Fed up with Mosin Nagant

I'm a former Mosin 91/30 owner.
Too many range sessions with Czech light ball and a mallet to get the bolt open finally took its toll. (Yes, I did scrub out the chamber. It functioned just fine with Hungarian heavy ball, and commercial Tula/Barnaul/Ulyanovsk ammo) Sorting Albanian ammo for rim thickness to see what would actually chamber in my BIL's M44 was also hilarious.
They're fun for crufflers and if you want a nice old historic rifle for low cost, but as a shooter...meh, didn't do much for me.
 
80 bucks for a good condition milsurp with matching numbers...hell, 80 bucks for a rifle....Well, hell, 80 bucks for a fairly powerful rifle.

another 80-90 bucks for a gi-normous spam can of ammo

what isnt good about that combo.

most issues that the mosin faces can be fixed in fairly simple methods.


Oh yeah LOL @ Home Defense gun, umm, length is gonna be an issue. Like running down the hall with one of those gas price changing stick thingies.
 
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I guess some people are pickier than others. I know for a fact that many-a-deer has been dropped by Mosin-wielding hunters using open sights. If you don't like the 91/30, pick up an m44 or m38! They're shorter and handier, with an even bigger muzzle blast. You can get non-corrosive soft-points for hunting, and enjoy the cheapo corrosive stuff for range trips. I've shot 5 different Mosins, most of them 91/30s, and never had the bolt stick. Odd. I recently bedded the stock and recrowned the muzzle of my m44, and it's now as accurate as a deer gun needs to be in my neck of the woods. If you can hit a softball-sized target consistently from 100 to 150 yards, then you're good to go for real "stalk through the woods" hunting that takes place here in the east. If I were going hunting, I would rather take my k98k because of the finer sights, but the Mosin is perfectly capable of hunting if you are.

Are there better guns for the job out there? Of course! But not at the same price-point. :D

Oh yeah - for my own personal enjoyment, I wouldn't want something that kicks much more than my m44. I agree that they are not necessarily the best guns for beginners just because of that. Otherwise, they're dead simple to disassemble, clean, and operate. Good design. For a beginner who has already past the 22lr level, I would get an SKS if you want to stick to surplus, a 243 bolt gun, a 357mag or 30-30 lever gun... there are lots of medium power options that will do the job great at the range and on eastern whitetail out to 150 yards.
 
I strongly suspect that the OP was just trying to get a rise out of the Mosinites, but just for fun I'll make a counter-point. My first firearm was a Mosin-Nagant (Romanian M44) and I still have it. I freely admit that it's not the most attractive gun ever made and, to blatantly steal a gun writer's synopsis, it has a trigger like a cannon lanyard. All that being said though, the darned thing always works and shoots where it's aimed with a more than acceptable level of accuracy and the best part is it cost me a whopping $55. Now, you can still get an arsenal-refurbished Russian 91/30 for $100-120 and ammo can still be had for $5-6/20 rounds. Having shot my younger brother's 91/30, I found the gun to be better finished, have a much better trigger, and be just as accurate if not more so than my M44 and that rifle cost a whole $100.

Are there better rifles than a M-N? Sure there are. My favorie rifle is my K31 followed by my Marlin Guide Gun, Saiga 223, and my M-N and M91 Carcano Cavalry Carbine tied for last in my collection. Can you find a better rifle for the money? No, I really don't think you can.
 
I don't know how senior you senior members are, but I bought mine through the mail. My first honest to God, get rid of the single shot 12 gauge, genuine deer rifle. I can't remember if it was $15 0r $20 dollars of hard earned hay bailing money. When it showed up, I was in shock. It was as long as I was tall. I scrubbed it until I think I almost wore the serial no.# off. Next came another shock. The only ammo available cost more than the gun did (Norma). I did get a deer, and it was to this day one of the longest shots I ever took a deer at. I still have it, but would I hunt with it? Heck no. I had a beautiful sporterized Krag and I would not hunt with that club either. The safety sucks, the bolt is over engineered, they suck to sporterize and it is like walking around with a 57' Pontiac axle all day. Those rifles have been around for a long time and at way cheaper prices. Nobody wanted them. If the ammo had never entered the states they would still be unknown to most shooters. You want one, have at it.
 
