- Hey guys, I'm Alex C.
- And I'm Patrick R.
- We're back at ya with another five guns video
for thefirearmblog.com.
- Well, kind of a six guns video
- Unfortunately yes, there is a little
bit of disagreement but we'll get
to that at the very end.
- Anyways the category today is
five great C&R rifles you can
get for under 500 dollars.
We really like C&R rifles because
oftentimes they are inexpensive,
there's military surplus available,
or ammunition available and they're
just a lot of fun to shoot.
- Yeah, and I mean a lot of new
shooters kind of forget about 'em
I know I did when I started shooting.
- Absolutely you'll write 'em off maybe as a,
you know you see a guy with an AR-15
and you think it's a much cooler
much more fun gun but sometimes
you got to look to the past to, you know,
bring out a little bit more.
- Yeah.
- So anyways, let's start from
our left and go to the right,
first up is a Lee-Enfield rifle.
At one time in the 60s and 70s
and up into the 80s you would
get these for ten and twenty dollars from a gun store.
This is a Enfield made in 1917 in England
so if it could tell some stories that'd be cool.
It's almost a hundred years old.
It works. The rifling's strong and I paid
I think 280 dollars for this gun
which for an Enfield these days is a good deal.
I actually got an almost unissued one
recently for 500 dollars which is
probably a little high but even though
I paid a little bit too much this year
it's probably not going to be
too much in a couple of years.
- Well, I will say this about that gun
I've never seen an Enfield that looked nice
for some reason they don't weather real well.
You know this is a pretty decent example
but the unissued one is just staggeringly beautiful.
- And I didn't choose that one
to include because of the price,
It's just kind of floating towards the 500 dollars
and this one realistically shoots just as well.
But, I mean it's in great shape
for the amount I paid for it.
They handle, well, they have an interesting
cock on close action which is interesting
you can fire them real quick,
there's a legendary thing called
a mad minute where soldier's would
get off you know X amount of aimed
shots in under a minute which some
people have disproved some people have proved.
It's a big old...
- Yeah, It's kind of one of those topics
that nobody can agree on
kind of like our fifth gun.
- I'm skeptical myself but anyways...
- I want to try it.
- I'll try it. I'll fail at it but.--
- So will I but I'd still want to try.
- Yeah
- Shooting stuff is fun.
- But, these are cool, they have history,
the service length on them is incredible.
Soldiers of empire carried them
on every continent so, great rifle.
under 500 dollars. - Yeah, it's an awesome gun.
- Next up we've got what in my opinion
is the greatest rifle ever made.
That's going to be the Mauser 98
now this is a Yugoslavian Mauser 98
so not necessarily what would be
regarded as a collector Mauser.
There are Mausers out there that you can
drop thousands and thousands of dollars on.
Of course, a lot of people hear Mauser
and associate it with the Third Reich
when in reality they were made
and introduced in the days of the German empire
and Prussia of course but it's admittedly
the best bolt action system that's
ever been devised and is still copied today
in every bolt, I mean elements in
every single bolt action.
- Yeah, just about.
- I mean, they're staggeringly accurate
the action's always smooth, slick.
There's just not much more
positive I can say about it, they're flawtless.
- No, I mean it's a great gun
unfortunately I don't really love them
they're great guns but its not something that's for me.
This particular example I purchased
you know and it sat in my safe for about a year
and Alex said that he had to have it
because he wanted all the Mausers in the world.
- I want all the Mausers in the world
but they made a hundred million of them
so still working on that.
- It's a goal
- Yeah, but this is a Yugo Mauser like I said
and I think, what did you get this for?
- I think I paid 240 dollars for it from JG's
- From JG yeah, I bought one from JG
for 219 at one time so, there was a time
when also you could get these for 10 and 20 dollars
including the K98ks that everyone wants.
Everyone wants stuff affiliated
with the Third Reich, some people don't
some people don't want that in their safe.
It's whatever something, it's fine.
- I mean, I can understand the history
behind it is kind of interesting
just as a firearm that made a huge
impact on humanity but I mean,
buying something because it was
Third Reich I don't really see that.
- To each their own some people are collectors
but yeah, a Mauser in its own right
is a great shooter and that's why we chose it.
Going by that same kind of you know
shootability standpoint, the next gun is an obvious choice.
- Yeah, it's one of the Swiss rifles isn't it.
- Absolutely, this is a Swiss K31
and I believe AIM Surplus is blowing these
out right now at 320 dollars or something like that.
- Something like that.
- So you can find these for 300ish dollars
and they're cool because they're straight pull.
But technically they call them bolt actions
but to work the action you just
pull back, push forward, new round.
It's got a helical bolt on it that
unlocks itself on a guide.
- Yes, I don't know if you probably can't see
but this bolt does rotate counterclockwise.
As you pull the action, the operating handle back
and it will eject the round, feed a new one in
and they're pretty quick to shoot
not quite as quick as the Enfield though.
- I would say not quite as quick as the Enfield.
I don't know, they should be on paper.
- You're right
- At least I can't do it, I'm sure there's
a guy in Switzerland that could school us all.
- Probably.
- But yeah, they're great rifles
and at three hundred and some odd dollars
since they never actually made
corrosive ammunition for these
that I'm aware of, the bores are all spectacular.
Even though the wood is often beat up pretty bad
I actually refinished this one,
you know the metal quality is always great
the bores are great and surplus ammunition
is available which is important.
- Yeah it's strangely enough I think
it's all match ammunition.
- It's all, they say it's all match grade ammunition
I mean I don't know what the criteria is.
- I don't know either but I know
the ones that I have shot have been
extremely accurate, the Swiss really
did hit one out of the park with this gun.
