Some uncommon Mosin Nagants enter the collection

[Bobby Ricigliano]

They say Mosin Nagants are a gateway drug that leads to better and more expensive C&R acquisitions. For me, they have only been a gateway to more Mosins. With the volatile state of firearms and ammunition being what they are, it is reassuring to have a few stout bolt action rifles and enough sealed cans of ammo to last for a decade or two.

I bought these from Dennis at Empire Arms, and his photos are better than mine. For your viewing enjoyment, here they are:

Finnish M91/30 with hang tag. Finn matched bolt, appears new inside and out.


Romanian M44. The furniture is a bit rough, but the bluing and bore are excellent and it is all matching.


91/38. I have been looking for one of these for some time. The bolt is electropenciled matching, the other parts are stamped matching. Surprisingly good condition and a perfect bore. These are getting scarce, so this one might end up as a safe queen.


Last one is an M38, all matching and in a correct M38 stock. I already took this one out to the desert and it is a fire breathing beast. Instant feedback for any shooter who shoulders it incorrectly. But then again, it gives a good thumping no matter how well you shoulder it.


Thanks for reading! Feel free to post up your own oddball, uncommon, unicorn Mosins.
BR

[Mustang]

Very nice Mosins, Bobby.

especially love that Finn

[Rogerbutthead]

Nice additions.

Always like seeing people support Empire Arms and I enjoy reading Dennis Kroh's comments on this forum.

[Cactus_Tim]

Very nice.
I just picked up a Hungarian M44 with a Romanian bolt.

It's quite nice, much like yours.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Nice additions.

Always like seeing people support Empire Arms and I enjoy reading Dennis Kroh's comments on this forum.

Indeed, I have always been happy with the pieces I bought from him. I have a Swedish M96 on the way from his last batch of new stuff. I had been looking for one of those unissued No4 Mk2's for a while and he listed one that was priced lower than what I saw everywhere else. Very happy with that one too!

[Capybara]

So even with an FFL03 + COE, Dennis can't send these to us anymore, they have to go to an FFL01 although at least you don't have to wait ten days? How much does your FFL charge to receive and process them to you Bobby? I get his email list, he gets some great guns.

Beautiful specimens, the Finns especially are so nicely crafted.

[Dr. Peter Venkman]

Gorgeous rifles.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

So even with an FFL03 + COE, Dennis can't send these to us anymore, they have to go to an FFL01 although at least you don't have to wait ten days? How much does your FFL charge to receive and process them to you Bobby? I get his email list, he gets some great guns.

Beautiful specimens, the Finns especially are so nicely crafted.

Thanks! At the risk of getting flamed, I'll admit I let my FFL 03 and COE elapse some time ago. I find there to be little benefit in keeping them as a collector. The 10 day wait period is a minor inconvenience and I don't do any face to face C&R transfers anymore. I find the going rate to be around $40 - $60 per transfer on top of the shipping, plus sales tax and DROS but you don't get around any of those costs with a 03 / COE. And then of course you have the log book and oversight to deal with.

The direct receipt of ammunition via mail is nice, but good luck finding what you want for a decent price and then convincing the sellers to send it to you directly. And given the turbulent times we live in, everyone by now should have stocked up on ammo, far beyond what you use to plink with.

I feel bad when I see new CA folks excited about applying for their FFL03 and COE. When they get the documents, they will find out in short order that these credentials are sort of, well, worthless. It'd be more worthwhile to buy a square foot of real estate in Scotland to become a Lord, maybe pay astronomy dot com to have a distant star named after you, or maybe even get one of those medieval scrolls with the family name to mount next to engraved cosplay swords from alibaba or banggood.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

But when it comes to cool Mosins, the cool carbine award goes to one I didn't know existed until the day I saw it and bought it immediately, the Yugo reworked M44. Those photos make it look like there are two, but there's only one..

