I Need An Answer To Why Is The Mosin Nagant Is So Popular ?

The only thing going for them is CHEAP.
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I would say that this is very untrue, though they are regarded as pretty much the hi points of the rifle world, they have definitely withstood the test of time and it hasn't always been because they were cheap.

The whole gun is a bad design forced to be that way because of the rimmed ammo it used.
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how is it bad? these weapons were fired a lot by a primarily poorly trained army of conscripts and some served through multiple wars and yet after sitting in a warehouse for longer than my parents have been alive(yes I'm a young'un) and yet thousands, if not millions of them are still putting thousands of rounds through them a year. just what makes it a terrible design?
The Russians and Chinese do not care about quality.
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this is not true at all. just because 99% of what you see at your neighborhood dollar store has made in china stamped on it doesn't mean that this has always been the case. believe it or not russia and china were the biggest players in americas dont make mad list....oh wait a minute... THEY STILL ARE.

Now, according to some people, it seems every Russian rifle was manufactured to be a sniper rifle.
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I would say I need to see some quotes printed up. the english were renowned marksmen and yet enfields have a WIDE margin for hit or miss accuracy. enfield pattern 14s and american model 1917s had 2,5,and 6 channel rifling, try telling me that those did not offer a huge variability in accuracy?

My question to you is where were all these experts when the cheap guns were there but the ammo was not?
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back when I was barely able to squeeze a trigger I remember forcing my older brother to drag me around with all his highschool friends, back then an SKS was around $80 and 7.62x39 was less than 8 cents a round. every teenager owned one, hunted with it, plinked with it, bubba'd it, trashed it and all the parents didn't bat an eye because, hey, it's a cheap chinese or russian piece of... uh stuff. now SKS are going for $500 and 7.62x39 is around 19 cents a round... tell me one person that now claims that an SKS is a horrible design made by a nation that didn't care what it issued it's troops.

Buy one, go to the range and have a good time, but don't try to pawn it off as the greatest rifle ever built.
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again... who has said this? both my little brother and I love our enfields to death and I would never in a million years choose a 91/30 over one. the bolt does lack a certain "click, snap, and smack" that I've always identified with the cycling of a bolt action and it doesn't seem to be built to the tightest tolerances but it is far from the garbage that you make it out to be.

I would love to see the opinions about mosins in 15 years when they are going to $250 and ammo is 30 cents a round.
 
Plenty of nonsense on this forum about " built to shoot 1000 yards" and sniper rifle quality. Most people think long range with snipers, but I would bet a lot of those shots were inside 200 yards with snow for a backdrop. Rebarreling? It means that a specific action is tried and proven and lends itself to other applications. I remember seeing Russians at auctions that were dangerous attempts to convert to 30-06. Seems funny nobody tried to put another barrel on instead of going that route considering you could only get Norma ammo for them. I seem to be one of the few that actually has. A simple bolt assy.? Only if you don't take it apart. During the Korean war the U.S. converted thousands of Arisakas to 30-06 for the South Koreans because they could not deal with the "complicated" M-1's and Carbines. Not made up, I just sold one at auction. You think a Russian woodcutter was any better? I really don't care. I recently sold a carbine in the cosmoline to my buddy's kid for $60 bucks with a couple boxes of ammo. It was under the bench so long I don't even remember the trade that I got it with. Go to the range and have a blast, but it is what it is. Nobody wants to answer my question: If they are so great, why didn't anybody buy one when Norma was the only game in town?

On the side, the Chinese did not bother to heat treat the trunnion blocks on their AK's or bother to thread the barrels on the models I saw. You think their work got worse since the 50's?
 
As far as quality goes my Hungarian M-44 is one of the most beautiful Mosin Nagants Ive ever seen. Ive also killed a doe with it at over 200yrds. I have two others that shoot almost as well as the M-44. Do I think the mosin is all that? For the money, you damn right I do. I dont have any future plans to try and turn it into my dream rifle. I have two carbines that didnt cost me $200 for the two together but now you couldnt buy one for that price. Im glad I got mine while the getting was good. I love all three of mine but I dont pray to them. They arent God, they are rifles. Inexpensive, accurate, well built, easy to disassemble, even the bolt, cheap to shoot, historical, fun rifles.
 
Gunplummer said:
Plenty of nonsense on this forum about " built to shoot 1000 yards"
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You are right, 1000 yards is nonsense. We all know it is actually Meters, and 2000.

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I would love to see someone shoot something with that 2000 meter sight :D

gunplummer, it's a good thing you mentioned that stuff about chinese AKs, I better warn my older brother before he swaps out that flash hider and puts another couple crates of ammo through his junk Chinese AK.
 
In carbine form, the MN makes a handy and low cost deer rifle or maybe a spare rifle to leave at the cabin when you don't want to leave anything more expensive. Buy lots of surplus ammo for pennies on the dollar compared to modern ammo.

