With our editor’s continued blessing, I’ll be presenting reviews and profiles of exceptionally affordable yet dependable firearms. Aesthetically-challenged guns that will never command a collector’s premium. Guns that were often made by the tens of millions, in countries that either no longer exist or whose names cannot be pronounced by Western tongues. Guns that attract sneers and looking-down-the-nose condescension from the bespoke shotgun crowd at your shooting range. Guns, in other words, for Cheap Bastards. Or, in this case, paranoid cheap bastards.
If you find entertainment in marginally informed but strongly-held opinions, you’ll never be bored with sports bars, talk radio and firearms bulletin boards. After interminable discussions of “the best carry gun ever” and “is my AK clone 922(r) compliant?” you’ll be regaled ad nauseum on the subject of gun for SHTF (Shit Hits The Fan) or WROL (Without the Rule Of Law).
When SHTF and society is WROL, it is opined, you’ll want a handy and reliable rifle at your side, as you try to survive or escape the ensuing Hobbesian jungle where life is “nasty, brutish and short.” Where anarchy provides liberty only to the strong and ruthless.
Let’s add IMHO to this theoretical search for a SHTF WROL firearm that you can stash away for a very rainy day, along with several hundred rounds of ammo and a can of dessicant, for two or three Benjamins. I recommend the Mosin-Nagant rifle as your new GBFF (Gun Best Friend Forever).
History
The Mosin-Nagant rifle fought the enemies of the Russian and Soviet Rodina from the 1890s until the early 1960s. The weapon’s history is a 70-year lesson in what life is like when you don’t get on well with your neighbors. The Russians used their Mosin-Nagants against the Japanese, the Germans, their fellow Russians, neighboring Finns and, finally, more Germans and more Japanese.
The Mosin-Nagant earns no great distinction in having been used and abused by millions of illiterate peasant soldiers and Soviet conscripts. It wasn’t the best all-around infantry rifle of its time. Truth to tell, the Mauser 98 and the Lee-Enfield would be superior SHTF rifles in almost every category—except reliability and price. Nothing holds a candle to the Mosin-Nagant when it comes to price and reliability.
It’s not just a beer-budget blunderbuss. During World War Two, the Mosin-Nagant was the weapon of choice (and necessity) of Soviet and Finnish snipers. These grim reapers of the eastern front used the Mosin-Nagant to single-handedly kill entire companies of enemy soldiers.
Sniper Vasiliy Zaytsev, fictionalized in “Enemy At The Gates,” used scoped Mosin-Nagants to snuff 242 Wehrmacht Soldaten in four months. His sniper girlfriend, Tania Chenaya, (who may or may not have looked anything like Rachel Weisz) gave at least 80 Germans a dirt nap with her own Mosin-Nagants. Lyudmilla Pavlichenko was even more effective: she and her Mosin-Nagants had 309 confirmed kills.
Even these Russian die-hards couldn’t keep up with Finnish sniper Simo “White Death” Hayha. He killed 505 Soviet soldiers in just 100 days during the Winter War of 1939-40, using only his Finnish-made Mosin and its iron sights. Gangsta!
It may be ugly and antiquated, but a Mosin-Nagant in the right hands (and a target-rich environment) is a nine-pound weapon of mass destruction.
Today, Mosin-Nagants are the Mother of All Budget-Minded SHTF WROL WTF is that rifles. With perhaps 50 million weapons rattling around worldwide, they’re cheap as chips. Big 5 will sell you a Mosin-Nagant for $120 ($89 if you wait for their biweekly ‘sales’). Prices are even better at gun shows and gun stores. My own M44 carbine, IIRC, cost a whopping $65 in 2008. Your mileage may vary.
The Trick to Training a Dog?
Buy the right dog. Not every Mosin-Nagant is worthy of your zombie panic-room. Triggers run from good to hideous, as do their bores. It’s important to buy a [relatively] good one from a rack full of candidates, if only because you can.
If you go Mosin-Nagant shopping at a gun show, you’ll have to convince the dealer to snip the zip-tie so you can check the trigger and barrel. If it’s a busy gun show, he’ll have other, more profitable sales to chase. Don’t be surprised if you’re SHTF gun elicits a TILI (Take It or Leave It). in that case, get thee to a gun store. Preferably on a slow day.
