K31, m38, m44?
- Thread starter larrysmith
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I hear ya, love my m38's the best out of my bolt guns. The k31 is a laser though.
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Yeah, very accurate, and high quality. Tighter tolerances so it wouldn't do as well in dirty situations with low training but yeah superior firearm.
Cartridge really hits hard also.
I own an M38 and a K31.
IMO, the K31 is the better rifle [by far], but the Mosin M38 is just as fun if not more so. Cheap ammo, heck of a punch to the shoulder and fun fireballs. Mine, at least, has a very good barrel and shoots quite well out to 300 meters, for a Mosin. A range trip with both would probably have me shooting the M38 a little more, because I feel less inclined to be conservative with it.
The answer? Own both.
IMO, the K31 is the better rifle [by far], but the Mosin M38 is just as fun if not more so. Cheap ammo, heck of a punch to the shoulder and fun fireballs. Mine, at least, has a very good barrel and shoots quite well out to 300 meters, for a Mosin. A range trip with both would probably have me shooting the M38 a little more, because I feel less inclined to be conservative with it.
The answer? Own both.
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Yeah with a good bore, the m38 does it's job well. Good carbine for artillery crews to defend themselves with at combat ranges.
Absolutely. Mine was a random pick from Tradeex, and they sent me one with strong rifling all the way to the crown, and not counterbored. My first day shooting it really surprised me, because it didn't fight me nearly as much as I was expecting it to. Recoil was stout but perfectly manageable, and I'd hit a 3 foot by 5 foot rock with near boring regularity if I did my part. I've always thought though - some poor noncombat troop with one of those, having to use it for probably the first time on a two-way range without hearing protection. Yikes.
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Yeah no kidding, the report is super loud. I cracked off 5 rounds in it without hearing protection just to get a sense of it and it wasn't pleasant. I love the sound of guns but not when you have ringing for days.
I got all 3 as well. My favorite to shoot was the K31. It shot where you wanted it to. 6 shots and rimless cartridge are pretty nice features.
M38 was second. Was definitely fun to shoot. I was thinking this would be the most fun, but the K31 surprised me.
If I were to take one in battle, by far the k31. Especially if I had some stripper clips supplied.
M38 was second. Was definitely fun to shoot. I was thinking this would be the most fun, but the K31 surprised me.
If I were to take one in battle, by far the k31. Especially if I had some stripper clips supplied.
I know they were designed for artilary personal but it doesn't make sense to give an artillary guy a short rifle for street fighting when they would need a rifle for distance shooting.
It wasn't only for street fighting, they were given M38's and M44's because they were less cumbersome to lug around when you also need to carry around shells and other kit for the artillery all day.
Still pointless to have a short rifle for artillary. Unless you are using horses to pull artillary.
Or a truck that you're constantly climbing in and out of when you're moving equipment around. And it wasn't just made for artillery units, it was for support troops in general. A shorter, handier rifle for troops that weren't expected to use them much. They still wanted the long barrels for combat infantry, for better effect at range (military thinking that was well outdated by WWII, but it's not like the Soviets were the only ones thinking this way). A short, handy, carbine length rifle was thought of as "good enough" for artillery and support troops that weren't expected to rely on them nearly as much.
Then a few funny things happened during WWII... First off, because they were so badly over-run at the beginning of the war, they discovered that all troops needed a solid combat rifle. Second, combat infantry started picking up cast off M38's, and even trading for them, because the shorter length made them handier in the knife-fight distances that troops were predominantly fighting in, thanks to the rapidly moving lines created by mechanized warfare. Third, everyone, every single soldier is better off if they have a bayonet option. Bullets run dry, distances close, knife fights happen. A bayo is one of those "better to have and not need, than need and not have" things. So they adapted the M38 for a bayo, and presto bango, the M44 is born and the M38 immediately ceased production.
And the M44 was a popular version of the Mosin. The Chinese, Soviets, and much of the East Block dropped the 91/30 from production (they had large stockpiles by this point) and kept on producing the M44 well into the 50s in some cases, as a good, basic bolt action that got the job done.
