Hunting with a Mosin???

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Still alive

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Guys,
Going on a spring bear hunt next week. Thinking of bringing my Mosin M38 carbine due to its lighter weight and shorter length. Does anyone hunt with a Mosin specifically the M38? Also, what's a good factory round for it? I'm a complete noob hunter and am counting on my buds for help. I know the 7.62x54R is good enough to take bear but need to know what ammo is best for my purpose. I have not seen non- corrosive hunting ammo for this caliber. Does it even exist?? Counting on you guys to steer me right. I have other rifles I can bring if you deem the Mosin unsuitable for hunting.
PS Mods, feel free to move this thread if you think it should be in the hunting section.
 
MFS ammo, is available at most places, its cheap. I have never hunted bear, so I cant comment as to how accurate you will have to be, or the range. I'll let an experienced hunter chime in on this one.

Still alive said:
The M38 is about a 4-5 inch grouper at 100yds. Is that good enough? Or should I go with a more precise rifle? Sorry for the noob question!! Is the MFS ammo readily available?
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Depends on what distance you would be inclined to shoot from. 5moa at 200m is a bullet anywhere inside of ten inches. May be a kill or may be a wounded animal. If your range for a shot is inside 100m I would think go for it.
 
flying pig said:
Depends on what distance you would be inclined to shoot from. 5moa at 200m is a bullet anywhere inside of ten inches. May be a kill or may be a wounded animal. If your range for a shot is inside 100m I would think go for it.
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Thanks Flyin Pig!
The shot, if taken, will be less than 100m. We are in the Hope region of the Fraser Valley which means trees to the ying yang! Is MFS the only brand available out there? No good ol' US stuff, I guess?
 
I'm not sure what all is available for factory hunting ammo as I reload. I think if you wanted to go that route a Sierra 180gr Pro Hunter .311 would be a good bullet choice over either Varget or IMR4895. I had decent luck with both powders in the 91/30 PU I had.

The only other rifle I currently have in x54 is an SVT-40 and the plan is to try and take an elk with it using MFS this fall.
 
Still alive said:
The M38 is about a 4-5 inch grouper at 100yds. Is that good enough? Or should I go with a more precise rifle? Sorry for the noob question!! Is the MFS ammo readily available?
Click to expand...

Depends how far you're wanting to shoot I guess....haven't tried my M38 out yet, I have a couple 91/30's that are fairly accurate, I wouldn't hesitate to use them on bear or deer, the cartridge is certainly adequate. I've used the 205 gr MFS and it seems to shoot well. The various sponsors may have it in PRVI or S&B or otherwise. All I can find local so far is the MFS, though Canadian Tire has started on Mosin Nagants and SVT's as well as S&B ammunition. Might have to take a peek at their shelves...
 
Still alive said:
The M38 is about a 4-5 inch grouper at 100yds. Is that good enough? Or should I go with a more precise rifle? Sorry for the noob question!! Is the MFS ammo readily available?
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For hunting, you do not need to be precision rifle accurate. But you still need to be able to hit the kill zone. I would think the first thing you should do is run a box of your chosen soft point ammo through it, using a bench rest, and really figure out what your rifle does with THAT ammo. You never know. Your groups might actually tighten up a lot if what you have been using is light ball surplus ammo. There is after all a reason why the old Soviet snipers used to use lead core heavy ball and not steel core light ball.

Now for the disclaimer: I have never hunted bear. (Hope to some day soon). But I know that bear hunting often is done from a tree stand or a blind. If so, it will likely be the case that you won't be making any super long shots. Id your M38 scoped? Or are you working with the iron sights? Ask your buddies how long a shot you will LIKELY be having to make. I emphasize likely, because there is no such thing as a certainty in hunting. Iron sights would work fine, provided the distance is not too great.

As for ammo, last time I was at the Cabelas in Edmonton, they had 7.62x54r soft point ammo. I can't remember the brand, but it was there. A pretty big bullet too if I recall.
 
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I have a 91/30 and I've got a deer and at least one bear with it. That rifle shoots decent groups at 100 metres.

I had another one that I made a short scout rifle out of and shot some bears with that too.

I always used Norma ammunition with 180 grain bullets. It was older stuff I pickup up at gun shows.

It is very expensive new. The first Mosin I got cost $19.99 and a box of the Norma ammo - the only stuff available at the time - was $24.99.
 
