7.54 x 54R Mosin Nagant

[Pigslayer]

I see a lot of these surplus Russian made rifles out there for cheap. They say that they are good shooters. Thought about buying one next week to play with & cast for. Any input on this beast would be helpful!!

[Dschuttig]

I would suggest that you hand pick it if you can. I have seen the bores on these range from like new to shot out and rough. I find that the lyman 314299 or group buy 314299 clone work very well in these rifles. Both for bullet fit, but also for feeding and looks.
Also if you get a round reciever, there is a good chance that it will be a war time production. That's fine, if you don't mind all the rough tooling marks, as these were made as quick as they could. The older "hex" type reicevers tend to have better fit and finish.
If money isn't that big of an issue, and you just want one to have, I would get a finnish model 39. Far superior to the russian stuff, trigger and all.

[Kraschenbirn]

You might try hitting the "Search" button of the forum toolbar and entering "Mosin-Nagant". I just did and found 256 threads that, in some manner, include MNs in their content.

Bill

[1Shirt]

Have a 91 and a 38 that are both great shooters w/cast. Both want .314 dia, and mine like the lee blt. Case life is good with neck sizing. Both of mine are Russian made, and I paid less than 200.00 them. Good pieces of history. Now if I could find a deal on a Fin.
1Shirt!

[wallenba]

I have five now. The trend with mine is that the ones made between the wars have the best finish and bores. The worst of mine is an M38 made in 1942 that slugged .314. I have a lapped mold that drops big enough to size .315. It will get 2 inch groups at fifty yards easily. I have not bothered to check it at longer ranges. Three 91/30's are.312, and one is .313. Easily dealt with. Look for one with a star stamped in the reciever, that's from the Tula factory. They tend to be the best made. I find that they are rugged and accurate rifles for the money. The simplicity of them amazes me.

[Hang Fire]

The Finns took the Russian MN receiver and made the Model 39, which is one of the most accurate battle rifles ever fielded.

[451 Pete]

I bought a 91/30 last spring. They were on sale for $80 from a chain sporting goods store locally here. That price included the sling, oil bottle, bayonette, tool kit and a couple of ammo pouch's. I went through the dozen or so rifles they had and found one made in 1939. ( The rifles they had that were made a couple of years later were pretty rough .... it looked like the Russians used a grinder to hack out the receiver's. )

After cleaning about a half a pound of cosmoline off of the rifle I was able to better see what I had bought. Everything was in good shape but the trigger was rough, had a lot of creep and broke at about 6-7 lbs. I dis-assembled the bolt, cleaned it and polished the trigger mechanism and removed almost all of the creep. There are a couple of good vidio's on U- Tube that are worth watching if you buy one of these.

After a bit of fine tuning and using the cheap military surplus ammo I have gotten 4-5 inch groups at 100 yds off of a bench. The only problem I have found so far with the rifle is finding brass for reloading. Most military surplus ammo is steel case with an odd ball size primer pocket and it is corrosive. (Make sure it gets a good cleaning after shooting this stuff. )

All in all I am very happy with the rifle and a lot of folks at the range can't believe it was bought for so little.

Hope this helps .... Pete

[Larry Gibson]

As mentioned; hand pick if you can. I take a collasable .30 cal rod with extra extensions, a bore brush, #9 solvent (small bottle), and patches with me. I ask if I can clean the bore and most dealers welcome it. I clean from the breach end BTW. If they won't let me clean the bore to look at it I move on to another store.

Before cleaning I look the exterier over to make sure the stock is good, the bedding good and the sights aren't bunged up. I also open the action, pull the bolt and inspect it. The face of the bolt should show little if any corrosion/pitting from gas leakage around the primer. I also look for undue wear on the sear and cocking camming surfaces. I check the magazine interupter to make sure it is functional. Matching part numbers don't mean much for a shooter, especially if it will be "sporterized".

I inspect the end of the muzzle looking for the rifling to come to the crown without wear. I won't waste my time on a counter bored muzzle rilfe anymore as there are still plenty that aren't counter bored.

I then clean the bore/chamber if all looks well so far. I want a shiney unpitted/unfrosted bore with clean crisp rifling from the throat to the muzzle. A small bore light or flash light is helpful to have for this inspection. I also insect the chamber for corrosion, pitting and scratch marks. I look for a smooth chamber. If the rifle meets all these criteria then it's worth buying for a shooter, to me anyway.

