Hey folks, I'm wanting to set up my Mosin for deer hunting. I'm looking to make it lighter and more maneuverable in the stand. Before I spend the money on things that I'm not sure I would like, I was wondering if anyone who has done this could post pics to help me decide how I want to set mine up. Opinions on different stocks would be great too. Thanks.
Setting up a Mosin Nagant
- Thread starter bspillman
- Start date
Sell it for ~$150 (or more, depending on what it is), then buy a ~$300 Ruger American or Savage Axis. It will be lighter, more accurate, have a better trigger, be set up for a scope if you want one, and will shoot something in a caliber that ammo suitable for hunting is much more readily available.
tahunua001
New member
I tried going two separate routes with mine. the first was hunting which failed miserably, the second was a tactical bullpup that also failed miserably.
the problem is that setting up a mosin nagant has two side effects: one is that the purists will come out of the woodwork to call you mean names, the second that you cut, drill or change something out you ruin any collectability that rifle held originally.
the second effect is that unless you spend about 3 times what you spent on the rifle originally you may as well just take a plasma cutter to it and toss it in a landfill. by the time you spend enough money to turn the mosin into a decent rifle, you may as well have spent the money on a purposebuilt hunting rifle.
I do not recommend it.
the problem is that setting up a mosin nagant has two side effects: one is that the purists will come out of the woodwork to call you mean names, the second that you cut, drill or change something out you ruin any collectability that rifle held originally.
the second effect is that unless you spend about 3 times what you spent on the rifle originally you may as well just take a plasma cutter to it and toss it in a landfill. by the time you spend enough money to turn the mosin into a decent rifle, you may as well have spent the money on a purposebuilt hunting rifle.
I do not recommend it.
Model12Win
Moderator
Do yourself a favor and shoot the gun how it is, in original military configuration. Adjust the sights if needed. Learn to use the gun as is. There is NO REASON why a Mosin Nagant cannot be used for hunting in standard configuration. They are still "minute of deer" or hog out to 100 yards or better. Don't throw a bunch of money into buying synthetic stocks, triggers, scopes etc. etc. You are wasting your time, and you are RUINING the historic collectability of these fascinating battle rifles.
Mosin Nagant prices are starting to go up. If you are dead set on screwing around with it, just sell the darn thing to someone who will respect it for what it is, and use the money to buy one of any of the cheaper but excellent hunting rifles like the Ruger American, Savage Axis, etc. etc.
Sorry if I'm coming off as a bit rude, but as a Mosin Nagant collector and historian, I feel strongly about this issue.
Mosin Nagant prices are starting to go up. If you are dead set on screwing around with it, just sell the darn thing to someone who will respect it for what it is, and use the money to buy one of any of the cheaper but excellent hunting rifles like the Ruger American, Savage Axis, etc. etc.
Sorry if I'm coming off as a bit rude, but as a Mosin Nagant collector and historian, I feel strongly about this issue.
I guess I sort of agree with the "leave-it-alone-and-shoot-it-as-is" crowd.
If you've got the Mosin rifle, then aside from re-stocking it, about the only simple thing to do would be shortening the barrel to a handier carbine length and resetting the front sight, ... bu then you could get an M44 Mosin carbine to start with.
That said, ... I've yet to see a Mosin set up with a proper mount and scope that I'd be even remotely interested in sighting in, let alone go hunting with.
A Mosin is another early 20th Century bolt gun that just doesn't lend itself to being easily scoped. At best it's awkward to shoot with an optic - again, unless you get spendy and restock it.
Folks thanks for your input but, Im wanting to hear from any one who has done this so I can see it before I do it. I would also like to know from those who have done it how they like their finished rifle. I have another rifle so that's not the issue here. I'm want to do this because I want to. Now as far as collectability goes, I don't feel like a rifle with at least a million others just like it out there is going to have much collectibility, (if that's even the word). That's just me, no offense intended.
Mosin Nagants are good rifles but not in the league of a nice Mauser for custom work.
However if you want to make one nice you sure can. The Mosin has a short bolt handle that is too far forward to work easily from the shoulder, so to start I made a new one and swept it back. I polished the action so it is glassy to work from the shoulder.
