Jenks

A Swedish Mauser M38 short rifle is a sweet gun if you can find one reasonable. It is in 6.5X55 and is supposed to be very accurate as is the M96 long rifle. I have an old model 1908 Brazilian Mauser in 7X57 that is a great gun also. The long rifles are unwieldy tho with 28 inch barrels. Another good choice would be the British Enfield in .303, it is a little more handy with a 25 inch barrel. All of these are bolt action and will last forever if they are not abused. All are suitable for any game in America except the large bears and hunting ammo is available.

CZ2506

If that $41 + tax had been invested in a savings account in 1971, at 5% interest it would currently be worth about $350. Assume the average cost of a box of .22LR at $0.50 and you went through 1 box / month, and that $0.50 / month was also put into the savings account, you would have about $1250.

Bottom line is very few "shooter" guns are real good investments. (Maybe some high end customs or limited editions). But, mostly gun nuts are just trying to justify having one more..

Wingbone

I disagree. AR's are soul-less rifles. I'd say, the opposite: Forget the ubiquitous AR build. Get something with character. Other rifles can shoot too. The target was at 100 yd. w/my handloads
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jdhogg

i just bought a 6.5x55 swede mauser for long range shooting and hunting.if you can shoot it will drop anything from mice to elk and ya have a killer long range target rifle.checkout the m96 and 38 swedes.

Nomercy448

To each their own, I don't agree that AR's are soul-less in the least, especially one that you built yourself. I'm not usually one to say any firearm has a soul,

I could just as easily make the connection that surplus rifles are like hookers, dirty and lacking class, some look good, some run good, but ya still don't take it home for supper...

Or maybe they're women past their prime? Nah, they don't look bad, bit too heavy, a little weird shaped, a few dents and dimples scattered around, a few things might not work as well as they used to, and they don't have the fun features some of the new models bring to the table...

I went through several surplus rifles over the years, have a couple Swede's that are indeed fantastic, rebuilt/sporterized a few mausers, had a spanish mauser with a springfield 2 groove barrel in 308win that was one of the straightest shooting sporting rifles I've ever owned.

But talking about proper mausers and mosins in the same breath because they're both "surplus rifles" is kinda like talking about an old Mazda pick up and a new Lincoln MKZ because both are "motor vehicles". Mausers and Mosins aren't in the same class by a long shot.

Jenks

Great shooting Wingbone, and a good looking gun!! That looks like one of those Swiss rifles and in great shape. I have to admit that I have a weakness for the Mausers built before WW11, tho. Those were the days when real craftmanship went into military rifles.

cammogunner

yea fun is a lil bit overrated anyway why buy a rifle for next to nothing and feed it for about the same shoot in some places across the pond if you dig in a pasture long enough you will find ammo there lol

Wingbone

Agreed. It's not economical to put that amount of labor into a mass produced firearm today.

flags

Just would like to point out, this thread is about WWII surplus rifles. I'm pretty sure, matter of fact I'm downright positive, the AR platform rifles weren't used in WWII. As such, while they may deserve their own thread, they do not rightfully belong, in this one.

Nomercy448

The OP's original post mentioned he was looking to buy a WWII surplus rifle for cheap because he was tight on money building an AR. I made the suggestion to not waste his money on $200 surplus rifles and put that money towards his AR.

And of course we've brought up more expensive surplus rifles, which also don't fit into this conversation, because that's not what he's asking about. For the price of swedes or other mausers, or US battle rifles or carbines, he could finish the AR he's building, so it defeats the point of buying a cheap surplus rifle while building it.