Mosin Nagant question

N

North East Redneck

New member
I'm sure this has been asked many times, but I'm new to the old milsurp thing. LGS has one, receiver and bolt have matching numbers, made 1943. Looked at it casually, but thinking about buying it now. Price is $129. I realize I could purchase one for less online, but its right there. What should I look for that's positive, and what negatives should I be aware of?
 
You could buy one on line for $99,and then pay shipping,and transfer fee to your FFL dealer,and you'd be ahead at the $129.At least you can look it over and touch it.Bore is at the top of the list for me,most of the rebuilds have great bores,and i just bought a pre-import for $100 that looked unfired inside.As long as it's not beaten half to death go for it.Cheap to shoot and like lays potato chips you cant buy just one.
 
mp- thanks for your input. Will check bore and #s on barrel. To me, it sounds like a great deal. The LGS has five or six of them, this one seems to be the one with the clearest numbers, and the stock is not bad at all. Worn, yup. Cracked, dented and scratched, not really. Maybe a few scratches.
The shop sells brass cased rounds for $50 per 100. Doesn't seem to bad. Another customer said they sell steel 'copper washed' cased rounds for less, I didn't ask the seller about that. I prefer to ask questions of those who are not trying to sell me something. Does this sound correct? I went in the shop to buy percussion caps and look at an 1860 Army repro. I am totally ignorant of the Mosin, but I want one.
I agree, why have it shipped and have to pay a transfer fee when its right there. Probably gonna buy it, or one of the same model if its gone.
 
You can pick up Russian copper washed steel cased ammo for the Mosin cheap ($75ish for 440 round spam can). It's surplus ammo and shoots pretty well generally, just make sure you clean the rifle well after shooting the stuff as it's corrosive. This stuff is the only thing I shoot in my Mosin, it's cheap which means I can shoot a lot of it when I'm so inclined. Only issue I see with buying a Mosin is it will lead to other Mil-Surp guns and more $$$ out of pocket. Oh well, can't take it with you anyway.

Stu
 
$75 for 440, steel cased. Sounds about like the customer at the shop said, he said he buys that and the brass cased rounds to reload. I'm gonna buy the gun. Looks like fun. What the hell, price is right.
 
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Sounds good, when you go to pick one out, remember to check the bores and the triggers. Mosin triggers can vary a lot. I have two and one has the often described long, creepy 10lb-ish trigger and the other is as good as some of my modern rifles. You might ask the shop if they have a gauge to check the headspace for your peace of mind. Many shops will throw this in for free if they have the gauges. I won't buy a gun that fails a no-go gauge, although it is technically safe until it fails a field gauge. If you are going to be involved with Mosins much it might be a good investment to get a headspace gauge for 7.62x54R.
 
$99 for the rifle, $75 for the ammo....and $149.50 for the headspace gauge. :D Buying one MN was okay. Now where did these other four come from?
 
$75 for 440, steel cased. Sounds about like the customer at the shop said, he said he buys that and the brass cased rounds to reload. I'm gonna buy the gun. Looks like fun. What the hell, price is right.
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I can't imagine reloading for the Mosin. It's just not cost effective for me. I also don't load 7.62x39mm for my SKS for the same reason. Wolf ammo is cheap enough I don't worry about it. I suppose if I were shooting competition with the Mosin it might be worthwhile to load for it.

Stu
 
Several years ago, at a gunshow, my MN addiction started with a $100, out the door, M91/30. Be carefull, they a cheap and fun to shoot. And, can be accurate enough to put meat on the table, if you hunt. Make the buy and go to the range. Visit the 7.62x54R website and you will most likeley be hooked.
 
and $149.50 for the headspace gauge.
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I have 3 M/N rifles and carbines now, and had 7 at one time. Never got a head space gauge. Only had one that I was a bit worried about. Duct tape, an old tire, and a long piece of string was my head space gauge. :cool:

oh, and it was fine.
 
