7.62x 54r surplus drying up?

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NateKirk

New member
Hey all. I was thinking of getting a Mosin Nagant recently, mainly because they are so cheap to shoot. It used to be that I could get a 91/30 in decent condition for 80 bucks but it seems that around 200 is the going rate nowadays. I was wondering if the supply of surplus rifles was drying up is the supply of cheap surplus ammo on its way out too? Cause if it is than I figured I'd just rather fork over another 100 bucks for a Mauser, as fun as Nagants are to shoot:D
 
Mosins went back down in my area, hex receivers for around $160. Lots of Bulgarian ball still readily available for under $100 per spam can.
 
I'm still working on the 7 cent per round Czech silver tip I bought all those years ago. Nice ammo.

Most likely the day will come when stockpiles of that stuff from former Warsaw Pact countries will be gone. :( That's why one should also get tools and components if one wishes to shoot these things.
 
The surplus is eventually going to run out both with the rifles and the ammunition. When that will happen exactly is the million dollar question. Didn't stop me from buying my 91/30 a few months ago. I just hope the ammo supply lasts a while.
 
Mosens are like every other element in the shooting world lately. Prices went up because of demand.

I see demand coming down a bit, as are prices. Mosin's are prices are also coming down. A couple months ago I've seen them well over $200, but this week, in box stores, (Cabalas, Scheels, ect) I've seen them back to $160-180.

I bet the prices come down more as demand comes down further. Same with ammo and reloading components. There are more on the shelves and I've noticed the prices are dropping also.

It runs in cycles.

Having said that, still Mosin's and surplus ammo for them is the best bang for your shooting buck right now.
 
91/30's still online from $120-$150 at numerous suppliers, Buds includes shipping in that price.

Been discussed before, surplus will "dry-up" to some extent, exactly how much is unknown- as is the number of MN's still stacked up in underground armories in Russia. Remember, there were 18,000,000 of them made- that's a lot of rifles...
Natch, many are no longer in circulation, but there's no way to know whether the supply has really been greatly diminished, or if they're just "allocating" to keep prices up.

The 7.62 x 54R is still a round in active military use (PKM machine gun and PSL) in a number of countries- so the ammo is still being made, but of course not as much as was 30 or 40 years ago.

Far as bang for your buck, depends on what you do with it...Surplus is OK for "plinking", but wholly inaccurate for any kind of shooting that demands serious accuracy- which is why I've never put a single round of surplus through my MN's- only SMK handloads.

It can be economical as a hunting rifle though- with SP factory ammo at about $.50 round it's better than most, and the round will take anything in North America.
 
$180 is the average for my area and if you have a C&R you can usually get one for about $125+ shipping but yes the time of $80 mosins is gone.

last autumn there was a very large amount of 7.62x54R ammo flooding the market and it seemed like every LGS and online store had it for $80 a can(440 rounds or 18 cents a round) but when sandy hook happened that stuff ran out real quick and I haven't seen a spam can since outside of gun shows and people were charging $8 per 20 round paper packs(spam cans come in 22 packs of 20 so that is up to $176 per spam can). the days of dirt cheap mosin nagants with dirt cheap ammo are gone.

the rifles are still an alright deal but the day they average greater than $200 a rifle and more than 50 cents a round then they will no longer be worth it for me. for $350 I can buy a ruger american in 243(about 40 cents a round for good hunting ammo) which has a smoother action, lighter trigger, less weight, no tool marks, and comes ready to accept a scope without drilling and tapping. I would much rather do that than waste my money on what is without a doubt the crudest made rifle of WWII.
 
well dry up is a cyclic rate. all varies as to how many lots of surplus ammunition are deemed unusable for use by soviet troops.

Well its been an idea to get one of those vg or excellent condition 91s for 200, but the ones i see are ROUND recievers. I like the Hex better.

cost of ammo is a joke locally. I once payed 4.48 for a 20 round package of milsurp. now its 9.98 for the same ammo. ANd if you buy the whole spam can, your looking at 350.00
 
Agreed with tobnbr & kraigwy. Considering the price of similar rounds and rifles, 7.62x54r is a great bargain; as are most of the rifles the use the round. I particularly like shooting the old US M1891s. They aren't target shooting "accurate". But when I can squeeze off an occasional 1.5" group at 100yds with spam can ammo; I feel pretty good. And, they make good conversation pieces at the range.
 
.30-06 milsurp went away before I was into guns. .303 British milsurp went away in the 1980s. Surplus 7.62x39 is just about gone. 7.62x25 and 5.45x39 are getting hard to get.

The Commies had a LOT of guns chambered for 54R, and it was in use for almost a century, so there was an awful lot of it... but I expect The End Is Near. Nothing lasts forever.
 
100-150

I have still been seeing mosins in my area (Texas) between 100 and 150 (150 is usually for Mosins in almost perfect condition with no grease or cosmo in it.)
 
.30-06 milsurp went away before I was into guns. .303 British milsurp went away in the 1980s. Surplus 7.62x39 is just about gone. 7.62x25 and 5.45x39 are getting hard to get.
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none of that was that long ago.

in the last 5 years or so I've acquired about 800 rounds of 30-06 surplus ranging form tracer to black tip, 1600 rounds of 303 surplus(the good HXP stuff) and probably 2000 rounds of 7.62x39. I had about 11 rounds of tokarev and sold it... didn't like having to single feed it and 5.45 has always been pretty reasonably priced but never very abundant where available that I've noticed.
 
Tahan01....
So if a Mosin is so crude , what would be betteer.. a Mauser?

Actually I have 3 mosins and rebuilding a Mauser.I will put back to back after I rwplace the bad Mauser stock.

Both are fun though but do want to put them back to back
 
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In the mists of the panic several gun shops in my area(OR) had a stack of spam cans for $129.

Cabela's in Springfield OR has been getting 3-5000 rounds of Herters and about 500 rounds of various brass cased ammo every other week or so.

The only cartridges I've seen more of were .223 and 30-06. I can get 500 rd ammo cans of 150g atomic match all day long.

7.62x54R is less than half the price of 30-06 but also about half the quality. Unless you buy Hornaday custom vintage match that is.

Boomer
 
Tahan01....
So if a Mosin is so crude , what would be betteer.. a Mauser?

Actually I have 3 mosins and rebuilding a Mauser.I will put back to back after I rwplace the bad Mauser stock.

Both are fun though but do want to put them back to back
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this is just my personally opinion and it's worth what you paid for it but I think anything from WWII is less crude than a mosin nagant.

I own two, have shot 4 and held dozens.

some commonalities are that all have atrocious tool marks, loose, wobbly/rattly bolts and yet strangely are very difficult to cycle(with the exception of a type 53 chicom that I tried recently). they all have very heavy trigger pulls as well and they all come with the horrible commie sights that they were so fond of.

mausers, springfields, garands, arisakas, enfields... were all made to much higher standards had better sights and were much smoother in operation.

personally I'm a cock on close guy so M96 mausers, enfields, arisakas and american M1917s are all much prefered but I'd take a carcano over a mosin if both were free and came with 100 rounds of ammo.
 
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