Learning about Mosin rifles

Melnic · Jan 26, 2021

There are many things you can do to to a Mosin to accurize it w/o messing up the original parts. Brass/aluminum shims, cork gaskets under the stock etc. (ebay Mosin Shim kit)
Even the way it shoots high, you can (my favorite trick) put a piece of heat shrink on the front sight then clip it shorter to adjust elevation so you can get a 100 yard adjustment.
Unless you find the unicorn clean un pitted bore (Took me 8 mosins to find mine and I think I'm lucky), you will lean the term "Mosin Clean".

Much of the commercial PPU ammo although valuable cause its got reloadable cases, have bullets that are undersized Tulamo is closer to old corrosive surplus which sometimes shoots better than PPU and Tulamo. I reload for mine with brit .303 bullets which are .311 and get excellent results with ANY of my mosins although some shoot better than others.

Just know, that pretty much ALL mosins went though a refurb process and were pulled apart then parts re numbered and matched again.
I have a Mosin 44 that "may" still be in original parts , not sure, but all the other "Common" surplus rifles indeed were factory refurbished, not unlike the Russian K98K rifles or most M1 Garands (Garands just may not have been messed with as much).

Ponder_MD · Jan 26, 2021

I would enjoy tinkering with the rifle to make it more accurate.

7.62x54r.net lists several sources to purchase from but I'm not sure how far out of date that list is. Are there any Maryland shops that deal in these rifles?

h2u · Jan 26, 2021

Sirex said:
For general all around best use, I would recommend a Finnish M39.

All Mosins are crap. But this is good advice for those that just HAVE to own one of those commie-type rifles...

tallen702 · Jan 26, 2021

Ponder_MD said:
I would enjoy tinkering with the rifle to make it more accurate.

7.62x54r.net lists several sources to purchase from but I'm not sure how far out of date that list is. Are there any Maryland shops that deal in these rifles?

That site is kept up to date regularly. It looks old, but that's because it's the work of one or two guys who coded in straight HTML to keep costs down.

Nobody really specializes in Mosins in terms of shops locally that I've seen. They were, for all intents and purposes, considered "junk" by most dealers and have only been raised to the level of "valuable junk" by many. That's not saying they are junk, but that many dealers consider them to be so.

That said, virtually any competent gunsmith can accurize your Mosin pretty easily.

Ponder_MD · Jan 26, 2021

Sounds good.

I've always purchased "junk." I like prefer the unusual, the eclectic, even if it doesn't work as well as more mainstream units.

toppkatt · Jan 26, 2021

Bertfish said:
There are two breeds of Finn

Some were captured and reworked

Some (M27, M39, etc) were purpose built by the Finns

This statement might imply the Finns actually made some receivers. '
'Some (M27, M39, etc) were purpose built by the Finns'
To be clear 'purpose built' means the Russian receivers or receivers obtained from other sources (probably of Russian origins) were REWORKED e.g. 'purpose built'

https://www.ammoland.com/2015/06/mosin-nagant-finnish-rifles/
states:
Following a civil war and the*Finnish independence of*December 1917, the new Finnish government would set about rearming. Many Mosin Nagants in their inventory were in bad shape, and Finland needed to setup production of new barrels for their existing receivers. This is important to note that Finland never made their own receivers and recycled existing receivers.

h2u · Jan 26, 2021

yellowsled said:
Did someone say Mosin?

Damn! Look what the cat dragged in. You’re ears must’ve been on fire with this subject

Brickman301 · Jan 26, 2021

The Finn’s M39 is known for being an accurate rifle.
Another Finn, that’s not as abundant as the M39, is the 28/30. It’s very similar to the M39, but without the pistol gripped stock.

The Remington and Westinghouse rifles are also nice, and seem to be more accurate than the Russian made rifles.
Every Chinese made type 53 I’ve shot, has shot good. I was very surprised by that, because they all look to be beaten up badly.

Melnic · Jan 26, 2021

Ponder_MD said:
I would enjoy tinkering with the rifle to make it more accurate.

7.62x54r.net lists several sources to purchase from but I'm not sure how far out of date that list is. Are there any Maryland shops that deal in these rifles?

Just PLEASE, do not refinish the stock, do not put and archangel stock on it and above all, don't try to adapt a scope to it. you will be disappointed in all cases.

tinkering around with shims, springs and washers is going to get you as good as it will get w/o reloading custom rounds for it.

Brickman301 · Jan 26, 2021

Melnic said:
Just PLEASE, do not refinish the stock, do not put and archangel stock on it and above all, don't try to adapt a scope to it. you will be disappointed in all cases.

tinkering around with shims, springs and washers is going to get you as good as it will get w/o reloading custom rounds for it.

^THIS^

IronDuck · Jan 26, 2021

Anyone has any "junk" Mosin's cluttering their gun safes or closet corners, let me know. I will haul them away free of charge.

mawkie · Jan 27, 2021

-If you want accurate in a Mosin then the M28/76 is probably the best choice. Sadly not the cheapest! Seem to remember them selling in the $800 range when first imported and the stampede to buy them was impressive. Didn't take dealers long to sell out. Lord knows what they bring on the secondary market these days.
-Not my M28/76. I have a nice bunch of M28s and M28/30s but never got the itch for a M28/76. If you want to stick to military versions I love the M28/30. Can't tell you why I prefer it to the M39 which is probably as good or better. Perhaps it's that they seem to drip with history besides being good shooters.

