This very sad beater of a Mosin Nagant sold recently on Gun Broker for, count it, $1085.00 + $31.00 shipping.
The rifle was rusty, dusty, and thoroughly corroded, with a chipped and banged-up stock and a very worn bore. Why did a gun in such a miserable condition fetch such a fancy price? Historical association.
Its markings revealed that it was Izhvesk Arsenal-made Model 1907 Mosin Nagant carbine cut down from a former Cossack unit Ka3-marked rifle, and it could also be identified as a Model 1916 St. Petersburg Cavalry School carbine on the basis of the metal side-attached bayonet scabbard.
Not really a true Model 1907 carbine, the Model 1916 St. Petersburg Cavalry School carbine was converted from Model 1891 rifles. These have a unique design and only the rear sight is from the 1907 model. All the parts are from Model 91 rifles, except the bayonet scabbard and the barrel bands
Mosin collectors go mad for these rarities, even in vile condition.
Note the side-mounted bayonet scabbard. It is intended to keep the point of the bayonet from stabbing the horse or the rider. One would fit the bayonet backwards onto the muzzle and then slide the tip into the metal side piece.
Via Forgotten Weapons coming up for sale at James D. Julia in early October, Lot 1717, a 12 gauge takedown over-and-under shotgun by Lefaucheux with a very unusual double swinging breechblock mechanism.
Lot 3767: “Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG”, better known as the Chauchat
James D. Julia is selling a Chauchat in the course of their October 5-7 Firearms Auction and has released today another of the highly informative Forgotten Weapons videos devoted to this famous, but widely despised, particular weapon of WWI.
Numrich Arms will be auctioning next month this ornately engraved and crested Carcano Model 91 6.5 mm. Carbine rifle, one of four produced by Beretta. This one was a special commission by the Duke of Aosta, Viceroy of Abyssinia, built in 1939.
S.P. Fjestad, the author and publisher of the Blue Book Of Gun Values, now in its 36th edition, in this month’s American Rifleman, discusses the current frenzy on the part of dealers and collectors to snap up out-of-print, post-WWII Colt Double-Action revolvers which is driving prices higher and higher to out-of-sight levels.
If they get any hotter, they’ll be on fire!†is the way one Colt collector put it after being asked what he thought about the current Colt “snake-gun†marketplace. Colt’s family of seven deadly serpents include the Python, Diamondback, Cobra, Anaconda, King Cobra, Boa and Viper. There haven’t been too many “lottery winners†during the last several years regarding major trademark collectible firearms, but Colt’s snake guns continue to pack potent venom for anyone who ventures too close to their poisonous attraction. …
Mint, original, 1950s standard-production Pythons with 6″ barrels, high polish, Royal bluing and matching-number boxes and paperwork that had an original $125 manufacturer’s suggested retail price are now selling in excess of $18,000.
Fjestad fears that the party is going to come to an ugly end before very long, when the current tulip-craze for post-WWII Colt Double Action Revolvers exhausts itself as supplies emerge to satisfy all real existing demand. I think he’s right, and I even have personal difficulty in identifying with the enthusiasm of this group of collectors.
I once handled a Python, admired its rich blue finish, and its smooth Swiss-watch action. The price was reasonable back then, but I already owned a .357. My preference had always been for Smith & Wessons rather than Colts, and I thought it was kind of Mickey Mouse that Colt had a special production line to produce pistols that operated as nicely as the typical S&W.
What killed the deal for me was that vent rib. I knew perfectly well that a ventilated rib on a 6″ revolver served no practical purpose whatsoever, and I decided that I’d be embarrassed to appear in public carrying a revolver with a useless vent barrel. People would think I was the kind of dumbass who didn’t know any better and thought a vent barrel was cool. I just couldn’t bring myself to own one. I guess all that proves that theories can cost a fellow a whole lot of money.
I didn’t see the story back in 2013, but Outdoor Hub is re-circulating it right now.
Fond du Lac resident Ray Groff expected windy conditions and a good bite when he set out on the waters of Lake Winnebago last week. What he did not expect was that he would dig up a piece of American history.
“It was around 11 a.m. on Sept. 4 and as soon as I saw the barrel I knew what it was,†Groff told Action Reporter Media.
The antiquated firearm had been sitting on the bottom of the lake for over 200 years before the angler came along. He did not reel in the heavy, 47-inch-long gun but instead found it dangling off his anchor.
