Need Advise on Mosin Nagant Sniper

[cwbuff]

I collect US and German weapons, mostly from WW2. I'm interested in a Mosin Nagant Sniper from WW2. I don't know much about them. But I would expect that there are more on the market than were ever made. How difficult would it be to find a true original sniper as issued in WW2 and what would that cost? Would would be a reasonable compromise if that is not available?

[Guamsst]

$800-$1200 IF you can find an original. There are tons of originals in the U.S. but most are not on the market. The $400-$500 repros confuse people and the novices will shy away from a real one assuming you are trying to rip them off.

Two things to look for are flat screws on the turret knobs, although new repro scopes have correct domed screws. Other thing to look for is a green krinkle finish scope with a serial number like 434342 or 424243. This was done by one of the manufacturers as a dead giveaway.

The biggest problem is that most of the people who are experts and have a real sniper, AREN'T and DON'T.

Original deactivated snipers will have a serial number under the wood line of the stock for their original scope.

Other than that, I have pretty much no "off the top of my head" info on them. In short, if you see a green scope with flat turret screws and a serial number of 424243 you should walk away.

[Ken in Iowa]

Really good advice. You should be able to find a genuine one without much trouble. The problem is sorting out the fakes.

I lucked into a real one at a fake price. The scope serial did not match, but that was the only fault.

Good luck!

[Guamsst]

Oh, and there is a newer repop scope in black with a "too cool" looking hammer and sickle(sp?) on it.... should be obvious.

Also, try to find pics of original sniper bolts and get real familiar with them. Most fakes are not done well and are too long or too short.

[Ken in Iowa]

This should help.

http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdisplay.php?7-The-Sniper-Rifle-Forum&s=&daysprune=

http://www.mosinnagant.net/sniper%20section/Red-Star-Snipers.asp

http://www.rguns.net/rifles/rifles-bolt.shtml

Good luck!

[Len]

I recently had the opportunity to examine a couple of PU sniper rifles from Samco Global in Miami. They were very nice real refurbished sniper rifles from the bunch that Molot recently exported from the Ukraine.

Len