As I mentioned in my last post, I attended a gun show in Hampton last weekend. As I feared, the lure of another gun struck me. I have always been a history buff and I have always wanted a WWII era firearm. My father had a Japanese Arisaka rifle that he obtained while serving in WWII. I remember always being fascinated by that rifle. What I have really wanted is an M1 Garand but those are very expensive.

I have seen a lot of people on YouTube shooting the Russian Mosin Nagant bolt action rifle and it is much less expensive to acquire than an M1 Garand. So when I saw several Mosin Nagants for sale for only $125 I could not resist. The rifles were in excellent condition and came with an authentic sling, the original bayonet, and a complete original cleaning kit. Another booth was selling Mosin Nagants for less money but they were in only fair condition and without a sling, bayonet, and cleaning kit. The one I bought was manufactured in 1941.

The rifle fires the massive 7.62x54r round which is only manufactured today by a few companies. You can still obtain surplus ammo in quantities, mostly from Russia, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. I bought some Wolf brand ammo as well as 200 rounds of 1980 Bulgarian surplus ammo. I have yet to fire the rifle due to poor weather, but I plan on shooting it next week at the range in Wakefield. If it doesn’t blow up in my face, it should be a blast….