Still alive said:
Guys,
Going on a spring bear hunt next week. Thinking of bringing my Mosin M38 carbine due to its lighter weight and shorter length. Does anyone hunt with a Mosin specifically the M38? Also, what's a good factory round for it? I'm a complete noob hunter and am counting on my buds for help. I know the 7.62x54R is good enough to take bear but need to know what ammo is best for my purpose. I have not seen non- corrosive hunting ammo for this caliber. Does it even exist?? Counting on you guys to steer me right. I have other rifles I can bring if you deem the Mosin unsuitable for hunting.
PS Mods, feel free to move this thread if you think it should be in the hunting section.
Click to expand...

You can bag anything in North America with the 7.62x54R.
I'd say it's plenty accurate enough with commercial ammo and irons up to 100 meters if you're a competent shot.
Things to consider:

- How accurate is your specific rifle, no two Mosins seems to shoot alike, year of manufacture, condition of the rifle, condition of the bore etc
- Shooting a much heavier bullet will drastically change your POA to POI. You will either have to adjust your sights or get to know your Kentucky Windage accordingly.

My bedded and trigger jobbed 1954 91/30 can do 3-4 inch groups at 100 meters with surplus. I'm very confident of its consistency and accuracy.

It depends on those factors, if all are in check, I'd go for it Sir.
 
I have shot bear and my choice was my sporterized No 5 LE with a 23/4 x scope using handloads with the 180gr Speer bullet. It worked very well @ 35-40 yds. The 7.62 x 54 is certainly the equivalent of the .303 Brit. The 180gr Speer or 174gr Hornady RN bullets are good choices with good knockdown power and a big wad of exposed lead for proper expansion. The key thing is bullet placement. That's why I like a scope for hunting, even at closer ranges. If you are hunting over bait you will find that the bigger bears come in towards dark where the light gathering ability of a good scope is a big plus for proper bullet placement. Bears can bite back, so you need to be careful with bullet placement. I took the heart out of a 6ft boar and knocked him arse over teakettle with the .303. Even after that he was up in a flash and ploughed 50 yds into the thick willows before he folded over a deadfall.
 
I have shot several Whitetail deer and boar with Nagants. 91/30 and a m44. All I have found, in my area with a soft point, is Winchester 185 grain. I can't complain, the Winchester worked fine. I'm sure there is much better though.
 
I have killed 3 moose with this rifle. All were with Sellier and Bellot 180gr SP. Deadly moose medicine. Longest shot was 285 yds open sights with a Polish M44. 1 shot dropped right there. I have never (knock on wood) had a wounded animal with the 7.62x54r. I have with .270 Winchester (my fault, and the animal was promptly taken with my father in law with his .303)
 
Bench accuracy is good for saying what the rifle can do, but don't forget to spend a few days at the range doing practical stance shooting to see what you can do with the rifle, which is actually much more important than bench accuracy. Either my SKS or M44 are accurate enough for coyotes out to 100yards, and I'd say 54R soft points should be plenty for bear.

TradEx has the MFS soft points for way cheaper than you're find elsewhere, even after you factor in shipping. $13.95/20box. Not sure what the shipping cost is, because I've only ever gotten it as a "top-up" on with crate buys. Once you have one thing listed as "free-shipping" in your cart from them, they apply that to the whole order. Good outfit, decent prices, orders always seem to arrive in less than a week, because unlike certain customer abusive retailers that everyone seems to like to rave about ( *ahem* CanAm, you will never get dime one out of me, ever again ) TradEx ships the same day or day after they take the money from your card.

http://www.tradeexcanada.com/content/762x54r-soft-point-ammunition-203gr-sp--

Oh, and I should add, you're doing it right. For dangerous game always remember to bring a backup gun in the hands of a competent, experienced, backup shooter. Never do it alone. Very skilled and experienced hunters have come to grief by deciding to go it alone.
 
The only downside to hunting with one of 'em is the excessive muzzle blast you and anybody close to you would have to endure while you're sighting in. The SOB will not be pleasant to shoot off a bench either. However, if you haven't done all that for a hunt next week, it's kind of late to find ammo your rifle shoots well and get to a range.
Winchester loads a 180 SP. No idea where you can get any in B.C. though. You won't have time to order it by next week.
Four to 5 inches will do, but that 4 to 5 inches has to be inside a 9" pie plate you can hit every time, off hand at 100.
 
sunray said:
The only downside to hunting with one of 'em is the excessive muzzle blast you and anybody close to you would have to endure while you're sighting in. The SOB will not be pleasant to shoot off a bench either. However, if you haven't done all that for a hunt next week, it's kind of late to find ammo your rifle shoots well and get to a range.
Winchester loads a 180 SP. No idea where you can get any in B.C. though. You won't have time to order it by next week.
Four to 5 inches will do, but that 4 to 5 inches has to be inside a 9" pie plate you can hit every time, off hand at 100.
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You hunt off handed? Thats the first time I have ever heard of that.
-Spo0nFED
 
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