There’s nothing magic about picking a good Mosin-Nagant. Find one with a nice bright bore that doesn’t look too beat-up and locks up tightly. Test for a decent trigger pull. Mosin-Nagants have so few moving parts—there’s not too much else that can go wrong. As a bonus, many of them have been arsenal-refinished. Don’t worry about “collector value.” Unscoped Russian Mosin-Nagants have less collector value than remaindered Stephen King paperbacks.
Now what?
As we’re asking a new (70 year-old) Mosin-Nagant to perform SHTF duty, you’ll need to function-test it and sight it in before you oil it up and put it in storage with maybe a thousand rounds of ammo. And hope you’ll never need it.
Where’s the fun in that? Once the Big Brown Truck drops off your crate of ammo, go ahead, make it pay. Blast holes in paper targets, tin cans and big game (void where prohibited by law). If you’re using steel-core ammo, have a go at any metal plate less than .5″ thick. [NB: If you've loaded you Zombie Plague rifle with steel-core bullets, keep in mind steel core bullets don't expand. Hint: aim for the head.]
7.62x54R ammo is cheap. Russia and Eastern Europe produce hundreds of millions of rounds each year. An online bulk retailer will ship you a sealed 440 round ‘spam can’ for as little as $82.50 plus shipping. Compare that to the cost of commercial .30-06, and you’ll notice that your Communist rifle has a strong Capitalist charm.
This cheap ammo is no slouch, either. Depending on barrel length, the Mosin-Nagant typically drives a 147-grain bullet at a velocity of 2600-2900 fps. Some of the cartridges feature a mild-steel bullet core. It’s banned from some shooting ranges, it’ll punch holes in almost anything. CBs (Cheap Bastards) note: surplus 7.62x54R ammo is made with steel cases and Berdan-type corrosive primers. No reloading for you.
Another crucial tip: corrosive primers require you to give the rifle a quick cleaning with Windex or another ammonia-based cleaner promptly after shooting, followed by a regular cleaning with your favorite gun cleaner like CLP or Hoppe’s No. 9.
Cleaning a Mosin-Nagant isn’t difficult or terribly time-consuming. But failure to do it even once can ruin the bore and trash the gun. Alternatively, you can buy non-corrosive, non-reloadable ammo from Wolf and Privi Partisan starting at $8.60 per 20-round box plus shipping, which is still a hell of a deal for full-powered rifle ammo.
Ergonomics? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Ergonomics!
When it comes to shooting comfort and ergonomic controls, the Mosin-Nagant’s got nothing. The nicest thing you can say about the club-like stock is that you’re not likely to break it by accident. It features a straight grip, a dismally short length of pull and a contusion-inducing steel buttplate.
The short pull length was meant to allow a proper hold while wearing incredibly bulky Russian winter uniforms. What’s good for Igor the Soviet Conscript sucks for you. If you’re taller than 5’6″ or if you’re wearing normal clothing, you’ll have the bolt cocking piece nearly in your eye socket—unless you attach a thick recoil pad.
The butt end of the Mosin-Nagant resembles a steel-clad cudgel, destructible only by fire or chainsaw. If Barry Bonds tried to snap one over his knee like a misbehaving Louisville Slugger, he’d be carried off the field with a shattered and protruding femur.
Like most of its contemporaries, the Mosin-Nagant sports a clumsy bolt handle that sticks straight out from the receiver at 3 o’clock, instead of bending gracefully downward. It’s ugly and awkward; doing exactly nothing to improve the slightly balky cock-on-opening action.
The Mosin-Nagant isn’t buttery-smooth like a Lee-Enfield, or a masterpiece of clockwork German engineering like a Mauser. It is what it is: strong, ugly, cheap and functional.
I Spit on Your Safety!
TheMosin-Nagant’s ’safety’ mechanism isn’t just clumsy; it’s a useless failure. Engaging it requires griping a small, slippery cocking piece on the rear of the bolt and pulling it back with 20 to 30 pounds of force while twisting it counterclockwise.
