What piqued your interest about military surplus?

[baltimoreed]

Attachment 119890Always been a military history and movie buff but didn’t get my first milsurp rifle until a good friend gave me a bag-o-garand parts and a bbl in the ‘70s. Bought the missing parts and had a Marine armourer put it together in Jacksonvlle, NC. Next rifles were Krags, then ‘03s, trench guns and now a 1917. Have a bunch of 1911s and martial .45 revolvers [Smith, Colt and Webley] and all the accoutrements that go with them. I shoot cas matches with my lever action muskets and BAMM with the boltguns. And of course you’ve got to have uniforms and hats. We shot a BAMM last weekend [used a No1Mk3 and a ‘03 and 2 Smith .45 1918 revolvers] and will have a Wild Bunch this month, 1911s, M12 trench and a ‘94 Marlin. Nothing piqued my interest as I’ve always had it, just a gradual accumulation of stuff as interests evolved and changed. Fun stuff.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

$7.99 at Hobby Lobby......but who's counting?

That is the best price I have found. I have made some stands from hobby lobby plaques,dowels & wooden balls. About the same as the $8 head minus labor, They look a little better though. Nice grouping BTW.

P.S. What piqued your interest about military surplus?
Great idea for a post!
Interesting to read the replies.

[Aragorn243]

I've been a military history nut since the 1st grade and I started taking every war book in the school library home. That was basically my thing for the first 25 years, books. I've accumulated a massive library that takes up several rooms of my house. Not really sure what caused a jump from books to the actual things talked about in the books but when I made it I made it pretty hard which is how I've always been. I'm a collectaholic and have many collections which were a passion for anywhere from months to years. I collected hard until I couldn't afford it anymore. Military stuff has lasted about 30 years now with the last 20 being pretty aggressive. Part of the appeal is there is always another direction to go when one is topped off. First thing I actually bought was a rifle, SMLE MKIII* followed shortly after by a Swedish Mauser and a few months later with an Australian cadet rifle. Then our first child arrived and all that came to an end for about 10 years. Then I went with bayonets as they were much cheaper than rifles. 10 more years and the kids are grown or at least one of them is and I went back to rifles with bayonets being items of opportunity. Gradually bayonets and rifles both reached the realm of I bought all those I can afford so I moved on to pistols, canteens, helmets, mess kits and gear. Now I pick up almost anything of interest but keep a special eye out for WWI US cavalry items. I still get the occasional rifle or bayonet when I come across one I can afford, pistols are slowing down to a couple a year, just running out of canteens and mess kits, helmets suddenly became very costly so they've slowed. My solution seems to have been to move to military toys. It's a constant battle. In summary. I still buy it all, I rarely get rid of anything and I do not have that large of a house and my kids didn't take their stuff with them when they moved out. I struggle. I am a "one of" collector. I try to get one example of an item. One Garand, one Luger, one British WWII canteen, etc. I don't specifically collect variants. The only real exceptions to this are when I have multiple rifles, usually of different types, that take the same bayonet. Then I will have multiple bayonets and I will try to have different variants. Variants would allow me to continue affordable purchases but then I would really run out of room faster. I put on displays every once and a while and one is all I really need for that. That being said, I currently have 20 milsurp pistols and 108 milsurp rifles. several hundred bayonets, couple dozen canteens, same with mess kits, and several large boxes of various military gear ranging from horse halters, tents, rucksacks, blankets, medals, uniforms and a counter top filled with munitions, grenades, mortars, shells, and bombs, all inert of course. And with some searching, most of it can be viewed somewhere on this website.

[Eaglelord17]

Always enjoyed history, when I was younger the Russian Revolution and subsequent rise of Communism interested me. When I was finally able to get a gun I decided I wanted a SKS (partially because it was a military firearm, partially because I had been told by some friends they were a lot of fun). My dad said for my first gun he would buy it as long as it wasn't one of those Commie pieces of crap, but I was insistent and paid for it myself. Fast forward a year after that he also had to have one because 'for a Communist rifle it is actually pretty good'. Since then my interest has only expanded.

[MSW2]

Seeing older guys go off to war as I was growing up. Hearing their stories. Being taught at primary school level how to recognize limpet mines and other items in the terrorist arsenal. My grandfather running away from home at 15 to join the Navy and all his WWII experiences. Growing up in a country where firearms are part of our culture and shooting my first shot with a rifle when I was 6.
All of the above rolled into one.

[Youngblood]

What piqued your interest about military surplus?

The K98k that Granddad kept on the gun shelf behind the front door of the old farm house (~400m NE of where I sit in my kitchen typing this).

"Uncle" Somebody brought it back from the ETO as a gift for him.

I found some proper 1944 German military ammo for it (the SAAMI stuff available was just sad ... and, yes, I know why; .318 vs .323) and the following summer (1968) he gave it to me. Dad & I got a Lee "Whack-a-Mole" Loader and started reloading for the thing ... and I was on my way.

I now have many milsurp firearms.

[champ0608]

Dad & I got a Lee "Whack-a-Mole" Loader and started reloading for the thing ... and I was on my way.

Still my favorite way to load for my milsurp bolt guns.

[mmppres]

I was a history buff from a little guy. Started shooting at 5yo. Started DCM program at 10. Paid 57.50 for my first M1. Been buying an selling fixing an trading ever since. Don't know an dang thing about a black gun. But love anything with wood an steel. At least with a old firearm you stare at it long enough you can learn to take it apart an put it back together

[CINDERS]

Isn't it fun mmppres when you put a thing together just to find a screw or such left over and its position in the whole mix is right in the centre of the item you just pulled apart and re-assembled.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Isn't it fun mmppres when you put a thing together just to find a screw or such left over and its position in the whole mix is right in the centre of the item you just pulled apart and re-assembled.

The second best way to learn.
The first is learning from others mistakes.
I don't do that much.
I'm stuck on option two.