Why no love for modified mosins?

[salmonriverjohn]

I own more rifles and handguns than any one man probably should (according to my wife) and if I wish to modify one,, well thats my business. I have a 70 AAR Cuda thats bone stock and worth more than I care to mention. Would I modify or customize it? Not a chance. But were talking about "your" mosin here and if you enjoy it like it is, thats all that matters,, not what some purist thinks you should or should not do with "your" weapon.

 

[trainsktg]

Recreating a rare piece like an Obrez is one thing...but from just a financial standpoint 'sporterized' military rifles are almost always both much harder to sell, and usually for far less money when they do, than their original counterparts.

Keith

 

[andy*]

One problem with making a "sporter" out of a now very common military rifle, is that at some point they become no longer common or cheap to buy.
Cases in point the 1898 Krag,1903/a3 and 1898 Mausers come to mine.
Plus you are messing with a piece of history, the Mosin series of rifles come a country that no is longer around ( pre-rev. Russia and the Soviet Union etc...).
However it is your rifle and your choice. Andy

 

[yurik]

Not to add to the argumentation, just a reference for those involved.
There was this style born in late 19 Century: Art Nouveau. The three-line rifle is an elegant and laconic product of the early Art Nouveau Era. Of course, people with taste, like raftman knew that all along.
I would sporterize the rifle in this style, but I do not know how. So I don't. Mauser is also very distinctive product of the period, and it looses this flair when it is distorted. Sometimes Form is significant part of Substance. Making SCAR out of those beautiful rifles is a great therapy though..

Obrez can be translated as a 'product of circumcision' and was mostly asociated with bad guys: assassins, thugs, gangsters, bandits of the Civil War period..

 

[Rascals]

I wounder how many of the best gunsmiths around started with those old Mauser's and learned there trade in order to make works of art now. As long as your not screwing up something that is real rare its yours do what you want. But also realize that your ideas of a nice rifle might not be what others is so you might lose when you go to sell.

 

[coop44]

a 91/30 in the future if left untouched will be worth more, a sporterized one will be worth less, any questions?

 

[eldbillbo]

i think one appeal of the mosin is that its cheap under $100 you start adding $ into next thing you know you have a couple hundred into a $100 rifle and who would want to spend $300 on a $100 rifle

outside of collectors buying rare models who would want to pay more than $100 for a mosin of any sort . thats what i ran into with my bubba mosin

i sporterized a yugo mauser i paid $100 for years ago it was had a mint condition bore never fired, I put $150 into bending the bolt and drilling and tapping it for scope mount another $150 for a scope, mount and rings, hours reshaping the stock another $40 for a new trigger with modern safety switch for something i can sell for maybe $300 around hunting season when recently i have seeing stock unmodified ones not even as nice as mine was for $350 each

 

[mjbskwim]

Heck I don't even like AKs with wood on them
I mean I can see that if you have a $100 gun you aren't really wasting too much by sporterizing.I would just rather buy a gun made that way way instead of changing one made for another purpose.

 

[22many]

a 91/30 in the future if left untouched will be worth more, a sporterized one will be worth less, any questions?

Who cares? Its cheap rifle. It will always be a cheap rifle. I don't plan on not changing a rifle to how I want it just to make maybe $10 10 Years later.

 

[EZLivin]

Guess I better jump in here. Wish I could post some pics, but my project is a few weeks away from completion since Tornado Technologies still has my Mosin barrel.

I don't see anything wrong with giving an old combat veteran a new uniform and a joint replacement or two. (My other Mosins will stay the way they are though.) It just doesn't matter to me that it is going to cost about as much as if I had bought a new injection-molded tack driver instead. I'll learn a few things in the process, and it will be fun. Not everyone will get this part, but, due to its history and experiences that old Mosin has a heart and soul (figuratively speaking!) no modern assembly line rifle will ever have. Too me that is worth more than having a "new" rifle. Modernizing it a bit to change the look and feel, and to see how accurate I can make it, also means it will get back out to the range or field where it belongs. Nothing wrong with that.

And besides...

Scotsmen write complex songs that memorialize the rifle's experiences. How cool is that?
Al Stewart - Roads To Moscow - YouTube

 

[civilian75]

EZliving and I are on the same page. My project, though, is finished. We also share the skillful master gunsmith who cut and threaded our project gun's barrels, Tornado Tech. Here are a couple of pics:

 

[salmonriverjohn]

EZliving and I are on the same page. My project, though, is finished. We also share the skillful master gunsmith who cut and threaded our project gun's barrels, Tornado Tech. Here are a couple of pics:

Who say's an old girl cant have fun in a new dress

 

[Toxic6]

I tend to mod everything to some extent.....like previously mentioned, you have to make it your own (plus I have a tendency to pick up broken and/or botched projects and attempt to make them useable again LOL). Some mods are an attempt to make more comfortable, useable or accurate (if I have the capability), but some are simply about bonding with/making my own. Who cares if you spend more time and money on something then what others say it is worth? Value, much like beauty, is quite variable in perception. And I think someone already mentioned this as well, but sometimes the things you learn doing modifications and repairs yourself is worth messing up a gun here and there IMO.

Anyone ever notice how a lot of service rifles are modified before they get refurbished.....names or carvings in the wood, sights modified, grips carved in them. I think the only reason they come from importers looking all spiffy is since they were factory refurbished, 'cause if I was stuck in a trench or foxhole for god knows how long, with nothing but a knife and my rifle -I would mod the holy hell out of both (and probably name, talk to, and sleep with them).