Me thinks that Darren007 is correct...very well said, hope you enjoy your rifle jpwilly.
I see the argument from both sides, but the snotty collectors are starting to get way, way carried away. They now condemn the action of cleaning off the soviet smudge on RC's, saying that is blasphemous. That the soviet captures are a history unto themselves, to me that is bunk! Anyone that thinks that the slathered on shellac, mismatched serial #'s, and encrusted in cosmoline is more valueable than a nice, clean, safe, re-furbished RC based on history, must think that a scavanger in a junk pile adds value to trash someone has thown out.
jpwilly, if you bought because you wanted a sense of nostolgia and for wanting to shoot with it, I am sure you didn't go wrong. The MM's are fine shooting rifles.
If you are a purist, then the MM's are not for you. I think the marketing by MM follows pretty close to the carnival hawker and that is where the stigma comes in.
Me, I just started collecting Mausers, so first they have to have good bores, then I'll worry about correct lineage.
