Mosin nagant value and collectability

[magras]

Could these rifles the flood the gun shows now eventualy dry up and become as hard to get as the gewehr 43. Even the gewehr used to be a 200 dollar gun but now the prices are crazy high

[stimrob]

Could these rifles the flood the gun shows now eventualy dry up and become as hard to get as the gewehr 43. Even the gewehr used to be a 200 dollar gun but now the prices are crazy high

yes (10 char)

[herplover]

I remember seeing them at gun shows for about $70 years ago and now i see them go for $120 so buy now if you want a good investment.if you have room to store them i would guess in 10 years you may be able to double your money.Nice thing is they are already lubed up for long term storage

[Arkady]

Which model Mosin Nagant besides the sniper version do you feel will be the best investment?

[PA Rifleman]

Could these rifles the flood the gun shows now eventualy dry up and become as hard to get as the gewehr 43. Even the gewehr used to be a 200 dollar gun but now the prices are crazy high

Eventually, but most non-sniper models probably won't command prices like the G43 or K43. There are a few Mosins that might pull down serious green, depending on the scarcity. The Soviet equivalent to the G or K-43 was the SVT-38 & SVT-40, these are around $1000 when they appear for sale. They tanked at $180 back in the early 1990s. Historical note-it appears the G/K-43 was ore or less a copy of the SVT-40 (source). The German K-98k was the German counterpart to the Mosin 91/30, so I'll use the K98 for historical value analysis.

I can't say where the Mosin prices will go after they're cut off. While we're on the topic of German W.W.II rifles, the Germans made 14 million K98s between 1934-45 according to this.

To answer your question directly, yes. They will go up. This applies only to unmodified and all original examples, not end-user "improved" Mosins.

If Mosins aren't in production, then obliviously it's a limited pool and imports will cease -- it's only a question of time. The poorest examples arrived in the early days (80s), they got progressively better over time. Now they're almost all display quality. I'm guessing they pushed the crappy ones out first, and released better quality examples only when all the junkier ones were already gone. This would have assured a fairly constant revenue stream from not just new buyers, but the owners of the poorer quality specimens attempting to upgrade. If this (assumption) is correct, we could in be in the home stretch as far as the Mosin Flood goes.

Right now it's a buyer's market as far as Mosins go, the current crop is about as good as it gets. "Buy cheap and stock deep" if you want to play. I'd love to know how many have been imported so far, according to mosinnagant.net, there were approximately 13-14 million model 91/30s made between 1927-45, and that's most of what we're seeing on the surplus market now. Given this is approximately the same number as K98s, we could see prices rise to similar levels over the next few decades after imports stop arriving. The only detail I can foresee that might attenuate Mosin appreciation is the proprietary bolt head and chamber dimensions. The design of the 7.62x54R severely limits rechambering possibilities in the Mosin rifle. The Bannerman firm attempted to rechamber orphaned Mosins (photos -- details), these are not considered safe to fire. The Mauser, by contrast, was designed from the beginning with standardized bolt head dimensions. One only need change barrels to change the chambering for most sizes†. Regarding Mosins, they're best left in 7.62x54R.

Another similarity between the Mosin & K98 situation is ammunition. Immediately after W.W.II, 7.92x57 ("8mm Mauser") was cheap and everywhere. With a ready supply of high quality actions and ammunition, the 98 was a popular hunting and sporting base for a lot of guns.

Prior to approximately 1984-85, most of the Mosins were Korean/Viet Nam war bring-backs, or orphans abandoned in the US following the Bolshevik takeover (details). By the time I came along, the ammunition for these had long dried up and few people knew what they were. I had never seen one fired before I dusted a few off in the early 70s. Ammunition was available from Norma at a dollar a round (this was about 1970-75) when I could find it. When the Mosin flood started in the 80s, cheap military grade ammunition flooded in with them. Now all those once-quiet bring-backs from W.W.II, Finland, Korea & Viet Nam can bark again.

To answer your question directly, yes. Their value will go up. This applies only to unmodified and all original examples, not end-user "improved" examples. Mosins that have been permanently altered lose nearly all collector interest, and fall back on their value as a utility gun. Several common modifications are:

• Cutting the stock down, or replacing it with an aftermarket product
• Turning the bolt handle down by cutting & re-welding
• Replacing the rear sight with a telescopic sight (usually a simple part replacement)

Of all of these, only the latter can be easily reverted back. The rest will require major restoration.

Don't forget to stock up on 7.62x54R ammo, it's one of the few sizes that's still cheap.

† This is mostly true for 7.92x57 & 7.62x51 (.308 Win). It can accommodate 7.62x63 (.30-06) but may require a minor clearance cut in the receiver to allow reliable ejection of live rounds. Norwegian rechambered 98k were set up this way (example).