mosin-nagant advice

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truenorth777

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o.k., so i'm finally getting around to seeing the sense of purchasing a mosin. reasonably accurate, reasonably cheap to buy and feed, what's not to like?
so, you mosin experts out there what do i look for when purchasing one? and is it possible to screen when ordering online? [like, are there better years than others? do any models come with chrome lined barrels?, etc.] i'm just looking for a good shooter, not a collector.
also, are there any affordable recommended aftermarket goodies to improve accuracy? [affordable being the operative word there. spending alot of cash on add-ons kind of defeats the purpose]. any advice welcome. thanx.
 
Out of seemingly nowhere I ended up with three of them.

First was a '43 Ishevsk. Shoots OK but is VERY roughly machined.

Then a shooting buddy asked if I wanted to buy his M44. Turned out it was "born" the same year as me. How could I say no?

Finally I got a 1939 Tula 91/30 from Westrifle since the pictures looked so nice. It has the sort of quality machining you'd expect from a firearm.

But of the two 91/30's the rough looking Izhevsk is the smoother operating rifle. The Tula tends to be a touch sticky on the bolt. Enough so that as soon as I find some time I'm going to do the corrective steps so often suggested on the 'net.

Where's this leave you? Basically left to buy a random armoury and year since you can get nice looking guns which are stick and junky looking guns which cycle smooth as silk. It's a craps shoot. Mind you the insides are fixable. If the outsides look nice to start with you can work with the insides.

And finally I can happily recomend Westrifle. They darn nearly had the rifle on it's way BEFORE I'd placed my order... or at least it got here so fast that it seemed that way.... :D Mind you I've also had great results with any of the CGN sponsors. So go with the outfit with the best pictures of the rifles up for sale. On that count Westrifle seems to give good coverage of the actual rifle you'd be buying.
 
Weimajack sells them in the Exchange forum. Each gun is hand picked. If he states that it has an excellent bore and will make an excellent shooter than order it up. I have 3 guns from him and his descriptions have always been perfect. Look to Weimajack. A good reciever mounted scope mount is $150 bucks and a bent bolt is another $30. A good gunsmith is a must since the mount can be very tricky to get right and the bent bolt requires machining and tapping so another $50-100. A Mosin-Nagant is the equivalent of a 30-06 meaning it kicks like a 30-06 so a rubber butt pad is a must....another $10. A good Bushnell elite 3-9x40 is another $300. There is no such thing as a chrome lined Mosin and no such thing as cheap accuracy. I am not trying to discourage you in any way but things add up and there really aren't that many vendors out there selling aftermarket parts for Mosin-Nagant build ups. If thats too much than stay with the open sights, bed the reciever, float the barrel (if you can) or try supporting it in different spots. Practise, try different ammo, stay away from surplus ammo, reduce trigger pressure...all cheap and all do it yourself.
 
Some things to consider:

- war time mosins were typically made to lower standards, since they were just cranking them out as fast as they could.

- most of the Soviet mosins you can buy have been refurbed, even early years rifles, and will likely have pieces from different years; even if the hardware #s match. The Soviets recyled parts from damaged rifles to use in refurbs. Some hardware may have force matched #s, and very likely the stock will have repairs or be from a mismatched year.

- if you're wanting an ex-sniper rifle, always go by the barrel markings that designate a sniper barrel, not the filled receiver holes. Sometimes ex-sniper receivers have been mismatched to non-sniper barrels in refurb.

- go for a light colored shellac finish. Dark shellac can hide a lot of damage.

- ask about bore quality and also that sights are fairly straight.
 
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Sergey at westrifle is always a good bet. buying a mosin from a russian just makes sense. The guys at traadexx are awesome to deal with too. If you ask for a good bore at the expense of everything else you will be good. Anything else on a mosin is easily fixed with patience and cheap hand tools. With a good bore and the right size projectiles, mosins will shoot as well as most milsurps and better than some. Here is my best advice; buy a slip on recoil pad the butt of the mosin is somewhat less than perfectly designed for comfort
 
+1 on Westrifle.

I had a few questions and Al was pretty helpful. I did however get sticker shock when I was about to checkout and I saw tax and shipping nearly double the cost. Tax is one thing, but $50 shipping I found excessive. Not wanting to be a pain in the ass, I just purchased elsewhere.

