Mosin Nagant to replace Enfield?

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MusicianShooter

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Hey guys.

Help me figure this out: I got my Enfield for an inexpensive military rifle, only to discover that there was no surplus ammo out there.

So is a Mosin a good alternative choice? Thinking for deer etc, 200 m max. Good choice?
 
MusicianShooter said:
Hey guys.

Help me figure this out: I got my Enfield for an inexpensive military rifle, only to discover that there was no surplus ammo out there.

So is a Mosin a good alternative choice? Thinking for deer etc, 200 m max. Good choice?
Click to expand...

The MN is an excellent choice, ballistically equivalent to the LE. However, technically, you can't use "surplus" ammo for hunting. You can get some very reasonable priced soft point ammo from guys like Tradex, for almost the same price as surplus. BTW, have you checked with Tradex about Sellier bellot (or a similar Euro import) ammo for the 303? If I'm not mistaken, I paid around $12 a box for MN ammo in soft point.

Edit: Just checked the Tradex site - you can get 303 Soft point for well under $20 a box. Hope that is useful.
 
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Since it is illegal to hunt deer with FMJ ammo, I don't see why 7.62x54R hunting ammo would be less expensive than 303 brit. However for cheap plinking you have a good point.
 
MN,s are a great gun lots of cheap ammo around, Like the 303 british it will reliably kill anything in north america. And the rifle is so cheap that you can buy lots of ammo.
 
I've pretty much shot everything there is to shoot ( hunting-wise) with a Mosin. There is lots of surplus ammunition available at this time but how long it stays that way is anyone's guess. There is also many choices of commercially made ammunition in both fmj and soft points; PRVI, S&B, MFS, and LVE just to name a few.

Mosins are economical to purchase at this time, but I would also take advantage of the good pricing and availability of the surplus ammo as well. Surplus ammo can dry up at any time, for any reason.
 
The one ammo related disadvantage of the Mosin I ran into was that it just isn't as widely available at retail. Where I live, no one carries 7.62x54r. There's a gun shop several hours away that has it in stock sometimes. None of the big chain stores that carry ammo carry 7.62x54r, and the local hunting/fishing shop doesn't even carry it. Not even the closest Wholesale Sports carries it. Another reason I traded my hunting Mosin for the P14. You can buy 303 Brit anywhere. Then to cut costs, you can start reloading youself.

My dad used an LE for years, taking Moose even. Hunting with an LE is practically part of Canadian heritage. I went with the P14 because it combines the Mauser action with the Enfield rifling. Not a light gun, but reportedly more accurate than the LE. I have yet to get mine to the range to try out personally. But that might happen today or tomorrow.

Another thing about the Mosin is that the safety is a PITA to operate.
 
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My $0.02 as a proud new Mosin (Polish M44) owner, drop the word alternative and you're good to go. I think the Mosin and Enfield would make a great combo for any gun cabinet, and I'm personally looking to pick up an Enfield for the opposite reason as you. Haven't found any local surplus ammo so I've been buying the non-corrosive MFS, which is reasonably priced but if I want to grab it I have very limited hours when the local shop is open. When I get an Enfield, I can pick up ammo at Crappy Tire, Walmart, SAIL, Bass Pro, etc. in a pinch. Good luck finding 7.62x54R at any one of those places. Additionally when I consider that I was initially looking at a Remington 700 VTR in .308 as my first bolt-action, I figure that for the same price (or LESS) I could have 2 rifles built to withstand war with ballistics on either side of a .308.
 
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That being said, Mosin Nagants are lots of fun for target practice, and are perfectly capable of taking down deer, but the safety is a pain to operate (especially on mine, it takes a LOT of effort to turn the cocking knob).
 
On the mosin, they should call it the 'unsafety'.

The deer will hear you fighting in the bush with the safety and bolt long before you do. ;)


On the issue of ammo costs... just how many bullets do you plan to put into that poor deer? An extra $1 for a deer seems like a small price to pay.
 
---- reloading press ----

that will solve your ammo requirements.


I have about half a dozen Nagants, in various lenghts from the full lenght M91 to the short M44.

I find that the surplus laquered steel cased ammo sticks in the chamber, and like to use brass cased or coper washed steel cased ammo in the Nagants. The laquered cases feed my SVT40 :)

Enfields I have a few ;)

a few MK1 and a few Mk4 and a couple P14's but only 1 Mk5 (I sold my other one) and some other harder to find varients (DCRA, EAL, PH sporters, LE BSA comercial sporter, etc....)

I also feed them reloads
 
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