I have two of the Mosin Nagants, a 1939 and a 1928 Tula Hex receiver. For the money they can't be beat. My father is a gun dealer so we only paid from $60.00 to $80.00 for the rifles a few years ago and both rifles have full matching numbers. Of couse we got the quantity price as we bought 6-8 rifles each time. And we got to pick among the rifles the ones we wanted.

Alot of the rifles that are left have forced match numbers(meaning they replaced parts at the armory with parts that were already numbered). If you can pick thru and get a matching rifle, great. If not, no big deal really, I just don't care for how they remarked them, with an electric engraver by hand, looks a little sloppy. The other piece of advice is to try to find one that is not a war time rifle. The machining used thru say, 1942-45, was a little worse for wear and these rifles sport some serious machine marks. Granted its only cosmetic and doesn't affect the shooting, it just looks very rough. But they are great shooters, very stout rifles, and you can get period and replica mounts and scopes if so inclined.

The other nice thing is, as Unsub has said, ammo is dirt cheap and you do have a choice in different countries of origin, Polish, Russian and Czech is what I currently have. Winchester does offer it in the white box if you can find it, plus numerous European ammo manufacturers make it also, Norma included, but the Norma runs like $30.00 plus for a box of twenty.

If you want to step up to something better, take a good look at the Stevens (Savage made) bolt guns. Just a basic Savage action sans the Accutrigger, but they are Savages thru and thru. My family, both immediate and in-laws are all Savage fans and even some of my Dad's friends, both whom are Drs. with more money than they should have, have bought Savage and Stevens rifles due to their reputation and excellent customer service. You should be able to easily find a Stevens for under $300.00. Hope this helps.