polish models are the very best of the bunch. Better than the Russian made stuff even. The metal and wood quality is excellent bar none.

I shoot my Romanian M38-alike frequently and have put a few thousand rounds through it and the bore is still excellent.
The Polish rifle is so good I can't quite bring myself to put good use on it - I've maybe put 80 rounds through it tops. It's a straight shooter.
But every time I consider freeing up a slot I look at how great it is, the prices they go for and ... I shelve the idea. In a few more years they'll likely as not have gone up another £100. They just don't seem to be as frequent on the for sale boards any more.

It may sound daft but Romanian M44's are amongst some of the rarest examples of Mosin's as the where only produced from '53 to '55, with '53-dated rifles being the rarest of them with only around 2-3000 produced that year.

1954 production was around 36,000 with a drop to 31,000 in 1955 and are very low numbers compared to those produced by other countries, Especially Russia.

Mines's a 53. But the stock was so beat up that when I mentioned it to the gun magazine they refused to give the supplier any of the free advertising that was the deal for the prize. It looks lovely now. No regrets - the bluing was awful until I stripped it and redid it.

I'm looking to pay around 400. I've seen them generally for 600 and the odd one pops up for 375.

I'm happy with Polish or Russian. If its a decent rifle with excellent bore, I'd be happy to pay a bit extra.

As if by magic, a minter just popped up for a decent price which I'm just about to pay for. My search is over!

James048 wrote:As if by magic, a minter just popped up for a decent price which I'm just about to pay for. My search is over!

Make sure of the bore before handing over cash. Older milsurp uses corrosive primers and many a bore has been found to have quietly rusted in between outings due to poor cleaning. Then scrubbed out really hard with a bronze brush to retrieve the situation - with varying success.