Mosin-Nagant, good gun or not??

You are confusing good gun with good round. I have actually talked to two guys that said when they sit for deer with theirs they have the safety off. I have an old Carcano that shoots a lot better than 1 1/2 " groups, but it is a lousy deer gun. The scope is unhandy to use (side mount), and the safety is also unhandy to use. Carcanos have been around in large quantities for many years and I only ever saw one in the deer woods. Point is, if you want a cheap, handy, deer hunting gun, you would be a lot better off with a Mauser, .303 British (They strip down pretty light), or an Arisaka. You rarely have to dig through piles of them to find good shooters.
 
you rarely have to dig through a pile to find a good mosin. I dont get why everyone is whinning about the safety. Its not that big a deal. If it works, be thankful it has one. All 3 that I have will shoot QUALITY ammo pretty good.
 
time to hit the weights

Gunplumber writes:

You are confusing good gun with good round. I have actually talked to two guys that said when they sit for deer with theirs they have the safety off. I have an old Carcano that shoots a lot better than 1 1/2 " groups, but it is a lousy deer gun. The scope is unhandy to use (side mount), and the safety is also unhandy to use. Carcanos have been around in large quantities for many years and I only ever saw one in the deer woods. Point is, if you want a cheap, handy, deer hunting gun, you would be a lot better off with a Mauser, .303 British (They strip down pretty light), or an Arisaka. You rarely have to dig through piles of them to find good shooters.

Really? The safety is too difficult to engage? My 9 year old nephew can disengage the safety and in total silence (as needed for hunting). I don't want to throw stones but anyone who CAN'T disengage a Mosin safety either has an ailment (my mistake) or needs to get to the gym.

Not a "good" deer gun? Sure, when compared to my Rem 700 in .308, it is an old "tired" gun, with a heavy and trigger pull and a "HEAVY" safety. But, compared to a .243 it has more stopping power, it certainly is better medicine for a deer than a handgun, a .223 or a muzzle loader yet a lot hunt deer with those.

Perhaps shooting Bambi at the feeder or the water hole is a bit too EASY with the .308 Rem 700. Perhaps "handicapping" myself with an ancient WWI rifle puts some "sport" back in the hunt. I dunno - perhaps that is why I also bowhunt...
 
Ticonderoga said:
Really? The safety is too difficult to engage?
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Where has Gunplummer stated this?

Ticonderoga said:
Not a "good" deer gun? Sure, when compared to my Rem 700 in .308, it is an old "tired" gun, with a heavy and trigger pull and a "HEAVY" safety. But, compared to a .243 it has more stopping power, it certainly is better medicine for a deer than a handgun, a .223 or a muzzle loader yet a lot hunt deer with those.
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Bamashooter said:
you rarely have to dig through a pile to find a good mosin.
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I don't think we're talking about digging through piles of Mosins like finding a DVD in the clearance table at Walmart. However, with the exception of Remington 870s, every time I pilfer through the selection of Mosins at gun stores it's a chore to find one that's actually worth buying. Yes, they're cheap. Yes, I can find one with a "that'll do 'er" label. But the sheer number available and price has me "looking through the pile". It's both common to find accurate and not-so-accurate ones out there (in terms of my definition of "accurate" anyway).

For the record, I think Mosins are one heckuva rifle. The cartridge has been around forever and a day for a reason. But they're far from being the end-all be-all with no drawbacks to the design.
 
The difficulty of using the safety varies WILDLY from rifle to rifle.

My brother got a fairly new rifle with a BEEFY spring and it's a tremendous fight to deal with, whereas the safety on my Mosin is no problem.

Condition also varies wildly, and it's entirely possible you will have difficulty finding a good one.
 
gunplummer stated... the safety is unhandy to use.. I think its diffrent, certainly managable. All the mosin's I have bought have been all matching #'s guns with no major issues. Im sure if I had a ''pile'' to dig through I could find one that wasnt so great.
 
They have plenty of cheap power, i.e. "Enemy At The Gates". An actual video from the Eastern Front reportedly depicts a round knocking down a German soldier, then wounding or killing a second soldier.
For a bit of extra money, seasoned collectors Always prefer the authentic Finnish rifles.

My MN 44 put a bullet hole through both sides of a large green steel oxygen cylinder. The cylinder stood about four feet high.
The round was typical 50's yellow-tip Bulgarian surplus from the dusty gray can.
Can typical surplus 8mm Yugo or Czech ammo also do this from my Yugo Mauser 48A?
 
Ahhh...the love of the old war girl known as the Mosin Nagant. Great rifle, probably my favorite WW2 bolt action rifle; with the Mauser coming in second. Nothing like firing the M 91/30 and pretty much hitting what you aim at. Its not whether you can hit a 2 liter bottle at 100 yards. Its what part of it do you want to hit. ;)
 
The difficulty of using the safety varies WILDLY from rifle to rifle.
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Yep... the same is also true of how smoothly the bolt operates and how prone it is to sticking. The bolt on my buddy's 91/30 seems very crudely finished, doesn't work smoothly, and very prone to sticking, the bolt on my M44 in contrast is far more nicely finished, works smoothly and doesn't stick no matter how much it gets shot.
 
If you can disengage a Russian rifle safety, while walking around, and not taking one of your hands off the gun, then you really are good. By the time you get the gun back up the deer is long gone. Never really looked in to it, but a simple cross-bar safety might be feasible.
 