I re-barreled the gun. I turned the new barrel to the old Military contour to “look right” for a Russian 1910 era sporting rifle but instead of making it 28-31 inches long I cut and crowned it at 24”
I used a side mount for a scope. The mount is not actually something that would have existed in 1910 but is in the same basic style. The rifles is zeroed at 150 and 300 yards with the 2 blade rear sight. With the scope it holds about 2” with military ammo, and about ¾” with custom hand loads.
The safety on a M/N is not so good when it has no scope in that it’s hard to work with wet or cold hands. With a scope it is nearly impossible. So I replaced the old trigger with a Timney which comes with a safety. I inlayed a silver plate under it marked safe and fire. Again, nothing that really matters, but a concession to the styling of the old days.
The stock is a good hard piece of walnut that I got for $30 because of a large bark inclusion.
I inlet a Winchester M-70 pre-war style butt plate and used an oval grip cap. I made the barrel band front swivel mount and I made the ball head rear stud too.
As was stated above, if you want a good shooting and inexpensive hunting rifle, sporterizing a Mosin is NOT the way to go. Get a Ruger American and be done with it. But if you want to make a rifle for youirself that you can show off a bit, (not just the gun but your work as well) they still make a nice old fashioned rifle and the original round is about 99% of a 30-06, so what’s not to like?
This is the kind of project you do because you can…………. Not because you need a cheap rifle to hunt with. This rifle will be even nicer when I finish getting it checkered and I engrave it. “High grade” Mosin Nagants are not something you see very often, so it is the kind of project for gun-guys that like to work on their own hardware. And occasionally a hunter who just likes the old fashioned rifles will want one because it’s pretty unique these days.
However if you want to make one nice you sure can. The Mosin has a short bolt handle that is too far forward to work easily from the shoulder, so to start I made a new one and swept it back. I polished the action so it is glassy to work from the shoulder.
I re-barreled the gun. I turned the new barrel to the old Military contour to “look right” for a Russian 1910 era sporting rifle but instead of making it 28-31 inches long I cut and crowned it at 24”
I used a side mount for a scope. The mount is not actually something that would have existed in 1910 but is in the same basic style. The rifles is zeroed at 150 and 300 yards with the 2 blade rear sight. With the scope it holds about 2” with military ammo, and about ¾” with custom hand loads.
The safety on a M/N is not so good when it has no scope in that it’s hard to work with wet or cold hands. With a scope it is nearly impossible. So I replaced the old trigger with a Timney which comes with a safety. I inlayed a silver plate under it marked safe and fire. Again, nothing that really matters, but a concession to the styling of the old days.
The stock is a good hard piece of walnut that I got for $30 because of a large bark inclusion.
I inlet a Winchester M-70 pre-war style butt plate and used an oval grip cap. I made the barrel band front swivel mount and I made the ball head rear stud too.
As was stated above, if you want a good shooting and inexpensive hunting rifle, sporterizing a Mosin is NOT the way to go. Get a Ruger American and be done with it. But if you want to make a rifle for youirself that you can show off a bit, (not just the gun but your work as well) they still make a nice old fashioned rifle and the original round is about 99% of a 30-06, so what’s not to like?
This is the kind of project you do because you can…………. Not because you need a cheap rifle to hunt with. This rifle will be even nicer when I finish getting it checkered and I engrave it. “High grade” Mosin Nagants are not something you see very often, so it is the kind of project for gun-guys that like to work on their own hardware. And occasionally a hunter who just likes the old fashioned rifles will want one because it’s pretty unique these days.
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Model12Win
Moderator
^ 
I'll have to make an exception about what I said earlier. I think this rifle deserves a pass. If you're going to do it, do it like this!
I'll have to make an exception about what I said earlier. I think this rifle deserves a pass. If you're going to do it, do it like this!
dakota.potts
New member
I have not liked hardly anything I have done to my Mosin Nagant to mess with it. I tried the ATI stock with a bipod and scope. None of it worked well. Couldn't get the scope to zero properly. By the time I had removed the original leaf spring to put on the scope mount, I couldn't get a new rear sight ladder in without replacing it (a difficult task). I elected to put a rear peep sight instead.
