What Can You Get For $117 Nowadays?

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Always in search of bargains, I was looking for a prewar Tula Mosin and I bid on a decent looking specimen on Gunbroker. Suprisingly my bid ($117) held up. Of course there is still shipping and now CA registration to deal with but I felt the winning bid was still pretty low.

There was quite a scare when a laughably bad packing job showed up on my door step. It was endorsed as 'damaged' and looked to have been broken in half and reassembled. I know that USPS would likely not honor any insurance claim when the item was basically just loose in an oversized box.




I even sent a semi-harsh email to the seller saying that the box was wrecked and the rifle was just banging around in the box (i was on my way out, and I didn't open the box until several hours later).

Surprisingly, the rifle, tough old bastard that it is, made it through the trip just fine. All matching numbers, no counterbore, shiny bore, screwed in escutcheons, brass tipped handguards, all the little extras that you don't see on wartime models. Surprisingly, it came with a nice, original looking sling, but no bayonet. Usually it is the other way around. Anyway here are a few pics, nothing fancy but well worth $117 I'd say.

[skeleman63]

nice looking Tula....

[mosinnagantm9130]

I'm surprised a $117 bid held up too, good score.

[shooterfpga]

Nice find. Also, the seller may have properly packaged it to include styrofoam buffers and packing bubble wrap, but when the post office gets ahold of it all that seems to disappear especially after its been tossed around and or inspected.

I just recently had the same thing happen to my package. I sent it out to the buyer all nice and reinforced and when he got it it was disassembled and in a plastic bag.

[Capybara]

Other than the devil's snot coating, you did very well. It's lovely and a relative steal at $117.00.

[pkc168]

That's very nice!

[Cowboy T]

That is a damn good looking rifle. Honor it properly with as much range time as you can manage. Also, yes, that was a fine price nowadays for a Mosin + goodies in that good of condition.

As for the Post Office, I heard they had budget issues, but this is ridiculous!

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Other than the devil's snot coating, you did very well. It's lovely and a relative steal at $117.00.

Devil's Snot = Howard's Feed n Wax

[joefrank64k]

That pack job is classic!!! How can someone send out a rifle like that? I just sent off 4 rifles from GB sales, it was a veritable shipping dept at the jf64k household: pro-grade bubble wrap, brand-new Uline rifle boxes, 3M heavy-duty packing tape, the works!



When I was done those babies were ready to go...yes, I stood on the boxes!



I know, I know...there are no guarantees (see Trap55's post here) but come on!!!

BobbyR, glad you scored a deal, in spite of the seller's lame pack job!

[BrokerB]

i had a rifle completely out of the box sent from classic.. they were shipping 5 boxed rifles per one big box..one had escaped and ups guy was laughing.. i was pissed.. terrible terrible packing.

Less then 1/2 were bubbled wrapped- the rest stuffed with paper. You could see new damage marks on the wood- very sad

rifle looks very clean.. reminds me of the dozen or so that are still packed in cosmo in the safe

[knucklehead0202]

looks pretty friggin' sweet to me, who cares what the box looks like? nice rifle, hope you don't plan to wallhang it. if it's pretty, all the more reason to go out and shoot the sucker!

[Bobby Ricigliano]

That pack job is classic!!! How can someone send out a rifle like that? I just sent off 4 rifles from GB sales, it was a veritable shipping dept at the jf64k household: pro-grade bubble wrap, brand-new Uline rifle boxes, 3M heavy-duty packing tape, the works!



When I was done those babies were ready to go...yes, I stood on the boxes!



I know, I know...there are no guarantees (see Trap55's post here) but come on!!!

BobbyR, glad you scored a deal, in spite of the seller's lame pack job!

Thanks JF, it will take a place of honor next to the one I got from you many moons ago, which is still one of my favorites.

[6mmintl]

Another rare "one of 64 million" Mosin.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Another rare "one of 64 million" Mosin.

Who are you quoting that said "one of 64 million"? It is closer to 17 million but I don't think anyone has an exact number.

Also, who said anything about this rifle being rare?

[Capybara]

Devil's Snot = Howard's Feed n Wax

Ahh, I saw that shine and thought some Bubba had taken varnish to it like my Hungarian. That stock still makes me shed a tear every time I look at it. If you happen across a nice condition spare Hungarian "02" stock in your travels and GB scanning, let me know, I want to burn this stock and put my beautiful action into a proper Hungarian stock.