- And at 300 hundred dollars if you are looking
for a gun that you want to, I don't know,
hunt with or just have in your collection,
that's a great option guys.
Now next up is something we reviewed
together a while back from our odd guns series.
This gun was France's military service rifle for a while.
This, of course, is a MAS-49/56
- And honestly my favorite C&R rifle
out of all of these.
- That's a bold statement he even one time said
that he liked it better than the Garand
and coming from a former serviceman
who owns a Garand that's a pretty bold statement.
- Yes I've been looking for a nice one of these
in .308 and haven't found one yet
but it will get added to my collection
if I do come across it.
It's just a really great rifle.
You've seen the two of us shooting
in some of the videos.
I'm a man of smaller stature and this gun really lends
itself well to somebody who's a little bit smaller.
But it's just an outstanding gun
super reliable, we referenced it in an earlier video.
Ian McCollum did a mud torture test
and this rifle performed exceptionally well.
- It's also kind of cool if you are
a gun nerd like we are because it's DI in it's purest form.
- Right, yeah.
- Which is gas travels up through the tube
and slams right near the carrier
there's no internal little piston or anything like that.
- Yes, and you can see the gas tube right here
but unlike the Rasheed that I kind of gave
a bit of a criticism because the gas tube
would burn me when I was reloading the rifle,
this one's kind of set back a little bit
and it doesn't, I don't have that issue
on this particular gun.
- It is cool also 'cause you can reload
with stripper clips or you can take
the 10 round detachable magazines
out easily unlike the Rasheed which
they're fixed as fixed can be, nearly.
You know the only problem is ammo availability.
They fire a 7.5 French.
There are some 7.62x51 conversions
although I've heard that they're spotty at best.
- Yeah, I've heard that but that said
I don't really want to hunt for the French ammo
because if I buy one of these I want to shoot it a lot.
I really like it that much.
- Sure, I get it and especially with this
butt pad which is actually factory.
This is a French-made accessory
they put on them to soften the recoil.
They're just general shooters
and they're really cool guns guys
I can't sing the praises of this more.
Just a phenomenal firearm.
Now up next is kind of where we disagree.
- You know I'm a gonna give you yours.
- OK, I chose the SKS. - I'll take mine.
I chose the Mosin-Nagant.
- I chose the SKS because It's legal
in a lot of places where semi-automatic
rifles are harder to come by like California.
SKS's are a hit there because a lot of them
I believe are grandfathered in
because they don't have a detachable magazine
and you know some of them are featureless
or what not, whatever the crazy gun laws are out there.
Also in New York I believe they're legal
and in Canada they're like a hundred dollars
because there's no Chinese import ban.
So that's, it's just a cool feature.
They also shoot decently they shoot 762x39
which is very inexpensive so if you want to
go out with a big crate of 762x39
and just blast all day with a semi-automatic rifle.
- Yeah, you can do it with that gun.
- This is the way to go.
- I mean they're fine guns I just prefer
the Mosin to the SKS personally.
- It's also worth noting that his choice is a lot cheaper.
This actually my dad bought
this for 50 dollars in the 90s at a gun show.
It's since made it into my collection
by no fault of his I kind of snuck it in there
but you know it is what it is,
it's kind of cool it's been around
since I was a kid in the safe so...
- Yeah and I do want to touch a little bit on price.
Something that is a little off-putting for me
about those is for a decent one you're looking
at about 350 dollars now.
- That's right, that does ding it quite a bit.
I mean if we're talking, if these go back
to Canada prices then this would
unfortunately, it would shut out the...
- Yeah it would...
- But that's not going to happen anytime soon
I assure you guys of that unfortunately.
So why don't you explain your pick there Patrick.
- Well, mine is just a Mosin-Nagant.
It's a Russian built M38,
I refinished the stock with some boiled linseed oil
and I really like this one.
I've got four or five Nagants that I really like
and I mean they're reasonably accurate
they're relatively cheap for about 20 cents a trigger pull.
- I will concede that the ammo price on that
is very alluring.
- Yeah, and the cool thing about it is
it's a full power round it's not intermediate.
- That's true, if you want to hone your skills
and try and get your flinch out as a new shooter
that is a great tool to do that.
- Yeah it is unfortunately sometimes
the triggers on these feel like
pulling a piano across a gravel road
with, you know, some twine but Timney does.
I think it's Timney, isn't it?
Or is it, somebody offers an aftermarket trigger
I don't have one because I think it's fine the way it is.
I understand that it's a crude rifle
that was intended to be built quickly and cheaply
- And the reason I personally disagreed with it
is because prices are increasing on 'em.
- They are
- This is an M38 which is a premium one now
because they're shorter and handier.
- Yes
- Prices are getting up there you know,
Enfields were one time 10 dollars
these will one day be ridiculous in price I think.
- I agree.
- I suspect that, people might disagree with that
but I think one day we'll be looking at Enfields
and reminisce about hey I remember
when those were 100 dollars.
- Yeah, yeah I mean like this one in particular
I think I gave 200 dollars for and like Alex said
it's a little bit more of a premium rifle.
They're not as common.
I paid 120 dollars for my Hex Receiver 9130
and I've bought round receiver guns
for as low as 70 dollars in the last couple of years
but prices have increased a little bit
and they're in the 120 to 150 dollar range at this point.
- Yeah, so basically we just had
a small disagreement there but you know
people disagree on things neither of us
I don't think there's a wrong it's all personal preference.
- I think you're wrong.
- Oh you think I'm wrong?
- I do.
- OK, well fair enough.
Anyways guys we sincerely appreciate
you guy watching the program.
This is Alex C with TFBTV.
- I'm Patrick R.
- And if you hit that subscribe button
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