What Would You Do?

M

Mosin-Marauder

New member
Okay, imagine you're me. Paid $250 for a used Handi rifle in 300 blackout, someone offers to buy it for $300 with scope rings and some ammo. About a $20 dollar profit or something, all things considered.

Would you sell it to fund a Zastava M85 Mini Mauser in 7.62x39?

Pros of it?

-Basically the same round/ballistics as the Handi, except it's cheaper and more common.
-Wood stock and awesome looking bluing
-Iron Sights (I like to shoot with iron sights)
-20" Barrel so it's fairly handy
-Bolt action, so I would be more comfortable reloading on the bench or prone. Plus the 5 shot mag.

Any reason you wouldn't? I still might keep the Handi, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for any help and advice you can provide.

-Regards,

-Mo.
 
I have been a "don't sell anything" guy for some time, but I recently traded one off with no regrets. I have a Handi Rifle (.44 Mag/30-30/20 ga), and while it's an interesting concept, I'll take a decent turnbolt any day. According to Hornady, you can get a little more juice from the 7.62x39 with 123 or 150 gr bullets. The Blackout, of course, was designed for short range combat using suppressed AR-style weapons. Now, if you were to put a suppressor on that HR barrel, it might be just the thing for quiet hunting. But still a substantial investment in a bargain basement rifle. Buy the Mauser, dump the HR.
 
Knowing that what I'd do is never what you'd do, Mo, I'd still say do the sale.
The Zastava would be an upgrade & the caliber would not be a downgrade, in the grand scheme of things.
Denis
 
Knowing that what I'd do is never what you'd do, Mo, I'd still say do the sale.
The Zastava would be an upgrade & the caliber would not be a downgrade, in the grand scheme of things.
Denis
Click to expand...

Well, then I probably will do the sale, haha. :D

Thanks Denis!
 
Personally I have no use for that particular rifle or chambering. If I could get most of my money back I'd let it go. Someone offer me a profit and I'd sell it quick before they changed their mind.
 
FYI
The Zastava "mini Mauser" doesn't particularly like el-cheapo ammo(at least mine doesn't). Unless you plan to buy Hornady or one of the expensive brass cased brands or load all your ammo, don't expect stellar accuracy. It's not great at best BTW. Good enough for deer hunting within the range limitations of the 7.62x39 but that's all.
Feeding is rough and hitchy and trigger action could stand a lot of improvement. Mine has been shot about 50 times so maybe I need to wait a while before giving such dismal reports but so far, I'm not impressed.
 
I've never shot a .300 Blackout but I say keep the New England. A single shot is all that's needed to hunt with. They are short and light compared to most guns. Reloading is about as quick as rechambering most guns. As long as there's nothing wrong with it and you can get ammo for it then keep it.
 
I say sell it and up your budget (save a while) to get the CZ 527 in x39. Better all around rifle than the zastava. My dad had a zastava in x39, but I much prefer my CZ.
The CZ was made to shoot cheap steel cased ammo and shoots it almost as well as the brass cased ammo!
I'm not bashing the zastava, as I'm sure many people have them and like them just fine and it's perfectly serviceable. If you compare it side by side with the 527, It's not near the same quality.
 
Congratulation on dumping the H&R at a profit. The Mini-Mauser is not exactly a deluxe item, but it is better than a single-shot any day. Couple of future upgrades for the Mini-Mauser:
* Timney makes a trigger for them, much nicer than the factory trigger.
* Better bases and rings will improve look and feel of scope mounting.

And yes, they are kind of rough, but get better with use or polishing. I just sacrificed a Mini-Mauser in 223 to make a 7mmBR bolt rifle (my answer to needing a hunting rifle for my 8-year old son).
 
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