Mosin Nagant

My husband just got his for Christmas, after much anticipation. We went to the gun range with it, and he found it was quite accurate (he was expecting it to shoot high). His main complaint about them is that the recoil is so horrible with the steel butt that he has to get a pad for the end of it. His dad told us some shooters used maxi pads as butt pads for them (lol)! He really likes it anyway, and besides, how many (reliable) guns can you buy for just over $100?
 
handgunchick said:
His main complaint about them is that the recoil is so horrible with the steel butt that he has to get a pad for the end of it. His dad told us some shooters used maxi pads as butt pads for them (lol)!
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I put one of these on my Mosin, more to add to the length of pull than for recoil. I was surprised how much it helped with recoil, making it much more enjoyable to shoot. Cheap and easy to install, but it still pained me to take the rifle out of its issued condition. But not as much as it hurt to fire a few dozen rounds through without it...

http://www.combathunting.com/product.cgi?group=205&product=11588
 
I used to buy crappy airsoft guns for more. I got a mosin off of Buds Gun Shop and it was in near perfect condition. It shot nicely as well. For the price I would be happy with anything that shoots.
 
Is it good for what? Your use may dictate the answer. You also have to ask in compared to what. In general, the Mosin's are crudly finished clubs that throw lead. Some fairly well, some not so well. And if they are all that good why are they less than $100? Even in the realm of milsurps the Mosins are much less saught after than about any other milsurp available. There's gotta be a reason. If you think the Mosin is good than what would you call bad? There just isn't that many rifles out there worse than them. People like them because they are cheap not because they are good. Price em at $300 and they'd sit on the shelves to never be bought. It's a supply and demand thing and the supply isn't all that great and neither is the demand. Again, ask yourself why.

LK
 
And if they are all that good why are they less than $100?
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Gee.... I dunno... could it have a little to do with the fact that 37 MILLION Mosin Nagants were manufactured in Russia alone throughout the rifle's history?

Even in the realm of milsurps the Mosins are much less saught after than about any other milsurp available. There's gotta be a reason.
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Again... you never stopped to consider that there seem to be by far more of them out there than any other mil-surp rifle?

Price em at $300 and they'd sit on the shelves to never be bought.
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I'm not so sure about that... the carbine versions have already steadily risen in price. A few years ago an M44 or M38 could easily be found for $80, lately, in this area at least, you'd be getting a good deal if you pay $150, and $180 is pretty common. They do sell.

It's a supply and demand thing and the supply isn't all that great and neither is the demand. Again, ask yourself why.
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What in the heck are you yammering on about? Supply isn't that great? The supply of them is greater than any other mil-surp firearm out there.
 
How many were imported to the U.S.? What are their numbers as compared to other guns? I'm willin to bet that more Springfields and Enfields are in the U.S. than Mosins. U.S. Production sporter bolt actions smoke the Mosin numbers.

Basically, all the Mosin fans skirt the question. 2 thing..... For a gun to be good a majority of it's features should be good and for a gun to be good it should at least be average or better when stacked up against the competition. The Mosin falls on it's face on both fronts. The question is not whether or not the Mosin is a good value but rather is it a good gun. The other Milsurps smoke it and so do 95% (or more) of production U.S. rifles.

Rifle Traits:
Mosin Trigger? Fail
Mosin Ergos? Fail
Mosin Accuracy? Fail
Mosin Handling? Fail
Mosin Action? Fail
Mosin Durability? A
Mosin Firepower? A

Guess 2 outta 7 traits when stacked up against all the other rifles available to us here in the U.S. isn't bad. Cough, Cough.

The only attractive thing about the Mosins are price and the price of ammo. Those in itself doesn't make it a good gun. Maybe a value but not good gun. You price them at the same price as a Savage ($300) and only a fool or collector would touch them. You price em the same as a Springfield, Mauser, Enfiled, Etc and only a fool or a collector would touch them. $150-$180 is a long ways below the competition. I guess if you don't think good is a direct comparison to the competitive than yes, a mosin may be a good gun. As compared to a rock.

Compare the Mosin rifle to the revolver. The revolver is cheap and has many of the same traits as the rifle. But does any one say it's a good revovler? No.

LK
 
Rifle Traits:
Mosin Trigger? Fail
Mosin Ergos? Fail
Mosin Accuracy? Fail
Mosin Handling? Fail
Mosin Durability? A+

I would disagree with every answer except the last two, I think you got those right. The trigger on mine is nice and crisp and actually pretty light. The ergos are good enough for the average shooter, it certainly is not no r700 or Winchester 70 but for the times it makes it good enough. And lastly the accuracy, hit or miss but more times than not they are good enough to use for hunting, I can get 2" at 100 and see a friend shoot his at soup cans at 300yrds with irons and garbage surplus ammo.

Im thinking maybe you had a bad experience with one rifel and assumed they were all like that, your wrong. I will admit that there are lemons with these out there but just check the rifling and make sure the bolt is smooth and im sure you'll be happy.
 
In my experience:

Rifle Traits:
Mosin Trigger? B (with shimming and polishing), fail (with no work)
Mosin Ergos? A (took some training)
Mosin Accuracy? B (1.5 MOA, little improvement with trigger shims and bedding) (Edit: I should add: if you mail order one, you could get a barrel that's complete junk. I got lucky. If you buy it in store and it's got a good barrel, it's well worth it [around me, in store Mosins tend to cost about $130-150])
Mosin Handling? B (I've felt less recoil from rifles firing this size cartridge, but it works)
Mosin Action? C (after work), fail (before work)
Mosin Durability? A (I agree)
Mosin Firepower? A (I agree)

They may not be great rifles out of the box for most people, but for the cash, you can't ask for a better work horse rifle. If you get one with a good bore and crown (or if you're willing to counter-bore: a good bore and bad crown), you can transform it into a pretty nice rifle. They shoot well with a good barrel and there's tons of parts/accessories for them.
 
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It is a GOOD gun, but there are BETTER guns to hunt with. For 100 bucks, you can't beat them, but you can use them to beat things with, or shoot, or paddle, etc.
 
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