opinions of the arsenal refinished Mosin Nagant Russian M44 Rifle...

andre66

andre66

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at Tradeex. I know very little about rifles and even less about milsurps but i would love to have one as my first deer rifle.
Is there any drawback to buying an arsenal refinished rifle, would the M44 be a good choice for a deer rifle? It looks like reloading is a common practice in the milsurp world, will there be enough 7.62x54R ammunition for me to use until i start reloading for myself or is it hard to come by?
Thanks for any help
Andre
 
The M44 is a good choice as a first rifle for deer hunting, unless you're of really small stature and very sensitive to recoil, in which case a Chinese or Russian SKS might be a better option at a similar price (if you can find them). The 7.62x54R is somewhat similar to 30.06, versus the 7.62x39 fired by the SKS which is closer to 30.30 Winchester. A longer rifle like an M91/30 might also help with the recoil and provide a longer sight picture, but at the expense of the carbine's handiness in the bush. I picked up a laminate M44 from Tradeex last summer along with a K31, and was impressed with the quality of the rifle.

Currently, there seems to be a selection of soft point hunting ammo from Igman, Prvi Partizan and Sellier and Bellot (all from Eastern Europe), or even Norma if you're willing to pay for it. A few years ago Winchester was producing SP ammo in this calibre, but for some reason I haven't seen any myself. You'd think that the US ammo companies don't want people to buy these rifles over domestically produced ones, since I'm sure that there would be a market for SP ammo from those companies if they produced them. It might however simply be due to current restrictions on exporting US ammo in certain military calibres.

The 7.62x54R is a good round for deer and other big game, and you should easily enough be able to find a couple of boxes to sight in/familiarize yourself for hunting with it until you get into reloading. If you already practice shooting with a .22 rifle, a box or two of ammo will be enough to sight in the M44 and familiarize yourself to shooting it at closer ranges like within 100m. With its iron sights, someone with good eyesight and familiar with the rifle might even be able to kill deer at twice that range, but probably not without a fair bit more practice.

Aside from the folding bayonet looking funny, and the slightly clunky feel when operating the action when compared to a nice Mauser or Lee Enfield, an M44 is just fine for deer, especially in thick bush. One of Tradeex's M38s would also work fine (I got one a year ago) though I understand that their M44 rifles have mint bores whereas the M38s have clearly been used, even if still very good and servicable.

I really like the Laminate stock on my M44 and think it worth the extra $10 or so that it cost me. Anthony at Tradeex is a great person to deal with and I highly recommend his business.

Cheers,

Frank

Good Luck.
 
My (somewhat shorter) reply:

They are a blast to shoot with, they are cheap, get one.

Tony and Anthony are great guys (TradeEx), good to do business with them.

There's surplus ammo currently available (at Frontier for one, maybe other places too), get a crate now. Then, also get some commercial ammo, and plan on reloading if you shoot frequently.

Lou
 
M-44

M-44s are great little accurate carbines. The Polish ones from Factory 11 are among the best finished of all milsurps. I had to have one so I did! :D
But, for my part, among some other Holy Grails, I'd LOVE to find a Finn-marked Russian M-44!
I know there have been some around and a member of the EE boards even had three to sell at one time but I never had a chance to get near one of them...
PP.
 
Thanks for the replies, i am really leaning towards the M44, although the m38 looks good too, and lighter.
Andre
 
The M38 is well suited for deer in thick bush, though I think that you should speak to Anthony at Tradeex before you make a choice. IIRC, the bores on the M44s in stock are all mint, wheras the M38s have been used and are counter-bored (that is, about half an inch of rifling at the muzzle has been removed), which was done to repair damage on the crown from zealous use of a cleaning rod. It's not a big deal, simply the difference between a rifle that was used and refurbed vs. one that's practically mint.

You won't find 7.62 SP at any Walmart or Canadian Tire, but any substantial sporting goods/gun store should have some of the Eastern European brands to satisfy your needs, plus some cheaper surplus. Just make sure that you read up on how to clean your rifle after shooting surplus, and you'll be good to go.

Frank
 
As the Russians say, "What's a safety?" Kidding aside if you weld on a ring type extension on the cocking piece it can be easier to handle. Carrying with round in chamber with bolt open as some do is not as neat.
 
I've only used my M91/30 at a range where the safety was never utilized. In all honesty, I suspect that I'd carry it in the bush with the safety off most of the time, or at least whenever I'd want to be ready for a quick shot. I'd probably keep it on in a tree stand, but not while working the bush.
 
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