I'm buying a Garand tomorrow, anything I should check on it before buying to make sure it doesn't fucking explode in my hands or something? It is also my first gun, so answer this question as though I was retarded. I'm thinking this isn't a car, I should be able to tell pretty easily if something is fucked up about it enough that it straight up won't run right?

>>65233175
Check the bore. You want to see the spiral of the rifling nice and good and the light should be bright and clear from the other end. Rack it a few times to see if you notice/feel anything that seems off. Assuming it isnt a complete rusted out mess, its fine.

Also congrats, an M1 was my first gun too. Just take it nice and slow, read lots of books and manuals and watch respectable videos on operation and you'll be fine.

>>65233118
Where the euro pistols at?

File: M1903_03Trainer_03-22-2026_A.jpg (1.92 MB, 1600x1140)

1.92 MB JPG

While not a live firearm, here’s a piece of surplus that fits nicely into the intersection of my interest in WW1 and the US M1903 rifle. It is one of 10,000 training rifles ordered by the US Navy in 1917 and manufactured by the “US Training Rifle Co.” of Philadelphia.

File: PXL_20260602_224030521~2.jpg (1.57 MB, 4080x3072)

1.57 MB JPG

>>65233718
Hello, I just got it, haven't shot it yet.

What's the most affordable bolt action that's not mosin and you can buy modern ammo for?

>>65234763
Carcanos, k31s and most non-german mausers. Or by modern ammo do you mean modern calibers vs surplus calibers that are still manufactured?

>>65234763
Russian capture K98's
Swiss G11 K11 K31
Swedish M96's
I know you said no Mosin's but Finnish M39's are really nice and the ammo is dirt cheap

File: M1903_03Trainer_03-22-2026_B.jpg (1.92 MB, 1600x1140)

1.92 MB JPG

>>65234763
Chilean Mauser 1912-61 in 7.62NATO.

>>65235122
>the ammo is dirt cheap
Was I not tracking on these new ATF regs bringing a flood of surp ammo in recently? Are 7.62x54R spam cans not $300 anymore?

File: PXL_20260614_015957287.jpg (1.16 MB, 4032x1146)

1.16 MB JPG

>>65235191
New arrival from our local japfag

File: DSC_7592_1.jpg (3.33 MB, 3469x1341)

3.33 MB JPG

>>65234763
8mm is still affordable.

>>65234763
if you can get a good deal, an FR8 is very easy to feed in 7.62×51mm

File: 20260227_201039.jpg (1.34 MB, 4000x2252)

1.34 MB JPG

>>65234763
>most affordable bolt action
>can buy modern ammo for

Pretty much pic related, a spanish mauser in 7.62x51. They can be bought around $250-$350 and are still plentiful, just make sure you get the one chambered for 7.62 and not 7mm also, run actual 7.62 and not .308 on it.

File: IMG_1427.jpg (3.09 MB, 4032x3024)

3.09 MB JPG

Prior to this week, the only guns I had bought this year were a FN 1900 and a Beretta 1935. But I scored a Remington Berthier and a Ross 1905, as well as a Berthier and Arisaka bayonet at an auction last week. Everything needs a good cleaning. I already ordered a forend splice for the Ross from a Canadian company.

I didn’t realize shipping gun parts from Canada is apparently a tricky situation, so I only ordered the wood for now and not a front band.

Now I have to get into reloading for 8mm Lebel. I figured it would happen some day.

>>65229953
>I'd be expecting people to be pawning shit with current economy but pawn shops haven't even been turning up anything interesting.
NTA but same. Nothing good yet. Checked some pawn shops for non-gun shit and the prices were okay on lower end shit but still not "need to get rid of" pricing. The other had a pretty piss poor selection. Prices still $10-20 over ebay+ship for shit coming from a pawn shop that reeks of Axe body spray and cheap Dollar General cologne/perfume. Tool chargers for basically retail. And that's the pawn shops in the bad part of town (the only place they exist here, go figure).

>>65231204
>is the store just being gay?
NTA again. Corporate can often just be corporate having worked some retail jobs. A Walmart around here decided to glass case their fucking spraypaint making just grabbing some for touchups or range trips a huge pain in the ass. Note that there's another huge chain store in the same strip without any paint locked away and that I've never seen any paint sprayed on the shelves at all in that Walmart. It's the cleanest, nicest Walmart I know of. Yet corporate will be corporate.

