I agree -- the Mosin is the best bang for buck right now. Even someone with not very much available funds can buy a real combat-tested battle rifle and a case of ammunition for it for sub $300. If they have more money to spend, they can stock up on ammunition very easily and, to use the cliche, "buy it cheap and stack it deep". Anyone know of places locally in OKC that sell Mosins sub $100?
So do they usually have old sks and ak milsurp guns up at the gun shows? What do you expect to pay for something like that now a days?
Nowdays at a show, a person could pick up a SKS for ~$300 and an AK variant starting at around $400. These are ballpark figures so keep that in mind.
Bolt action - I'm a fan of the Mauser 98. Of course ammo isn't as cheap as the 7.62x54r, but I like the way the 8mm shoots. If it came down to straight price, the Mosin wins. Assault rifle - AK hands down. I prefer the 5.45 over the 7.62. Especially since you can buy 5.45 ammo for ~ 14 cents/round. However, the 5.45 mags are a lot pricier than they used to be. Pistol - CZ-82 with it's 13rd capacity and ammo is fairly priced. If we are talking curio's, a 1911 would be nice, but they are all $$$.
The last several shows I've been to, I've noticed a number of SKS's. generally priced somewhere around $3-350. Funny thing is, condition doesn't seem to matter. They can be rough or nice; original or bubba-ed, price doesn't seem to vary much. If you shop a little, and bargain, you can get a pretty nice SKS for $300, or maybe a little less. And, the market has seen so many AK's (especially WASR's, pumped into it in the last 2 years, there are some good deals available if you're just looking for a shooter. The real bargains are the occasional Chinese stamped that you run into for decent prices.
Read an awesome article last summer about shtf and firearm preps. The guy was an American expat living in Egypt when the riots started. The rioters were about four blocks away and tearing things up so the people in his neighborhood armed themselves with whatever they could. Most of them had H&R .32 revolvers and SMLEs but all he could get was a 20 gauge over/under. Said it was the greatest comfort to him at the time and while he'd prefer the SGL-21 with aimpoint he had in the states, that 20 gauge was his shtf gun, and in shtf any gun you have on you is going to be your favorite weapon in the entire world. Never fired it, but used it to dissuade quite a few looters from the neighborhood market when they decided to target it. Point being, I'm sure any milsurp would do as long as you are comfortable with it and have a decent supply of ammo. He said the most important shtf prep he had during the two weeks before they evacuated was his liquor cabinet. Used it to trade for all kinds of stuff, including the shotgun and ammo and to get out of being arrested by the police when they caught him carrying the shotgun around on it's sling.
