Roy Queen

Actually, Paul, you are right on the money on the price range that I am willing to spend on a bayonet. However, this morning I secretly raided the credit union account to pay for an East German dagger without the wife's knowledge so I'm going to have to replenish that fund before buying a bayonet! :

I know that the one Finnish capture SVT rifle that I am familiar with sold for over $600.00. In my area, (Georgia/Tennessee line) there are many collectors that actively pursue not only SVT rifles, but also Mosin Nagant rifles, especially Finnish rifles. In the local shops, I have found many Soviet M91/30s, but none with Finn proof stamps or actual Finn rifles. You may be able to locate an SVT cleaning rod on Wanted To Buy/Trade section of www.gunboards.com. I'm attempting to locate a bayonet for my rifle, and have found a few, but right now, the price range is out of my reach for now. uote name='Paul Reck' date='Oct 3 2005, 19:23 ' post='23174'] Yep... I traded a Post Ban AR15 for the SVT40 I have today. All it came with is one period magazine. They bayonet I picked up a couple of years ago. I still need a cleaning rod What is the going pick for an SVT40 with Finnish Capture marks these days? Paul

I feel your pain regarding field stripping the SVT! The first time I had taken mine down, it took almost half a day for me to even get it back together. You are right about the Tokarev being a kicker, another thing I have noticed that even with earmuffs, it is definately a head buster as well. I got lucky with my SVT. I found mine in a pawn shop, but even then, I had to pay the going rate for it at the time. The worst gun trading mistake I made was swapping a Springfield M1A (civilian version of US M14 rifle) for a Yugoslavian SKS. Of course when I had swapped was when the Yugoslavian SKS carbines were really tough to find in the US. Talk about a bad swap not that I think about the mass imporatation of the Yugo SKS rifles. :

Thank you for your kind words, guys! Paul, the WWII markings have been left intact on my P08, but since it was a 1936 piece, rather than having the nazi style waffenampt stamped on it, it has three Wiemar style eagles stamped on it. Actually, the give away to it being a DDR rebuild is the replacement barrel. It has an imperial style crown over N proof mark stamped directly underneath the barrel. Prior to WWII, I understand that this same stamp was also used by German arms manufacturers, but was dropped either by mid 1930s or early 1940s. As far as Luger barrels go, I understand that the original barrels were also stamped with the serial number, whereas the DDR replacement barrels were not. Speaking about Finnish capture SVT-40 rifles, there was one sold in my area recently that fetched around $600.00. They, or for that matter, all military surplus arms are not getting any cheaper.

Very impressive collection, Paul! I really like your SVT-40! They are alot of fun to shoot, but in my opinion, the SVT is a beast when it comes to field stripping to clean. What is your opinion of the accuracy of your Mosin Nagant rifles versus your K98? Thte last time that I had taken my Mosins and K98 out to the range, I actually grouped much better with the Mosin Nagant than I did with the K98. Overall, you have a collection to be very proud of!

I thought that I would share with you a couple of handguns in my collection. One is a 1961 East German produced Makarov. The other is an East German produced P08 which began life as a 1936 Mauser produced P08. Hope you enjoy the picture.

Very nice DDR collection, Paul! I've a few tunics in my collection, but nothing like yours! Actually, my wife was pretty ticked off at me for having the tunics, so now, I focus my DDR collecting to badges and medals. In fact, she encouraged this change in collecting by buying me a small display cabinet, and not take up too much space in the closet!