Disengaging it requires the same knuckle-crushing manipulation in reverse. This is challenging for iron-fingered rock climbers, difficult for mortal men and completely impossible for those with arthritis, gloves or cold fingers. Unless you go aftermarket, a Mosin’s only ‘safety’ mechanism is an empty chamber, or removing the bolt and carrying it in your pocket.
Hindsight is 20/20
Mosin-Nagants don’t do too badly in the sighting department. Its robust open sights are optimistically calibrated out to 1.5 or 2.5 kilometers. The carbine models (M38 and M44) are more challenging to shoot well because of their shorter sight radii, but benefit from much quicker handling. Aperture sights? Nyet. Scope attachment? Nyet. But M44s do come with a permanently attached side-folding bayonet which can stab your left middle finger if you grip the stock the wrong way.
Recoil
Perceived recoil depends on the type of Mosin you’re shooting. Without a recoil pad, carbine-length M38s and M44s kick like a short barreled 12-guage shooting 3″ rifled slugs. Or maybe like a featherweight .35 Whelen. Either way, the undersized stock and the steel buttplate don’t help things. You’ll want a beefy recoil pad which adds perhaps an inch of pull to the stock. Long-barreled 91/30s are heavier and the mass soaks up the recoil, but they will still fit you better if you add a thick recoil pad.
Accuracy
I’ve fired many hundreds of rounds through various Russian Mosin-Nagants, long and short, with iron sights and scout scopes. Not all of them were guns I would have bought; some had horrid triggers and some had rough bores.
A good Mosin can shoot 3″ groups at 100 yards with surplus ammo—if you’ve got better eyes than mine. A bad one won’t keep five shots on a Domino’s pizza box. Family size. My own M44 with a scout scope will shoot 3″-4″ groups all day long, or at least until my pounding headache starts to impair my shooting.
The Mosin-Nagant isn’t a tack-driver. Buut it handles quickly and points instinctively and hits what you aim it at (if your target’s big enough). I’d like to spend more range time with a scoped 91/30 and its longer barrel (and its reduced muzzle blast) to really see what a Mosin-Nagant can do from the bench with optics. But then . . . reliable, accurate or cheap. You’ve already chosen two.
Reliability
You will not find a more rugged or reliable firearm on earth. Other than poor triggers and mistreated barrels, which you’ll discover before purchasing, the only common functional flaw is difficult extraction once the gun heats up. This is usually caused by baked-in cosmoline in the chamber. A thorough cleaning while the gun is hot and you’re G2G.
The 7.62x54R is a rimmed cartridge; that’s what the “R” stands for. While the rim provides extremely positive extraction of spent cases, it requires special attention when loading. Each inserted cartridge must be pushed fully to the rear of the magazine before another is inserted on top of it. This makes reloading slower if you’re not using stripper clips.
Your Hurt Your WHAT?
The Mosin-Nagant is a ‘blast’ to shoot, on two levels. It’s all kinds of fun to go trigger-happy with a powerful rifle knowing you’re only spending $1 each time you empty the five-round magazine. The short-barreled Mosin variants (M38 and M44) are also amongst the loudest small arms ever built.
DO NOT fire them without hearing protection, even once, unless your life depends on it. I won’t fire mine without double hearing protection: plugs and muffs. Failure to double up sentences me to a splitting headache, which lasts for hours.
Surplus 7.62x54R ammo is optimized for light machineguns and Dragunov SVD sniper rifles, not for 20″ carbine barrels. When those bullets leave the muzzle of a 20″ barrel, they’ve still got burning powder behind them which blows out of the barrel and produces a dazzling blossom of flame, anywhere from six inches to three feet in diameter. It also subjects you and your fellow shooters to a grenade-like concussion.
Accessories and Modifications
The Mosin-Nagant has frugal charms and ergonomic flaws. It’s only a matter of time before you’ll start to wonder how you might be able to improve it a little bit. Maybe you could improve the trigger pull a little, or give it a functional safety mechanism, or replace the stock,or add a scope, or . . . whatever.
Don’t go there. I know the above video (and many more like it) show enthusiasts firing modified Mosin-Nagant’s at—and occasionally hitting—targets that are eight billion yards away. [ED: I blame Zaytsev.] But the Mosin-Nagant should be first and foremost a cheap gun.