Larry Gibson

[Pigslayer]

Thank you fellas. I just picked one up. It was $84.00 + tax. They had about twenty of them laid out on the table. This fella was a heck of a nice guy & even opened up on Sunday for me. I looked through a number of them. I checked out the rifling and it looked very strong. No pitting etc. The face of the bolt looked factory fresh. The chamber looked good. I could have gotten one made in Tula but it really didn't look that good. I just got finished running a bore brush with solvent through it then a dry patch. Again the rifling looks very strong. I may yet get another for that price. I'm going to slug the bore tonight.
I just slugged the bore & it slugged .313. Groove diameter of .302. So we're talking rifling at .0055. I'd say that was reasonable. The slug came through nice & shiny with clear lands & grooves. No striations whatsoever. I'm having a whole lot of fun by the way!

[Freightman]

I was at the gunshow and talking to one of my favorite wildcaters said he and his pardner had Mosin they had rebarrled to a 44 cal and the Russian case. When the weather get better I am going over to see it and might just take it to the range. Sound like fun, ask how much and he said might let me have it for $100. Hope ti works out.

[HamGunner]

http://7.62x54r.net/

Learn it all right here.

[Artful]

Careful they are addicting - and just cause you bought an inexpensive rifle doesn't mean you don't spend money on it. The cheap ammo was a come one. - Always crack your spam can's as some don't seem as rust free as advertised.

My M38


Stock refinished - Custom Cheek rest made
Scout scope mount with scout scope
recoil pad
theading barrel and shortened it - cost as much as the rifle did

[Pigslayer]

[QUOTE=Artful;1499189]Careful they are addicting - and just cause you bought an inexpensive rifle doesn't mean you don't spend money on it. The cheap ammo was a come one. - Always crack your spam can's as some don't seem as rust free as advertised.

Well, I cracked the "Spam Can". Broke it down & found not one speck of rust & not one pit. Nice & clean & looking like new. I have about 10 rounds of factory ammunition . . . actually 9 rounds. I noticed that one round had a crack in the neck so I pulled the bullet & burned off the powder. These old eyes seem to see the sights just fine so I'll put her on a good steady rest & see how she groups at 50 yrds. I don't expect a lot with the surplus ammo but, we'll see. The notch in the rear sight really isn't as deep as I'd like so I'll work on that a little. The trigger has a lot of play which I can fix & also has a lot of travel before releasing the firing pin. Careful work with a file will take care of that.

[Pigslayer]

Careful they are addicting - and just cause you bought an inexpensive rifle doesn't mean you don't spend money on it. The cheap ammo was a come one. - Always crack your spam can's as some don't seem as rust free as advertised.






My M38


Stock refinished - Custom Cheek rest made
Scout scope mount with scout scope
recoil pad
theading barrel and shortened it - cost as much as the rifle did

So . . . how does it shoot??

[Artful]

Not bad - much quieter with can on and you can ring the 12" gong at 300 from rest all day with surplus ammo. It made a fun loud gun much more fun.

[Tom-ADC]

Love them have 3 just started loading cast for them.

[toolz568]

Finnish M39 will run a little more, they have a Sako barrels and mine shoots better than me. Easy to install a scout scope mount and scout scope. If you want a conventional scope, your looking at another $100-150 dollars for the bent bolt and drilling and tapping the scope mount. I have a S& K scout scope mount and it is a drop in and rock solid.

No matter what you get, take the time to slug your bore and find out how big it is. It's not hard and allow you to get better fitting bullets. There are a lot of loads available, 16 gr. of 2400 make an easy to shot target round.

[Four Fingers of Death]

http://7.62x54r.net/

Learn it all right here.

Thanks for the link, lot of good info there. I need to dig my Remington and identify which model it is. It is dated 1917, so it could be either.

[Pigslayer]

Well, good news! I am very pleased with my $84.00 investment. I took my Mosin to the range this AM. I started out with 25 yd target & then moved to the 50. Remember this is open sights. My first three rounds were 1" to the right of the bull. I moved the front sight to the right just a little and the next three were on the bull. I moved my target to 50 yds & shot 2", 3 shot groups with two crazy flyers. The flyers were with fmj ammo made in Bulgaria in 1952 at the "Star" manufacturing plant. I shot 8 of those & a box (20 rnds) of 150 gr. spitzer boat tail made in Serbia. All the ammo shot very well except for the two flyers. The next time out will be at 100 yds. with again SP SBT from Serbia. I really like the hooded sight!. I can't believe that I'm 59 years old with cataract surgery scheduled for next month & I shot that relic that good! I'm hoping to have my cast boolits ready for the next time out also.
Today I purchase some Accurate 5744 powder which they say was designed for the lighter cast loads. Anyone out there using it??

[Wheeler]

I always thought the Ishvesk models were better made. I have a M39 that is very accurate using surplus ammo, roughly 2MOA. My polish M44 shots at about 3MOA with surplus but will shoot in a vertical string with the bayonet extended. I didn't believe that rumor until I tried it out for myself.