Nagant recommendation

Brutus

Brutus

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Folks,
I don't own a Mosin Nagant.
However if I was to buy one in the future, and only one example, which one has the best qualities as a shooter?

Is it Finnish anything first?
I notice the Polish M44s are often the best surplus examples outwardly.

Opinions please.
 
I have several- the next one is always going to be the "best one". The one i would look for is the Finnish complete refurb w/ the replaced (Sako?) barrel. They are smaller dia. and better built. I like shooting American made Westinghouse manufactured 91/30.
 
My Tula 42 ex PEM is rare and shoots .75" groups with irons. Less than 7000 made as the Nazis were on the front door of the plant that particular year.
 
I'm assuming you need a good shooter. If you are willing to pay a lot of money, get a Finn one, they are the best. Otherwise, get an ex-sniper or just any Mosin with a VG+ bore. I had to disassemble and polish the bolt on my 91/30 pretty extensively to make it as smooth as a Finn one. Then polished the trigger and sear (not sanding, just polishing) and added a Finn style mouse trap spring to achieve nice and smooth two-stage 4lb trigger pull. Then did some work on making the barrel free floating and shimmed properly. I tweaked those shims to achieve the best accuracy with Chinese surpus and it shoots about ~2.5" 5 shot groups at 100m now all day long with iron sights.
 
I have had pretty much every Soviet variant and used a few Finnish variants over the years. If I had to pick one Mosin to own it would be a M38 Carbine. Practically it is better than the M44s as it is lighter, better balanced, and doesn’t have that bayonet to get in the way. For accuracy my M38 was able to do a 1-1/2” group at 100m with irons and handloads.

Overall most Mosins provided the bores are in good shape and fed good ammo will be fairly accurate rifles, its the handling that sucks on them.
 
Nothing wrong with a 91/30, the hexes are a bit nicer. Most of them are sighted in with the bayonet on which is a pain. The polish carbines are beautiful rifles, and one of my most accurate millsurps even with military ammo.
 
Brutus, IMHO, there is a lot of hype out there saying that the Mosin Nagants from one nation or another are better

That's what it mostly is, HYPE.

Some people just can't shoot Mosin Nagants of any model well, for a number of reasons.

If you're going to purchase one as an example for a small collection as well as a shooter, look for one of the excellent FTRs that come up occaisionally.

Expect to pay at least $500 by the time it's home. Maybe more if it's something special.

How old are you and how good are your eyes?? If you're like me, with aging eyes, I really prefer a scoped rifle.

There are lots of recent made repro sniper M91/30 rifles in Canada.

They're usually in excellent condition and often the owners never shot them.

Are you just looking for something that goes bang, without being concerned about accuracy, if so pick of one of the FTR examples and shoot cheap surplus ammo, if you can find it or get it shipped to you.

Mosin Nagants are like any other milsurp out there. Some are incredibly accurate, most are acceptable by military specs, with issue ammo.

I've got about a dozen different Mosin Nagants left. I got rid of all my M38s and M44s because they are brutal to shoot. Not bad offhand, but not comfortable either.

Some people get off on recoil, I don't.

All of my rifles, other than two, look factory fresh on the outside and inside.

One is a 91/30 PU sniper and the other is an M39 Finn

The PU sniper looks like it's been dragged over every bit of rough terrain in Europe. Numbers are all matching, bore is excellent, shoots better than I can hold.

The M39 Finn looks like new on the outside but has a badly pitted bore. The bore was packed in grease when I purchased it online from one of the dealers here and there was no way for him to know the condition. I just stuck it in a safe and never bothered to clean the preservative grease out of it.

Even with a pitted bore, I've been offered $1k for it.

It's been my overall experience with all the different Mosin Nagant variants that if the bore is in excellent condition, bedded properly and fed ammo they like, they will all shoot better than the people shooting them are capable of holding.

Poor bedding, badly worn throats/bores/muzzles will make any rifle a poor shooter.

Inconsistent ammunition or milsurp ammo will only exasperate you.

My advice to you is to find a recent FTR, in excellent condition, inside and out, with screw slots that aren't all buggered up by people not using appropriate sized screwdrivers.

That means if you have to, you can fix the bedding yourself and not try to repair who knows what was done to the rifle before you got it.

They are still plentiful and you can afford to be picky.

The last time I checked out the firearms at my LGS and Canadian Tire, they both had excellent M91/30 rifles on their shelves in the $500 range.

Several of the banner sponsors carry them in stock and reasonable prices.
 
Buy an M44 if you like the big fireball, but as the previous poster mentioned, the recoil is bad. Otherwise an unmolested M91/30 with a nice bore should do the trick. I also think the repro snipers are great but many of the mounted scopes are cheap Chinese repros. Make sure it is a Russian made scope.
 
Get full length Fin or soviet made pre WW2 91/30. Carbines are fun but almost double the price and are not as friendly as full length rifles if you are concerned about recoil/muzzle report. Prewar usually have better build quality than war time ones. Machining and such. I have 42 and 36, both are good shooters, 36 just feels better.
 
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