The Mosin-Nagant aftermarket is thriving; you can transform your $89 STFU gun into a modern scoped hunting rifle or a tricked-out’Tacticool’ scout-sniper. You’ll end up dropping $400-$500 on a 70-year old gun that’s only cosmetically different from the $89 beater you bought. If you want a modern scoped rifle for $400-$500, there are plenty of better choices out there.
That said, some of the Mosin’s flaws can be addressed fairly cheaply. The safety, the bolt handle and the trigger can be collectively upgraded for about $120. These three modifications will make your Mosin a more accurate, comfortable and safe gun without compromising its character or reliability.
Safety and Bolt Modifications
Various third-party vendors offer Mosin cocking pieces with a steel ring welded to the safety knob, after the style of Swiss Schmidt-Rubin rifles, for around $25 plus shipping. This photo of a friend’s rifle also shows a $60 professional bent bolt modification. Steer clear of DIY bent bolt kits. Bolt handles are subjected to enormous stresses, which can shear the tiny machine screws that secure DIY bolt handles to the body.
Trigger Modifications
Mosin-Nagant triggers are all over the place in terms of creep, weight, overtravel and grittiness. You should have selected a good trigger when you cherry-picked your rifle. If you didn’t, you can drop in a Timney match-grade trigger group for less than $100. Or you can get a $55 ball-bearing trigger modification from Huber. [ED: Next time, pay attention in class.]
Optics
Mounting a scope on a Mosin is tricky. A gunsmith can drill and tap the receiver for specific Weaver-style bases, but you’ll need a bent bolt to clear the scope. This combination of parts and projects can easily cost $200, so . .. stop already.
To avoid the expense of a bent bolt, you can opt for a long eye relief ‘scout’ scope mount. There are many cheap ‘no-gunsmith’ mounts, costing less than $50, which attach to the rear sight base. Most are too flimsy to withstand the recoil or hold their zero. S&K makes the onlyhigh quality no-gunsmith scout mount for the Mosin-Nagant, for about $90.
My own DAIS NAID (Do As I Say, Not As I Do) M44 wears an S&K mount. It’s proven to be durable and reliable through 300+ rounds fired. Degreasing it thoroughly and applying blue Loctite to all screws during assembly was crucial to holding zero.
Muzzle Brakes
Don’t be tempted to bolt an AK-style muzzle brake on your M38 or M44, even if the recoil beats the stuffing out of you. First off, they make these guns even louder. They also attach rather weakly to the front sight post, which is only pressed onto the barrel proper. The violent recoil and muzzle gasses from these guns can either permanently damage the front sight post or physically tear the muzzle brake apart. I have a twisted paperweight that used to be an AK-style muzzle brake on my Mosin-Nagant.
Summary
The Mosin-Nagant isn’t pretty and it’s not the sweetest shooting rifle in the world. It could be pressed into hunting or defensive service, but it’s not the first choice for a hunting rifle and it would make a lousy home defense carbine. For an SHTF WROL OMG you bought THAT? gun it doesn’t get any better—that’s to say, cheaper—than this.
Two-hundred dollars and change buys you a rock-solid rifle—and 440 rounds of ammo. Every time you load it and pull the trigger, it goes BANG and blasts a big hole in whatever it’s pointed at. Works for me.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Caliber: 7.62x54R
Barrel: 20.2″ or 28.7″
Overall Length: 39.9″ or 50.7″
Weight: 7.5 lbs (M38) 8.8 lbs (M91/30) 9.0 lbs (M44)
Action: Magazine-fed bolt-action
Finish: Blue steel, wooden or laminated stock
Capacity: 5 round internal box magazine
Price: $90 to $120
RATINGS (Out of Five)
Style * *
It’s got a rugged and rustic Partisan charm, but has never won and will never win any beauty prizes.
Ergonomics * *
Nobody likes straight stocks or straight bolt handles. Stout recoil and a short length of pull give the carbine models punishing recoil. Add a ring safety and thick recoil pad for 2.5 stars.
Reliability * * * * *
Load, aim, pull trigger, and BOOM. Every time.
