My new Mosin!
- Thread starter modrummer
- Start date
mapsjanhere
New member
The triangle with arrow mark is the stamp of the Izhevsk arsenal. You can find all you ever wanted to know about Mosin marks (and much more you didn't even want to) at http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinMarks.htm
Looks like a nice one, how is the bore?
You can look up all the marking at the following.
HOW MUCH$$$?
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinMarks.htm
You can look up all the marking at the following.
HOW MUCH$$$?
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinMarks.htm
carguychris
New member
Go to http://7.62x54r.net for an exhaustive breakdown of Mosin-Nagant markings.
Here is a brief breakdown of some of the obvious ones.
First, the marked part you photographed is actually the barrel, not the receiver. M-N receivers are normally only marked on the underside of the tang, under the big screw. Contrary to modern Western practice, the Soviets (and the Finns) serial-numbered the barrels, but not the receivers.
The upper hammer-and-sickle symbol obviously denotes that the rifle is the property of the Soviet Union. The arrow inside a triangle shows that the rifle was made at the Izhevsk, a city west of the Ural Mountains that was home to the Soviets' primary arms-making facility during the Great Patriotic War. Although it's not visible in the photo, the barrels of recently-imported rifles are usually marked with a square symbol with a slash across the middle; this is a postwar arsenal refurbishment mark.
The "r" character after the year is an abbreviation for the Russian word "god", pronounced more like "goad", which means "year". In the Russian language, the numerical year is an adjective, so it's not grammatically correct to say the number by itself without the word; for instance, a Russian would always say "the rifle was made in the 1943 year".
The characters under the year are the original Soviet serial number. FWIW modern importers have to apply their own serial number elsewhere on the rifle for several reasons. First, IIRC the BATFE has decided, in their infinite wisdom, that serial numbers may not contain characters from foreign alphabets. Second, the Soviets adopted a confounding, non-consecutive serial numbering scheme so foreign intelligence agents couldn't accurately discern how many rifles the Red Army had by examining serial numbers. Western sources still haven't figured out how to decipher their system(!) and apparently the BATFE requires that serial numbering systems have to be documented and make sense. Third, possibly as a consequence of the deliberately confusing numbering system, a few duplicate numbers have been documented (see above link), and rifles produced in different time periods at different arsenals have been found with very similar serial numbers.
Here is a brief breakdown of some of the obvious ones.
First, the marked part you photographed is actually the barrel, not the receiver. M-N receivers are normally only marked on the underside of the tang, under the big screw. Contrary to modern Western practice, the Soviets (and the Finns) serial-numbered the barrels, but not the receivers.
The upper hammer-and-sickle symbol obviously denotes that the rifle is the property of the Soviet Union. The arrow inside a triangle shows that the rifle was made at the Izhevsk, a city west of the Ural Mountains that was home to the Soviets' primary arms-making facility during the Great Patriotic War. Although it's not visible in the photo, the barrels of recently-imported rifles are usually marked with a square symbol with a slash across the middle; this is a postwar arsenal refurbishment mark.
The "r" character after the year is an abbreviation for the Russian word "god", pronounced more like "goad", which means "year". In the Russian language, the numerical year is an adjective, so it's not grammatically correct to say the number by itself without the word; for instance, a Russian would always say "the rifle was made in the 1943 year".
The characters under the year are the original Soviet serial number. FWIW modern importers have to apply their own serial number elsewhere on the rifle for several reasons. First, IIRC the BATFE has decided, in their infinite wisdom, that serial numbers may not contain characters from foreign alphabets. Second, the Soviets adopted a confounding, non-consecutive serial numbering scheme so foreign intelligence agents couldn't accurately discern how many rifles the Red Army had by examining serial numbers. Western sources still haven't figured out how to decipher their system(!) and apparently the BATFE requires that serial numbering systems have to be documented and make sense. Third, possibly as a consequence of the deliberately confusing numbering system, a few duplicate numbers have been documented (see above link), and rifles produced in different time periods at different arsenals have been found with very similar serial numbers.
CK Bigoldi
New member
Nice looking RED. I love my Mosins and have been hunting with mine for the last 10 years. They are great shooters and perfect for taking any game you would normally use 30/06 for. Cheap surplus ammo is great for practice and there are some really good ammo choices out there for hunting. I use the 203gr Soft Point Brown Bear or 203gr Soft Point Silver Bear hunting ammo.