My advice:
Keep the original stock.
Don't put a scope on it unless you're willing to invest a lot of money (in the hundreds) in a bent bolt, decent scope mount, and decent hunting scope.
Replace the front sight with a Smith Sights adjustable target or fiber optic post. Probably the best $50 upgrade you could do.
I do have a friend who has a custom Mosin that's pretty awesome. It's got a fiberglass stock, UH-59 heavy machine gun barrel, custom muzzle brake, bent bolt, Timney Trigger, Rock Solid scope mount, gold cerakote.... it also weighs about 14 pounds. With the money he put into his, you could get several Savage Axis/Ruger American rifles with scopes, or one nicer rifle (Weatherby, Remington 700, etc.)
My advice:
Keep the original stock.
Don't put a scope on it unless you're willing to invest a lot of money (in the hundreds) in a bent bolt, decent scope mount, and decent hunting scope.
Replace the front sight with a Smith Sights adjustable target or fiber optic post. Probably the best $50 upgrade you could do.
I do have a friend who has a custom Mosin that's pretty awesome. It's got a fiberglass stock, UH-59 heavy machine gun barrel, custom muzzle brake, bent bolt, Timney Trigger, Rock Solid scope mount, gold cerakote.... it also weighs about 14 pounds. With the money he put into his, you could get several Savage Axis/Ruger American rifles with scopes, or one nicer rifle (Weatherby, Remington 700, etc.)
Unlicensed Dremel
Moderator
Wow. Yeah, that's a really nice result there. That beats a RAR any day in aesthetics.
I used one for my white tail this year.
Fisrt I cut off about 6 inches of the barrel, took off the rear sight and used to dovetail to mount a 2x7 handgun scope. Put it all in an ATI that I painted green, cuase I wanted to. And I did add a Timney trigger for the bonus of a real safety. I bet all in told have about 3 bills into it. But it shoots about as nice as my Model 70. Is it the most accurate rifle I have, no but I had fun doing it and it added to my freezer this year. If you want to go for it, it's your rifle.
Fisrt I cut off about 6 inches of the barrel, took off the rear sight and used to dovetail to mount a 2x7 handgun scope. Put it all in an ATI that I painted green, cuase I wanted to. And I did add a Timney trigger for the bonus of a real safety. I bet all in told have about 3 bills into it. But it shoots about as nice as my Model 70. Is it the most accurate rifle I have, no but I had fun doing it and it added to my freezer this year. If you want to go for it, it's your rifle.
FrankenMauser
New member
Prepare: Clean rifle thoroughly, if not already done.
Step one: Test with several brands and types of ammo suitable for the game you'll be pursuing.
Step two: Take best-performing ammo on hunt.
Step three: Fill tag.
Rejoice!
Step one: Test with several brands and types of ammo suitable for the game you'll be pursuing.
Step two: Take best-performing ammo on hunt.
Step three: Fill tag.
Rejoice!
It is your rifle, and you can certainly do what you want, but:
"collectibility" is a sliding scale.
In the 50s, Mausers and 1903s, were dirt cheap and widely available. They had "no collector value".
Now, matching K98s start at $1000, and even ratty Soviet capture reworks are going for $4-500. By the way, there were about 14,000,000 K98ks made between 1935 and 1945. By your logic, they are not collectible.
1903s and 03A3s start around $700, and go up from there. There were about 3,000,000 made, all variants. Again, by your logic, not collectible.
Right now Mosin 91/30s are going for about $200, and there are a fair amount of them out there. Three years ago they were about $100, and they were everywhere. Then again, it was only about 5 years ago M38 and M44 Mosins were selling for about $100. Now, if you can find one, they are north of $200 for M44s, and I have seen M38s listed for $250.
It is your rifle, and you can do what you want, but generally speaking you are destroying a historical artifact by doing so.
And generally speaking, you will end up with something that is not as good of a hunting rifle as a entry level Remington/Savage/Ruger.
"collectibility" is a sliding scale.