There are times when cheap is good.
 
Five pages worth of debate and discussion thats why they are so popular :D. I bet this thread has another few pages left to go.
 
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Military surplus rifles have always been popular. The usually cost a lot less than sport rifles when they were first released. That was usually the most significant factor. My first purchase was a 30/40 Krag for the price of $40. I have been a bit crazy about mil/surp ever since. I have a lot of them now and at least one of each in original configuration. The rest have been sporterized (no bubbas). Keep in mind that I have never sold a firearm so its resale value is of no concern to me.
 
thanks for all the replies folks, i am learning more than i ever expected about the MN.

keep'em coming, i love most of the comments, some seem to be a tad bit on the sour side, yet informative !
 
BPowderkeg, ONLY

Look at the original question you posted. I answered it. Some of these guys even admit they were little tykes when the SKS was big. Some claim to really know about the design. I am probably the only guy on this thread that has ever rebarreled one or done the Finnish 8mmx54R version. (Fin powder reload book if interested) The Russian rifle was in this country BEFORE I WAS BORN, and you could not sell them once the ammo dried up. (Except to dumb kids like me through the mail, but that is another story) Piece of history my butt. Nobody wanted them except for a cheap wall hanger. There really is nothing to strip off one except for another Russian. The barrel is an odd size (Time for an expert to chime in about fin barrels) and I have burned better wood in my stove. Until the import law changed and released tons of cheap guns and ammo into the U.S. the Russian bolt rifle was at the bottom of the pile. Yes, it is true, at one time you could not even import whole Mausers, only parts. Now, Mr. Bpowderkeg, add that up and it comes out to: CHEAP AMMO.
 
The Mosin Nagant is fascinating for all the reasons mentioned above. Also, it is a rifle that many people around the world have used in war for over 100 years. Not many rifles remain in service this long in so many countries. It sells on sheer historical significance. Literally millions of these were built, packed in cosmoline and stockpiled in bunkers around the world along with millions of rounds of ammo "just in case". Since many of those nations later upgraded their rifles, they started to retrieve the MN rifles and sell them off to make room in their bunkers for newer rifles.

Even today, the MN would make a serviceable self defense or offensive weapon until you could acquire a modern semiautomatic rifle. Consider that some of the communist nations have huge armies. Even with slow, antique bolt action Mosin Nagant rifles, an army of several million soldiers could fend off an attack from a technologically superior foe or they could go on the offensive and wreak havoc because of their large numbers.

The Mosin Nagant wouldn't be anybody's first choice for a battle rifle but if it is all you have, it would shoot hard and straight. When you run out of ammo it makes a great bayonette mount and trench club.
 
"The Russian rifle was in this country BEFORE I WAS BORN, and you could not sell them once the ammo dried up."

Generally the ones that were in the United States prior to the 1970s were ones made by Westinghouse on contract for the Czarist Governemnt. When the communists took over, they defaulted on the contracts.

The United States army used Westinghouse Moisin-Nagants in basic training for many US Doughboys after the US entry into WW I as a means of freeing up Springfields and Enfields for front-line troops.

The Moisin-Nagants that were "converted" to .30-06 were Westinghouse rifles so adulterated by Francis Bannerman's company in the 1920s. To fit the longer round, the receiver ring had to be dished out. These are generally considered to be unsafe to fire.

Remington and Winchester both loaded the Russian round for commercial sale (as well as the 8mm Lebel) through the 1950s, possibly into the early 1960s.
 
What he said, except the hock shops were full of WWII and Korean war bring backs by the mid-50's. I lived in LA in the early 70's and every gun shop and hock shop had Tokarev pistols also dirt cheap. Same thing, no ammo. You younger guys are spoiled. Get on the net and order ammo. You know nothing about the bad years for buying guns and ammo. Most of you are missing the whole point of this post. Reread the original post. Nobody cares what you buy, they want to know why. Cheap ammo is why. Time for some honest answers. How many would have bought a rifle that you can not get ammo for? No nonsense,YES or NO answer.

Afterthought: Has nothing to do with this. I seem to remember seeing an 1895 Winchester being chambered in 7.62x54R. Could have been a rework, I don't know. Any Winchester collectors on this thread?
 
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I had never even heard of a mosin nagant until the mid 90's. By then ammo was plentiful just like it is now. I have surplus ammo and factory ammo that isnt so cheap for my mosin's. Would I have bought one if I couldnt get ammo for it, of course not. The fact is since Ive had mine I havent had any issues getting ammo. I bought 600rds of bulgarian brass cased ammo from a local gun shop here in town. I have paid $30 for quality ammo. I dont really care how it was in the 50's or 60's. Now I can get it anywhere because there are tons of mosin nagant's here. I have my rifles because I like them. Period.
 
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