[huntingsocal]

c'mon Bobby, you know there is a way to shoulder any rifle so that zero recoil is felt

[Mustang]

I bought my first Swedish M96 from Dennis. Good rifle at a decent price.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

I bought my first Swedish M96 from Dennis. Good rifle at a decent price.

Not surprised at all to read that. The one he is sending me looks promising and it was priced nicely for an all matching specimen with the sight hood and sling.

I had a Swedish Mauser a few years ago, but I never shot it a single time. Eventually I sold it without ever giving it a chance. 2-3 years go by, and I found about 360 rounds of factory boxed 6.5 Swede in one of my ammo cans.

Made sense to sell it, as I had no rifle with which to use it.

Made far less sense to keep the ammo and find a rifle to use it with.

I took door #2.

[Mustang]

Not surprised at all to read that. The one he is sending me looks promising and it was priced nicely for an all matching specimen with the sight hood and sling.

I had a Swedish Mauser a few years ago, but I never shot it a single time. Eventually I sold it without ever giving it a chance. 2-3 years go by, and I found about 360 rounds of factory boxed 6.5 Swede in one of my ammo cans.

Made sense to sell it, as I had no rifle with which to use it.

Made far less sense to keep the ammo and find a rifle to use it with.

I took door #2.

I predict that you will be glad you made the choice you did. The Swedish Mauser is an amazing rifle.

[highpower]

I wish I had bought a few more Mosins back when they were cheap, but that ship sailed for me many years ago. I do have a few that I picked up that interested me and were cheap enough to pry the money out of my wallet.

I don't know if they are unusual or not, but my favorite Mosin in the collection is what I believe to be a Vietnam bring back M53. I got it for $150 OTD from a gun store in Lake Havasu City a couple of years ago. they got it from an older lady that said it had belonged to her husband since she met him. When he died, she wanted it out of the house.



I especially like the nail repairs to the stock





As for the Swede M96, they are hands down, my favorite Mauser. I think that is largely because all of them tend to be very accurate and combined with 6.5x55 cartridge, they are a pleasure to shoot.

Just for the heck of it here is a couple of pictures of my 1917 vintage M96 that still has it's original Elm stock. Elm was only used during WWI as during the war, Sweden could no longer get Walnut stock blanks from Germany. This particular one was a FSR rifle and has a set of Swedish diopter sights.

[Capybara]

Thanks! At the risk of getting flamed, I'll admit I let my FFL 03 and COE elapse some time ago. I find there to be little benefit in keeping them as a collector. The 10 day wait period is a minor inconvenience and I don't do any face to face C&R transfers anymore. I find the going rate to be around $40 - $60 per transfer on top of the shipping, plus sales tax and DROS but you don't get around any of those costs with a 03 / COE. And then of course you have the log book and oversight to deal with.

The direct receipt of ammunition via mail is nice, but good luck finding what you want for a decent price and then convincing the sellers to send it to you directly. And given the turbulent times we live in, everyone by now should have stocked up on ammo, far beyond what you use to plink with.

I feel bad when I see new CA folks excited about applying for their FFL03 and COE. When they get the documents, they will find out in short order that these credentials are sort of, well, worthless. It'd be more worthwhile to buy a square foot of real estate in Scotland to become a Lord, maybe pay astronomy dot com to have a distant star named after you, or maybe even get one of those medieval scrolls with the family name to mount next to engraved cosplay swords from alibaba or banggood.

I somewhat agree. I only renewed mine for ammo buying. Don't know if you've seen it, there is a pretty healthy list of ammo resellers who will ship to us here and my local GS is always out of certain ammo I want like Speer Gold Dots that I can easily buy on-line. And I am going to Utah, Nevada and Idaho this year on C&R hunting trips so totally worth it to me. As far as prices, I think ammo is still way overpriced everywhere, every state, on-line or in-person so that's not yet a factor and may not be until next year, according to the industry pundits.

But yeah, it's a shame how much they neutered the FFL03 here. I used to LOVE having UPS dropping off SKS and Mosins at my doorstep, it was almost like living in America.