Bought my Mosin

[wallenba]

Headspace is important, don't get me wrong. But I've not had a problem with any of mine. I have seven now of several variants. I bought a turned down bolt body from George Tossen on E-bay and installed it on a spare bolt. It headspaces correctly in ALL of my Mosins!

This company supplies gages to check that do not require the removal of the extractor. Work great!
http://www.okiegauges.com/

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mosin-Nagant...-/250833575428

[I'll Make Mine]

Midway is selling Privi ammo in reloadable brass for 15.99. Not cheap, but cheaper than a lot of others. Better than nothing.

Loaded 7.62x54R ammunition in reloadable brass/Boxer cases for 80 cents a round isn't at all bad; it's what I'll be buying next payday. I've seen reports of the PP cases splitting after as few as three reloads, but that was with no annealing and full length sizing every cycle. If you only have a single rifle, you can greatly extend case life by annealing the case necks after first firing, then neck size only and anneal again every fifth firing -- unlike cases that headspace on the shoulder, the Mosin won't push the shoulder back and reform it with each firing, and there's a good likelihood that even with PP brass you'll be able to get 15 or 20 loadings with this method (top end brass like Winchester or Norma might well last 50 cycles or longer with this treatment).

[skimmerhead]

just bought a mosin nagant m44 to go with my 91/30, hoping to get an m38 in a few days, also bought a yugo sks with grenade launcher. new in box never issued, mint condition. it is one fine looking weapon. i'll post some photos when i get them cleaned up. i'm looking for an m38 with the hex reciever and the tula arsenal mark, matching numbers. i think i found one but it ain't cheap and i can;t take it with me so i'm gonna pop it.

skimmerhead ( now i gotta get some ammo)

[Gliden07]

just bought a mosin nagant m44 to go with my 91/30, hoping to get an m38 in a few days, also bought a yugo sks with grenade launcher. new in box never issued, mint condition. it is one fine looking weapon. i'll post some photos when i get them cleaned up. i'm looking for an m38 with the hex reciever and the tula arsenal mark, matching numbers. i think i found one but it ain't cheap and i can;t take it with me so i'm gonna pop it.

skimmerhead ( now i gotta get some ammo)

It will be a while before you post pics of those Rifles if there in Cosmoline!! It took me 4hrs+ to clean my SKS when I bought it!! LOL!!

[skimmerhead]

It will be a while before you post pics of those Rifles if there in Cosmoline!! It took me 4hrs+ to clean my SKS when I bought it!! LOL!!

where are all your friends when you need them!!

skimmerhead

[JIMinPHX]

( now i gotta get some ammo)

http://www.jgsales.com/ammo-for-rifles-c-12_42.html

The Wolf Gold and the S&B both use Boxer Brass. Both have worked well for me. The cheap yellow tipped surplus steel case stuff is quite snappy & gives me stiff bolt operation but otherwise shoots well.

[I'll Make Mine]

Prvi Partizan is also brass/Boxer, non-corrosive in all loadings (as far as I know), comparable pricing to the Wolf Gold.

[Gliden07]

Whose rifle were the empty cases fired out of? Mosin Nagants are famous for having widely variable chambers and tolerences. The headspace on the rifle that your test empty was fired out of could be fine, and your headspace can be fine also. However, the other rifle may have a fatter chamber, for any number of reasons. That would mean the fired case would not fit in your rifle. But otherwise, nothing may be wrong with either rifle, other than their empties won't easily interchange. That is a fundamental reality for handloading for most metallic cartridges.

I would just wear really good shooting (safety) glasses, and fire a few shots. Then look at your empties. Evaluate from there.

I have owned many Mosin Nagants, and have yot to have a headspace checked, or noticed a problem. Both with matched and mis-matched bolts.

But if your sense of safety won't allow it, find a gunsmith who will measure your headspace for you. This will be the safest route, and assuming you don't intend to buy dozens more, probably the most cost effective

Well I was a little parinoid about shooting this gun after locking the bolt on used cases. You guys that said it was because it had not been fired out of my rifle were correct!! I brought it back to the shop where I bought it and they put a few new rounds into it and cycled it no problem!! So now I need ammo!! I asked the shop I was at what a case of Surplus ammo would cost me he wanted 175 bucks for 440rounds!! I thought that was kinda high!! Or am I wrong?? I could swear I've seen it for 90 to 120 buck for 440 rounds??

