Mosin Nagant 91/30 sniper queations

asop

What does one look for in a collectors piece? Should a matching ser.# be on the scope or does it matter? Are there ser. #'s on the bayonet and cleaning rod? Obviously not at all familar with these but have always wanted one for the history value. Thanks

1911 Gunslinger

9,999 out of every 10,000 are not true snipers any way. Most of the advertised snipers are just regular rifles with new made scopes and mounts attached to them. Real mn snipers usually start about $1000 for a well worn one and work their way up,they have acceptance markings on the receiver identifying them as snipers. Century arms has flooded the market with faux mn sniper rifles, they are regular rifles with new scopes and mounts and a lot of them exibit poor workmanship in their assembly and because they are not true sniper rifles accuracy is not great on most of them either. A true 1891 sniper rifle with correct period scope is collectible without being matching numbers because of their scarcity. Matching numbers will, of course, add considerably to the value.

beantownshootah

What gunslinger said.

Authentic Russian WWII-era "sniper" Mosin rifles are fairly scarce and quite valuable. (Actually pretty much ANY authentic WWII-era sniper rifle with correct period optics is going to be rare and valuable).

I don't think the cleaning rod or bayonet are serial-numbered (at all). I have no idea if the serial number on the scope will match the gun, but since they were probably built at different places, I'd imagine that's unlikely.

If all you want is something to shoot, there are a zillion replicas out there using modern built optics and mounts built on common Mosin rifles that will give you a similar look and feel for around $400. As mentioned, the quality of these is variable, and they have minimal to negligible collector's value.

Personally, as a *collector* given the extent of forgery out there, I wouldn't touch any gun like this without doing a LOT of homework, and (if possible) having an expert review the piece first.

DrGonzo11

I agree with these guys with regards to most 91/30 snipers being fake or replicas. Sometimes you can find 91/30's (usually round receiver, occasionally Hex) that have 2 to 4 plugged holes in the left side of the receiver, they are EX PU Sniper rifles that have been decommissioned. That's most likely your best bet finding a true 91/30 sniper.