Customize This *
Trigger, bolt and safety can be upgraded cheaply, but proper scope mounting is costly. Buyer beware aftermarket muzzle brakes and DIY bolt modifications.
Overall Rating * *
Two stars is still a lot of gun for $89.
When the men of the American 339th Infantry deployed to Northern Russia in September 1918 they carried Mosin-Nagant 91s. The MN91s were issued to them by the British War Office, which was in charge of the operation, for logistical reasons. Allied commanders believed a large cache of 7.62x54mmR ammunition was in the vicinity of Arkhangelsk, but this turned out to be not the case. Though they were given sufficient time to familiarize themselves with the MN rifles, both the enlisted men and officers of the 339th, accustomed to M1903 Springfields or M1917 Enfields, hated the Russian rifles, calling them "worthless weapons" and remarking, "No wonder they [the Russians] lost the war." Interestingly, these rifles were American-made, either by Remington or New England Westinghouse under contract with the Imperial Russian government, and were surplus when the Bolsheviks cancelled the contract. The only weapon which more infuriated the "Polar Bears" (as they have been called ever since their Winter of 1918-1919 combat tour in Russia) was the Vickers machine gun. The British, who were actually in charge of the entire American North Russia Expeditionary Force, in their infinite wisdom equipped the 339th and the other units of the ANREF with the water-cooled Vickers, knowing full well the men would be in Russia the entire winter. They also fed them British rations, which warmed the cockles of no man's heart.
Personally, if planning for a SHTF WROL situation (one I hope doesn't ever occur), I would be inclined to heed the experience of the Polar Bears and spend a little extra money to get a better rifle than the Mosin-Nagant, in a cartridge more readily available in post-ROL United States. You might pay more on the front end, but as the saying goes, "Garbage in, garbage out."
Detlef:
I'm glad you mentioned the US-made Mosin-Nagants. A late riend of mine owned a well-worn Remington contract Mosin-Nagant, and I had the chance to shoot it on a few occasions. I wish I had bought it as a collector piece; it was an interesting historical oddity, and one of the only Mosin-Nagants with any collector value. Original scoped 91/30s and Finnish-made Mosin-Nagants are the others.
The 'Polar Bears' were quite right to prefer their own M1903 Springfields and M1917 Enfields, which were superior weapons in almost every regard. Mausers were just as rugged and much easier to shoot, Lee-Enfields were much quicker and had twice the magazine capacity, and Springfields were far more accurate than Mosin-Nagants. Mosin-Nagants were *never* the first choice for an infantry rifle, except to the Imperial Russian ordinance officers who chose the design based largely on simplicity and ruggedness.
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Certainly not a SHTF gun for me, but I do enjoy shooint my 1938 Izzy-made 91/30 often. I use modern rounds so I don't have to deal with the corrosive primer issues. For an extra $0.15 per round, I save $3.00 on ammonia and having to deal with it. I can consistently shoot a 24"-square steel target @ 300 yards with open sights at my local range. I thought I was a ZIT (Zaytsev-in-training), but others that have shot the gun can manage the same feat (although not quite as often as me, I'm in the 6/10 hit ratio). Fun gun to shoot and a nice little piece of history.
So far as I know all of Mr. Zaytsev's achievements were in Stalingrad. Id' guess 300m would be considered a VERY long shot in that environment.
Hey Chris,
Nice write-up. I appreciate your effort to give some very insightful and practical advice.
Well done.
Nice writeup. I enjoyed it.
I've a number of M-Ns with my favorites being the M44s. I like the noise and flash plus the strange looks I get when I extend the bayonet to shoot (it does seem to make a difference on where the bullet lands). The least I paid was for two laminated M44s from AIM about 10 yrs back for $29 each. On the high end it was $159 to SAMCO for a Finnish SAKO M39 which can shoot better than these 64 yr old eyes can ever do with it. Then there are about a half dozen 91/30s and a couple of M38s in the batch.
You're right that they are solid, dependable long guns and the ammo is very reasonable although I rarely buy anymore as I've dozens of Spam cans of the stuff (and 8mm and .303) stashed out in the barn. So, if SHTF occurs in my neighborhood I think I'm ready.
Again, good writeup!