Whenever you shoot it (or any commie surplus rifle) with surplus ammo remember that it is corrosive and can cause pitting if you properly clean the gun. The easiest thing to do is to squirt some Windex down the barrel at the end of the shooting session then you can clean it later when you have time. The Windex neutralizes the salts.
Whenever you shoot it (or any commie surplus rifle) with surplus ammo remember that it is corrosive and can cause pitting if you properly clean the gun. The easiest thing to do is to squirt some Windex down the barrel at the end of the shooting session then you can clean it later when you have time. The Windex neutralizes the salts.
CK Bigoldi
New member
Put a bullet into the bore from the muzzle end and see how deep it goes. If it stops before the rim of the case it most likely hasn't been counterbored.
Now go out and shoot it. Find some CMP GSM games and shoot it in the Vintage Military Rifle events.
I just came in from shooting mine in some setting rapid fire. Found with no problem at all I can kept them in the 10-X ring slow fire, and with rapid fire in the 9-10-X ring. (of course the GSM games require rapid fire while setting.
Mosins are tricky in learning to shoot rapid fire, but can be done with practice.
Also no law says you have to shoot them with full loads. I shoot 42 Grns of 4895 pushing a 150 grn Sierra .311 bullet. Mild, Accurate and Fun to shoot. Plenty of velocity to shoot the 100 or 200 yards required by the CMP games.
Try shooting it at 100 yards with the sight setting on 100. if its off, get back with us and I'll tell you how to adjust it. If it shoots low, its easy, most I've seen shoot high.
Mine shot 8 inches high but I got it fixed now where its right on at 100 with the sights set at 100 yards.
Also if you have problems working the bolt in rapid fire or loading the clips into the gun, let me know.
Great rifle even at twice the price. Fun and accurate.
I just came in from shooting mine in some setting rapid fire. Found with no problem at all I can kept them in the 10-X ring slow fire, and with rapid fire in the 9-10-X ring. (of course the GSM games require rapid fire while setting.
Mosins are tricky in learning to shoot rapid fire, but can be done with practice.
Also no law says you have to shoot them with full loads. I shoot 42 Grns of 4895 pushing a 150 grn Sierra .311 bullet. Mild, Accurate and Fun to shoot. Plenty of velocity to shoot the 100 or 200 yards required by the CMP games.
Try shooting it at 100 yards with the sight setting on 100. if its off, get back with us and I'll tell you how to adjust it. If it shoots low, its easy, most I've seen shoot high.
Mine shot 8 inches high but I got it fixed now where its right on at 100 with the sights set at 100 yards.
Also if you have problems working the bolt in rapid fire or loading the clips into the gun, let me know.
Great rifle even at twice the price. Fun and accurate.
Thanks for all the responses. Question: I'm planning to remove the cosmoline from the metal parts by soaking them in brake cleaner. About how long should they soak for? Can they be damaged at all by soaking for too long?
Also, I have a bunch of patches for barrel cleaning. I know this is a noob question, but what do I put the patches on to run through the barrel? A bore snake?
Also, I have a bunch of patches for barrel cleaning. I know this is a noob question, but what do I put the patches on to run through the barrel? A bore snake?
Kreyzhorse
New member
Congrats. Those are fun rifles to shoot and both the rifles and ammo are still pretty reasonable.
I used kerosene to clean mine. Also used it to swab the barrel. Followed by dry patches. Worked on my Mosin, and CMP guns.
I took the rear sight ladder out of the sight base, turned it over and put it in a milling machine (you can grind it if careful). The sight slides up and down the ladder.
Lowering the sight .0061 moves the impact `1 inch at 100 yards, or one MOA. So I milled .0488 off the bottom of the sight. This allows it to set lower on the sight base. That amount allowed me to be dead on at 100 yards when the sight was set on the 100 mark. (don't' know if thats suppose to be meters, yards or what ever, being American, I use yards.).
I'd probably remove the cosmoline by hooking my hose up to the water heater and hosing the dismounted action down with Simple Green, then turning the hose on it. That or a quick trip to the coin-op car wash after dark...
My experience is that solvent alone just softens the surface, but heat really softens the stuff up.
My experience is that solvent alone just softens the surface, but heat really softens the stuff up.