Modernizing/accurizing a mosin

naminator58

naminator58

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I am soon going to be purchasing my "first" firearm. Done enough shooting to know I want a Mosin to be in my safe first. For the $200 or so I will spend on one, I don't see how it is a bad investment. Was considering an SKS as my first, but with the Mosin I could afford that AND pickup a nice single shot .22 or 12 gauge for small game if I want.

As such I have been devouring as much information about the Mosin Nagant as possible. How to pick one out, how to clean them, how they perform ect. However one thing that keeps getting thrown out is the whole "peasant rifle for farmers" thing. Getting massive groupings, bad craftsmanship/tolerances ect. I get it is a 100 year old battle rifle designed to be tough and cheap.

I don't expect sub MOA accuracy out of a Mosin. But from what I have been reading/watching I have come to a few conclusions and I wanted to know if I was correct.

Replacing the wooden stock with something like an ATI monte Carlo not only makes the rifle handle better/more comfortable to shoot, glass/pillar bedding can greatly increase accuracy with a free float barrel.

The stock trigger is heavy and creepy thanks to its simple design. Watching videos on the internet, you can take a stock mosin trigger and replace it with a great aftermarket, or put in the work to true the contact points, polish them to make everything smoother, adjust the trigger to have less travel ect to greatly improve the rifle.

The Mosin came with a steel cleaning rod, made of the same material as the barrel. That coupled with lax manufacturing standards leave the crown of the barrel in rough shape. I have seen videos of guys cutting, crowning and lapping these barrels down to make them work better.

Of course I know about the variety of scope mounts that remove the ability to use stripper clips but thats not a concern if the rifle shoots better and you can see what you are shooting.


If I was to hand pick the best mosin from my local Canadian tire, do all this work to it would I be able to take a 100 year old battle rifle and make it shoot decently? As I see it, for about 300$ plus the cost of the rifle itself, I could have a good shooter. Maybe not a 1000 yard precision rifle, but something that I could use at the 100m/300m range near by with respectable results. Before anybody jumps me for destroying a mosin or recommends I just buy a Ruger American or whatever, no. Thats not what I want to do. I want to know specifically if putting time and effort into a Mosin will result in a decent shooter, damn to cost, labor and heartache that it will never perform like a $1200 rifle.
 
Clean up the trigger parts and shim the stock so it is tight and it will shoot fine. Look for the best bore and crown you can find. Counterbored rifles make good shooters.
 
Thats what I keep reading. Bed it into the prefered stock, clean up the trigger and if necessary clean up the crown. Once that is done you have an excellent rifle. Thank you for helping cement my choice.
 
You're overthinking it, I have a wartime 91/30 and it shoots real accurately. Enough that I don't see the need to #### with it, maybe I'll bed the action at some point but that's it. It was a canam clearance special that was missing the front sight and had a broken extractor, I replaced the parts and it's my favourite Mosin I have.

Go find one in good shape, shoot it stock and evaluate. Enjoy it for what it is and learn to shoot it how it came from long term storage, it might surprise you. Monkey with it after you get to know it if you still feel the urge, it's not a tack driver per se but can be pretty decent even with surplus ammo. Get a savage axis if you want a cheap accurate bolt action.

They are really fun old rifles that you can make more acurate with a bit of work, hope you find a nice one and enjoy it!
 
I appreaciate the advice. For some reason I keep seeing reading about how poorly the average mosin will shoot and that working on it is almost a necessity. I was planning on keeping the mosin stock until I got to know it well, then put the cash into it over time if I so choose. The question is will I be able to get a reasonable shooter with 300$ worth of modifications.

As for the Savage, I looked at one the other day. $500 for a .223 sounds nice and all, but it just isn't my jam. For the same dollars, I could get a Mosin, a .22, a shotgun and some ammo for all 3. I am a right cheap bastard when it comes to spending money on "fun" things.
 
1.) Shim properly.

2.) Cork/felt end of barrel.

3.) Clear barrel channel.

4.) Trigger job.

Cost: about $5.

You'll have to reload to get the best out of any Nagant. Most factory ammo is garbage, but the brass is decent. I have some old Igman brass on its 7th reloading.

If you want to modify it or you don't reload, just buy a Savage Axis and factory ammo.

http://acemosinnagant.########.ca/

Anything else is a waste. Mine will shoot under 2 inches with these old Russian mods.
 
In last year's issue of Inside Military Surplus (found it in the US, not here) there is an in-depth article on how to make the Mosin-Nagant a more accurate rifle. Basically, the author dropped it into a new stock, replaced the trigger with a Timney, changed the bolt handle to a bent one from a straight one in order to mount a scope, and cut the barrel to about 24". The idea behind cutting the barrel is to stiffen it, which helps accuracy. Of course, after you cut the barrel, you must crown it, and there's a kit available from Brownells (the one the author used).

The OP could always just buy a Mosin sniper.......;)
 
naminator58 said:
I For some reason I keep seeing reading about how poorly the average mosin will shoot and that working on it is almost a necessity.
Click to expand...

One must remember two things about the Mosin:

1) Stock, it shoots "minute of imperialist Nazi pig" at normal combat ranges. In other words, it fits the Russian mentality of "Fancy? Nyet. Works good enough? Da!" It will hit a man-sized target out to about 400m (my personal longest) without difficulty.

