Milsurp After Hours

I was bored and got into a string at another site that was jumping all over someone for paying too much for getting a suspect Mosin Nagant Sniper from Mitchell's at over $1000 and saying he should have bought from R-guns at $800 for a "real" sniper. I just asked what R-guns offered in writing about the provenance of their "real" snipers. As of the moment nobody seems to get it and I've ducked a few rocks thrown in my direction for bringing up the question about a favored source.


Remember when collecting was more fluid as to the import of the month? Nobody would question the history of a 1939 Turk Mauser at $50, complete with ammo pouches and bayonet and shipped for free. Who would fake such a thing? And that was true for Mosin Nagants, Mausers of all sorts, and the great assortment from Springfield Sporters with Italian, Japanese and South American rifles. Nobody would question the Civilian Marksmanship Program either even though what they offered, and offer now, is full price.

Now the newbe , and not so newbie, is confronted with the more expensive and more suspect offerings mixed in with the still run of the mill but increasingly priced common long arms. For Instance, the SOG advertisement this month lists Mosin Nagant snipers in an assortment of configurations...regular...hex receiver.... laminate....and hex receiver with laminate. But the discription of each one includes " From the Ukraine... Each comes with original PU 3.5 scope with "certificate". Now it doesn't say anything about the "certificate'" but I think what they mean, but don't say, is that the scope comes with a printed piece of paper saying it is a scope and it is in some way original in design or manufacture. Now what would the ordinary nimod think who hasn't been around long enough to suspect every thing they read of being less than truthful?

I bet I know where you were...saw the same post. I had a "put together " w/ a real post war scope . Shot it for a while then sold it. No big deal to me.

I got one of those $399 snipers and knew pretty much what I was getting to start with and have no problem with the purchase. I wasn't under the illusion that it had ever been used as a Sniper, or even issued as one. It's what the dealers infer, but don't actually say, that bothers me some. This is particularly true of the dealers that ask twice and three times what SOG does without offering any more proof of provenance than SOG does as to the source of their snipers.

Oh the best at SOG is the real British Arsenals rebuild Martini's or should we say Martini like.

Good thing they don't sell used cars, isn't it?

Actually I only paid $319.95 for mine ... I looked it up.

I found the "certificate" that came with it. Can anybody translate what it says into English? It seems to be saying that the scope is a 1928 model and was rearsenal matched to the 91/30 rifle, along with various measurements of the scope and mount. However, the original scopes are said to have been produced for the first time in Petersburg in 1942. Could this be a design date that comes from someone like Zeiss?

Century now days is offering "snipers" with scopes they say are reproduction and offer no "certificate" as they did with these earlier imports. SOG sold mine to me but it was a Century import. From the Century website as of today:

These are refinished M91/30 rifles fitted with a military style scope mount and reproduction PU Sniper scope. Super value for the collector. Fixed 5 rd. box
mag. Barrel: 26”, Overall: 48”, Weight: 10.5 lbs. Condition: Good. Condition: Excellent.