“This is crazy. It’s like one of those tall fish tales,†he recalled thinking.
The firearm’s bore shows signs of its great age. Rust had eaten away much of the barrel and a large section of the wooden stock had completely rotten off. The object was coated in a layer of invasive zebra mussels. Remarkably, the original piece of flint included with the musket was still in place, half-cocked, as if waiting to be shot.
Groff speculates that the gun may have once belonged to a trapper from the area 200 years ago, or was maybe a prized possession of the Winnebago Indians that used to live there. Around that time there was a small French fur trading post along the Fond du Lac River run by the explorers Augustine Grignon and Michael Brisbois. The two men would buy furs from trappers as well as trade with the local Native American tribes, exchanges which may have included this particular item.
Whatever the case, Groff says the rifle is a catch of a lifetime and will be proudly displaying it in his home. It will be unaltered except for a layer of sealant.
How many people who shoot at Camp Perry support Gay Marriage?
America in 2015 is more poisonously divided than at any time since 1861. Every policy and cultural issue seems to be successfully imposed de haut en bas by an arrogant pseudo-intellectual minority living in big cities, occupying all the establishment seats of privilege, and ruthlessly controlling the levers of power. When they want to get their way, the newspapers they control take a poll of a few hundred people they select, and then announce that national opinion is running 60-40 their way. When Republicans have a majority in Congress, you can count on John McCain and some Republican senator from Maine to vote with the democrats. When they can’t possibly get something through any legislature, you can bet that first some radical federal judge will proclaim that the Constitution mandates the sort of thing that was generally looked upon as a capital felony in 1789 is constitutionally obligatory, and then Justice Anthony Kennedy will join with four liberal justices to cement that scoundrel’s theory into stone.
The system is broken, and they broke it. We’ve long stopped being either a republic or a democracy. What we are is a country of suckers sitting in on a rigged game of cards.
The question is just how far can things go on this way? Liberalism becomes increasingly arrogant and intolerant every year. Kurt Schlichter wonders aloud if the establishment left ever asks itself, what would happen if all their lawless power-wielding went even a bit farther and that proved to be just a little too far?
In 30+ years as an active conservative, I’ve never heard people so angry, so frustrated, so fed up. These emotions are supposed to be dissipated by normal political processes. But liberals are bottling them up. And they will blow. It’s only a matter of how.
Liberals need to understand the reality that rarely penetrates their bubble. Non-liberal Americans (it’s more than just conservatives who are under the liberal establishment’s heel) are the majority of this country. They hold power in many states and regions in unprecedented majorities. And these attacks focus on what they hold dearest – their religion, their families and their freedom.
What is the end game, liberals? Do you expect these people you despise to just take it? Do you think they’ll just shrug their shoulders and say, “Well, I guess we better comply?†Do you even know any real Americans? Do you think you’ll somehow be able to force them into obedience – for what is government power but force – after someone finally says “Enough?†…
[L]iberals would be well advised to ask themselves who will be willing to fight and die to preserve their power and policies. In contrast, there are an awful lot of people willing to fight and die for their religion and our Constitution.
And let’s be blunt – these are the people with most of the guns and the training to use them. That’s the reality of the rule of force. …
Now, this will no doubt draw the lie that I am somehow advocating violence. The current liberal habit of shamelessly lying about their opponents makes civil debate impossible. Similarly, the mockery of non-liberals before stacked audiences of trained seals a la Jon Stewart is part and parcel of the same strategy of delegitimizing any opposition. Closing down the option of discussion leaves their opponents with only the option of action. So far, the action has only been in funding campaigns for oppressed pizzerias and in the voting booth – though they’ve trying to nullify that too.
I’m not advocating violence – I am warning liberals that they are setting the conditions for violence.
And that better worry them, for the coastal elites are uniquely unsuited to a world where force rules instead of law. The Serbs were, at least, a warrior people. The soft boys and girls who brought us helicopter parenting, “trigger warnings†and coffee cups with diversity slogans are not.
I know the endgame of discarding the rule of law for short-term advantage because I stood in its ruins. Liberals think this free society just sort of happened, that they can poke and tear at its fabric and things will just go on as before. But they won’t. So at the end of the day, if you want a society governed by the rule of force, you better pray that you’re on the side with the guns and those who know how to use them.
