Which one ??

[jumbeaux]

What are the suggestions regarding picking one of these three rifles...surplus ammo would be used and cast loads would eventually be worked up...I know these are different but I would love to hear the pros and cons....

Nagant M91/30 $119.95 - 149.95 Bulgarian FMJ 440/rds $99.95

Czech VZ-24 $249.95

Yugo M24/47 $219.95
Romanian FMJ 340/rds $ 99.95 - 109.95

Possibly will add a scout type long eye relief scope.....this rifle will used as a fun/plinker and maybe to hunt whitetails....appreciate your input....

rick

[mroliver77]

Nagants are a literal BLAST with milsurp ammo and cheap to shoot.I picked up a 440rnd spam can for half of your stated price. Brass is not as cheap as 8mm(easily made from cheap 06). A good VZ will shoot like the dickens! No experience with that model Yugo but any Mauser ids a good start.
Jay

[KCSO]

If you are going to leave it as is any of them will work. All shott rounds similar in ballistics and all will approximate a 30-06. If you contemplate making a sporter of it The Mauser styles are the cheapest to do ytourself as the M/N has a clumsy safety at best and is ill suyited to a low mount scope, although wiht the scope conversion kit now offered it can be done. You will need a plastic stock to bring your eye up to the scope.

I picked up a partially butchered Yugo and this is what it turned in to...

[Doc1]

The Nagants are cheap to shoot, but have abominable safeties and are limited in reloading options.
The Yugo 24/47 is a fine rifle - I have one in my Mauser collection - but is an intermediate length action. This means common standard-length 98 bolts and some bolt group parts won't fit. Otherwise, great.
VZ24: This old Czech is a standard length 98 action and is well-known for high quality workmanship. A real winner!

Also note that the 7.92x57 (8mm Mauser) is a very versatile case and can easily be made with 30-06 brass. Your reloading options will be more severely limited with the 7.62x54 Russian and boxer-primed brass is still relatively uncommon and pricey. Don't even think that the Russian will give you a vast source of .30 bullets to choose from because it's actual diameter is a little bigger than the standard US .308. The only real downside to the 8mm is - again - bullets. The .323 diameter bullets are scarcer than .30s in the US, though there are a lot of good molds for the home bullet caster.

Really, you won't go wrong with any of your three options, but I think in the long run, the VZ24 is the best choice.

Best regards
Doc

[Kraschenbirn]

+1 on the VZ. My "beater" rifle is a nazi-marked VZ-24 that had been bubba'd by a previous owner. After a bit of stock repair and a re-work of Bubba's chop-job of barrel shortening, it turned out to be a great cast boolit shooter so I went ahead and added a Lyman receiver sight with a hooded ramp front from my used parts bin.

Bill

[JeffinNZ]

Depends. If you only ever want to shoot surplus (read: Cheap) ammo then the Mosin is the short term answer. 8X57 surplus is getting like hen's teeth. If you are planning to load then the VZ will likely be a better bet.