I love to take a trip back memory lane, and be able to buy a K98 or a Swede 96 or 38 for $100.But those days are long gone and so is the cheap ammunition for them.However someone just starting in the shooting game has the MN to cut their teeth on.Cheap to feed,bare bones,and fairly accurate.Want to branch out? then find yourself a Finn 28,30,or 39,they will shoot better than you're capable of.
 
It's an excellent platform for HD. See, many American homes have two inconspicuous defensive items in them: cutlery, for stabbing, and baseball bats, for bludgeoning. When you affix the yard-log bayonet to the Mosin you instantly have both at your immediate disposal. Think of it as a 19th Century Russian version of Darth Maul's lightsaber.
 
I love and hate my m44. I love its decent accuracy cheap ammo and the amazing deal i got ( $200 plus 500 rounds of brown bear ammo)

I hate the way my shoulder feels after 20 rounds.

I consider it my SHTF rifle for ammo availability and sheer durability.
I want an AR though......
 
All you MN guys just love the rifle. I get that it's cheap. It ought to be cheap. I shot the neighbor kid's MN and it kicked like a 30-06, the sights were about as bad as any rifle sights I've ever seen and the trigger pull might have been the worst I've encountered, though I'm sure a devoted follower could finally get used to it. And let's not forget the safety. Maybe it needed lubrication, but it was very tough to engage/disengage. Anyway, if you like the rifle, I'm happy for you. But...would you all have the same praise for the rifle if it was built to the same quality as you get now, but made new in Mexico by a second rate maker and still sold for $100. I don't think so. If you even mentioned it on this forum, you'd all be howling about what a piece of trash it was. You like it because it was a Russian war weapon. It's just a crudely made rifle with military history attached, and it's probably fun to take something that bad and make it shoot good. That's fine, and I can see that attraction, but I'll spend the 100 bucks on something else.
 
BUFF, I was once like you(last year in fact), and then last year I was at a friends house who was hosting a NFA shoot. After all the suppressed guns, and the Full Autos, the gun I liked most was LISTENING to the M44 get touched off.

That little bugger shut everyone down. It is one of the loudest rifles I have heard. I spent a little trigger time with it, and decided I had to have one.

I started searching, and got my hands on a Finnish M39. Gret gun(for what it is...a SHTF rifle), I found a 91/30 at my itty bitty LGS for $75(I'm getting it this weekend as another SHTF rifle). I'm still on the hunt for a moderately priced M44.

They are good for what they are. The ammo is cheap, and they make GREAT plinkers and SHTF guns.
 
The M/N Rifle

I have all 3 MN's the m-44 ,38 ,and the 91/30. Took about an hour to fix the triggers on these guns most feel like your pulling a truck mine are down to 3 lbs. break like glass. Accuracy was easy floated the barrels on them and they shoot 1 inch groups at 100 not bad for a 65 year old plus rifle. They aren't pretty but fun to shoot if you like to get the snot out of your shoulder.
 
This is an entertaining thread! :)

I love my 91/30. I am even sort of fond of the way it looks.

When I want to feel a nice trigger and a smooth bolt and shoot for 200+ yard accuracy I grab my Tikka.
When I want to have a hoot launching cheap ammo at paper with iron sights, I grab the Mosin.

Both have a place in my collection!
 
I shot the neighbor kid's MN and it kicked like a 30-06.
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And this is somehow a point against the rifle? It's the nature of the cartridge, you'll find most rifles of the same class will kick about the same. Would you also be in the front row at a rock concert and complain that the music was too loud?

the sights were about as bad as any rifle sights I've ever seen
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Please quantify what made them so "bad," it's not the best set-up, but it's pretty average and if you claim the Mosin sights are the worst you've seen, your experience with rifles must be quite far from diverse.

and the trigger pull might have been the worst I've encountered,
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Again no explanation as to how it's the "worst."

Anyway, if you like the rifle, I'm happy for you. But...would you all have the same praise for the rifle if it was built to the same quality as you get now, but made new in Mexico by a second rate maker and still sold for $100.
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Yes, probably. People don't praise the gun because it's Russian, if anything, there tends to be an anti-Russian bias that exists in the gun crowd in the USA. People praise the Mosin due to its rugged durable construction, reliability, potential for accuracy, and how fun it is to shoot, all which comes at an impressively low price.

