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Well, I went and did it now.....bought a Mosin Nagant. $100. M44 Carbine length, no bayonet (if the zombie is that close, its too late....)

Took it apart, adjusted the firing pin depth (it was too deep into the primer) and took it out for a little fun at Elm Fork.

GREAT SHOOTER! Open sights on the tactical range with surplus ammo and my old eyes put every shot in a 3" center of Shoot-n-C target. Put up another target and the same thing happened! Must be the gun, because I'm not that good.......

Guy next to me with his 30-06 gave it a whirl and put his one shot in the bulls-eye. He offered me $200 on the spot. I told him he'd be better off just getting one for $100 like I did......

After 40 rounds I admit the steel butt plate can wear on your shoulder. Definitely.......Now for the $15.00 "fitted" 1" long rubber recoil pad to replace the plate, and I'm all set.....except maybe for a scope, long eye relief type......and some soft point ammo.......and a new sling......

AAAAAAaaaaaagh!!!!!

(Fortunately the price was right, and it is a truckload of fun!)

Just one question. Where do I get one?

connectme3504 wrote:Just one question. Where do I get one?

Get a Curios & Relics Collector Federal Firearms License (C&R FFL). Costs $30. Then you can order one through the mail from out of state. Shotgun News has lots of ads. I've ordered an SKS Rifle and even a Tokarev CZ-52 Pistol with mine. It was really fun when I got a package delivery with a handgun at my house.

I got mine at the gun store in Euless next to the police station/courthouse. Cabelas had a bunch of them on sales for $99.00 a couple of weeks ago, but they were the long ones (M38 ?) and I really wanted the carbine length. Noble Firearms on Cravens in Fort Worth also has a lot of them, most for about $129. Most of theirs are older, and he has a lot with hex receivers. Mine was made in 1948, so its comparatively new for a Mosin.

This rifle is starting to interest me & I know nothing about it.
someone get me through kindergarten on it please.
Seems like a pretty good close range rifle for hunting w/ the battle sites being accurate.
Caliber??? Weight???Country of origin??? Any war history???

I need Skippr's avitar here.
LT

longtooth wrote:This rifle is starting to interest me & I know nothing about it.
someone get me through kindergarten on it please.
Seems like a pretty good close range rifle for hunting w/ the battle sites being accurate.
Caliber??? Weight???Country of origin??? Any war history???

I need Skippr's avitar here.
LT

7.62x54R, ballistics similar to the .30-06. The R is for rimmed, but a lot of people call it the 54 Russian (Russia being the country of origin)
It's a solid rifle and is a little heavy after carrying it for a while.
TONS of war history. Used from the late 1800's to WWII. If I remember correctly, they are still finding insurgents using them today.

I sold mine. I had two and 880 rounds of ammo, but it just sat and collected dust. It destroyed my shoulder after about 5 rounds, and I'm not a small guy. But for hunting, where you only pop off one or two a day, it's great. They are very accurate and last forever. Plus, you can't beat the price.

Thank you sir.

LT,

More than you ever wanted to know: including identification guides, humor, and all the arcania you can stand:
http://7.62x54r.net/
You'll also find the AK/AR/Mosin comparison chart there:
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinHumor.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I guess I know what happened to mine now, as I sold it to pbwalker a while back. I agree with his assessment - like lugging a tree around if you carry it all day, it'll sent you to the chiropractor after 10 rounds, and you sometimes do need a 2x4 to cycle the bolt. But they are virtually indestructible. And did I say they were heavy?

The Limb Saver is a slip on rubber butt pad that takes the sting out of the kick, easy to take off and put on a different gun in a second.

The Mosin is the cheapest way to shoot full power rifles, and as lonewolf points out, they can shoot quite well.

longtooth wrote:This rifle is starting to interest me & I know nothing about it.
someone get me through kindergarten on it please.
Seems like a pretty good close range rifle for hunting w/ the battle sites being accurate.
Caliber??? Weight???Country of origin??? Any war history???

I need Skippr's avitar here.
LT

What he said.

For a little more detail, 7.62x54R is the oldest round still in military use today, most notably in the sand box by way of the PSL and Dragunov used by snipers. It was developed in 1891, in conjuction with the production of the Mosin-Nagant 1891 rifle. The rifle has undergone several revisions. It is a bolt action, as simple as you can make them, designed forRussian peasants to be able to maintain. The Mosin-Nagant has undergone several revisions, the most common being the 91/30 and the M44. It was used as the infantry rifle in all Russian conflicts from the 1890s through after WWII. It was also provided to the North Koreans during the Korean War. The M44 was created during the height of WWII as a carbine, as the 91/30 that was standard issue was too long for urban combat. Both the 91/30 and the M44 utilize long spiked bayonets. The 91/30 has a 20" bayonet and is detachable, while the M44 bayonet is 14" and fixed to the stock, swinging rearward on a hinge to the right hand when not deployed.