Brickman301 · Jan 27, 2021

mawkie said:
-If you want accurate in a Mosin then the M28/76 is probably the best choice. Sadly not the cheapest! Seem to remember them selling in the $800 range when first imported and the stampede to buy them was impressive. Didn't take dealers long to sell out. Lord knows what they bring on the secondary market these days.
-Not my M28/76. I have a nice bunch of M28s and M28/30s but never got the itch for a M28/76. If you want to stick to military versions I love the M28/30. Can't tell you why I prefer it to the M39 which is probably as good or better. Perhaps it's that they seem to drip with history besides being good shooters.

Wish I would have jumped on one of those M28/76’s years ago, but I just couldn’t justify the price at the time.

I like you, also prefer the 28/30 over the M39. I think it’s the lack of the pistol grip stock that makes me like it better.

Ponder_MD · Jan 27, 2021

Melnic said:
Just PLEASE, do not refinish the stock, do not put and archangel stock on it and above all, don't try to adapt a scope to it. you will be disappointed in all cases.

tinkering around with shims, springs and washers is going to get you as good as it will get w/o reloading custom rounds for it.

I might have tried refinishing the wood if you hadn't warned me but I have no plans for scopes or archangel stock. I'm interested in the basic 91/30. They are out of stock EVERYWHERE.

I can't believe you guys were buying entire crates of these rifles for just a few hundred bucks.

mawkie · Jan 27, 2021

Ponder_MD said:
I might have tried refinishing the wood if you hadn't warned me but I have no plans for scopes or archangel stock. I'm interested in the basic 91/30. They are out of stock EVERYWHERE.

I can't believe you guys were buying entire crates of these rifles for just a few hundred bucks.

This oughta make you sick to your stomach. At one Frederick gun show in the mid 90s a dealer had 91/30s STACKED like cord wood on a table. Price? $39.99. I dug into the pile and found two M39s buried deep inside. A SAKO and a VKT. Sadly the SAKO had a broken stock. But the VKT was in good nick with just thin finish. It was mine for just two Jacksons and it still resides in my safe, a good shooter.

capt14k · Jan 27, 2021

Ponder_MD said:
I might have tried refinishing the wood if you hadn't warned me but I have no plans for scopes or archangel stock. I'm interested in the basic 91/30. They are out of stock EVERYWHERE.

I can't believe you guys were buying entire crates of these rifles for just a few hundred bucks.

91/30 are out of stock? If so don't worry Century and PW will be importing more. They each imported 5,000 rifles and 500k rounds of ammo 9 months ago. I have checked since then but I'm sure they have or will be importing more. Limex has plenty via the Ukraine.

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tallen702 · Jan 27, 2021

mawkie said:
This oughta make you sick to your stomach. At one Frederick gun show in the mid 90s a dealer had 91/30s STACKED like cord wood on a table. Price? $39.99. I dug into the pile and found two M39s buried deep inside. A SAKO and a VKT. Sadly the SAKO had a broken stock. But the VKT was in good nick with just thin finish. It was mine for just two Jacksons and it still resides in my safe, a good shooter.

I really should have grabbed my C&R in 97 when I was old enough to do so. I remember seeing Mosins for dirt cheap along with SKSs, Enfields, etc. all for a song. Then came all the war movies, tv-series, and video games and the interest in this stuff boomed. I felt lucky getting into a run-of-the-mill wartime production 91/30 for $65 with a "you pick!" barrel full of them at Dulap's Gun and Pawn in Hurricane, WV at the time I got mine in the early 2000s.

Ponder_MD · Jan 28, 2021

Last night, I dipped my toe into the Mosin world. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Throughout my life, I've mainly dealt with US military firearms while I was serving so I'm not up to speed on ammunition types. Is 7.62X54 an unpopular or unusual caliber? Was it a hassle to obtain before the pandemic/political mess?

Some of these rifles are very, very old. How do you assess the condition of the barrel?
Do people actually shoot the older rifles or do they tend to keep them as collector's pieces?
Is it sacrilege to replace worn or missing parts on a semi-collectable rifle?

Bertfish · Jan 28, 2021

Ammo is easy to obtain especially in surplus format. Prices have gone up but it can be found in spam cans.

A barrel could be slugged I suppose to assess erosion but often a visual inspection will suffice. Shiney bore with clear lands and grooves is in good shape. A dark bore means it was likely allowed to corrode at some point. If you see pitting/darkness/worn rifling in any combination it's likely heavily worn. Still the best way to tell is to shoot the gun and see what's up.

I don't shoot my older ones simply because I have less collectable ones to shoot. No reason I would be afraid to though, the action has remained relatively the same since the rifle was invented.

I think part replacement depends on what it is and often times "correct" parts can be found if you look. Run of the mill 91/30 parts are a dime a dozen but a Finn reworked bolt with specific markings will be different. Still your only real consumables on that rifle would be extractor, firing pin, maybe a magazine spring? They're really simple guns.

capt14k · Jan 28, 2021

Ponder_MD said:
Last night, I dipped my toe into the Mosin world. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Throughout my life, I've mainly dealt with US military firearms while I was serving so I'm not up to speed on ammunition types. Is 7.62X54 an unpopular or unusual caliber? Was it a hassle to obtain before the pandemic/political mess?

Some of these rifles are very, very old. How do you assess the condition of the barrel?
Do people actually shoot the older rifles or do they tend to keep them as collector's pieces?
Is it sacrilege to replace worn or missing parts on a semi-collectable rifle?

Surplus Ammo is available. Price is a little more but still less than most other calibers. Of course it is all corrosive

Yes people shoot them.

Bore condition you can look with bore light or better yet bore scope.

Mosins keep the matching parts matching replace whatever else as needed

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Learning about Mosin rifles

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