[I'll Make Mine]

I asked the shop I was at what a case of Surplus ammo would cost me he wanted 175 bucks for 440rounds!!

That's more than I just paid for a crate (880 rounds), including shipping. I got mine from SGAmmo, online; they shipped it right to my house (not in one of the socialist states) and it only took four days to get here from Oklahoma. As a bonus, I got the sturdy wooden crate (vintage 1972, just like the rounds), eight usable Soviet wood screws, and a heavy duty can opener for opening the two spam cans.

Do not assume SGAmmo still has the best price; it's been several weeks since I got mine, and there are a number of online surplus ammo vendors around -- do your homework.

[JIMinPHX]

I asked the shop I was at what a case of Surplus ammo would cost me he wanted 175 bucks for 440rounds!! I thought that was kinda high!! Or am I wrong?? I could swear I've seen it for 90 to 120 buck for 440 rounds??

The link that I posted above has 440 round tins for about $85.

[Gliden07]

The link that I posted above has 440 round tins for about $85.

Problem is I live in the Comi Wealth of Massachusettes most of the people online won't ship ammo to my state. It really stinks!! Thats why places like my local dealer can get 175.00 for the same case of Ammo most everyone else is paying half that for!! This is all thanks to the Attorney General threating to sue business's for wrongful death suits if something was to go wrong!! The thing that get me its not against the law to sell Mass residents mail order Ammo!! It's not right!!

[Gliden07]

Well I checked another dealer in town that I do very little business with. I bought a full case 880 rounds for $190.00 vs the $175.00 my normal guy wanted for 440 rounds!! I figured with shipping and the wait it was worth the extra couple bucks and I kept my business local!! Might have to consider this other guy more often! So now I have double what I was gonna buy!! What a delemia, I don't know what I should do with it all!! LOL!!!

[daniel lawecki]

I have a shot at buying a Japanese Arisaka rifles with bayonet gun is good to very good shape. Let me if I should buy?

[I'll Make Mine]

I bought a full case 880 rounds for $190.00 vs the $175.00 my normal guy wanted for 440 rounds!! I figured with shipping and the wait it was worth the extra couple bucks and I kept my business local!!

That's a very reasonable markup; I paid about $165 including shipping for mine (1972 Russian steel core light ball), so you paid, at most, about a $25 premium for local pickup. If you got the crate and can opener with it, you did okay.

I have a shot at buying a Japanese Arisaka rifles with bayonet gun is good to very good shape. Let me if I should buy?

Depends -- if you like milsurp rifles, or like the looks of the Arisaka, and the price isn't out of your range, why not? The Arisaka isn't as common as the Mosin, so you'll get a lot more flak if you alter it from military trim than you would with a Mosin, but there's a lot you can do to an Arisaka (just as with a Mosin Nagant or SMLE) to make it more versatile without making irreversible changes, or destroying the original appearance. You can't buy cheap surplus ammunition like we do for our Mosin Nagants (the Japanese had to stop making the stuff after the War, where the Russians and former Soviet Bloc nations are still making new 7.62x54r that will be surplus in thirty or forty years), but reloadable brass is reasonably available, and the ballistics of the gun are in the same class as .303, .308, 7.62x54r, and .30-06 -- i.e., perfectly adequate for any non-dangerous game in North America (if you choose to hunt with it).

[1Shirt]

Have a rifle and an M-38 Carbine. Had KCSO do a bolt turn down on both of them (nice job), makes a big difference in the camming actions. As both of these were 42 vintage, they are nothing special, but they shoot well, and are fun. However as noted by others above, they have a lot of variance between the two chambers, and the brass needs to be kept seperate or FL resized. Being a believer in minimal FL resizing for extended brass life keeping the brass seperate is an easy opition.
1Shirt!