It is more difficult to find an M44 that is in great condition with a good bore, as they were cranked out in very desperate times during WWII, and corrosive ammo was universally used in those times. I have both a 91/30 and an M44, and the 91/30 is a much better shooter for me. Recoil is quite stout with either rifle, but there is very little muzzle rise on either gun.

I take my 91/30 hunting, and have been successful with it. I run transition drills with mine on clays set on the berm at the end of a 100y range, and the practice helped me bag a perpendicularly running deer at 40y on my first deer hunt. New factory ammo suitable for hunting is available from Sellier & Bellot, which I have found to be quite accurate and consistent in my guns. Plinking ammo is generally limited to surplus steel-cased/berdan-primed Eastern European stuff, which necessitates the cleaning of the bore after each range session to clear the corrosives. You can, of course, roll your own, but brass is pretty expensive, and limited to only a few manufacturers. I've been collecting my empties from my factory loads to eventually reload those.

Since you reload, I'll say that most people reload with .308 bullets. This may or may not work well for accuracy in any particular gun, and I've read that slugging the bore would give you a relatively good answer on this. Spec for 7.62x54R is either .311 or .312. Bullets for .303 British and 7.62x39 come in this diameter, though the 7.62x39 bullets only come in lighter weights.

I bought mine from AIM Surplus, and they have quite a number of 91/30 rifles available. The M44 is more scarce of a find these days. I'd recommend the 91/30 unless you need a carbine. I find it more pleasurable to shoot in general, personally.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?groupid=90" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?groupid=95" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


I'll post a link here to the deer I took with my 91/30, just to give you an idea of size and appearance. I'm 6ft tall, for perspective:

WARNING: LINK BELOW IS IN THE HUNTING PHOTOS SECTION OF THE SITE, WHICH INCLUDES PHOTOS OF DEAD ANIMALS.
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21469" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyhow, hope this answers some of your questions. You can also check the 7.62x54r.net site for lots and lots of information:

http://7.62x54r.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you sir & lota good reading.
Good pics of the hunt too.

The salts in the surplus ammunition gunpowder make it corrosive. Most recommendations I have seen involve using windex or some other ammonia wash to neutralize the corrosives after shooting and prior to cleaning......

With regards to the bolt, I have found that it is somewhat difficult to cycle to the fully upright position after taking a shot. I'm going to do a little more investigation and may wind up doing a tiny bit of filing.

One thing to do as an absolute must is to get the $5.00 tool to measure the firing pin depth. There are two detents in the middle of the tool marked "75" and "95". The pin, when extended, should touch the smaller and clear the larger. I checked this prior to firing and found I had to adjust the pin. Easy to do.

Too short and the strike may not ignite the primer. Too long and it may puncture. Particularly bad since these old beasts have no gas porting and unless the bolt survives, it may wind up in your face or something quite dreadful like that.

I used a hand towel (don't tell the lovely bride) folded four times on my shoulder and still had a slight bruise after 40 rounds.

Really looking forward to another day at the range with it. Anyone want to join me? I had so much fun I only put 50 rounds downrange through the Beretta. The lovely bride, however, managed a hundred or so from my ancient .22 single shot rifle. She politely declined to give the Mosin a try.........

I'll get a picture of it up here soon......

lonewolf wrote:
Really looking forward to another day at the range with it. Anyone want to join me? I had so much fun I only put 50 rounds downrange through the Beretta. The lovely bride, however, managed a hundred or so from my ancient .22 single shot rifle. She politely declined to give the Mosin a try.........

I'll get a picture of it up here soon......

Sure, I have a few M1 Carbines to zero. What range do you shoot at? I'm in Bedford and am a member at Winchester, but really want to shoot longer than 25 yds, and outdoors vs. indoors. BTW, I think I looked at that Mosin at Euless Guns last week. Passed due to the unusual stock, as I am wanting an M38 or M44 carbine in the proper stock.

lonewolf wrote:The salts in the surplus ammunition gunpowder make it corrosive. Most recommendations I have seen involve using windex or some other ammonia wash to neutralize the corrosives after shooting and prior to cleaning......

Windex is what I use.

lonewolf the m38 and m59 is a carbine also...the long versions are the 91, 91/30 and the best ones period the m39
lonewolf don't file a thing on the mosin....

If your bolt is sticking it's most likely from the lacquer on the ammo or cosmoline still in the chamber.
the fix is to get a 20gauge cleaning brush and some good bore cleaner or the like and put the brush in a rod
(short section!) then chuck the rod in a drill and at a slow to medium pace clean your chamber only for about30 max,
it may not take that long so go in 10-15 second runs and check chamber.

you don't want to remove any metal so take it easy and check dbl check every few seconds.
all you want to do is remove the lacquer/cosmoline that is making your ammo casing stick in the chamber (i.e. sticky bolt!)

surplusrifle.com