In the 50s, Mausers and 1903s, were dirt cheap and widely available. They had "no collector value".
Now, matching K98s start at $1000, and even ratty Soviet capture reworks are going for $4-500. By the way, there were about 14,000,000 K98ks made between 1935 and 1945. By your logic, they are not collectible.
1903s and 03A3s start around $700, and go up from there. There were about 3,000,000 made, all variants. Again, by your logic, not collectible.
Right now Mosin 91/30s are going for about $200, and there are a fair amount of them out there. Three years ago they were about $100, and they were everywhere. Then again, it was only about 5 years ago M38 and M44 Mosins were selling for about $100. Now, if you can find one, they are north of $200 for M44s, and I have seen M38s listed for $250.
It is your rifle, and you can do what you want, but generally speaking you are destroying a historical artifact by doing so.
And generally speaking, you will end up with something that is not as good of a hunting rifle as a entry level Remington/Savage/Ruger.
Why?
Ordinary Mosins are pushing $200. Figure at least another $100 for a stock, $50 for a bolt/rail kit, $100 for a scope, and that's at the very minimum for an ugly crude "sporter". More if you need a gunsmith. You might as well have picked up a Savage Axis, Ruger American, or similar. A used Axis or American is cheaper still. Except the sporterized Mosin will be heavier, less accurate, clumsier, have a clunky 90-degree bolt that constantly sticks, a funky trigger, and a near unusable safety. You can get a Timney trigger to fix the trigger and safety, but that's another $100 and then you are easily $500-600 into a clunker.
If you want to spend a lot of money sporterizing a milsurp, Mausers and Mauser actions are still out there for not much more. Then you would have cheaper, easier, and better scope mounting options, all kinds of stock and trigger options, a usable safety, and more caliber options. And, it can actually be rebarrelled to other calibers still.
Or, you could even just buy a rifle someone else spend a lot of time and money sporterizing for a few hundred bucks and save yourself the trouble.
Look up the markings before you irreparably destroy the rifle. You'd be surprised. There are still some jewels out there. It would be a shame to ruin an SAT M91 when you could just sell it, buy the rifle you really want, a fancy scope, and put a couple grand in your pocket.
Ordinary Mosins are pushing $200. Figure at least another $100 for a stock, $50 for a bolt/rail kit, $100 for a scope, and that's at the very minimum for an ugly crude "sporter". More if you need a gunsmith. You might as well have picked up a Savage Axis, Ruger American, or similar. A used Axis or American is cheaper still. Except the sporterized Mosin will be heavier, less accurate, clumsier, have a clunky 90-degree bolt that constantly sticks, a funky trigger, and a near unusable safety. You can get a Timney trigger to fix the trigger and safety, but that's another $100 and then you are easily $500-600 into a clunker.
If you want to spend a lot of money sporterizing a milsurp, Mausers and Mauser actions are still out there for not much more. Then you would have cheaper, easier, and better scope mounting options, all kinds of stock and trigger options, a usable safety, and more caliber options. And, it can actually be rebarrelled to other calibers still.
Or, you could even just buy a rifle someone else spend a lot of time and money sporterizing for a few hundred bucks and save yourself the trouble.
Look up the markings before you irreparably destroy the rifle. You'd be surprised. There are still some jewels out there. It would be a shame to ruin an SAT M91 when you could just sell it, buy the rifle you really want, a fancy scope, and put a couple grand in your pocket.
....and the reason the all matching K98's and other milsurps are "collectable" now is that everyone that thought they were, or could possibly be, a gunsmith, whether they had the skills and tools or not, sporterized these things in the millions, with varying results ...... I see sporterized K98's on the consignment racks every once in a while ....som very nicely done, some not ..... but none are worth what an all matching, unmodified K98 is tagged at, in the same store.
As folks keep chopping up/getting crazy with their dremmels, the supply of these Russian relics will dwindle, and they will one day be "collectable", too....
tahunua001
New member
and just think.... excluding the m38, m44,s and t53s there are only 12 million mosin nagants in existence
g.willikers
New member
I had the notion that the best use of a Mosin was just to shake the rust out of it and go plinking at pumpkins and water melons at the range.