What's your favorite Military Surplus Rifle?

When you state a favorite:
- Do you like its balance?
- Its caliber?
- Its accuracy?
- Its history?
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For history it's hard to beat the Lee Enfields.

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Mausers come close. I never knew that Yugoslavia had such a rich fire arms history until I started collecting Yugo bolt guns.

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Accuracy would be the Swiss K31 straight pull, hands down the most accurate, even the Swiss surplus GP11 ammo is match grade.

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For balance I really like the M1 Carbine, the EBR of it's day. I'm just about finished with a Inland Paratrooper, the original assault rife.

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Caliber? .30 comes to mind.
 
Its a tie between my Ishapore 2A and my Finn M39.
The Isahapore is a really sweet, underappreciated rifle. Nice smooth action, ten rounds of .308, and its accurate with a nice trigger. Set me back less than $200.
My M39 was saved from a Pawnshop clearance rack. Its a truly great rifle. Imo, the best of the Mosins.
I've got to get my hands on a K31 next.
 
It's pure nostalgia,,,

But I would have to say my old Mk-IV British .303,,,

I ordered it back in the Early 60's from Alden's catalog,,,
If I remember correctly I paid $14.95 + shipping.

Of course I "sporterized" the stock,,,
Cut the barrel down and had a new front sight installed,,,
Then I went crazy and had the trigger, Safety lever, and magazine chromed.

Nothing like having a nice flashy shiny thing on your gun to warn the deer off. :o

But it was a very good high power rifle for a young kid to have,,,
And while I never actually took a deer with the rifle,,,
It was the bane of the feral dogs on our property.

Milsurp ammo was cheap,,,
About 10 cents a round,,,
25 cents for soft nose.

Alas, I sold it years ago.

When you state a favorite:

- Do you like its balance? Well not really,,, I was a 12 year old kid and it was simply too long and heavy for me,,, Once I cut 2" off the barrel and got rid of a lot of front end wood it got a little bit better.

- Its caliber? All I cared about was that it was legal to hunt deer with,,, even though I used my 8mm mauser for deer.

- Its accuracy? I popped a dog at close to 200 yards with it,,, I was leaning over the hood of a car,,, FMJ took the mongrel dog right down.

- Its history? Not really an important factor when I was a kid,,, what I really liked was that 10 round detachable magazine,,, that was cool.

Aarond
 
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CMP Garands.

History you can hold.

My imagination roams freely wondering where they've been and what they've done.

Most recently one of them introduced two young French fellows to a shoulder-shove from the instrument that freed their country from occupation.
 
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I haven't had much in the way of 'surplus' rifles, just an SKS, Mosin, AK and Garand.

Hands down the Garand is my favorite. Big, heavy, powerful and very easy to use with the peep sights and reasonable recoil.

Mine was $495 from the CMP, Field grade. They said the mechanicals should have put it on the Service grade rack but the wood was pretty rough.
 
I love my FAL...

...but does it count as milsurp now that it's been rebuilt as a G1 (R1A1 Sporter with a Century Arms receiver)?

Mine sure isn't pretty, but it functions just fine. It's the largest caliber, hardest-hitting rifle I own; my others are a new Mini-14 (stainless/wood, which I just bought for $635) and a Winchester 69A (which I bought in 1975 for $35). They're all plenty accurate enough for my abilities.

History? Well, it is known as "the Free World's right arm". The IDF used 'em in the Six Day War ('wish I had an Israeli model, with heavy barrel and sand-cuts) and of course it's the rifle carried by the Rhodesian troopie on the iconic "Be a Man Among Men" recruiting poster. How could I not want one?

Sure, it feels a bit heavier than when I first picked one up in 1967, or even when I first bought this one (some 12 years ago, for $400), which is why I now prefer a carbine, the lighter, shorter, simpler, more maneuverable Mini-14. But it's nice to know the G1 will knock down anything that needs knocking down.
 
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I was going to say I would be curious how many people would choose the M16A1 or A2 but - when it comes to rifles that have full auto capability doesn't that put an end to them getting the public as a surplis rifle?

I wouldn't chose the older M16s anyway...
 
M44
Stuck between the two. Love the design of the bolt action, but love the fact of rapid fire. The best part is they are both the same caliber!
PSL
 
1903a3 hands down... such a sweeeeeet bolt action rifle. I love my M44 for boom effect, but the 1903a3 is a true riflemans rifle.
 
This one.

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M1 Garand, born in 1945. I have firearms that are lighter, more accurate, and cheaper to shoot, but Ronbert nailed it: history you can hold.
 
Man its hard to pick a favorite. I like so many of the old surplus rifles. in fact they apeal more to me than the newer more practicle plastic and alluminum modern firearms. If i had to pick an absolute favorite It would have to be the 1903 A3 Sniper Rifle. But unfortunately I dont own one .......YET!!!!
 
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