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I purchased mine at the monthly gun show here in KC for $130 usd and I did dig thru a green rifle box of about 25 rifles in it. PIA yes. but I dug out a Hex 1925 with a fairly good trigger and a supurb bore in it! so the only other expense here was the sling and stripper clips . being a fully retired old fa–. it is fun to shoot and all of my 06 cleaning gear works just fine . but a couple of pulls with the bore snake makes it look very good . and maybe I will try the bent bolt handle later on . BUT just out of the box for the price it cant be beat ? unless we can force the Obama and Clinton to bring the approx 1 mil. yes 1mil of used garands and 30 cal carbines back int the country? got to work on that one. and yes it realy barks hard so the double ear protection is a MUST …..just know that TSHF an autoloader will probably be the ticket cause it takes a long time to jack the bolt and resight . probably for me cause I am getting slower in my oldness ??? but the weight of it and 5 rounds feels good on the range !
I once owned a 1914 M1891 made into a 91/30. Solid bore, not the smoothest bolt I've worked on a mosin but it was still quite workable even if it did get stiff once the thing had a few dozen rounds through it. Reliability? Superb. The only times I ever experienced a legit jam was when one of the rimmed cartridges would wedge itself at an angle into the magazine well, usually caused by a rapid and sloppy loading with a stripper clip. Sometimes this necessitated removing the magazine, but not always. I highly recommend getting quality stripper clips. Examine each one, if it's stiff or gritty on the inside polish it up and loosen it by spreading it apart against a table etc. Practice loading with them also, obviously. From a SHTF standpoint, this weapon has: extreme reliability (huge bonus for any weapon), excellent stopping power even against big game, solid potential accuracy and range, and really nothing else. It's long (excluding the carbines) fairly heavy, has some awkward features and quirks, and obviously can't generate the kinds of firepower of any semi-auto. Don't get me wrong, I could work that bolt FAST, fast enough to feel confident defending my life with it, even against someone with a gun much more capable. Against multiple targets? Not hardly. Man on man, preferably with things like concealment and surprise at my disposal, you bet. Realize that tesshese weapons are still encountered on modern battlefields, it's a damn old design but that doesn't turn it into a usel relic. The Mujaheddin used them to good effect against the soviets in A-stan by using irregular tactics and ambushes, which is how I would see these as being effective in a SHTF scenario. As a side note, you might want a good magazine pouch for those stripper clips huh? Look no further than the standard leather dual pouch that often comes with mosins. The flap can be opened instantly but stays closed when you need it to, the leather is stiff enough to allow easy retrieval of the clip without it getting hung up in a loose cloth bag, and the downward orientation of the rounds keeps the cartridges from wanting to slip off the ends of the clip. In closing, for such little money, you have a helluva boomstick. This isn't the greatest rifle on Earth, but it is in it's price range.
Norma , winchester , and seller & belloit make soft point ammo for these that work well for hunting. the norma stuff costs a fortune , but it is ammazingly accurate. That said these are great fun guns. get a slip on recoil pad
(9 about $10) and you are good to go. I don't shoot mine form the bench, standing with a shooting stick or sitting are a good way to go, a lot less felt recoil.
You guys think a 20 in barrel carbine , makes noise and has a big flash, I picked uo a 91/30 with a damaged barrel, it fell over in this guys barn and a tractor ran over it, put a good bend in the barrel about 6in back from the muzzel, I dissasembled and inspected the rifle, and when I was done cutting the barrel was 16 in long, I was useing the surplus ammo, and not only does the gun throw fire like a flame thrower, it make a noise so load it scares animals 3 miles away, and now after 15 or 20 rds, I have a tennis ball size black&blue mark on my shoulder, it hurt but it was ALMOST worth it, seeing the reaction of the guys at the range
Thanks for sharing. Please send video file or link of your hands cannon to guntruth@me.com. Oh please.
Very VERY interesting article!
My bro-in-law gave me a “wonderful Christmas gift” last week. He gave me his old Mosin-Nagant–not sure where he got it–along with a big metal box of 800 rounds of surplus FMJ. (Knowing him, I should never have thought he was doing me a nice turn. After reading this article, I now know his real intentions!
