The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hello
I have been having an interaction with a fellow member regarding the rights and wrongs of reproduction Sniper rifles.
We have different views, I am in favour of reproductions, that allow historical military shooters the chance to own and enjoy this type of rifle.

Been asked to change the post to Grumpy old Men "How is that accomplished"

In my opinion it is distasteful to take a pristine, historical rifle and permanently modify it (drill and tapping receiver). If you found a knocked up rifle (bubba job) and restore/modify to a sniper that's not so bad. If you're thinking of modifying your Hungarian rifle I imagine that would annoy a fair few people and potentially devalue any resale value on their rifle.

I've modified my Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 but only with non permenant methods. I've scope mounted it and have now fitted a ph5c rear sight, but these can always be removed and restored to normal.

All my milsurp rifles are in good order and I would never permanently modify them, but each to their own I guess.

Categorically against "UNLESS" it is clear that they are repros and can never be passed off as originals, and therein lies the rub IMHO.

Not only may it destroy a less exotic (but no less important) original, but there is a whole industry in hooky parts for just this purpose.

From a personal standpoint I have wanted a Mosin sniper for quite a while, and whilst having owned a "few" M91/30's and M44 carbines, some of which were very accurate and would have been excellent with a scope, I would not have made a reproduction/fake "sniper" out of any of them, instead I chose to wait until the right genuine sniper came along.Sadly there are some out there who reproduce/fake Mosin sniper rifles and sell them on to the unwary as "genuine sniper" rifles......a run of PU-scoped M44 carbines immediately springs to mind, as well as PU-scoped hex receiver Mosins past off as genuine.

Often a quite rare or unusual rifle can be, for want of a better word, destroyed by fitting reproduction scopes etc.We have all bemoaned the classic rifles that have been deactivated over the years, but it can feel the same way for a collector when they see a sought after variant that has had the receiver drilled and tapped to take a scope mount it should never have had.

The same goes for "ex-snipers" that have been taken out of sniper use by an arsenal and returned to use as a regular rifle, to then go and refit a scope and mount to it and call it a sniper is wrong in my book in the same way that I would never return my 1926 Izhevsk ex-Dragoon back into its original Dragoon configuration.I feel much the same way when it comes to refinishing stocks etc, for me every scratch and ding tells a story and are part of that rifles history.

Throw in the fact that most reproduction scopes (Especially PE/PEM/PU copies) are poor quality and often fall apart it is often false economy, far better to find a genuine honest rifle with true provenance behind it that opt for what could end up as a poor copy.

No,

You stick a repro scope onto any standard military rifle with history, then all it's historical value has been wiped away. My issue is when you decide to sell it what do you call it (Repro made up sniper/sniper rifle/scoped rifle) there are too many of these rifles anyway without making more....

Ultimately it's your rifle and you can do what you want with it, you'll never please everybody. I think the trouble lies when things are passed off as originals, so as long as you remain transparent then you're good to go.

However, if you want to shoot it and get a feel for what they were like without the cost of finding a genuine one then go for it. For me, it would depend on the scarcity of the piece and the value of the firearm. Personally, I wouldn't do anything that was irreversible but that's just me.

What's wrong with shooting a mil-surp open sight ?

I just wonder why, with all of the commercial bolt actions in circulation, anyone would find it necessary to alter an historic rifle rather than enjoy it and appreciate it for what it is.

From mosinnagant.net regarding Hungarian 91/30's......

"The M91/30's produced in Hungary are even more collectable as they are not commonly seen on the market. It is unknown if they are truly a rare rifle or if they are just misidentified as Soviet rifles. The truth, as it does in most cases, is probably somewhere in the middle. If a collector runs across a Hungarian M91/30, it should be snapped up instantly as one never knows when or if they will see another."