Amy Athey McDonald, at Yale News, describes Wild Bill’s first gunfight, and shows us a revolver once owned by Hickok, now in Yale’s Peabody Museum collection.
Davis Tutt shouldn’t have taken Wild Bill’s watch.
The former Confederate soldier and gambler was shot down by James Butler “Wild Bill†Hickok 150 years ago in Springfield, Missouri, in what is today recognized as the first quick-draw gunfight of the American West.
Events leading up to the legendary shootout began the night before with a dispute over a gambling debt. Hickok and Tutt had known each other for years, but there had been a falling out and Wild Bill refused to play cards with Tutt. According to an account by a witness who called himself “Captain Honesty,†Tutt retaliated that evening by giving money to every other man around the table playing against Hickok. A successful gambler, Wild Bill won nearly $200 that night, which angered his one-time associate even more.
Tutt called in a past debt of $45 on the spot from Hickok, who promptly paid up. Tutt then claimed another $35 debt owed from a previous game. Hickok disagreed with this second claim, saying he only owed Tutt $25. It was at this point that Tutt took Hickok’s gold Waltham watch from the table and said he would keep it until the debt was paid. Hickok warned Tutt against such a foolish action. Trial testimony from a J.W. Orr noted that Tutt later raised his price to $45.
While the details of what happened the next day on July 21, 1865, are not entirely clear, historians agree that Tutt showed up in the town square in front of the courthouse around 6 p.m. with Hickok’s watch. Wild Bill appeared at the other end of the square and warned Tutt not to come any further. The two began to cross the square toward one another, drawing their pistols. Exactly how far apart they were and what guns were used are not definitely known. It’s written that they were facing side-on, dueling fashion, almost 100 paces apart, with Hickok using his Colt Navy.
Tutt and Hickok fired one shot each. Tutt missed; Hickok didn’t. Tutt staggered and fell, shot through the heart, and Hickok was soon arrested and charged with murder. The charge was later reduced to manslaughter, but the jury found that Hickok acted in self-defense and he was acquitted.
The shootout launched Wild Bill’s fame as a gunman.
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French .44 Pinfire Revolver of unknown manufacture, presented by James Butler Hickok to Wild West Show manager William Green, Yale Peabody Museum.
For that kind of money you could buy a state-of-the-art Blaser. You could get a Griffin & Howe Springfield. You could get a Commercial Mauser Sporter. You could buy two Mannlicher Schonauers. And, if you got a little lucky at a gun show, you might even be able to buy a Rigby .275.
This one is obviously a bit uncommon and collectible (if you want to collect -shudder– Mosin Nagants), but speaking personally my mind boggles. Myself, I’m not at all sure that, if Vasilli Zaitsev dropped by and offered to sell me the scoped Mosin sniper he used to pop Major Konig at the Battle of Stalingrad for $5000 smackers, I would actually take him up on it.
Excellent condition WWI Remington mfg. Model 1891 Mosin Nagant rifle in 7.62 x 54 caliber that has clear manufacturer markings on the barrel and dated 1917. These rifles were originally produced for Imperial Russia, but when the Bolshevik Revolution occurred deliveries ceased. The U.S. government purchased/contracted the remaining rifles from Remington and used them for training purposes. Remington Mosin Nagant rifles were also issued to American troops during the Siberian “polar bear†expedition during the Russian Civil War. About 78,950 Remington Mosin Nagant rifles were acquired by the U.S. government, out of the 1.5 million originally contracted by Russia. This gun falls in the correct serial number range for U.S. marked Mosins and has good clear and guaranteed original U.S., flaming bomb, and eagle head proof mark cartouche in the stock in front of the triggerguard. Rifle has all matching serial numbers including barrel, bolt body, cocking piece, floorplate, and buttplate. Metal finish is excellent original blue showing very little wear. Bore is bright and excellent with strong rifling. American Walnut stock has beautiful original finish with only a few normal handling marks. Shows a few normal handling marks, right side buttstock has a nice original Remington circular cartouche. This cartouche and the eagle head and flaming bomb proofs have been highlighted in white. Rifle is NOT import marked and NOT Finn marked or modified and is complete with correct original cleaning rod and leather sling. A very rare U.S. military marked Remington Mosin Nagant in excellent condition with all matching numbers that will make an outstanding addition to your collection!