I never saw such an ugly-looking thing in my life! (I grew up in a house full of ’06 weapons–mine was the 1917 Enfield). He handed it to me–it looked like a mower shaft ruined by a froze-up bearing (probably due to 1943 manufacture during the Nazi occupation of Western Russian Homeland?). I assume the wooden sheathing was to cover up the tooling striations on the barrel. I looked at this Christmas gift thing and wondered what in the world I was looking at!!!
I took it home and tore it all apart–re-worked the sear and bolt a bit–and got seriously impressed with the simplicity and ruggedness of this cumbersome clunk.
Now, reading the article, I think I might really enjoy blasting monstrous noisy holes in the sky–and anything else in front of this carbine (I don’t even know what model it is). Just hope I got the firing pin adjusted down so that it doesn’t bore a hole in the primer and blow hot crap all over my head–everywhere not covered by googles and earpads.
But the most interesting thing is all the WWII research this thing caused for my over-60-Baby-Boomer curiosity.
Very, very interesting piece of history my less-than-well-intentioned bro-in-law gave me! And thanks much for the very humorous article!
I purchased a 1926 91/30. $99.95 from a dealer in smyrna, ga. Floated the barrell in an ATI stock, 3-9×50 tasco scope, ATI scope mount, walmart bi-pod, $10 ak47 muzzle brake ( reamed out, set screws to center and then brazed on), my own bent bolt from a 5/16 stainless bolt ( also brazed on), drilled and set screwed trigger, and polished sear, reduced firing pin spring unsprung height ( helps ease cocking of bolt and no failure to fire yet). All of these upgrades cost $150 additional . At the range, 100 yard lane, I hit paper without even sighting in. 20 rounds of wolf ammo, I am shooting 2 inch groups. But let me qualify this. All five rounds are spaced within 2 inchs horizontally. The same 5 rounds do not vary more than 1/2 inch vertically. Hence the shot patten was rectangular 2″x 1/2″. I believe the width of the group can be drastically reduced if i were more steady . However this was the first 25 rounds through a gun i just bought. I am thrilled with it. Suprised with its performance. Every gun nut i know puts it down. I believe most people associate performance / reliabilty with name recognition. It reminds me of my brother in law who works for oxford industries. They make clothes. The most expensive pair of pants they make cost $4. They sell these pants to Polo Ralph Lauren which in turn sell them for $130 at Macys or Parasian. If your in Hiram, ga, look for mine at local ranges. I will be glad to let you shoot it. It will suprise and exceed expectations . The Mosin Nagant is the Rat rod of rifles.
I’m somewhat amused by the fact that the first picture shown after the part talking about horrible ergonomics and a straight stock is . . . a pistol grip M39.
Finns are the only Mosins worth having. I have several M39s (my pride and joy is a ’42 Sk.Y, even the original Sk.Y stock is numbered to match with is exceptionally rare), all with perfect barrels and all of which are at or near MOA capable. The standard of acceptance for the M39 was that each rifle was required to be able to put three shots in a row in a 1.3 inch circle at 100 meters. No other country in history has ever been so demanding of accuracy in their infantry rifles. Even my beat to shit Finn-rework ’39 Izhevsk 91/30 (brass shims still in place, in a Finnish two piece stock . . . ahhhh, proper length of pull, barrel that looks nasty and pitted on a good day) can do 2″ groups at 100 yards. Funny thing is, it was imported from Russian not Finland . . . but had never been rearsenalled by the Russians. Those guys at SAKO and Tikka and VKT really, REALLY knew how to make a rifle tick. Still do for that matter, making Mosin barrels better than any Mauser or Enfield ever made is how SAKO earned their name.
Hah, though, even the Finns couldn’t do anything to reliable make that clunky if indestructible bolt any smoother. I’m surprised though that they didn’t use the Mauser-style turned down bolt from the M27rv more widely, even just that is such a huge ergonomic improvement.
You might want to add that the Mosin rifles were also used against the Polish, Lithuanians, Mongolians, Ukranians, Latvians, Estonians, Georgians, Austrians, Hungarians, Turkish, Bulgarians, Romanians, and even the British, Americans, Czechoslovakians, French, Greeks, and Italians.