Now praise is one thing, but the Mosin would almost certainly be less popular, wouldn't sell as well, if it were indeed made in modern Mexico rather than the now-gone USSR, that is if it were somehow stripped of its historical interest. But that's true of any firearm of historical interest; how many people would buy a Springfield 1903 if it were available today at the same price and quality, but instead, made in present-day Nicaragua, for example?

It's just a crudely made rifle with military history attached, and it's probably fun to take something that bad and make it shoot good.
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Simple doesn't always mean crude, and neither crude nor simple necessarily mean bad. Sometimes, simplicity its it's own kind of sophistication.

That's fine, and I can see that attraction, but I'll spend the 100 bucks on something else.
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Absolutely, it's your $100 and you can spend it however you see fit... just don't count on that $100 buying you a nicer gun of the same class as a Mosin; it almost certainly ain't gonna happen.
 
The OP must be referring mostly to the 91/30s?

I had one, but then fell for the handier Russian 44s. Both 44s had decent bores, but were not very bright (neither was I).
Using only the oldest Bulgarian ammo, my 'groups' from 50 yards resembled shotgun blast.

It would have been wiser to have waited, in order to find and try out small samples of x54R ammo from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia etc.

Sometimes we see an excellent Polish MN 44 at Memphis-area gun shows.
A friend found a very nice Hungarian 44 at a gun show in central FL months ago.
 
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Like was stated earlier the Mosin is so poular because they are cheap to buy and shoot. One guy compared it to the VW beetle.

The same reason the .22 LR is so popular. It is just really cheap. There are a lot better rimfire cartridges on the maket. But the .22 LR outsells them all put together.

I would say a large number, not all, of those who say "Get a mosin, they're awesome" probably don't own many nicer guns to compare it to. I grew up shooting Winchester, Ruger, Sako, Remington, etc. When I first picked up my buddies Mosin I almost laughed at how rudimentary it was.

But the more I handle the Soviet designed firearms the more I see that they are more rudimentary than what we normally see. Mosin's, AK's, SKS's, Makarovs. THey were simply built to function and fuction cheaply.

Price a Mosin, AK, SKS, or Makarov pistols at the prices of comparable arms like MAusers, 1903's, AR's, Garands, Beretta M9's and I am fairly certain the soviet weapons would not be so popular.
 
I would say a large number, not all, of those who say "Get a mosin, they're awesome" probably don't own many nicer guns to compare it to.
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False. The Mosin comes highly recommended because it does actually deliver a lot for very little money. It doesn't denote an inexperience to recommend something inexpensive to a beginner that would allow them to get into the world of shooting without scaring them away with high prices. In fact, it is probably more prudent to start cheap and find move upward if you find you want something more than to invest a ton of money into something you find you're just not into.

Price a Mosin, AK, SKS, or Makarov pistols at the prices of comparable arms like MAusers, 1903's, AR's, Garands, Beretta M9's and I am fairly certain the soviet weapons would not be so popular.
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The argument makes no sense. Why would a Makarov ever cost as much as an M9, when the latter is probably twice as complex as the former? Why would an SKS cost as much as Garand if it's simpler, and there's been nearly 3 times as many of them made as the Garand (and in at least 7 different countries)? It is like saying would anyone shoot .22lr if it cost as much as 30-06? The argument asks something that by definition couldn't be true because of the nature of the beast.

What's more, there's plenty of counter-examples, like some of the nicer AK variants which are popular and widely recommend (such as the Arsenal SGL-21) which are priced well within the AR price territory. Odd.

Incidentally, price and quality often don't correlate the way they're supposed to. A Ruger Mini-30 is basically a more expensive, less reliable alternative to the SKS, but that doesn't stop people from shelling out $600 or more on one. A PPK is in many if not most respects inferior to a Makarov, and people still buy the former for 3 times the price.

What's more, the prices of Soviet guns have gone up in many respects which hasn't curtailed demand, you certainly don't find Russian SKS rifles for $90 anymore, but today you'll have no trouble selling one at 3 or even 4 times that price. Also odd.
 
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