I'm gonna go and look at it again over the weekend. Thanks for all the info. Sounds like the headspace thing could be key to purchasing that one or looking at others. I am guessing that the LGS will be cool and help me out with any questions I have. Again, thanks guys!
 
Do you know which model you were looking at? There are several different models of the Mosin. I have the M44 Carbine with the attached/folding bayonet. There is also the M38 and 91/30 models IIRC, and a few others. Ask if they have the ammo pouch and kit that goes along with the rifle too. Mine didn't have it but its in good enough condition that I didn't mind (I have my own gun cleaning kit and mag pouches anyway).

Good luck with your purchase and keep us posted. FYI the 440rd ammo cans sell for about $75 at Aimsurplus.com. Add about $20 shipping and you're looking at less than a $100 for a good amount of ammo, much better than $50/100rds.
 
N E R

If the rifle isn't all cosmolined up, try and get a good look at the bore and muzzle for sharpness of rifling. I always bring a round with me to set in the muzzle. It will provide a good indication of muzzle wear or counter boring. I don't recall hearing of too many MNs having head spacing issues. The rimmed cartridge helps to make this a non-issue FWIR. Good luck!
 
True, I have yet to find a Mosin with unsafe headspace (I'd hope they check them when imported so if there are any bad ones they are not getting to shooters' hands), but it is possible. I have seen a couple that fail no-go gauges but still pass field. But it depends on a lot of tolerance factors. I saw one guy who bought two Mosins and one failed no-go and the other passed. He swapped the bolt heads and then they both passed.
 
Be warned: I'm sitting here wearing a Mosin Nagant T-shirt. I now own quite a few of these guns, and can hardly pass one up if it looks decent. I have one from 1899 that I would not hesitate to shoot, but choose not to. I have two others with hex receivers, I have an M44, a Finnish M39, and an M91/59. I bought one with a bore that looked like a coal mine, and shot it shiny clean.

Everybody here has offered great comments. You will really enjoy reading the comparison of the AR, AK and Mosin-Nagant HERE

These rifles are a legend. I've bought ammo as cheaply as 18 cents per round, and that was last week when I was offered two 440 round SPAM cans of ammo for $75 each. The mid-WWII dates (1942 & 1943) are very common in the crateloads of M91/30 Mosins coming into the country. Most of these have very clean bores and shoot well. The stocks are easy to refinish if you are so inclined. Check for a smoothly operating bolt. Most are. Some are excessively tight, but the improve with time. Be prepared to do some cleaning, but don't buy one so gummed up with cosmoline that you cannot even pick it up to examine it. Pull back the bolt. Then carefully depress the trigger to release the bolt from the rifle, and look down the bore in the direction of a light source. Most of these have extremely heavy rifling and are some of the most over-built guns ever made. They are like portable tanks. With a 28½ inch barrel, any inaccuracy isn't the gun's fault.
 
When you pick up your rifle you are going to need to get something to remove the cosmoline off with.

Warning do not shoot the rifle without removing the cosmoline first. I know it is tempting to. I have seen people that did not know any better do this at the range, and locked the action up tight. It did open with a lot of force after the rifle cooled off a whole lot.

Remove the action from the stock, and disassemble the bolt, and place all the small parts in a tub. Hold the barrel over the tub, and spray the living daylights out of it with either carb cleaner, or brake parts cleaner. Afterwards wipe them parts, and run a couple of patches down the bore. Then oil everything real well.
 
For $129 I'd buy it, we see them locally for a few dollars less, but at least in my state the transfer fee's make the $129 look good.
 
I can't imagine reloading for the Mosin. It's just not cost effective for me
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Depends what you do with your rifle.
You can buy cheap, inaccurate ammunition for any rifle...if you're more concerned with how much lead you can send, or just don't need or demand high accuracy.

I reload for mine so I can hit 8" steel plates at 565 yards.

No prayer in the world to do that with commercial, much less .20/round commie surplus ammo.
 
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