>>65233118
Going to try and work on the lower jig for the AR15 fcg on the Hotchkiss today. Try being the keyword here. After that, then everybody will have everything they need to finish the Hotchkiss kits with the blank receivers in jig form.
>Hotchkiss kit - $350
>Receiver blanks - $450
>Extended AR hammer - $25
>Arc welder off Amazon - $150
>Copper backing bars from Amazon for welding - $10
>3d printed jigs - cheap as shit

About $800-$1000 per Hotchkiss build

File: DSC_7599_1.jpg (3.25 MB, 3000x1401)

3.25 MB JPG

>>65235957
before long everything in walmart will be locked up.

>>65235518
>I have to get into reloading for 8mm Lebel
8mm lebel isnt that hard to find online, shoot it and give yourself a good pile of brass.

But, it can be a bit difficult to find the right size .327 bullets

>>65235386
>8mm is still affordable
True? Let's see some anecdotal testimony

>>65236678
Greek is .40 cpr
Turkish shit is .30
German is .50

>>65236678
Got a 400 round mix of 50’s Yugo and prewar German SMK for $100 about a year or so ago at Tulsa
I bought 900 rounds of 70’s Yugo for $300 around 8 months ago
Got 90 rounds of Portuguese a few weeks ago for $40
Just gotta get lucky with finds

File: U.S. M1 Garand profile3.jpg (1.69 MB, 3000x2000)

1.69 MB JPG

>using my shit for OP pic
based

File: IMG_0244.jpg (2.41 MB, 4032x3024)

2.41 MB JPG

>>65236576
Yeah I’m already working on getting some brass, I bought dies on EBay, and I have some 3 round clips coming. I actually have about 100 rounds of late 40s 8mm Lebel ammo and about 20 5 round clips. I bought them at an auction 2 years ago for like $60 when I was buying other shit. I knew the clips were worth about $20 apiece and I told myself “I’ll have a Berthier some day. I can load the powder and bullets into new brass.” So that’s what I’m going to do.

>>65236853
Not a bad move. PPU loads theirs with proper sized bullets. I shot tons thru my 1886 and i just keep piling up the brass till i find a good horde of rounds.
Funny you post a Krag, I do that with my 30-40. I take old split neck city brass and drop the round nose bullets into new brass.

Have any of you ever taken out surps for new shooters for a range day? I got invited out to a range day with some coworkers for the 4th of July and trying to get an idea of what to bring that won't be too difficult/harsh for someone newer.
>>65235518
>But I scored a Remington Berthier and a Ross 1905, as well as a Berthier and Arisaka bayonet at an auction last week
Nice, a Berthier is on the list for WWI surps I need.

File: IMG_2486.jpg (2.16 MB, 2541x1694)

2.16 MB JPG

>>65235518
>>65236576
Wait for PPU to do another run of 8mm Lebel. 5 years ago it was like $23 a box, back when 8mm Mauser and .303 were like $30+ a box lol.

>>65236936
Ive taught multiple people how to shoot with surp. its 1000% how their taught to handle recoil and shoulder a weapon properly. No surp hits hard enough for it to be a true noob filter and anyone who says otherwise was either being taught incorrectly on purpose or lying.

File: IMG_1440.jpg (2.59 MB, 4032x3024)

2.59 MB JPG

FUCK. I started disassembling the bolt for cleaning and this little lug literally fell right out. Probably been broken for a long time.

Does anyone know where to find surplus rifle matches?
I've only been able to find one place that does them but its all modern match rifles or US service Rifles with only the very occasional "any rifle" match

>>65236678
https://krarmory.com/YUGO-8MM-SURPLUS-ON-1919-LINKS-500-ROUNDS-2-CANS-WITH-250-EACH-1970S-PRODUCTION-VERY-RARE-FIND-AND-WE-DONT-THINK-WE-WILL-EVER-HAVE-AGAIN-792X57MM_p_1118.html

>>65236936
I usually used SKS as the go to, but at the price of 7.62x39 just sold 5k rounds to buy the crypto dip and some celeb meme coins before they go on tour and movie deals drop that are bottomed out at like $15k mc.
At current pricing and new user intro, I'd probably use one of the 32 acp pistols as intro to handguns or carbines if feel like taking the skorpion out.

File: 53259EE7-95F5-42A2-B5F2-0(...).jpg (1.87 MB, 3082x1315)

1.87 MB JPG

>>65237025
I failed to mention this was for my newly acquired Berthier. Fml. Probably just gonna have to buy a new bolt since apparently bolt heads are nonexistent.