Most of these are a result of the Russian Civil War and only saw limited use against some of these powers, but it did happen. It’s certainly an interesting aspect that this rifle has engaged nearly every European and American country in existence.
I’ve got my own 1930 Izhevsk Mosin Nagant 91/30 that I picked up from a private dealer. Very nice rifle, the bore is immaculate and the stock is in pretty good shape for an 80 year old rifle. The numbers match but I personally think that the ones on the bolt and floorplate were stamped, and the butt plate was lined out, but whatever. The bolt is smoother than some of my modern day rifles, and giving the chamber a good cleaning is a good solution if you have sticky bolt. I finally got a chance to shoot it this past weekend and it went very well. I shot about 20 surplus rounds and about 5 commercial rounds. The recoil really isn’t that bad, and I’m only 150 pounds. I wasn’t even using a rubber butt pad, just the steel one. As long as you hold it good and tight, you’ll be okay. Shooting 148 grain surplus is also good for recoil as I shot 182 grain Prvi Partizan ammo, which had more felt recoil. The surplus does not “kick like a mule”, contrary to what other people might say, even the heavier stuff doesn’t kick like a mule. You want something that kicks like a mule? Shoot a 7mm Remington Magnum in 175 grain bullet for some recoil. The Mosins really aren’t that bad. But anyway, I love the rifle, it has become my favorite. It’s a little piece of history that happens to shoot well. And like others said, you can’t beat the price.
Having ownership of each of the several countries rifles of the time period they were used I would agree with all of you. Each has its own flaws and positive points. But I will stick with my 91 with a laminent stock. OOOHHH pretty amber red color. I went and spent some money on the young miss and gave her some optical improvement by installing a PU scope. Perfect set up. How many of you have set up your AR to have optics AND back-up iron sights for mucho dinero? Well the nagant was the first to be prepared. As far as caliber goes, the 30 cal will always be the preferred cartridge no matter what part of the world you are from. I guess I got lucky with a rifle that shoots 2 inch groups at 100 yards. not shabby at all for the price. Mausers ar enfields or springfields 3 was considered just fine and is usually what you will get with any of these rifles. usually.
Ok must go now a metal target plate is talking trash about my baby.
Gotta give it some lessons in courtesy and respect.
well the scope mount you talk about shouldn’t even be on it, it should be a PU scope a regular scope just looks like crap on it while the PU is historically accurate and doesn’t require rifle modifications
I own a mosin 1891/30, made at tula in 1933. The rifle is a great bargain and value at $89.95 online. I shoot 203 grain soft point commercial ammo. at $8.95 for a box of 20, also online. I find the mosin comfortable to shoot and handle. It sometimes takes a little muscle to cycle the bolt, especially after it heats up, but this rifle has never failed to operate. The cartridges will rimlock occasionally, but a sharp slap on the bolt handle is enough to easily chamber the round. More often than not, I use the palm of my hand to slap the bolt when cycling the action anyway! This is one tough, reliable and simple rifle! Smooth? nyet!, but it goes BOOM every time!
I have a 1943 M 91/30 which I bought in a unfired/unissued state. Unfortuanatly here in NZ we get the sharp end of the stick price wise, mine cost $300.00 nz dollars. I am currently looking to purchase from a dealer another mosin M 91/30. He too has a stock of unfired/unissued rifles, Hex and round reciever models from the Tula and Izhevsk factorys. He has agreed to let me select from his stock so I am keeping my fingers crossed I can find a real treasure amongst them.
After paying $300NZ fora Mosin, I hope you’ll at least be able to buy cheap ammo! When it comes to hunting and shooting, we sometimes forget how good we have it here in the States, and how difficult and costly it can be for people like yourself in other modern democracies.
I would love to know more about the shooting sports and self-defense in NZ. Has your government gone as far as the Australians have to demonize and restrict gun ownership?
Hi Chris, our gun laws are not as bad as Australia. After sitting a basic licence, theory and multi choice written test we get a A category licence. This allows me to own most shotguns and rifles except pistol grip semi autos and pistols. Semi’s on a A cat need to be pinned so the mag holds no more than 7 shots. We have rifle ranges varying from 200-1000 yards around the country and pistol clubs etc. A good forum here is http://www.fishnhunt.co.nz