I did however discuss it with him later, and he seems to have adjusted his shipping costs. If I buy another, I'd probably buy from him.

P
 
Boulevard said:
Weimajack sells them in the Exchange forum. Each gun is hand picked. If he states that it has an excellent bore and will make an excellent shooter than order it up. I have 3 guns from him and his descriptions have always been perfect. Look to Weimajack. A good reciever mounted scope mount is $150 bucks and a bent bolt is another $30. A good gunsmith is a must since the mount can be very tricky to get right and the bent bolt requires machining and tapping so another $50-100. A Mosin-Nagant is the equivalent of a 30-06 meaning it kicks like a 30-06 so a rubber butt pad is a must....another $10. A good Bushnell elite 3-9x40 is another $300. There is no such thing as a chrome lined Mosin and no such thing as cheap accuracy. I am not trying to discourage you in any way but things add up and there really aren't that many vendors out there selling aftermarket parts for Mosin-Nagant build ups. If thats too much than stay with the open sights, bed the reciever, float the barrel (if you can) or try supporting it in different spots. Practise, try different ammo, stay away from surplus ammo, reduce trigger pressure...all cheap and all do it yourself.
Click to expand...

I have just purchased a ex-sniper mosin from him. Can't wait for it to arrive (my first firearm)!
 
i recently came across this:


Mosin-Nagant Rifles

- Joseph E.

"I have owned several Mosin-Nagant rifles. They were designed to kill enemies of the Soviet Union. They were not designed to necessarily be the safest rifle around. If you're not very careful while using a Mosin-Nagant rifle, it can blow up and injure you. I learned that lesson the hard way in 1998. I also learned about the importance of eye and ear protection while shooting as well. No one should ever fire a Mosin (or any firearm) without eye and ear protection. When my Mosin blew up, I suffered severe burns and shrapnel penetrations of my face. Fortunately, a skilled eye surgeon was able to remove the larger pieces from my eye (there were over 200 pieces in all) and my sight was undamaged. I had an eye hemorrhage and a partially detached retina. I lost 25% of the hearing in my left ear and have lived with tinnitus since. I would only recommend this rifle to someone who had no other options."


my first thought after reading this is that he must've had a bad round, maybe a mistake in ammo production like a double charge? i haven't come across anything else like this and i've been doing alot of research on the mosin-nagant lately. has anyone ever heard of a mosin blowing up?
 
Haven't heard of a Mosin blowing up, but saw an article about a guy at a Vancouver Island range who had a double charged shell in his shotgun. The shotgun was in pieces, but IIRC there was very little in the way of injury (thankfully).

I can't see how it was the rifle's doing, unless there was a blockage just past the chamber...
 
If the firing pin isnt adjusted properly, you can pierce the primer. On the multitool that comes with the rifle are min/max protrusion cutouts.

P
 
truenorth777 said:
i recently came across this:


Mosin-Nagant Rifles

- Joseph E.

"I have owned several Mosin-Nagant rifles. They were designed to kill enemies of the Soviet Union. They were not designed to necessarily be the safest rifle around. If you're not very careful while using a Mosin-Nagant rifle, it can blow up and injure you. I learned that lesson the hard way in 1998. I also learned about the importance of eye and ear protection while shooting as well. No one should ever fire a Mosin (or any firearm) without eye and ear protection. When my Mosin blew up, I suffered severe burns and shrapnel penetrations of my face. Fortunately, a skilled eye surgeon was able to remove the larger pieces from my eye (there were over 200 pieces in all) and my sight was undamaged. I had an eye hemorrhage and a partially detached retina. I lost 25% of the hearing in my left ear and have lived with tinnitus since. I would only recommend this rifle to someone who had no other options."


my first thought after reading this is that he must've had a bad round, maybe a mistake in ammo production like a double charge? i haven't come across anything else like this and i've been doing alot of research on the mosin-nagant lately. has anyone ever heard of a mosin blowing up?
Click to expand...

The Mosin has two locking lugs and was made with good quality steel. There is nothing inherently dangerous about it. If the firing pin is installed improperly it can pierce the primer. However, that doesn't make the rifle dangerous, it just means it's not idiot proof.
 
And for the record, the rifle was not designed to kill enemies of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union wasn't a twinkle in Lenin's eye when the rifle was designed. When sources make very basic mistakes like this, it makes me question the rest of what they say...

P
 
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