Most of you will never make it in the great outdoors anyway, so why worry about it? What you should be looking into is how to build traps and bows from natural materials and studying plants you can eat.
That's kind of a broad statement, made as if you knew all of us personally.
I thought the question was "would the mosin be a good survival rifle?"
I cant wrap my mind around survival meaning doing battle with hoards of "what ever".
Based on my ideals of survival is 'living a substance life style" and I would answer the question with YES. Agreed, there is more to substance then using a rifle to take game, much more. But I was under the impression this was a gun sight, and the question was about guns.
None of us know whether the OP has or hasn't visited other forms dealing with trapping, building cabins, gathering plants, fishing or what have you. Being a gun site he asked a gun question.
I thought I answered the question fairly, sticking to the forum topic, and again, I'd say YES THE MOSIN WOULD WORK IN A SURVIVAL (SUBSTANCE) LIFE STYLE.
I say this because I have seen many people use it as such. In substance living money isn't normally free flowing, its rare and hard to come by and must be spent wisely on what commodities one must have, including rifles and ammo.
In the days when you could get a Mosin for under $100, it was. Prices have climbed the last few years so maybe there are better, less expensive options.
Now days checking ammo prices, it seems a 223 bolt gun would be a better choice for a substance life style, do to cheap factory rifles (< $400) and ammo is plentiful and cheap. Looking at the MidwayUSA site, its about the cheapest ammo I've seen baring reloading. But not cheaper then an existing Mosin and an on hand supply of Mosin ammo.
In my first two years in Alaska I lived in a little cabin I built, squatting on railroad land, living more or less a substance life style. I didn't go out searching for the best "survival rifle" I used what I had.
Since then I got into a career, (couple of them) retired from both the Military and LE, make a fair retirement and have three gun cases full of rifles and other guns.
Many will, some wont, make a better substance living rifle. Doesn't matter I'm keeping them all, and will probably add a few more.
I'm into guns, I like shooting, I hunt, I shoot competition, but that doesn't mean that's all I know. I spent last winter teaching my son how to trap. Last fall while antelope hunting my granddaughter cursed prickly pear cactus, saying it had no use but to drive people nuts. I showed her how to peel and eat it, she found it tasty, not to mention the vit. content.
I took my grandsons fishing, and made them start fires in a pouring rain with nothing more then a pocket knife and matches. Also made them make their own spoons and forks out of wood.
I could go on, but the question was about a rifle in a Gun Forum.
In a gun forum, people ask about guns, we try to answer based on our experience. We or at least I don't try to condemn them by saying they should learn to plant crops, trap, fish or what ever. There are other sites to deal with other aspects of substance living.
But this is just MHO.
