Finnish Nagant

[JSH]

Ran across one I am curious about as far as good results shootability wise.
It was reworked by the finns. Crown was counter board. No markings on the stock as it was a captured rifle and reworked or so I was told by the seller.
Any of you have any comments on this?
BTW, it was US made, GE I think.
Thanks
jeff

[jonk]

GE did not make Mosins. They were made by New England Westinghouse and Remington Armory. With a counterbore I'd suspect a finned 91 or 91/30.

So far as shootability goes, as with everything else it depends on bore condition, diameter, and quality of the counterbore, as well as bedding, headspace, etc. My finned 91 does ok, but not as well as my M39.

[Buckshot]

...............If it was U.S. made it would have the hexagonal reciever as basically all of them were before 1930. I have a Finnish pickup M91/30. SA marked, finger joined stock and counterbored. Originally made by Tula. Has a mismatched bolt. It's a fine enough shooting rifle. I haven't spent a whole bunch of time with it.

...............Buckshot

[JSH]

GE Westinghous, I rmemebered it had somthing to do with electricity,lol.
Sounds pretty much as what you describe buckshot.

I know it is pretty much a crap shoot until I get chamber dimensions. The counter bore pretty much put me off of it. Price was good, but I would rather have a true finn.
jeff

[mto7464]

counter bore is no big deal, it was likely done by the finns, so it is historically proper/correct.

[38-55]

Hey Guys,
Finnish arms history is simply fascinating... Here's a good article on them. http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/FinlandsM9130Rifle.asp
Mis-matched parts and all are historically accurate. I find that they tend to be more accurate than their roosky counter parts. Bores also tend towards .308-.310 so if things are kinda wiggy for ya this is good place to start in finding the most accurate cast load.. ( I find .310 works best in mine )
Calvin

[Linstrum]

Finn-reworked Mosin-Nagants had to meet minimum accuracy standards before issue to the Finnish Civil Guard and are usually quite a bit better than Russian as-issued rifles in this regard. If the rifle in question has had Russian or other Com Bloc corrosive-primed ammo fired in it and not cleaned its bore may be in bad shape. The Finns have used non-corrosive ammo since the 1930s so a rifle that has come directly from Finland will normally be in good shape.

I have three Finn 91/30s and they are all superb shooters, one is the most accurate rifle I own. They are all good cast shooters using 0.312" gas-checked boolits. They will shoot jacketed 0.308" okay since the bore land diameter is 0.300". The velocity may be a bit low with jacketed 0.308" but nothing to worry about, I have read figures of somewhere around 50 fps low. Using 0.308" or 0.309" cast boolits will usually cause rapid leading. Of course before doing any cast reloading for any Mosin-Nagant, the bore should be slugged to verify what size projectile to use. The rule of thumb for cast should be 0.001" over the groove diameter.

Like 38-55 says above, Finn rifles have bores that are 0.308" or 0.310", with the 0.308" being rare and only found in I think the 91/28 version. Bores are slightly smaller than in Russian rifles, although Russian ammo works in them okay. My Finns have 0.3105" groove diameter bores. My Russian rifles have bores ranging from 0.312" to 0.316", so wide variations can be encountered in them, especially those made in 1942 when production tolerances were loose because of speeded up production.

[txpete]

well just a bit of info as I do collect these :-D.

the remington/westinghouse M-91's as norm run a .310/.311 bore .if it is a finn with a finn ( tikka ) barrel .3095

next the M-27.these run a .3095 bore also.ditto for the M-28

the only finn that ran a .308 bore was the M 28/30 which really was a .3082 bore.

the M-39's ran .310 bores sako,tikka and vkt

the last of the finn 91/30's ran a .3095 bore

now the russians it is a crap shoot on bore dia. .311 to .313 (.315)

for cast I have never had a problem just sticking with .311 cast boollits.the M-39's sure like the lee 160 tl and 185 rn.


it seems the war years 1940-45 when they were making the russian 91/30s as fast as they could things got a little sloppy and imho they just don't shoot as well as the pre war hex 91/30's and ex dragoons.

pete

[Doug Bowser]

I wrote a book on Finn Army Rifles. The rifle should have an SA or Puolustis Laitos marking.

I prefer the Finn Moisins with Finn, Swiss or Belgian barrels. The Westinghouse is a Model 1891 and was either captured or bought from surplus dealers by the Finns.

Good luck with your "new" rifle.