I'm thinking about buying a nugget for my first gun. Is there a better option? What price should I look to pay for it...

Just google wood furniture AR

You have to figure out how the gun works, where the recoil is transferred to the stock, and then analyze that shit with some math and deforms (statics, then look for the shit after that the deals with thin walled pipes and shit).

Even then, run it by a gunsmith who actually knows what they are doing since I doubt half this board knows what an integral is.

For what he's paying for that wood furniture he can get a WASR and relic the wood himself.

I did at $80, but today you may as well get a savage axis or something if you want a full cartridge bolt action. Hell, even spam can 7.62x54r is shit price. Thanks Obama.

You can do that with a mosin. You can look up many videos on YT with info on how to clean it, break it down ect.

I picked up a M44 mosin last week for 300 bucks before transfers and all that.

IDK what you mean by rustic.

No 400 American Dollars is not a fair price for a decades-old Soviet piece of shit.

If you want a bolt action, a Savage 12FV is about 400 USD. Or get a levergun. Be a cowboy.

Don't buy a mosin, buy a .22LR handgun or rifle and lots of ammo so you can practice shooting. .22LR is fun and cheap. Buy a bigger and better gun when you get your fundamentals down.

>Is there a better option?
Any 22 or AR will be a infinitely better first gun.

OP I think it is an excellent starter gun. Try to find a carbine for around $400, so it can be handy. It will make you a better shooter, so when you go for a semi auto you will be a pro. Ammo is more abundant than other milsurp rifles out there too, so that's a plus.

They call it garbage rod for a reason

There are interesting nuggets I'm willing to pay 400 bucks for just to have, but certainly not run of the mill 91/30. As much as I like nuggets, they are not really worth the current asking prices considering the alternatives and the ammo situation compared to just a few years ago. Just buy a new gun unless you really want a surplus gun as a "collectible".

If you work at a gun shop, then you most likely qualify for industry discount on a ton of brands. I bought five guns with industry discounts at 40% off MSRP and got two glocks for free due to shilling them hard back when I work the gun counter. Now I work at a gun company and I still qualify for industry discount with quite a few brands, even direct competitors.

The only reason Mosins were a thing was because they were under a 100$ back then. Now that they are reaching the price of fucking PSA ARs on sale there's no reason other than to get a good one for a milsurp collection.

There are plenty of wood stocks, grips, and barrel shrouds for ARs. Wood isn't a pressure-bearing component, and it's pretty hard to make a stock that is actually going to break under what little recoil a gun has.
If you want something more durr-rifle-like, you'll want a mini-14, a ruger 10/22, savage .22, or CZ .22

>I'm thinking about buying a nugget for my first gun.
Don't.
> Is there a better option?
Many.
A basic bitch .22LR rifle, either semi-auto or bolt action.
A budget AR-15.
A basic .308 commercial hunting rifle such as a Savage Hog Hunter.
An inexpensive compact 9mm pistol of some sort, whichever fits your hands and budget best.
Mossberg 500 or Maverick 88.
Possibly come combination of the above.
>What price should I look to pay for it?
Depends what you're looking at.
If it's a 42 Izzy with mismatched parts, no bluing and a bad counter-bore job nothing because you really shouldn't buy that.
If it's an early Hex receiver with matching parts and good bluing/rifling maybe $300.
If it's some rare variant those can be worth $400+, although if you're going to spend serious money on a nugget get a post-war Finn M39 as those are legitimately good.
>their ages are mid 20s all the way to the 50s
Basically avoid the wartime ones because those were made in a hurry and saw very hard use. Pre-war might be really clapped out but were at least made better. Post-war will usually be in very good condition with lots of life left because they would have at most been used as training rifles.
>All of them are listed for $400, is that a fair price?
It's a little steep, but maybe they have something out of those 7 that's actually rare and worth that, but only as a collector's piece. Consider that you can buy both a decent shotgun and a .22 rifle for that price.
> Is the ammo too expensive?
There is modern commecial steel-cased ball for like 50 cents per round or so. That's not too bad, but surplus is not much cheaper (and it's corrosive) and brass cased ammo is double or triple the cost.

If you get a .308 you can buy non-corrosive brass-cased surplus ball all day for 40 cpr and new production stuff for like 50 cents which will shoot circles around Tulammo 7.62x54.
If you compare that to 12ga, 9mm, 5.56 or .22LR all of those are significantly cheaper to shoot.

What you need is a .22 rifle. Look for a CZ 452 or 455. They are incredibly well made and accurate, yet simple. Ammunition is so cheap it's almost free, you can shoot it at any range, there is very little noise or recoil and you can really hone your skills.

There are other worthwhile .22 rifles out there, but IMO out of anything you can get under $400 the CZ is best. Especially if you can find a used 452 (out of production), their bolts are like buttered glass.

You can put wooden furniture on an AR, but don't bother. That's not the point of what an AR-15 is and is meant to be. If you want a semi-auto rifle with wood look around for an SKS. Any SKS, they all work.

Just get a 22 rifle