The Enfield That Never Was

[Mortblanc]

I have purchased near mint condition Italian 6.5 rifles for as little as $10 way back in the day. Italian rifles required an en-bloc clip to hold and feed the ammo, which put them at a disadvantage, and the only ammo available over here was from Norma, and cost a bundle per pop. I think I still have a box of ammo with a clip taped to the box around here somewhere!

Mind you that was when a nice Mauser sold for $50, an Enfield for $35 and Mosins were considered expensive at $25. Back in the 1980s I purchased a SMLE without its magazine and wound up paying more for the replacement magazine than I did for the rifle.

I once bought a '95 Mauser in 7x57 for $20 right out of the cosmoline filled shipping barrel. It took me two days to clean it up but it was in like new condition.

Those 7x57 '95 Mausers were some of the most accurate military rifles I have ever dealt with and I converted several into excellent light sporters over the years.

In spite of all that I am still constantly amazed that the Mosin rifles shoot their surplus ammo as well as they do. Most of those 80 year old rifles will shoot their 30 year old surplus ammo better than many of the commercial rifles that cost three times as much.

[Steve]

An Italian WW2 rifle with original White Flag will cost a pretty penny nowadays. Here in the UK the Enfields are quite expensive, but because of our draconian licencing we can pick up old deer rifles quite cheaply when people need to make space on their tickets.

[Mortblanc]

I am considering making spare for more, but that does not mean selling, it means adding another room to the house.

[Midnitemo]

I like 6.5 Swedish as a round both in military and sporting rifles...soft shooting hard hitting round , I'm thinking of getting my fac back for stalking and I can't make my mind up....head say's .308 heart say's 6.5 Swedish + a .223 for Scotland and the smaller species of bambi.

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the surplus ammo I used in my mosin was quite cheap at £22 per 100 but the cases were steel not brass and the propellant was far from smokeless , massive flash , incredibly loud and it was a bitch to clean after firing but it was fairly decent shooting ammo

[Mortblanc]

We buy the Mosin ammo at $100/440 round case. That would be about 60 pounds your money. I can not reload them that cheap. Just the jacketed bullet in .30 caliber costs me 28 cents and primer and powder are added to that.

Individual caliber is a very personal choice, within the requirements of use. The 6.5 Swede is a good round. You could even load light bullets for the midget deer and eliminate the need for .223.