Choices
Came into the possession of a little bit of extra change thanks to an award I received at Dining Out tonight. I am probably planning on purchasing guns and/or ammo with the money (surprise, surprise.) As usual, I'm leaning towards guns as the supply of particular surplus guns tends to eventually dry up permanently (excepting resale by private parties, of course) whereas ammunition will almost always be produced in any given cartridge, it's just a matter of price going up with time. Given my prioritization of collection (not that I'm not a shooter, just that I really like the collection side of things), I'm pretty set on purchasing firearms. I've narrowed my options down to three, with a subsequent choice in the first option.
Option one is to purchase either a Yugo M24/47 or Czech vz-24 Mauser and also purchase an M1895 Nagant revolver. Right now I'm leaning towards the M24/47 if I choose this option simply because it's in better condition for the same price. Owning the Czech gun would be fun, but not enough to justify buying a lower quality gun for the same price. The revolver is because it's a historical unique design (the cylinder moves forward when the gun is cocked) that can be had for $80. Besides, I need at least ONE revolver.
Option two is to purchase just a Yugo SKS. The Yugo SKSs are fairly good quality, but they've got two differences from most other SKSs, one of which is a definite negative the other of which I'm not sure about. The first is that Yugo SKSs are the only SKSs that don't have a chrome lined barrel. This is obviously a negative. The second is that Yugo SKSs have a grenade launcher affixed to the end of the barrel. A cool feature, but not sure if I want all that extra weight at the end of the barrel. Both this option and the first option would cost about the same ($275 or so altogether).
Option three would be to get a red dot optic for my AR (an Aimpoint CompM3 or M4 seems the most likely at the moment). On the downside this would be considerably more expensive (more to the tune of ~$400 as well as another ~$100 for a mount) but I do REALLY want a quality red dot for my AR.
Other random things I need to purchase are a few boxes of 8x56R ammo, a case of Czech light ball 7.62x54R, a case or two of 5.56 (preferably M855 spec ammo), as much GP11 as I can get my hands on (got 240 rounds in the mail, could use another thousand), and some wooden grips for my vz-82.
However, at the moment I'm leaning towards the M24/47 and M1895 combo. The red dot isn't really a realistic option due to my firm belief in the need to buy quality (which is why I don't feel bad about spending $17 a piece on AR mags from Brownells). Unfortunately the cost of buying quality makes it a little hard to justify at this moment. If I can't buy quality, I'd rather just wait. The SKS is attractive, but I'm not entirely sure I want a Yugo SKS for the reasons listed above (grenade launcher and lack of chrome lined barrel). It's unlikely that SKSs will dry up any time soon, even if the supply of imported ones goes away, due to the large amount in circulation.
Bottom line is that I "need" (really want) a Mauser. Given this desire and my penchant for picking up unusual mil-surp firearms available for fairly cheap (see my random purchase of the Steyr M95) the M 24/47 and M1895 Nagant option seems the best fit. However, feel free to talk me out of it or into something else.
Option one is to purchase either a Yugo M24/47 or Czech vz-24 Mauser and also purchase an M1895 Nagant revolver. Right now I'm leaning towards the M24/47 if I choose this option simply because it's in better condition for the same price. Owning the Czech gun would be fun, but not enough to justify buying a lower quality gun for the same price. The revolver is because it's a historical unique design (the cylinder moves forward when the gun is cocked) that can be had for $80. Besides, I need at least ONE revolver.
Option two is to purchase just a Yugo SKS. The Yugo SKSs are fairly good quality, but they've got two differences from most other SKSs, one of which is a definite negative the other of which I'm not sure about. The first is that Yugo SKSs are the only SKSs that don't have a chrome lined barrel. This is obviously a negative. The second is that Yugo SKSs have a grenade launcher affixed to the end of the barrel. A cool feature, but not sure if I want all that extra weight at the end of the barrel. Both this option and the first option would cost about the same ($275 or so altogether).
Option three would be to get a red dot optic for my AR (an Aimpoint CompM3 or M4 seems the most likely at the moment). On the downside this would be considerably more expensive (more to the tune of ~$400 as well as another ~$100 for a mount) but I do REALLY want a quality red dot for my AR.
Other random things I need to purchase are a few boxes of 8x56R ammo, a case of Czech light ball 7.62x54R, a case or two of 5.56 (preferably M855 spec ammo), as much GP11 as I can get my hands on (got 240 rounds in the mail, could use another thousand), and some wooden grips for my vz-82.
However, at the moment I'm leaning towards the M24/47 and M1895 combo. The red dot isn't really a realistic option due to my firm belief in the need to buy quality (which is why I don't feel bad about spending $17 a piece on AR mags from Brownells). Unfortunately the cost of buying quality makes it a little hard to justify at this moment. If I can't buy quality, I'd rather just wait. The SKS is attractive, but I'm not entirely sure I want a Yugo SKS for the reasons listed above (grenade launcher and lack of chrome lined barrel). It's unlikely that SKSs will dry up any time soon, even if the supply of imported ones goes away, due to the large amount in circulation.
Bottom line is that I "need" (really want) a Mauser. Given this desire and my penchant for picking up unusual mil-surp firearms available for fairly cheap (see my random purchase of the Steyr M95) the M 24/47 and M1895 Nagant option seems the best fit. However, feel free to talk me out of it or into something else.
posted by Mike at 10:06 PM
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