What do you know about Vassily Zaitsev, the Soviet sniper who fought in the battle of Stalingrad, 1942? I would like to know what kind of rifle he used, along with whatever else you could furnish about him. I'm doing some fiction, and he's going to be my central character.

I know he didn't have a British accent, stupid actors.

I'd expect their would be web reference material on the man somewhere. I'll have a quick surf and post what I find.

The page itself has some information of use, but many links to related articles. Which will probably be more useful to you. Let me know if it's any good after you have perused it.

http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/low/english/entertainment/newsid_1006000/1006205.stm

I've been to that site. I just can't find his rifle type...

I believe he used the standard issue Red Army rifle when starting out (that cant be too hard to find out) - as for later in his career, I'm not sure

http://www.snipercountry.com/sniphistory.htm

http://www.thewag.net/rats.htm

http://www.snipercountry.com/BVT_Reviews/WarOfRats.html

http://www.russiajournal.com/weekly/article.shtml?ad=4506

Ah finally on this site it lists his rifle and other facts.

http://talk.shooters.com/room_52/94.cfm

Watch Enemy At The Gates....great movie..

I believe Art of War watched the film, hence his question.

Yes great film, I luvved it when Ed Harris's character hung the boy as bait for Zaitsev!

He should of won dammit!

I am guessing he probably used a Mosin Nagant (sp?). It was invented in the late 1800's I believe. It was an accurate rifle, with good range. It shot the 7.62 x 54R cartridge, which is the cartridge used in modern Dragunov SVD sniper rifles. Both rifles are a ton of fun to shoot, and have good power (especially against fun things like watermelons).

You could probably buy a Nagant at a local gunshop for somewhere near $100, depending on condition. That is only a guess, but I have a German mauser rifle and it was about the same cost.

Originally posted by Goodie Hut
You could probably buy a Nagant at a local gunshop for somewhere near $100, depending on condition. That is only a guess, but I have a German mauser rifle and it was about the same cost.

What country do you live in, Goodie Hut? I'd love to have a German Mauser Rifle hanging in my room so that I can say I stole it off a Nazi soldier when I nipple crippled him to death.

Stupid Australia with it's stupid anti gun laws......

Originally posted by Ohkrana
Yes great film, I luvved it when Ed Harris's character hung the boy as bait for Zaitsev!

That was the part I hated the most about the film.:o
It had potential to be something, being about Stalingrad, but it lost it by playing as a Western...

I live in Nebraska, USA where thankfully there is a shortage of gun-grabbing liberal types. A lot of local gun shops will have older guns for sale. Their condition isn't great for that price mind you, but you can do a lot of the refurbishing work yourself quite easily. If you wanted one that was in way better condition, my guess is that it couldn't run any more than $250 or so.

The Germans produced tons of these things and they are very common; hence, their cheapness. Same goes with the Nagant and the later AK variants; the Russians (in the case of the Nagant) and the Soviets after them produced these things by the millions.

I remember that I bought my mauser for $98.50 not including tax about 3 years ago. Walked in, paid for it and did a minimal amount of paperwork and walked right out. I also bought a AK variant at a local gun show for $295 two days before jackass Clinton banned their import. Needless to say, that was a sound investment as the value doubled practically overnight. The price on those has seemed to be somewhat stabilized lately though.