I've always been obsessed with bring the old back to life instead of buying new. May be why I drive older trucks and will never buy a new car or truck for myself.
My wife however will argue.

I have been on a long hard search for a 91/30 Mosin Nagant for myself to sporterize. The typical Cut the barrel down 22", Put a Boyds wooden stock and mount a scope. Just a 100-200 yard bolt gun.
I plan on going on a elk hunt this fall with my father and brothers, and would like to use it. But I am having difficulty finding a Cheap enough gun to use. I don't want to buy a great condition gun with a good stock. I could care less if the stock is falling off. I just do not want to spend more then 150-200$ on a gun I am going to cut up. Yes I understand I could go and buy a decent used bolt gun for the amount I'm going to put into this gun. That is not the point, I also probably could of bought a decent used truck for the Money I've put into my 2002 ford f-350. Its about keeping the older quality alive.

I'd call or email J&G sales and numrich arms and CDNN and sarco and all those other mil-surp places that advertise in the shotgun news. You would be wise to purchase a copy at your local grocery store or drugstore. They also sell shotgun news at Books A Million and Barnes and noble if you are near a larger town.

Also look on www.gunsamerica.com to pick from shops all over the United States. Don't forget your local pawn or gun shops too

Here's a place i've dealt with, with good results.

Website is hard to find stuff on because they have 98 Mauser actions but they arn't listed in with the other actions.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN FFL OR GET SOMEONE TO ORDER FOR YOU WHO DOES.
(you can order other parts without ffl but for an action you need one)

I've been eying up the 93 Mausers they have for 99 bucks.

http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/index.aspx

If you wanna drive over to central mn Ill sell you a 91/30 for $160

you will get 3X the usability out of a current sporting rifle , I was at Cabellas the other day and htey had a used Rem 783 with a Vortex 3-9x40 for 249 in the rack in 308

that is a 150 dollars in scope sitting on a 100 dollar rifle with garbage rings for 275 you could be out hunting and do anything the nagant could do


I remember back when we could get 99 dollar SKS rifles all day long , well a hundred dollars that was easy , but I started adding up putting a scop mount on it and a new stock and next thing I knew I was getting close to 300 dollars so I went and bought a used 30-06 that needed nothing but a box of cartriges , and was already drilled and tapped.


new bolt guns say even if you got a Savage axis xp would shoot circles around a mosin and cost about the same Mosins are not the deal they once were.

and the safety on a Mosin is very hard to disengage quickly and quietly

What Pete's saying is true, dollar wise.

If you have a lathe and can do the work yourself like squaring the action and setting your headspace, it's like any hobby, it's just plain fun and satisfying to bring these old guns back to life.

If you are going to do a rebuild of old to make it what you want I strongly suggest you use a Mauser action they will not be that much more than a Mosin

the rear bridge and bolt handle will allow you to do optics much easier

you can find plenty of already sporterized Mausers that would be good to work with so your not cutting up a virgin you would have a lot more to work with and a much better end result

Mosins often have over sized barrels so unless you casting your own over size , they can have poor bullet to barrel fit.

I guess I can't understand why you would go on an expensive elk hunt with a less than great gun.

Here's a build i did this past winter.

Mauser 98 action i had laying around. Think i paid around 100 dollars years ago for the whole gun.
Timney safe was already on it.

Here's the barrel i put on it, as the military one was junk, as most are.
http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/mauser98tackdriverheavybarrels.aspx

I bought a Boyds stock from Midway for 163 dollars shipped. Did all the machine work myself and this puppy shoots.

Here's a pic when i test fired it. Once it didn't blow-up, i put a scope on it and shot a one hole group at 85yds.




So, like Pete says, your gonna have as much in a gun like this as a cheap boxstore gun. Except one thing, Your gonna have a custom gun unlike many.

that is why I said if you build on a Mauser you have something , if you build on an open rear bridge Nagant with a cast bolt your unlikely to be happy with the safety , bolt or optics options.

even if you re-barrel a Nagant your severely limiting cartridge options.


all I am saying is think further than the host rifle price sometime spending a little more int he beginning makes a lot more in the end.

2 gun shows ago you could have a good selection of sporterized mausers for under 300 some very nicely done in nice wood probably could have had several for 250 with a little hagling.

when a Military gun has been cut now it drops value in 1965 you could buy a mauser for 15 dollars in a barrel at K-Mart, there were hundreds of thousands of mausers cut in the 60s that are coming up for sale again now as people die some very nicely done that you could be out hunting with in little time. some that need more work.

I agree.

The one i'm doing now is a model 1917 enfield made by Remington. The safes on these are ready to rock without any work. I bought a good stainless bull barrel for this one in 264win mag.

Opened up the bolt myself and am making my own stock. I test fired it already, just need to put a scope on and finish the stock.

Sarco sells enfield actions for 175 i believe. They are as tight as a madern factory gun and alot less work if sporterizing.

The 98 cocks when you open the bolt like modern Wins and REms and Savs, and the older guns like the Mosin and Mauser 93 & 95's & 96's, cocks when they close and many find it difficult to get used to.

Many 98's are chambered for 7x57 and 8x57 which are fine for elk...and Jack O'Connor and his wife Eleanor, killed dozens of elk with a 7x57..which is ballistically nearly a 270 Win...aka the 7mm Mauser, known for mild recoil and great ballistics....that's why I built Dad a custom 7x57 when in gunsmith school.
Having built dozens of custom rifles on 98 actions back in my 'smithing days, I prefer them, even over Springfields and Enfields.

And as Pete said, they are plentiful at gun shows as well as gunsamerica.com

here is a yugo m24 action you could use https://www.gunbroker.com/item/764175978

there are a number of other mausers in varrying conditions

Thank you, I am as well considering a Mauser, Heck more then Considering. So I will need to Figure which Caliber I would want. I see that you are able too change the Round you use Like making a 7mm Mauser into a 7mm/08

you may want to watch this one https://www.gunbroker.com/item/763749134

might get it for very reasonable money

I re-chambered dozens to .280 Rem.
7-08 wasn't used much in those days...cept by Silhouette shooters.