Deer hunting with Mosin Nagant 91/30 or m44 carbine?

T

thunderbird101

New member
Hello All,

I currently use an open sight sks for deer hunting, but several places I hunt at reuqire a shot of over a hundred yards, which is close the limit of my accuracy with the open sight sks. I am looking to upgrade to a scoped Mosin Nagant, which will increase my range and accuracy as well as bullet size.

My question is, which would be a better variant of the Mosin to buy. I am considering the rifle 91/30 or m44 carbine. I am considering that the shorter barrel of the M44carbine would be easier to wield in the woods and a tree stand. (I hunt with various friends at different locations, so sometimes I am in a tree stand, other times in dense brush, and other times in an open field.) However, I was wondering if the shorter barrel would decrease the accuracy? Also, I would like to put a scope on the Mosin while still using original wood stock. I'm not a fan of the sporty stocks, but prefer the original WWII look. Is it possible to attach a scope with the original wooden stock?

In a nutshell, which is preferred for deer hunting and why? The Mosin Nagant 91/30 or the M44 carbine variant? I am considering accuracy, ease of control, recoil, and the ability to attach a scope.

Also, as a side note, are the prices of Mosin's going up? I recently found at the local gun show the average price of Mosin's were around $120. :eek: What happened to the days of $70?!?!?! :confused:

Thank you very much!
 
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The shorter barrel won't effect accuracy. It will effect velocity to a degree.

The stock won't interfere with mounting a scope. You will have to either drill and tape the action for the scope mounts or use scope mounts that "clamp" onto the rifle.

Either the rifle or carbine will work for deer.

What happened to the days of $70?!?!?!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb9By-lODgk

Steve Miller has the answer to that question
 
I have seen multiple different bases to mount a scope to for the MN. It looks like they mount to where the current sights are. I have not tried it yet but I plan to. A couple I have seen require that you get pistol scope because otherwise it would be so far away from you. I plan on getting my MN scoped, just waiting for the funds. I think the MN is just getting more popular because of how cheap it is/was so they know they can sell it for more now. Supply and demand I guess you could say. My cousin has an M44 and I have the 91/30. I think the price difference would make me stick with the 91/30.

Just me and I am very new to rifles.
 
Thank you all for the input! My main concern between the 91/30 and the M44 is the accuracy. However, upon reading several posts on another forum, it seemed to question the general accuracy of MN's. The accuracy of kept up MN's that are in great condition is wonderful, however I am beginning to wonder if MN's that you would buy at a gun show are going to be questionably accurate. Any comments here?
 
Mosin Nagant M44. Worked pretty good 50-60 yards on a medium sized doe. One shot in the boiler room, right where I put the cross hairs. I believe the Mosin Nagant is more than accurate enough.

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I can only speak from my experience but my M44 had the bayonette removed, and had been laser bore-sighted. I fired a total of 3 rounds to verify zero before the 4th was fired to harvert a doe. In my experience, lacking the "fire poker", my m44 hit right where I put the crosshairs.
 
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I sold this custom stocked Mosin a couple years ago when dire need arose. It was a sweet handling rifle. If I ever customize another Mosin it will be rebarreled to 9.3mm.
TR
 
the russian guides who take rich suckers on bear hunts for animals weighing in at 1500 pounds, use the ancient 91/30 and variants with cheapo pistol scopes.

seems that rifle round that penetrates car at 1000 feet penetrate bear real good at 300..
 
It's my understanding that the bayonet on the M44 can affect point of impact of the bullet depending on how the gun was sighted. Perhaps someone with more experience with the M44 can explain in more detail.
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All Mosin-Nagant rifles and carbines were designed to be fired with the bayonet affixed or extended (whatever the case may be with a particular rifle/carbine). This is why you will see serial numbers etched or stamped on detachable bayonets. The bayonets were serially matched to the rifles, for a good, solid fit.

All proof testing, accuracy testing, and point of aim testing was done with the bayonet affixed/extended during the manufacturing processes and re-arsenal processes.

Accuracy may be acceptable with the bayonet removed or stowed, but they were, in fact, intended to be fired with the bayonet pointed down range.

If you dig around the rifle forum for posts along the lines of "What do these marks mean on my Mosin?", you'll likely find one of my more detailed explanations of the proofing and accuracy testing process.
 
I took the bayo off of my M44 and she shot great. 7.62x54 will knock down anything that a .308 would.

Pick up both and try them. If you're still hunting, which would you rather drag around in the brush all day.

I bought mine for 90. 90 for a great, dependable rifle was a steal.
 
I'd go with the 44 myself. As far as point of aim, I'd take the bayo off and leave it off. Sight in the scope and you should be good.

I think any Mosin that is in good condition is going to have good accuracy no matter where it's bought at.
 
Been thinking a lot about the Mosin for hunting. My budget is limited, as I am a college student. I found a source of Mosins for $90, which sounded great....... until it dawned on me that I would need to purchase a decent scope (around $50?) and then pay to have it mounted by a gunsmith (another $50?) Overall I would be looking at around $200.

However, I currently have an SKS w/ an open sight. I was thinking I could simply spend $50 for a scope and be done w/ it. Certainly mroe appealing costwise.

Any comments on this?
 
Been thinking a lot about the Mosin for hunting. My budget is limited, as I am a college student. I found a source of Mosins for $90, which sounded great....... until it dawned on me that I would need to purchase a decent scope (around $50?) and then pay to have it mounted by a gunsmith (another $50?) Overall I would be looking at around $200.

However, I currently have an SKS w/ an open sight. I was thinking I could simply spend $50 for a scope and be done w/ it. Certainly mroe appealing costwise.

Any comments on this?
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decent scope for $50?? No. For something that will hold up to the recoil and last any amount of time you need to spend at least twice that if not 4 times, depending on the quality you want and even then, your talking low end stuff.

Mounted for $50?? No. The mount alone will cost you close to that and depending on which one you get, the mounting cost will be somewhat expensive. I would call a local gunsmith and inquire as to their cost for this service. I would say your total cost would be somewhere around 3-500 depending on the quality of scope.

As far as mounting a scope on your SKS...you probably wont get the results you are wanting. The accuracy of the SKS for hunting is limited to 150 ish give or take which should be easy to do open sight. Mounting a scope on it wont make much difference.
 
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