A Christmas Wish Come True.....

[editor7]

Well, the Big Brown truck just came and delivered my Christmas present(s) to myself. I had to break in my C&R sometime, so I figured why not now? While these might not seem like anything special to some die-hard collectors, I have only recently discovered the joy of shooting military surplus.

In the delivery today was a Swiss K31 in pretty decent shape, a 24/47 Mauser in beautiful condition, a Mosin-Nagant M44, and M38, both in excellent condition, and a Yugo M59/66 SKS in excellent condition. The K31 is in as good condition as any I've seen around here lately, and was a whole lot less money. The Mauser however, looks perfect. I cannot find a mark on any wood or metal, and the bore is mirror bright. Of course, it is smothered in cosmoline, so there well could be some blemishes someplace.

Today also begins my 2 1/2 week vacation, so I certainly know what I will be doing.

With the changes to gun laws that will no doubt take place in the near future, I felt I should be buying something else. However, I already have a couple of AR-15s and
AK-47s, and as much as I enjoy shooting them, I think I like the military surplus rifles could be my favorites. I never have been a big general history buff, but I really enjoy WWII history. I know most of my surplus rifles have probably never been "in action" so to speak, but I can't help wondering what the history is behind the rifle I am aiming down range.

Anyway, my Holiday is turning out to be happy and joyous. I also want to wish peace and happiness to all of the other NES'ers, and look forward to more group shoots in 2007.

Bill

 

[The Goose]

Merry Christmas. Woo Hoo!

 

[dreppucci007]

Today also begins my 2 1/2 week vacation, so I certainly know what I will be doing.

You don't know how envious I am right now

Congrats on the new toy...A Merry Christmas to you, as well.

 

[SKS Ray]

::sniff:: I remember my first K31, first 24/47, etc. etc. each one fondly.
Get lots of rags and some degreaser for the metal, and be prepared to have the smell of cosmolene in your nose hairs for quite a few nights. The SKS will be the hardest to clean and the K31 being the easiest. Check under the butt plate of your K31 for a tag with soldier's info on it when he turned it in. Some have em some don't. I posted info on the tag's meaning here a while back.
Looking forward to clean up reports and pictures when you're finished.

 

[JonJ]

Nice haul, Editor7!

 

[Dirtypacman]

Grats on the new arms.... if you need to make room and want to get rid of an AK let us know

 

[Pilgrim]

 

[Garys]

Wow, you didn't mess around. I don't have a Mauser, but have at least one version of everything else you listed. You need to add at least one SMLE to the collection, though. Except for two of my SMLEs, all of my rifles have come with minimal or no Cosmolene.

Take your time cleaning them. Q tips come in handy. I like to use Simple Green as it's easy to use and clean up. It is water based, so be sure to dry the weapons completely and use liberal, make that generous, amounts of Break Free or another quality lubricant. Simple Green seems to work okay on the furniture as well. Use Orange Glo on the wood afterwards.

Enjoy.

Gary

 

[Twigg]

The smell of cosmolene mixes so well with Christmas trees.

Nice haul, be nice and share some pic's once they're all washed up.

 

[MegaPlinker]

Sounds like you'll have a great (And dirty) vacation! Can't wait to see what they look like all shined up.

 

[USMA-82]

Welcome To The Dark Side!

Mwahahahahahahhahahahaha........