What are PU's selling for now?

[AMCHornet]

I've had my feelers out for an authentic PU for a while. GB listings are $1200 - $1600. Some are plain fake, some appear to be real.

Does that seem normal? What prices are you seeing?

The reason I ask is: if $1200 is the normal rate for a real PU now, then I might as well bite the bullet and pay it. Otherwise, I'll keep waiting.

Thanks.

[steelbuttplate]

Shop around, sometimes you see one posted for a $900 starting bid and no one will bid. Things are crazy with prices right now, I've seen regular 91/30's sell for $550 to $905.00.

[Miller Tyme]

Depending on the arsenal they sell between $900 to $1,600 for a 43 or 44 PU. 42's and 47's are considerably more.

Hungarians pop-up from time to time in the $1200- $1,600 range also.

[AMCHornet]

I'm looking at this one right now. I've looked carefully at it using what I've read in the knowledge base on this forum and it looks real to me (though the scope has been replaced...the number is different). What do you think?

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/875477503

[Miller Tyme]

It is legit, bolt also appear to be a replacement. Stock looks nice and is probably original to the rifle. Price is a little to the high end but not hateful for a nice late war sniper.

Should make a nice addition to your collection and be a good shooter also

[AMCHornet]

Thank you.

...plus good investment.

[AMCHornet]

I bought it. It hurt given my hourly pay, and I need a stiff drink now....but I bought it.

I've wanted a real PU ever since I first discovered what a Mosin-Nagant was, but I couldn't afford one then even though they were cheaper then. I settled for an ex-PU and wished for the real thing. Now I can afford one, though it still hurts. They will only get more expensive as time goes on, so it was just time to do it. I can always recover my money and then some later on unless a massive cache of these magically appears somewhere and is imported. That seems unlikely.

So it's done.

[Miller Tyme]

Congrats sir, you will never regret your purchase. You will also find the purchase has one serious side effect, your "threshold of pain" (what you will spend on a firearm in the future) will rise because of this purchase.

So beware.

[AMCHornet]

This is definitely the most I've ever paid for a gun by more than a factor of three. Prior to this, the most I'd ever paid was $440.

I could see an M39, original Russian M91, or an SKS in my future, but other than that I'm satisfied. I'm up to nine guns and I find that plenty to store and clean as it is.

[AMCHornet]

I received it on Wednesday and did a full teardown cleaning today. It's a sweetheart. I found no signs of fake, many signs of authentic, and many signs of retaining it's original parts during refurbishment. The refurbishment job is much nicer than on a normal Ukraine refurb infantry rifle. It has a 1952 dated sling, scope lens caps, and canvas scope cover, but it's missing the tool kit. No big deal, I'll just buy one from our lovely sponsor Liberty Tree Collectors.

Outstanding bore. I've never seen rifling that clean and sharp on one of these. It doesn't even have copper fouling. It looks new.

Scope is clear and the reticle moves smoothly.

No action shims, but the barrel free floats from the chamber on up to the very end of the handguard where it gets upward contact.

Tulsky mark, Russian export marks.

Should shoot very well.

[SA1911a1]

Congratulations! Nice purchase.

[AMCHornet]

It shoots better than the crappy Tulammo that I was feeding through it. I'm saving my good stuff right now so I didn't even take any with me. I was getting about 2.5 MOA, which is about all I expected. The zero was pretty close. Windage was perfect but I had to bring the elevation down about 3 MOA. Some of that was the low ambient air density. I'm sure the Soviets didn't zero this rifle on an 85 degree day at 7000 feet above sea level. I found the iron sights significantly farther off than that, but I'm not going to mess with them.

After that I took it out to an 8 inch gong at 200 meters. Ringing it every time was easy.

Then I went for a 4 inch gong at 500 meters. That thing is a b tch to hit...if you can even see it. I sprayed bullets around it before I cut the T-post that it was mounted on in half by dumb luck.

Then I went for a 9x12 inch gong at 800 meters. I grazed it a few times but otherwise just drew a tight circle around it.

I ended with a human torso sized gong at 1000 meters. Sprayed bullets all around close to the edges but no hits.

I'm not disappointed. Those were all well beyond what this gun was made to do. I will try again sometime with better ammo though just for the fun of it. I really think the ammo is the bottleneck here. I'm happy though. Glad to finally have one of these. The action and trigger feel quite a bit smoother than a normal 91/30. The long bolt handle surely helps.

So here's a question: is the PU scope elevation turret calibrated for the ballistics of light ball or of heavy ball?

[Miller Tyme]

It was calibrated for 148gr(LB) ammo, but above 500m the bdc setting the scope doesn't hold true IMHO.
Additionally LB ammo doesn't work well in the PU past 600m

[AMCHornet]

Yeah...I don't think Tulammo is particularly known for accuracy at long range. That 147gr. flat base bullet with crimp marks down the sides is likely pretty slow, unstable, and easily drifted at long range.

I think some 180gr boat tail FMJ match loads are next. PPU makes some really ones. My ex-PU really loved them in the past. I'll get some more of those or something similar.

7N1 didn't exist in WWII, but it's interesting because it's 147gr like type L light ball but also boat tail like type D heavy ball. Sort of a hybrid between the two, but the Soviets themselves said that most sniping during the war occurred at 200-600 meters with type D heavy ball.

[Miller Tyme]

Yeah...I don't think Tulammo is particularly known for accuracy at long range. That 147gr. flat base bullet with crimp marks down the sides is likely pretty slow, unstable, and easily drifted at long range.

I think some 180gr boat tail FMJ match loads are next. PPU makes some really ones. My ex-PU really loved them in the past. I'll get some more of those or something similar.

7N1 didn't exist in WWII, but it's interesting because it's 147gr like type L light ball but also boat tail like type D heavy ball. Sort of a hybrid between the two, but the Soviets themselves said that most sniping during the war occurred at 200-600 meters with type D heavy ball.

147gr Czech Silver tip LB is about the best LB surplus ammo you can find and it shoots great out to 500yds, and if the weather isn't windy can reach 600 fairly consistently out of my 43 Tula PU. Beyond that I shoot PPU 182gr Match Ammo with good results out to 850.

The Russians used both LB & HB ammo in there snipers in WW2 as well as AP & incendiary ammo.

[mjmd11]

I agree with miller time on pricing and would add that although I have never seen a 45,.46,or 47 original matching Izhevsk move at auction my guess would be the sky would be the limit having watched some real junk move recently. A rifle with a original matching numbers is the critical element price wise imo, followed by import mark vs. no import mark. The rifle you purchased is legit and if you keep it in good condition you will not lose any money a few years down the road. You will probably make some