>>65234763
Wz-48

File: 725C07AF-384B-490D-84AC-7(...).jpg (91 KB, 1300x956)

91 KB JPG

>>65234763
Are you 100% settled on bolt action?

>>65237137
Never heard of one. Start your own, anon.

Whats a K31 going for these days? Local store has a couple but I'm entirely out of what's considered a good deal in current year.
>>65236936
I like my mosin for that. Most people think it's fun to shoot at least a little and it teaches good handling to control recoil.

>>65239036
Definitely below $600, and you can catch them for as low as $450 before shipping/taxes. All of them I've seen are in good condition (except maybe the stocks) and there are excellent condition examples on the more expensive (though still easily affordable) end.
I overpaid for one at $625 but it was in basically unissued condition so I'm not too upset.

File: IMG_2538.jpg (1.86 MB, 3454x1196)

1.86 MB JPG

>>65237025
>>65237789
Unobtainum parts my friend. You're just paying someone to part out another complete gun, which is why the parts are difficult to find and expensive. Doesn't help that retards shoot these without a clip and bend and break the extractor which means they need another bolt head.

Might be cheaper to buy an uggo sporter jerb.

I'll also say that isn't a pressure bearing area as that isn't on the locking lug. Not even sure how a crack formed there.

File: Garand.jpg (973 KB, 1550x3196)

973 KB JPG

>>65233586
I got the rifle, everything looked good and it works nice and smooth. The only issue is it doesn't have bayonet lug and the wings around the front sight, but that's ok, I don't need the bayonet lug and a new front sight was cheap.
This is a really cool gun, it's smaller than I thought

File: Arlington_M1_09-11-2023_B.jpg (1.42 MB, 1200x1600)

1.42 MB JPG

>>65240325
Just get a new gas cylinder and a new front sight.

What's the best way to get an M1 that isn't rock bottom, scraping the barrel condition? There is only one gun show near me, and it is de facto controlled (I am probably partially doxxing myself here) by a very large gun store nearby. They occupy over half the floor space and it is a very large facility. The rest of it is just awful. Guys selling stupid nonsense straight from Temu. Dudes selling knives of questionable provenance and quality. AR15 after shitty AR15 being sold at 50% markup. I've gone twice, picked through the inventory of every vendor, it's all trash. There tend to be one or two boomers who are selling Garands in questionable condition, usually mean mugging you the whole time while you try to look up info on the gun, and of course you can't just scope the bore while they're priced through the roof. I'm not going back there again, and sadly there are no others within driving distance I'd take a chance on because it means being on the road all day. I just want a Garand without getting my pocket picked by some boomer.

>>65240709
estate sales. You have to get to intercept them before the family brings them somewhere

>>65240764
What's the best way to find about them? Whenever I Google them in my state, it only leads to websites where everything has already been parted out.

>>65240780
you have to beat boomers at their own game by browsing obituaries, driving/calling in to estate sale families before they happen and inquiring about firearms. If you have the patience to deal with a lot of dead ends and cold calling, and can keep your spaghetti together enough to be nice to a family going through a difficult time, you can get first dibs on firearms.

>>65240808
Damn, alright. I feel like it'd be shitty to do that, but I see the angle.

>>65240837
The guns are going straight to the local fudd incorporated gun shop for scalping if you don't anyway. You may as well be the person that benefits instead.

>>65240709
CMP still the best

>>65240709
You can doxx your state anon. And you don’t like single-man road-trips? Surely you’re not 3+ hours away from the next nearest show, right? I’ve got some really great stuff before even at really unlikely shows. Cheap many times
There was an expectedly crappy show in Boulder County, CO (the most libshit county in this bluefucked state) yet, lo and behold, I saw a handsome post-Korean War Emwun for $1000 there. Absolute gem of the show just sitting in some guys rack amongst a couple other forgettable bolties and shotties. Like last year I think. Not into them but I kind of regret passing it. Hope it went to a young guy not a fucking flipper

>>65239342
>basically unissued
Imagine paying more for no cool new pen pal

>>65239036
Average is 500-600. Boomers like to get 7-800

>>65241339
My two all natural japs don't have mums :/

>>65239342
>>65241267
Tolerable I think. I'm seeing what feels like a trend on local offerings where whatever they have is priced roughly around what FFL fee and shipping would be if I got something cheaper online which seems a bit of a racket but at least I get to inspect it before buying. If I remember right they were priced around that $600-650 range which lines up with that theory. The idea of hot Swiss rifles in my area has been getting to me.