Mosin Repro Sniper...

[Sooter76]

So I'm considering picking up a Mosin faux-sniper for about $600. I'm not a huge fan of the Mosin platform (M39 aside) but I do have one in the safe that turned out to be a pretty good shooter once I shimmed the action and barrel. Seller claims it's a good shooter, but at worst I figure I could do the same if I need to for this one. To the best of his knowledge the scope is a repro and I'm not sure the quality on those. $600 seems high until you consider that Mosins are running $300+ now and the scope, mount, and work would probably put me in that range as it is. I already have a faux-a4 and I'm having a faux-(T) built as we speak, so I'm considering picking this one up for fun and just to have another 'sniper' example.

Thoughts on if it's worth picking up?

 

[buffalowinter]

$600 is a good price for a faux sniper with repro scope mounted and ready to go. You can't touch a decent mosin for less than $300 and that doesn't include tax/shipping. I know, I just did an exhaustive search and bought one yesterday. While the repro scopes don't cost much, and are of decent quality, they require some skill to mount. A good smith will probably charge $125 to do it, at least thats what I would charge. So, $600 is a good price. I haven't seen any cheaper lately, and most are around $800.

 

[fpgt72]

$600 is a good price for a faux sniper with repro scope mounted and ready to go. You can't touch a decent mosin for less than $300 and that doesn't include tax/shipping. I know, I just did an exhaustive search and bought one yesterday. While the repro scopes don't cost much, and are of decent quality, they require some skill to mount. A good smith will probably charge $125 to do it, at least thats what I would charge. So, $600 is a good price. I haven't seen any cheaper lately, and most are around $800.

Very true, around here you are not going to come across a "good" mosin for under $300 anymore, and for one that is nice or "special" markings or what you are going to pay close to $500.....the days of picking through the crate of $99 mosins for that Remington are long gone.

I have had a repro sniper for years....it is kinda fun.....it shoots on par with the other mosins I own....I think around 4-5 now....so it really is nothing special.

What I will say is you might need to do some playing with the mount and make some shims to get everything square. ....If you want the scopes reticle to be centered you are going to need some shims to get things just where they need to be.

They are fun....and the optic on mine has held up for several years now....but it is not used very often.....actually I can't remember the last time I shot the thing.....might have to do something about that.

 

[Sooter76]

I have had a repro sniper for years....it is kinda fun.....it shoots on par with the other mosins I own....I think around 4-5 now....

Have you shimmed the action and corked the barrel? I have a late war Mosin I did this to and was blown away by the improvement to accuracy. It went from 6+ MOA to shooting on par with my 1903a3 and Lee Enfields.

 

[fpgt72]

Have you shimmed the action and corked the barrel? I have a late war Mosin I did this to and was blown away by the improvement to accuracy. It went from 6+ MOA to shooting on par with my 1903a3 and Lee Enfields.

I did shim it but nothing else....

IMHO the mosin....lets see how to put this.... puts holes in paper on par with anything else in like shape from that time frame.

It does get a lot of hate mail, but.....IF you get a matching one, IF it is in good shape it does not even need to be re-worked by the Finn's to be a fun range toy....

So much goes into these things....how did Olga pack it away.....did she grease it up real well or was she thinking of her husbands head being Stalins new lamp shade and did not do a good job.

With all this surplus stuff.....I really think new in the box they will just work for the job they are built and designed for 100+ years ago....now the current crop of internet historians look at something in who knows what shape and bad mouth it....little time for that.....sure they all have a + and - column with ticks in each, but not enough to really swing one way or the other.

 

[Sooter76]

Well this is interesting...

So I went ahead a bought the rifle. It’s a actually a really nice one with a more comfortable grip on the stock than my other one. I was kind of disappointed to to find have far forward I have to push my face to get a good sight picture in the scope. I haven’t gotten to shoot it yet and won’t for a couple of weeks, but the trigger light and crisp. How light? 1.5lbs consistent!

I was thinking I might rotate it in between my other two faux-sniper rifles in vintage matches but I think the trigger is too light according to most rules. I really like the triggers smooth crispness and the light pull is definitely nice. Is there a way to beef up the pull ever so slightly?