I would love to get me a Mosin-Nagant. Is there anyplace from where you’ve had luck buying?
Go to a gun show. There are always a few. Sometimes Gander Mountain has them at a decent price (for retail).
The last place I know of with a supply of M44 carbines is Hunters Lodge.
Gunbroker.com or AuctionArms.com
You will be able to get a 91/30 for ~$100 + ~$25 shipping + dealer transfer at your end if you don’t have a C&R FFL.
Or you can get an older 91 Mosin Nagant, which is an antique and have it sent directly to you, but the differential in cost will be greater than your dealer transfer cost.
There are many sporting goods stores that sell them surplus. Do you have a Big 5 nearby? They always have them on sale for $99.
I bought one yesterday at a local gun show. He only had five, and a guy standing next to me was talking about buying all five of them, so I picked one before they were gone!
I’ve seen some lately at Cabelas, and heard they get them in at Big 5 from time to time. Gun shows often abound in these things. Online venues like Gun Brokers usually has them as well.
The usual ones are around $100 now, ones with better barrels are more but you’d have to know what you’re doing to get a good one without getting ripped off.
The ones commonly available these days are the 90/31s made at the Tula and Izhevsk factories in Russia before or during WWII. From the looks of them, they saw plenty of action, and were not typically maintained very well - but it doesn’t matter.
What DOES matter is that they were packed for storage after the war in a sunstance called cosmoline, and it still coats them. It is VERY difficult to remove, and if you don’t remove it, it will melt as the gun heats up after a few rounds, and mix with the shellac that coats most of the Eastern Bloc ammo, forming a tenaceous glue that will then freeze up the action - hence all the jokes about needing a 2x4 or sledge hammer to keep them running.
Both (2x4 and sledge hammer) work ok, but it is far preferable to go find the several web sites that have instructions for the processes known to remove the cosmoline. That’s a MUST! Keep working at it until it’s ALL gone!
Also, AmmoMan has some great quality 7.62 X 54R ammo that lacks the shellac, and this helps, too. Get 1000 rounds for $200 or so, and shoot it through your cosmoline-free gun to your heart’s content. Most fun-shooting gun you’ll ever own once it’s working right. Good luck.