After two years of economic celibacy, I finally have purchased another gun. Today was Dallas' big gun show, and Brando and I had extra money (for my parents: yes, I was wise in my purchase, and the bills are paid) so Brando bought a Spanish Mauser K98 (what the Germans used in WW2; its the finest bolt action rifle design ever) and I bought a Schmidt-Rubin K31, pictured above. The trick to buying surplus military firearms is finding the ones that are generally overlooked: As long as the barrel is unmarred, everything else is fixable. Mine was in decent condition (the barrel was immaculate--its been in storage since the 50s, like most old military bolts) so after a quick degreasing with Hoppes, I bought some mineral spirits and soaked the stock and scrubbed the packing grease and other junk off. Now, it looks pretty durn good! I plan on sanding it down and maybe bluing a few parts--Ill post a picture once I get it in mahvelous condition. Shouldnt be too long.

As a side note: the great things about these old military guns is:

1. They usually run for under 200 dollars
2. They are sold like any other gun, without federal restriction
3. They are utterly accurate by their very nature, making them great hunting rifles

So, why pay 700 for a new Remington when I can spruce up my K31 to the same standards for hundreds less?