[Four Fingers of Death]

Before I fire a milsurp or used rifle, I remove any springs, firing pins, etc from the bolt then re-insert the stripped bolt body and close it. It should wiggle justtttttttttt a tiny bit. If it has a small amount of wiggle, I reckon it is good to go and proceed. If too much wiggle or slop, it would be off to the gunsmith.

If in doubt, I put it in a stand on the bench, cover it with a piece of carpet and used a pickerer uperer to press the trigger while I stand back. I was pretty sure my Ross rifle was good to go and did this to be 100% sure. The rifle looks like sin, but has a good barrel. It cost me $600 a few years ago, it is the only one I have ever seen in Australia. My heart was in my mouth when I touched it off, I could see $600 going up in a big ball of flame, lol. But, it was fine and is a crappy looking, but very accurate rifle!

Another thing I used to do ( but have never thought to do it recently until answering this thread), was to fire a primed case in the rifle, I was always told that if it had excessive headspace, it would allow the primer to back out.

I have a 1917 Remington built Mosin Nagant in very original condition. It has been a safe queen so far, just have too many rifles and haven't got around to loading for it (I will buy some milsurp next time I'm in Sydney). They are a goofy looking, but quiet competent, accurate rifle and they were perfect for the bitter winters in Russia. They look like a giant kid's cheap 22, but are an excellent rifle.

[I'll Make Mine]

I have a 1917 Remington built Mosin Nagant in very original condition. It has been a safe queen so far, just have too many rifles and haven't got around to loading for it (I will buy some milsurp next time I'm in Sydney). They are a goofy looking, but quiet competent, accurate rifle and they were perfect for the bitter winters in Russia. They look like a giant kid's cheap 22, but are an excellent rifle.

I guess this is a matter of taste -- to me, the Mosin Nagant looks like an 1890s vintage military rifle, similar in general to the Krag-Jorgensen, SMLE, and Mauser 98. Long forearm and wood hand guard, internal (fixed) magazine, straight bolt, all based on design doctrine that was cutting edge when the Mosin was created in 1890-1891. There's something timeless, too, about a rifle that's stayed in active military service with only minor changes for 120+ years, firing a round that hasn't required significant alteration in more than a century (since the conversion from a long, heavy cupro-nickel jacketed round nose to essentially the modern lighter spitzer/boat tail steel jacket, around 1900-ish). It's the same thing that attracts me to the SMLE, come to that (haven't been able to afford one of those yet).

[Four Fingers of Death]

I didn't sat that they wern't a great battle rifle, but the first time you see one, the odd bolt and the big knob/cocking piece at the rear of it is nothing like any other rifle you are likely to encounter. Once you study some of the features, such as a relaxed bolt when it is in battery and not having the rounds on the magazine pressing upagainst it (and ready to freeze to it in a Russian winter), the orientation of wood grain to resist warping in the cold, etc, etc. Great rifle, but I still reckon it sort of looks like a boy's 22 with that funny bolt knob.

My mate has one of the cheap post war carbines and it shoots like a high dollar rifle, plonking home cast boolits into obscenely small holes, like I said, an excellent rifle.

[0verkill]

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.as...+can&groupid=5

There's a link to AIM, 300 rounds on stripper clips if anyone's interested.

When shopping for ammo remember that Wolf Gold is the same as PRVI just in a different box and normally a couple dollars more, it even has the PPU headstamp.
S&B makes Winchester 7.62x54R and other "Metric" calibers.
I prefer S&B/Winchester brass myself.

[TreeKiller]

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.as...+can&groupid=5

There's a link to AIM, 300 rounds on stripper clips if anyone's interested.

When shopping for ammo remember that Wolf Gold is the same as PRVI just in a different box and normally a couple dollars more, it even has the PPU headstamp.
S&B makes Winchester 7.62x54R and other "Metric" calibers.
I prefer S&B/Winchester brass myself.

Got some for the clips. Opened the can and the date stamp was 46 was afraid that they would not go off but shot 15 and the did no hang fire and 1 hammer fall each. Then spent 30 minutes cleaning the weapon.
Dan