2) 95% of the ammo available for the Mosin is surplus ammo, meaning quantity, not quality, is/was the driving force behind its manufacture. That means that powder charges are far from consistent, bullet seating is not consistent, bullet weights can be all over the map, and construction can be, shall we say, less than optimal. Most rounds produced in the 60's/70's (most surplus stuff) were intended for machine gun use, and thus the QC is less than one might expect.

When you get your Mosin, try a box or two of Prvi Partizan or Seller & Bellet hunting ammo along with the surplus stuff. I will be very surprised if you don't see a great improvement over surplus.
 
What made the most difference for me was the finnish style trigger set i got from that ppsh.com guy way back. about 100 bucks. the mosin trigger was so bad it was too easy to string horizontally.

I shrunk my groups considerably with cheap chinese ammo. From 4-6 moa to 2-3 MOA by epoxy bedding the reciever at the rear tang and at the recoil lug. I also sanded the barrel channel so the barrel can get a piece of paper under it all the way to the receiver.

some people have more luck corking under the front of the barrel too, but in my case it wasn't needed. Total cost was about 2 hours and 5 bucks.
you can do your own trigger job and save a ton of money, but it wont be as good as the drop in sets you can buy.
 
shredder said:
The OP could always just buy a Mosin sniper.......;)
Click to expand...

I think that must be my best idea. Maybe buy the one on the EE for $1800.... Also how well did that mosin in the article shoot?


shredder said:
One must remember two things about the Mosin:

1) Stock, it shoots "minute of imperialist Nazi pig" at normal combat ranges. In other words, it fits the Russian mentality of "Fancy? Nyet. Works good enough? Da!" It will hit a man-sized target out to about 400m (my personal longest) without difficulty.

2) 95% of the ammo available for the Mosin is surplus ammo, meaning quantity, not quality, is/was the driving force behind its manufacture. That means that powder charges are far from consistent, bullet seating is not consistent, bullet weights can be all over the map, and construction can be, shall we say, less than optimal. Most rounds produced in the 60's/70's (most surplus stuff) were intended for machine gun use, and thus the QC is less than one might expect.

When you get your Mosin, try a box or two of Prvi Partizan or Seller & Bellet hunting ammo along with the surplus stuff. I will be very surprised if you don't see a great improvement over surplus.
Click to expand...

Minute of imperialist is fine for starting. I am a novice shooter so expecting sub MOA even with the best rifle I could buy is a bit ridiculous. As for the surplus versus hand load versus commercial, I know the difference it can make. I am will to do my duty and try all the ammos before and after each mod I do to the gun and record all relevant information for people like me in the future.


derr12 said:
What made the most difference for me was the finnish style trigger set i got from that ppsh.com guy way back. about 100 bucks. the mosin trigger was so bad it was too easy to string horizontally.

I shrunk my groups considerably with cheap chinese ammo. From 4-6 moa to 2-3 MOA by epoxy bedding the reciever at the rear tang and at the recoil lug. I also sanded the barrel channel so the barrel can get a piece of paper under it all the way to the receiver.

some people have more luck corking under the front of the barrel too, but in my case it wasn't needed. Total cost was about 2 hours and 5 bucks.
you can do your own trigger job and save a ton of money, but it wont be as good as the drop in sets you can buy.
Click to expand...

See this is what I like to here. Some effort combined with a few dollars into mods can result in a half way decent rifle. 2-3 MOA is fine for me. If I can shrink that further that's awesome. I am not looking for a long range gun, as the local range goes to 500M I think. So shooting past that is really impractical. If shooting at 300 yards or so with the Mosin is fun stuff, then I can always get another rifle later.
 
naminator58 said:
I think that must be my best idea. Maybe buy the one on the EE for $1800.... Also how well did that mosin in the article shoot?




Minute of imperialist is fine for starting. I am a novice shooter so expecting sub MOA even with the best rifle I could buy is a bit ridiculous. As for the surplus versus hand load versus commercial, I know the difference it can make. I am will to do my duty and try all the ammos before and after each mod I do to the gun and record all relevant information for people like me in the future.




See this is what I like to here. Some effort combined with a few dollars into mods can result in a half way decent rifle. 2-3 MOA is fine for me. If I can shrink that further that's awesome. I am not looking for a long range gun, as the local range goes to 500M I think. So shooting past that is really impractical. If shooting at 300 yards or so with the Mosin is fun stuff, then I can always get another rifle later.
Click to expand...

Im shooting with a repro mosin sniper, but the principle is the same for it's iron sight only bretherin.
 
Maybe you should consider 303Lee Enfield. I bought mine for $200. It is 1916 No1 MK3. It has walnut Monte Carlo stock, 3x9 scope, fixed iron sights, removable magazine and you can buy ammo at CT and Walmart. It has less recoil than Mosin.
 
If you like the mosin and a bit of a project I say buy it and see what results you get. Sounds like you've sold yourself on it. I resisted the urge to do it but eventually caved and bought one to tinker with. My conclusions were: its fun to do the mods, and it's a decent plinker that shoots a sizeable bullet but... its not the be all end all. My opinion is money is better spent on a cz527 in 762x39. Still running a 30 cal. Good to 300+ meters. Fantastic irons, crazy good stock trigger ect ect. If you shoot surplus ammo the 7.62x39 will make it a cheaper beast to feed.
 
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