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Well after 22 weeks of waiting my ticket finally arrived, just in time for Xmas.
Spent an afternoon at Henry Krank in Pudsey spending more than I had intended (but still an extremely happy bunny!)

Last time I had a license both Mauser K98 and Mosin Nagant rifles were freely available. Seems that’s not the case anymore? I’ll be looking for a Nagant next year, anyone have any tips?

Steve

Good news, always glad to hear that someone else has their FAC, the more of us the better :)

Upload a few pictures of your new purchases.

Highwood Classics usually have a stock of Mosin Nagant, and quite a variety of types from different nations. It might be worth doing a search on this forum, in particular of posts from the member "snayperskaya" as he's our resident expert on all things Russian!

Good luck and happy spending!

Congratulations on getting your license. That's one more of us and one less of them!

WelshShooter wrote:
It might be worth doing a search on this forum, in particular of posts from the member "snayperskaya" as he's our resident expert on all things Russian!

Good luck and happy spending!

Thank you Comrade, I try my best

Tovarisch Steve, it is a Mosin you'll be after.......Nagant tends to refer to the M1895 revolver but enough of that.

I would also point you in the direction of Highwood Classic Arms, they have some very nice Mosins in quite regularly, as well as Simply Firearms in Oldham and the usual places such as Guntrader.......but be aware of some of the terribly overpriced Mosins on there at the moment!.

Have you any idea which variant you are after as there are quite a few to choose from such as the M91 (and it's variants), the M91/30 pattern and the various carbines as well as variants from various Arsenals and countries and whether you want a collectable rifle or a shooter you'll use regularly.The vast majority of Soviet rifles, will have been refurbed post-war and will likely have either all matching/forced matched or non matching serial-numbers, Polish rifles are very well made and are very often like new, as are Hungarian rifles, with 91/30 spec examples being more sought-after than carbines..Talking of carbines, if you find a 1953 Romanian M44 I would suggest you buy it as they are very rare with only a couple of thousand examples produced.

Finnish-captured (often altered very little since they were in Soviet hands) or Finnish made ( Mosins built on Soviet receivers with Finnish barrels etc) are very interesting rifles and can be very accurate indeed and often have uprated and improved triggers etc, especially on rifles such as the M27, the M28/30 and M39.The Finnish variants tend to be more original than their Soviet counterparts as they wouldn't have gone through the Soviet refurb process......though it is possible to find Soviet rifles that were Finnish-captured (with a Finnish "SA" property mark added) then re-captured by the Russians and subsequently refurbed.

If you are looking for a Mosin sniper you'll need to watch out for a lot of "reproduction" rifles, some sold as genuine/original by either the genuinely unaware or the unscrupulous.Original PU snipers are out there but original PE/PEM variants are rare and if such a rifle is described as genuine/original it needs to be looked at very carefully.There are quite a few things to look for that will quite quickly reveal a reproduction/fake sniper once you know what to look out for.

On top of that there are also some really rare variants such as Simonov trials rifles, the M1907 carbine and the St Petersburg Cavalry carbine amongst others.These can sometimes be found, especially if someone has one and doesn't realise what they have as some of these rifles were exported from Russia and Ukraine and were mixed in with regular Mosins.It is also worth noting that there are Spanish Civil War Mosins out there that are very collectable.

For more info on Mosin variants here are a couple of useful links.....

http://7.62x54r.net/
http://www.mosinnagant.net/default.asp

The subject of Mosins is huge but my advice would be to read up as much as you can, decide which variant/variants you would like and find the best one you can at the right price......but watch out as once you get one in the safe they tend to multiply!

Congratulations on your new FAC, Steve. It sounds like the bank account will be taking hits from two directions this year.

Thanks for all the replies guys, some top information there. I need to do some research now, I did loads for the SMLE , not enough for the Mauser so I will have a good look over Xmas (working night shifts, I am such a lucky guy)

Looks like there’s a lot more to consider with Mosins than I thought. I really want a Russian rifle from WW2, rather than some derivative, so I need to look around

Thanks all

Steve

We'd recommend a Finnish Mosin, ooman. They used to take 'em out the paws of dead Ruskies, fettle 'em good and proper, then kill more Ruskies with 'em. Recycling at its best. Look for an M39 or M28/76 - Highwood Classic Arms occasionally have them in stock. Blighty of this parish 'elped us get one.